Villagers put frozen 'meteor' in fridge — turns out to be airplane poop

Indian villagers were so excited by a frozen "meteor" that crashed into a farmer's field Saturday that a few gathered pieces of the rock and stashed them in their refrigerators.

Meteorites can be worth thousands of dollars, but this unidentified falling object was not from outer space.

According to the Indian Express and the International Business Times, the yellow-brown "meteor," weighing around 20 pounds, had a transparent surface and resembled ice. The impact created a 1-foot-deep hole in the field.

A view of the Weston Meteorite on display at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven. Indian villagers hoped the rock that fell on a farmer's field would be similar kind of meteorite. It wasn't. A view of the Weston Meteorite on display at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven. Indian villagers hoped the rock that fell on a farmer's field would be similar kind of meteorite. It wasn't. Photo: Christian Abraham, Hearst Connecticut Media Buy photo Photo: Christian Abraham, Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 33 Caption Close Villagers put frozen 'meteor' in fridge — turns out to be airplane poop 1 / 33 Back to Gallery

"I rushed to the spot and saw the object. It seemed to weigh at least 8 or 10 kilograms, judging by the dent it had made on the ground," the Indian Express quoted Govind Singh as saying. "Initially, we thought it could be ice but it was not melting. So, we figured it must have some kind of chemical in it."

Eventually a team of scientists from the India Meteorological Department was assembled and collected samples of the object at the site.

Their verdict: The meteor was actually frozen feces.

The news was a setback for the souvenir collectors, who realized their refrigerators were preserving airplane lavatory poop. They had to clean the appliances and anything else in their houses that had come in contact with the frozen excrement.

Airplanes jettisoning human waste is apparently a problem in India. Only 10 days ago the government reiterated a December 2016 order forbidding airlines from emptying their toilet tanks mid-air, the Indian Express reported.

The fine for dumping is 50,000 rupees ($782), a penalty that may not be draconian enough to get the airlines' attention.

In 2016, a woman from Madhya Pradesh suffered a severe head injury after she was hit by a frozen football-sized chuck of frozen sewage, according to the International Business Times.