They’re actually drinking a revolting concoction of mashed cow dung and goat poop that they think is a miracle cure for cancer and other illnesses.

The villagers say they stumbled upon the medicine when an elderly local woman suffering from cancer woke up one day with a bizarre request – she asked her son to collect as much animal feces as possible.

“I was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer last January and despite going in and out of the hospital nothing was helping,” explained 66-year-old Ma Shuang. “And then I had a dream where a voice was telling me to mix the dung of a cow with the droppings of goats. When I woke, I instructed my son on what he had to do and although clearly thinking I had lost my mind, he went and did it anyway.”

Ma proceeded to dry all the dung and droppings out in the sun and crushed them into a powder.

Then she added water to the powder and drank the concoction. Soon, she claimed that she ‘felt much better’. Although she hasn’t visited the hospital for any confirmation or follow-up examinations since she started taking the medicine, villagers just took her word for it.

As more and more villagers are adopting the miracle cure, Chinese doctors found it necessary to issue a warning. “Cow and goat dung was used in ancient Chinese times as a way to flush out heat and toxins,” admitted Liu Shaogui, a doctor at the Hunan University of Chinese Medicine.

“However, those who try this method run the risk of bacterial infection and parasites if the dung is not properly treated.”

(Source & Pics- Oddity Central)