(La Porte County, IN) - An Unidentified Falling Object was investigated by La Porte County Sheriff’s Department early last week.

Last Tuesday evening a strange-looking box was reported to authorities on CR 100 South, about two miles west of Pinola. There was a white Styrofoam box in the roadway, with a long string and a parachute or balloon reaching high into the trees above. Duct-taped to it was a small blue box with "iMet-4RSB" marked on it.

And it was ticking.

Officers contacted bomb experts from Porter County Sheriff's Office Explosive Disposal Unit, who said they had responded the previous day to a similar call near the town of Porter.

Authorities determined the apparatus to be a weather balloon launched by NASA somewhere in Michigan to study atmosphere and ozone.

The Sheriff’s Department is keeping the contraption in an evidence locker until NASA comes to claim it.