It’s the sort of post-apocalyptic scene you’ve read about in a Stephen King novel.

For the residents of Jambi, a province of Indonesia, the blood-red haze over their region was real — and causing “hurt eyes and throat,” according to one resident.

The surreal haze, caused by smoke from burning fields, was captured in shocking video and posted to Twitter.

“This afternoon is not night,” Zuni Shofi Yatun Nisa wrote in Indonesian, the BBC reported. “This is earth, not planet Mars. This is not in outer space. It’s us who breathe with lungs, not with gills. We humans need clean air, not smoke.”

Another user addressed Elon Musk, the SpaceX founder planning a mission to Mars, “Hey @elonmusk … I don’t want you have some misunderstanding, so I’ll tell you … THIS IS NOT MARS!”

BBC Indonesia reported that 21-year-old photographer Eka Wulandari, from the Mekar Sari village in Jambi, posted images shot with her phone to Facebook on Saturday, which has since been shared more than 34,000 times.

Many thought the photos were fake, she said.

But associate professor Koh Tieh Yong of the Singapore University of Social Sciences told the BBC the fiery hue is called Rayleigh scattering.

He explained that smoke is made up of microscopic particles that “scatter,” or “change the color of the light we see,” which is intensified in midday when the sun is directly overhead.

“If the sun is overhead, and you look up, [you will be looking] in the line of the sun, so it would appear that more of the sky is red,” he said.

The phenomenon was brought on by annual agricultural burning, which peaks when Indonesia is at its driest, between July and October, according to European scientists at the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS).

The slash-and-burn crop turnover technique is a centuries-old farming practice. However, these fires can — and do — spread if not properly monitored. And this season has been “unusual,” CAMS researchers added.

“In Indonesia, burning peat, which can smolder at low temperatures and underground, is the most significant concern, as it is releasing carbon which has been stored for tens or thousands of years,” said Mark Parrington, a senior scientist at the CAMS, in a statement.

CAMS researchers said they are closely monitoring the fires and settling smoke as air quality reports between Aug. 1 through Sept. 18 are expected to be “equally as poor” as the 2015 fires that devastated South Asia.

They concluded, “The very high and persistent levels of pollution in Indonesia and the Maritime continent … are undoubtedly a threat to human health, flora and fauna.”