600 students leave hostel in India over ghost panic

Around 600 students have left a government tribal residential hostel in Amravati district of Maharashtra, India, over rumours of a ghostly presence.

According to an NDTV report on Monday, August 17, the hostel, run by the Tribal Development Department in Doma village of Chikaldara taluka in the Melghat region, housed 810 students. Since July 22, four female students began laughing and crying uncontrollably, displaying abnormal behaviour. Eventually, rumours spread that the hostel was haunted after some students claimed to have heard the sound of anklets.

A senior official from the Tribal Department said a team of specialist doctors visited the school and suggested the incident was not supernatural but likely a case of 'selective hysteria' caused by stress.

Students reportedly believed that the felling of a mahua tree on campus, damage to a local deity's temple due to drainage work, and the recent death of a tribal youth nearby had angered spirits.

The 'Maharashtra Andhshraddha Nirmoolan Samiti', an organisation working to eradicate superstition, is counselling students and urging people to view the incident scientifically. Member of Parliament for Amravati, Balwant Wankhede, has appealed to students to return to classes without fear. Headmaster Sanjay Chaudhary said efforts are underway to bring students back, with several already returning.

Source: NDTV