Ghost Scares Students Away From School

Students of a high school in Balasore district on Saturday refused to attend classes, claiming that the building was haunted by a ghost. The students' claim came after 18 girls taken ill at Hidigaon Panchayat High School on Friday just after prayers. The girls were taken to the district headquarters hospital. Doctors said the condition of four students was serious but they are showing signs of improvement. "Manasi, a student of Class IX, was the first to get frightened and started behaving in an erratic manner.Within minutes, two other girls followed suit. They started trembling and vomited before falling unconscious. Later 15 others behaved in a similar fashion forcing us to seek medical help," headmaster Gadadhar Jena said. Describing her ordeal, Ranjita Behera, a student, said, "We had entered the class room after prayers. Suddenly, I experienced a strange sensation in my body and started trembling. I felt as if someone within my body was forcing me to behave erratically." Doctors, however, refused to buy the "ghost theory" and said the students were victims of mass hysteria.