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‘Haunted’ hostel keeps them away

BERHAMPUR: Superstition about existence of ghosts forced students of a school to stay away from their hostel for more than a week in Kandhamal district.

The district administration had to intervene to bring back the students to the hostel and campus. The incident occurred at Talapada Sevashram School, a residential school for poor and tribal students.

A team of officials led by Phulbani Sub-Collector Dayanidhi Nayak brought back 100 of the 140 students who left the hostel by Friday. Mr. Nayak said that with proper motivation, the school would return to normal in a few days.

More than a week ago some students staying in the hostel started saying that they were hearing sounds of anklets during night. This lead to fear and panic among the students, who also started hallucinating. The inmates preferred to escape from the hostel to their homes.

As most of the students left, no classes could be held for a week.

From Friday, regular classes began. It was hoped that the rest of the students would return to school in the next few days. The teachers were advised to counsel the students.

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