600 students flee Maharashtra hostel amid 'possession' rumours
>The residential school, run by the Tribal Development Department, houses around 810 boys and girls. Following rumours that the hostel was haunted, nearly 600 students left the premises over a period of several days, officials said.
>According to a hostel source, some girls claimed to have heard the sound of anklets clanking, further fuelling fears among students.
>A senior Tribal Development Department official said a team of health experts visited the Doma residential school and examined the situation.
>"The symptoms have nothing to do with anything supernatural. It could be a selective hysteria-like condition related to mental stress," the official said.
>A psychological report prepared by the authorities said several theories began circulating among students and locals following the unusual behaviour of the girls. Some women from the village also reportedly developed similar mental symptoms later.
>One belief was linked to a 'mahua' tree that allegedly stood at the site of the ashram school. According to the report, students and locals believed spirits resided on the tree. After the school management cut it down, they believed the spirits became angry and began troubling the students.
>Another theory was that a temple dedicated to the local deity behind the school had been affected or encroached upon by the school's drainage channel, which locals believed had upset the deity.
>A third belief was that an Adivasi youth had died in a field near the school and that his spirit had subsequently become a ghost.
>The psychological report attributed the unusual situation to a combination of superstition, fear, stress and local beliefs about spirits.
>Senior office-bearers of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti, an organisation working to eradicate blind faith, also visited the school and counselled the students.
>They appealed to the students and local residents to view the incident from a scientific perspective and not fall prey to superstitious beliefs, the official said.
>Amravati MP Balwant Wankhade also urged the students not to be afraid and appealed to them to return to school and resume their classes.
>Headmaster Sanjay Chaudhary said efforts were underway to counsel the affected girls and bring the students back to the residential school.
>"A few have returned," he said.
Probably like 80% of the article quoted there. I thought it was a good example of superstitions (why no superstition flair for posts?) and was surprised but happy to see the evaluation conclusions by the health experts.
Also cool to see something like this organization exists for them:
>Senior office-bearers of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti, an organisation working to eradicate blind faith, also visited the school and counselled the students.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maharashtra_Andhashraddha_Nirmoolan_Samiti?wprov=sfla1
Apparently it was founded in '89! Granted, outside interviews here and there I don't know much about skeptic groups in India.