Voodoo Is Blamed After South African Pupils Run Amok
Dozens of pupils ran amok in a South African township school after classes were gripped by what parents and teachers described Wednesday as an attack by voodoo spirits.
About 40 terrified children at the Bathokwa Primary School in Atteridgeville outside Pretoria screamed, ran for cover and collapsed after saying they had seen cats and baboons running about the classrooms, teachers said.
A fleet of ambulances was summoned by the mystified staff to take the children, ages 8 to 12, to a local hospital. “We don’t know what is really happening here. These children appear to be bewitched. We are all scared,” one teacher told reporters.
A hospital spokesman said the children had been examined and found to be fit and healthy apart from their hysterics.
A meeting of parents later resolved to organize a cash collection to employ the services of an inyanga , or witch doctor, in a bid to exorcise the evil spirits from the school.
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