Straight from the ‘Exorcist: ‘Evil spirits, devil, possess’ 50 MP students for a week

By Alfred Dizon

BONTOC, Mountain Province – In scenes straight from the movie “Exorcist,” more than 60 students here were “possessed” by the “devil or evil spirits” Monday to Thursday last week on different occasions at a government high school alarming parents and school officials.

Witnesses said students fainted for no reason at Mountain Province General Comprehensive High School while others fell down on the ground. Some spoke with guttural voices “not their own” as if from the underworld.

Francis Degay of the mayor’s office said a student became violent and tried to strangle a teacher but was restrained by teachers.

The “possessed” were rushed by residents to the Bontoc General Hospital and nearby churches where they recovered. But some parents said their children experienced fainting and screaming spells days later.

Degay said doctors couldn’t explain their “sickness” saying it could have been psychological so they sent home the afflicted.

School officials said they scheduled a mass early Thursday morning at the school to pray for “possessed” students and souls of the dead who may have been buried in the area and were trying to communicate from the “other world.”

But before the mass would be held, scores of students again started to faint and fell down on the ground, some screaming while others were talking in loud voices.

“Sounds of sirens of ambulance pierced the air; vans coming in and out of the school grounds, as shots were fired into the air by unidentified persons,” said eyewitness Joel Fagsao, owner of Xygen College in the town. “I and my workmates rushed to the church thinking my daughter was there as I learned that my daughter was one of those who fainted again.”

Fagsao said students were rushed to nearby All Saints Cathedral and BGH.

“The scene at the church was too much for a normal person to handle,” Fagsao added. “Students were being held tight as they were screaming, struggling and acting strange.

“The priests were going from one youth to another, offering prayers,” he said. “Everyone was there to give comfort and help. The whole town rallied to offer support. We were stunned and you could feel the hair at the back of your head stand up.”

Fagsao said a teacher and a nurse related what they saw. “One of the ‘possessed’ was lying down then all of a sudden without support from anybody, was lifted at an angle until she was literally standing. Someone’s hair was flying as if the victim was in front of an electric fan. A student-victim spat on a Bible, one broke a cross. Parents frantically made calls. It was a relief when I learned my daughter rushed home upon seeing the events unfolding.”

Mass was held later after the incident. During the week, Anglican and Ramon Catholic priests held mass in their churches for the phenomenon to stop.

Degay said, tribal elders held a native “cleansing” rite at the school site Thursday to drive away or appease the evil spirits.

Called ‘changtey,’ the ritual consisted of butchering chickens and offering these to Kabunian (God) and the spirits to stop the students from being “malugananan.”

It is not uncommon, they said, for people among Cordillera tribes to be “maluganan” wherein souls of the dead “enter” bodies of the living to express their “sentiments” particularly during wakes on the nature of their death particularly violent ones.

During such occasions, the “naluganan’s” voice reportedly resembles that of the dead when he was alive.

And when the “naluganan” becomes conscious, he usually doesn’t remember the incident.
Around 6 a.m. on Friday, tribal elders held another ritual called “paasok” in all entrances of Central Bontoc barangays “to drive away evil spirits.”

This was done by burning wood or sticks at odorous sites and concentrating the smoke near the entrances while tribal elders chanted and prayed for the victims and repose of the departed.

Elders said “spirits” may have been displeased over something like students encroaching on their “living quarters” at the school basement or making loud noises.

On Friday, no similar incidents were reported even as classes were suspended at the MPGCHS. Residents said prayers and tribal rites may have been effective in stopping the phenomenon.

In adjacent Tabuk City, Kalinga, scores of students also recently suffered the same fate at an elementary school.

Kalinga tribal folk held a native “cleansing” rite in the school. No similar incident happened there later.

A few months earlier, a similar case was also reported in Tublay, Benguet wherein students were “naluganan” in a school.