'Haunted' disease in Malaysian school

Hundreds of teachers and students at many schools in northern Malaysia fainted or had strange acts of unknown origin.

According to Malaysian media, at least four schools in Kota Baru city in the state of Kelantan are facing a "haunted" epidemic as many teachers and female students suddenly scream unjustly, smashing classrooms, wandering out of control. or roll out.

The Star reported that the affected schools were SMK Pengkalan Chepa 1, SMK Pengkalan Chepa 2, SMK Kemumin and SMK Kubang Kerman 3. In response, the Kota Baru Education Department officials on one hand gave students a break to take care of them. medical, on the one hand inviting Muslim monks and even Chinese magicians to go to school to do the magic but did not bring results.

Female pontianak rumors

The "haunted " translation started from SMK Pengkalan Chepa 2 Middle School earlier last week, affecting about 170 students and teachers, forcing the school to temporarily shut down for several days.

Most victims said they had "black shadows in the school trying to enter the body". They also claim that these souls are pontianak, a female ghost popular in Malaysian folklore, according to The Straits Times. This is the ghost of women who die during childbirth, so they are resentful to the earth.

The victims had collective hysteria.

Astro Awani quoted Ms Norlailawati Ramli, SMK Pengkalan Chepa 2 teacher, saying: "Normally my hand is suddenly strangely heavy. It seems that someone is pressing on my left half. I still have see a shadow ".

Another teacher Kamariah Ibrahim also confirmed seeing a shadow."He tried to enter my body. I found my head drowsy, my arms and legs numb, tears in my eyes. I tried to read the prayers continuously and after about 1 hour, I became alert again," she said.

Even a member of the school board was afraid to tell the BBC: "Our students are obsessed with souls. We don't know what happened. Maybe someone has done something that makes the souls. troublesome? ".

Shortly thereafter, this mysterious phenomenon also occurred at SMK Pengkalan Chepa 1 with 5 female students bursting out with symptoms of angry screams, fainting. The school leadership has quickly sent these students home to prevent spreading syndrome. By April 19, more than 30 girls at two other local schools also had similar symptoms and were sent home to rest.

Collective hysteria syndrome

The Star quoted doctors and many experts as saying that there was no evil here, but the victims had a collective hysteria (mass hysteria), or collective separation disorder.

This is a form of psychological disorder when the perception or false beliefs from an individual quickly spread, exaggerated in the crowd with symptoms such as mass fainting, vomiting .

Syndrome usually breaks out in a group or in a small community.

Syndrome usually breaks out in a group or in a small community with strict rules like schools, boarding schools, orphanages and factories. Specifically, someone who has a seizure who screams or faints will easily cause a chain reaction, causing dozens or even hundreds of others to similarly attack.

American sociologist Robert Bartholomew, who has spent many years researching this phenomenon in Southeast Asia, points out that the affected schools are all boarding schools for girls.

"They feel restrained in a closed environment, have no private space. Frustration and stress accumulate in a long time that a student suddenly becomes" haunted " and becomes a spreading catalyst. to many others, including teachers ".

Besides, experts also said that the conditions to activate the case is hot weather is raging in Southeast Asia and rumors about demons make the disorder spread to large areas in Malaysia. According to The Star, Kelantan is located in the area heavily influenced by the El Nino phenomenon with temperatures sometimes reaching more than 39 degrees C.

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