With DNX staff.
BACOLOD CITY – The story started predictably, as all stories like it go.
A day after the corporate coup that sparked the Ceres saga, the public’s attention (or at least of those who tuned in to radio reports), was diverted briefly to an incident in the rural-urban village of Granada.
In a school named after an American priest, it was reported that several students, all girls, started shrieking and, as the reports said, “sa wala nahibaluan nga mga rason (for no known reasons),” suddenly went wild.
It was morning.
In a sleepy village where the noise mostly comes from the drone of tricycles and, every now and then, from some drunk wailing “I did it my weee…” on the videoke.
Then the story arced towards it: a demonic possession. Like in the movie “Sanib” or “Exorcist.”
Policemen were deployed to the school to “maintain peace and order,” some of the students were rushed to the hospital, a priest was called in to “exorcise” the others, and the school closed for the day.
More than a month later, nothing much is remembered about the Granada episode while many are still fixated on the Ceres saga.
The Fr. Gratian Murray possession story faded to myth, remembered in the same way the kapre, dwende, tayho or other tales of mythical creatures passed on by mothers to their kids who fear walking at night in the sugarcane fields of the once agricultural village.
We revisited the story and sought answers about the event that has been labelled a lot of things: a “demon possession,” a “paranormal event,” a result of a “lack of spirituality,” among others.
We ventured, too, in this two-part series on the scientific explanations behind it by seeking the psychologist who conducted the investigation on the incident. She also taught teachers how to conduct psychological first aid or PFA on students.
That is if a similar incident occurs.
But how frequent are incidents like these? Why are there more women or female persons involved?
This story is a start.
Tomorrow: Sister acts: nuns possessed and what is it from a medical point of view?