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Exorcist fair brings ghostly, ghastly rituals

Superstitious Folly

BETUL: A fast, a dip in icy waters, a long walk and, all else failing, a severe beating with brooms and slippers -- all in the name of expelling "evil spirits".

This is what hundreds of girls and young women between the ages of 14 and 21 endure during an annual ritual at a village temple in Madhya Pradesh's Betul district in central India -- 300 km south of state capital Bhopal -- because their families believe evil spirits have possessed them.

The 200 priests at the temple claim to be trained exorcists.