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.