More than two dozen schoolgirls were hospitalized for anxiety and fainting after they played with an Ouija board at school in Colombia.
According to reporting from the U.K.’s Jam Press that was picked up by The New York Post, 28 girls in total experienced “anxiety and other symptoms” after they experimented with the alphabetic and numeric board.
The incident occurred roughly 300 miles from Bogata in the southeastern Colombian city of Pasto at the Galeras Educational Institution.
After the girls showed symptoms, they were rushed to a nearby hospital. Some were accompanied by their parents.
In a statement, school principal Hugo Torres said, “There were 28 possible cases of anxiety in school students.”
“The school is waiting for the medical diagnoses to provide further reliable information,” he added.
Torres also pleaded with members of his community not to gossip about or otherwise comment on the incident.
“Given the reported cases, a series of comments were unleashed on the community that, rather than helping to resolve the situation, led to confusion and an adverse environment for our work,” Torres stated.
The condition of the girls remains unclear.
Parents whose children attend the school are reportedly demanding answers regarding why one of the boards was used by students when they were supposed to be learning.
One concerned mother called for an investigation.
“I work here in a hospital kiosk and every day I see three or four children arrive after fainting,” the woman said.
She added, “Parents, you have to move, investigate what’s happening at school, because our children cannot continue in this situation.”
The woman said the hospitalizations could not be blamed on a lack of nutrition.
“Our children always have a good breakfast and it cannot be said that what’s happening is due to lack of food,” she explained.
Ouija boards are used by some who believe they are a mechanism to communicate with the dead. They have been around in some form or another for centuries.
In 2016, evangelist Billy Graham warned against using the boards during a Q&A about whether the boards are OK for Christians to use.
Graham responded, “The Bible’s judgment on occult phenomena is blunt: ‘Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord’ (Deuteronomy 18:12).”
“But dabbling in the occult not only leads you away from God, but it could also entangle you with spiritual forces that are not from God but Satan,” Graham added. “Few people who get involved in the occult plan for this to happen — but it can.”
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