By Mahesh Wijesuriya – Anuradhapura
There is great fear among the people of the Rajapaksa village, Thambuttegama, due to unnatural images of a woman, a man and a girl of about 14 years of age, dressed in white, appearing in the village.
Several people who have got scared subsequent to seeing these ghostly, unnatural images, have been treated with rituals. Grama Niladhari Ashoka Dharmakeerthi in charge of Thulana said that the residents of the village had summoned ‘spiritualists’ (Huniyam kaarayao) to the stretch of fields in the Rajapaksa village where these images appear, and have arranged to have rituals conducted to exorcise them.
A 50-year-old woman named M. G. Indrawathie of Rajapaksa village who does not consume any meat or ever believed in ghosts, and was used to going to the field in the middle of the night to prepare water for the fields, was terrified at seeing a ghostly image in the afternoon last week. Subsequent to this incident, what appear to be nail scratches have appeared on her feet for no known reason. Villagers claim she is now ill and refuses food.
Villagers also claim that the fear is driving many people away from the Rajapaksa village with the fear even making them stay outdoors after dark.