TUMPAT: A boarding school here was thrown into chaos when 30 students reportedly experienced hysteria.
The students, who reside in the dormitories, were heard screaming in the school's surau around 8:30pm.
Saleha, a villager in her 20s, said she was at her home near the school when she was startled by the sounds of people screaming nearby.
She then immediately went out to find out where the noise was coming from.
"From outside the school gate, I could see a rather chaotic situation with the sounds of students screaming incoherently and some complaining about pain," she said.
"My cousin, who is also a student at the school and was present at the scene said they were all in the mosque and had just finished reciting the al-Quran when the electricity suddenly went out.
"Suddenly, one student screamed, followed by another, as if they were possessed, causing the school authorities to immediately evacuate all the victims from the surau to an open area," she said when met here.
Saleha said the students who were affected were calmed down by the school's ustaz and several Islamic medical practitioners who arrived.
She said the situation calmed down after nearly three hours, and all the students residing in the school dormitory were allowed to return home to their families.
"This is not the first incident, it has happened before. And as far as I can remember, the last time was four years ago when I was studying there.
"I understand that there are several 'spooky' locations in the school, and it can be said that we are already accustomed to the hysteria incidents that plague the students," she said.