India, Aug. 27 -- Social media was flooded with disturbing news coming in from a tribal hostel for girls in Amravati, Maharashtra last week. Some accompanying videos showed young girls in their classic school issued blue salwar-kameez uniform being carried out of a building. Another clip showed a girl flinging herself across the hostel's threshold before rolling in the courtyard, crying loudly. Reports said four girls from a residential tribal school had been possessed by some kind of paranormal entity, causing nearly 600 of the total 852 students to be taken home by their parents.

Ghost stories and claims of possession are dime a dozen in our country. As someone who has been running the India Ghost Project, the largest public archive of...