Students at a high school in Manchester are still being counselled and prayed for after more than 20 of them were possessed by demons last week.

The two-day long ordeal involved several hours of prayer for the students who had demons speaking through them in an African language. Some of the students even attempted deadly stunts such as jumping in front of vehicles and trying to jump through windows.

Normality was finally restored to the institution after the affected students who ranged from first to fifth form were baptised.

According to students who witnessed the possession, it all started last Thursday while they were having morning devotion service. "We were having devotions, then we heard a loud screaming. The lady (conducting the devotions) stopped what she was saying and started praying," a student told THE STAR.

Afterwards, another student is said to have been heard screaming and this continued in a ripple effect. The affected students started to run around and had to be restrained by teachers.

The rest of the student population that was not affected was sent back to their classrooms while a prayer service began for those affected. However, the students continued to act out.

"One of my friends told me that she going to jump through the window. The security locked the gate and one of the girls climbed over and was standing in the middle of the road. A big trailer was coming and a pastor had to get her out of the way," the student said.

Prayer sessions

As for the student who wanted to jump through the window, the source said that the security had to lock her in a room to restrain her. In addition, the demons, speaking through a student, are reported to have said that they (pastors) can't save her because they (demons) have already saved her.

On Friday, despite the long prayer sessions the day before, some of the students still returned with the possession. This time the school administration chose a different method, that of baptising all the affected students.

During the baptism, however, one of the demon-possessed students allegedly screamed several times as they were baptised. "Every time they go down in the water, she scream out and when it was her time to baptise, she take a long time to go under the water and when she come up she just take up her bag and go home. We haven't seen her since," a student said.