Women taken ill after spotting 'ghost' in Karachi factory

A group of women working in a factory in Pakistan's biggest city were hospitalised when they panicked after reportedly spotting a "black ghost" but doctors who treated them said it appeared to be a case of mass hysteria.
Twenty-eight women working in the garment factory in Landhi area told police they had "seen" the ghost in a washroom.
The incident reportedly occurred on October 28 and police subsequently launched a probe but have not been able to make any headway.
"We treated around 28 women who had fallen unconscious or were semi-conscious when they were brought to the hospital," said Simeen Jamali, the medico legal officer of the state-run Jinnah Hospital.

A doctor who treated the women felt it was a case of mass hysteria. "What we have here is a case of mass hysteria and possession syndrome. The women were all extremely scared and wouldn't listen to reason," he said.
One of the women who claimed to have seen the ghost, Shagufta, still sticks to her story.

"I saw a big black ghost in the washroom. It resembled a shadow but was far bigger than any shadow I have ever seen," said the young helper in the factory's checking department.
Yasmeen, a senior worker at the factory, said the panic and pandemonium occurred after a few women came screaming out of the washroom and claimed that they had seen a ghost.

Police officer Imran Shaukat said the women had complained of strange incidents in the factory in the past. "We worked on the theory that the women could have been affected by some chemical or gas but the men all remained fine," he said.