Now's the best time to pray for Peru, where the devil seems to be inflicting pain on innocent schoolchildren.

More than 80 students aged between 11 and 14 from the Elsa Perea Flores School in Tarapoto town in northern Peru are believed to have been possessed by evil spirits.

The students have reportedly been experiencing intense seizures, widespread convulsions and abrupt fainting. They were also seen screaming and appearing delirious.

What's more terrifying is the fact that the schoolchildren experienced bizarre hallucinations, where they saw a man dressed in black trying to murder them.

According to a report from The Mirror, local media initially stated that the students had been suffering from a "contagious condition" since last month.

A medical practitioner from the area, Doctor Antony Choy, however, told Panamericana TV that his team could not find a scientific reason behind the students' unusual behavior.

"We don't understand how this has kept on going on. We know it started on 29th April and now it is still happening. Now there are almost 80 pupils [still affected]," Choy told The Mirror.

Parents of the schoolchildren believed to have been possessed by the demon are both worried and baffled by what has happened to their kids.

"She fainted in school," one of the mothers was quoted as saying, in describing the condition of her daughter. "They didn't say anything at the hospital. She just fainted. She keeps on spitting froth from her mouth."

One of the students who supposedly underwent mass possession recalled the terrifying ordeal she went through.

"It's disturbing for me to think about it. It's as if someone kept on chasing me from behind. It was a tall man all dressed in black and with a big beard and it felt like he was trying to strangle me," she said.

"My friends say I was screaming desperately, but I don't remember much," she added.

Another anonymous girl, aged 13, also reported almost the same vision of a man in black.

"Several children from different classrooms fainted at the same time. I got nauseous and started vomiting. I heard voices. A man in black chased me and wanted to touch me," she also told The Mirror.

Franklin Steiner, a parapsychologist who investigates paranormal and psychic phenomena, attributed these supposed possessions to the fact that the school was built on a Mafia graveyard.

"It is known that years ago there were many victims of terrorism here. When this school was built, some say bones and dead bodies were found," he explained.