Was High School Girl Possessed In Class?

Girl Spoke In Tongues, Made Predictions For Future

PELAHATCHIE, Miss. -- Students at a Mississippi high school said a fellow student spoke in tongues and made grave predictions for her classmates for three days.

Some of those predictions included when students would die.

Pelahatchie High School students called reporters from TV station WAPT, convinced that an evil spirit had taken over Lashundra Clanton.

"It was disturbing to a lot of students," Pelahatchie sophomore Rob Sparks said.

This week, Sparks said one of his classmates came to school in tears. She was speaking in a deep voice, he said, and sometimes spoke in tongues.

Sparks said Clanton told students about little-known facts in their past and made predictions on how some of them would die.

"It made some students cry and leave school," Sparks said. "Some have not returned yet."

Sparks and his classmates said they think an evil spirit possessed the girl. They were so convinced that Sparks and his friends brought Bibles to school and had a devotional.

"Some believe, some don't." Clanton said. "They say it was the devil, but the devil only tells lies. Everything I said was the truth."

Clanton said she admits she spoke in tongues and made predictions for her classmates. But she said it was God speaking through her, not the devil.

"I didn't cuss anyone out," Clanton said. "If it was a demon, I would have tore that school up. I would have thrown desks and everything. I didn't say no cuss words at all."

Pelahatchie school officials wouldn't comment, but Clanton's mother said the school had counselors and a youth pastor talk to her daughter.

Joyce Spann said she believes God is using her daughter to touch students at Pelahatchie High School.

"They said they didn't know what to do," Spann said. "They didn't know how to handle the problem and they really didn't come up with a solution."

Sparks' father said he's unsure what to believe about Clanton's experience. But he said that school officials should have told parents about what happened. Instead, they heard it from their children.

"It disrupted class, and I think they could have done a little bit better," Clint Sparks said.

Clanton continues to go to class. She said God hasn't spoken through her since Wednesday.

Her mother said the school didn't punish her daughter, though officials warned her that if she disrupts class, they will send her home.