Six youths dressed in black posing off as ‘grease devils’ are alleged to have entered the Uduwara Tea estate in Badulla and after forcing the female tea pluckers to kneel had performed a devil dance. Estate labourers who were alerted by all the commotion had rushed to the scene had caught the youth who were believed to have been from Halpe and after giving them a sound thrashing had handed them over to the Ella police.Police said a three wheeler used by the youth had been taken into custody. They said some women were injured when fleeing from the grease devils who had also attempted to harm a school girl.The Ella police under the direction of OIC Bandara Ratnayake are investigating the incident.
Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka), 11 August 2011
Photo from the Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka), 11 August 2011
Reports on the Grease Devil story have been numerous: for examples of other accounts, see the Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka), Daily News, Reuters and the Sunday Times (Sri Lanka).
An excellent overview of this long-running and complex phenomenon also recently appeared in The Fortean Times (no.281, November 2011).
Photo from the Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka), 11 August 2011
Reports on the Grease Devil story have been numerous: for examples of other accounts, see the Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka), Daily News, Reuters and the Sunday Times (Sri Lanka).
An excellent overview of this long-running and complex phenomenon also recently appeared in The Fortean Times (no.281, November 2011).
