In a weird incident, blood-stained footprints were found in most of the houses in a village in Kandhamal district on Friday, creating panic among the residents.
The incident was reported in Dimiriguda village under Phiringia block in the tribal district on Thursday. The villagers found the footprints allegedly of a baby on the floors of houses. They were shocked to find the footprints that clearly indicated the baby’s entrance to houses, but they did not see any footprints indicating exit from the houses.
Believing emergence of goddess Pitabali in their area, the villagers began worshipping the deity since Thursday.
According to reports, after witnessing annual festival of goddess Pitabali, who is the village deity, at the temple from 9 pm till midnight, the devotees and the priest had returned to their houses. It was believed that the priest had premonition in his dream at night predicting things of what the future might bring. In the morning, the priest rushed the temple where he found blood-stained footprints of a baby on the floor.
The priest also found similar footprints in front of his house. The footprints were also found in around 50 houses.
After the priest told the villagers about his premonition, they started worshipping the deity in their houses.