By Tim Binnall
A Dutch man lost his job as a substitute teacher at an elementary school after it was discovered that he had been forcing students to watch horror films, including The Exorcist. The strange case reportedly came to light last week when administrators and police were contacted by parents who were concerned about what their kids said were "creepy" movies being shown in class. A subsequent investigation found that a substitute teacher had been terrifying the tots, aged seven to nine, with unnerving films that he surreptitiously screened for them while they were eating their lunch.
Among the frightening fare chosen by the teacher were the classic horror films The Exorcist as well as the sci-fi hit District 9. As one might imagine, parents were not too thrilled with the man's 'lesson plan' as one angry father explained that some of the kids would "run to the corridor to hide" while others "didn't want to go back to class" and many reported experiencing nightmares from having seen the movies. Even worse, children who complained about being scared were said to be mercilessly mocked by the substitute.
In what one might call an undeniable case of consciousness of guilt, the teacher had instructed the children not to tell anyone about seeing the films at school and, amazingly, had devised a setup wherein the movie would switch to a more kid-friendly movie, such as the Pink Panther, should another adult enter the room. "He knew very well what he was doing," the head of the school declared to parents in a letter explaining the situation which, understandably, led to the substitute being summarily dismissed when his highly unprofessional conduct was discovered.