It seemed a good idea to tell the kids to hide behind the bars when the boy went berserk. Glue sniffing was the first suspicion but when we found the numbers appearing all over his skin, a priest was summoned. 666 isn't the kind of thing you normally expect to see on young skin, measles, chicken pox, blackheads, sunburn is a yes. But numbers? That was plain weird.

The exorcist prayed, sprinkled holy water and blessed the boy by putting his hand on his forehead. 666 kept appearing until there wasn't a millimetre of untouched skin.

Then, just to confuse us all, blood appeared on his wrists and stigmata appeared.

News travelled around the town and crowds gathered, roadside shrines appeared, plastic rosaries and photos of the boy were sold in every shop.

We never did find out what happened.

One day the boy disappeared with his entire family. And all the church funds.