This teenager agreed to be buried alive to cure crippling back pains after she was struck by lightning.
Ana Ballesteros, 18, was covered up to her neck for three days a week in her garden.
The bizarre home cure saw her placed in a giant hole which was filled with earth.
Relatives believed this would “take the energy” the lightning left in her.
The teenager was struck by a bolt as she walked to college recently.
She was treated in hospital but continued to suffer back pain she claimed prevented her from walking properly.
She began quirky ‘therapy’ sessions – which involved her being buried for up to four hours a day over three days.
Ana said: “Doctors study medicine but not lightning.
“I know that getting into that hole I’m going to get better because these are ancient things.”
Her gran Blanca de la Rosa said: “What we’re doing is taking the fire out of the light, the heat out of the energy.”
Ana’s mum Milena added: “Locals told me before I took her to hospital that we’d be better off burying her instead to take the energy from the lightning away.
Walter Gomez, who works out of a clinic in the regional capital Monteria, admitted there were a lot of ancient beliefs among the community about how to cure storm victims including burial.
But he added: “There’s no scientific proof that burying a patient who has been struck by lightning has any beneficial effects for their recovery.”
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