BEIJING: A middle-aged man in southern China has been locked up at home for more than 30 years because his parents believed he was being possessed by ghosts, mainland media reports.

The unnamed man, aged 39, had been detained at home in Beihai, Guangxi province by his parents since childhood.

The parents claimed that he became abnormal after he ran away at age 6 and was taken by an unknown person to a house that was being exorcised, the news portal Kankannews.com reported.

His mother Li Lianying told the news website that after he returned home, she and her husband decided to lock the boy up after he started running in the streets and eating neighbours’ food.

The man called her mother until he was 12 years old, his mother said.

A video circulated online recently showed the man shouting through a barred window.

The man, with a pale face and slim body, lives in a dark, damp room, according to the report .

Li said she and her husband took care of their son’s day to day needs but they had no other alternative but to keep him locked up at home.

A local hospital and psychiatric centre has now intervened and are assisting the man, the report said. – South China Morning Post