A practitioner at an international witchcraft conference in Norway last year

Parents are being extra vigilant, pupils are walking to school in big groups and some press reports have added to the tension.

The police say that there's no evidence to suggest a link to the dark arts and say kidnapping has fallen but the country is still gripped by fear.

The abduction and murder of 11year old school girl Ananda Dean in September seems to have been the catalyst for concern over crimes against women and girls.

Since then the news headlines have been reporting nearly daily claims of attempted kidnappings and rapes that have left many people scared.

Many of the cases in recent weeks have turned out to be hoaxes.

Centuries-old

However some church figures say the horrific nature of some of the crimes have the hallmarks of the occult.

Neville Owens is Pastor of the Love and Faith World Outreach Ministries in Kingston and says the practice is part of the island's history.

He told the BBC: "Jamaica has been very steeped into witchcraft, obeah and the occult for numbers of years centuries.

"A lot of our ancestral past from Africa is mixed into what we call religion and church practices today that's how deep witchcraft and occult practices is into our culture in Jamaica."

Religious leaders have pointed to the burning of bodies and the kidnapping, killing and mutilation of some of the child victims as signs of ritualism.

Detectives say they are looking into all possible leads but say that the occult isn't a likely explanation.

"Out of proportion"

Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington says the media are partly responsible.

"I don't think it's anything to do with the occult practices, I think its just a matter of people pushing rumours and whoever will take it will be fed it."

The police say they're now getting so many false reports of abductions and rapes that it's putting the force under strain.

Senior officers say that they're investigating all the cases and are urging people to be vigilant but say the problem is being blown out of proportion.

They say the number of abductions is falling, so far this year they've dealt with 57 cases. In 2007, they had 125.

Jamaica has one of the highest murder rates in the Western hemisphere with roughly 1,500 murders per year.