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Halloween is a super spooky occasion. With tradition and customs a plenty, it's a gruesome excuse to dress up, eat pumpkin soup, read Harry Potter and participate in a spot of merrymaking. This year London has, once again, rustled up a deliciously wicked line-up of Halloween events to spice up autumn... The capital’s sightseeing industry duly serves up a gory array of treats this time of year. Happy to escort unwitting revellers to the most sinister corners of the city, their tours promise a particularly hair-raising Halloween. Many of London’s biggest attractions also join in the bloodcurdling fun. Thorpe Park and the London Dungeon have a wonderfully entertaining set of spooky events lined up. While if you want to celebrate Halloween with a touch of bona fide Wicca, the International Halloween Festival may be more down your street.
 Read on for our easy guide designed to help you seek out the best Halloween horrors in London this autumn.  Halloween Fest: London DungeonsThe London Dungeons, Tooley Street, SE1 13th October 2006 - 1st November 2006 London’s grisliest attraction is set to become one of the capital’s top destinations for Halloween revellers as a heady mix of blood-stained vagrants, haggard witches, hooded monks and ghostly ghouls roam the murky caverns of the London Dungeon. London’s nastiest house of horrors has gone to gruesome lengths to craft a rotten raft of Halloween treats. Decked out in a plethora of pumpkins, spider-webs and other Halloween regalia, the dungeons themselves have been transformed into a colourful den. Last year they had an exclusive 'Witches and Warlocks' exhibition. This year festivities will be adopting a more mystic theme. Ghostly looking fortune tellers dressed in creepy, gypsy apparel will make sinister predictions about your future by peering into pools of blood and studying the hazy clouds of a smoky crystal ball. Macabre characters will cackle away and spook unassuming volunteers, while making nasty predictions. Visitors will meet a barrage of hocus-pocus, deadly hexes and Halloween horrors. Children are encouraged to dress in full Halloween gear. Fantastically scary costumes are very welcome and sometimes rewarded. Trick-or-treating will take place in the queue while visitors can have a special Halloween photo taken in honour of the seasonal fun. Halloween is the dungeons' favourite time. It's a wonderful opportunity to increase the gore and fright-factor. 'Halloween Fests' are always received well by the public. This year's gruesome serving promises to be no different. Book tickets Venue: The London Dungeons Address: Tooley Street, SE1 Phone: 020 7403 7221 Date: 13th October 2006 - 1st November 2006 Time: 10:30 – 17:30 Price: £19.95 (Adults), £14.95 (Children) Nearest Station: London Bridge Tube / Rail Halloween Fest: London Dungeons - Information | Hotels near Halloween Fest: London Dungeons   The International Halloween FestivalQueen Mary College, 327 Mile End Road, E1 21st - 22nd October 2006 Two days of hedonistic Halloween merrymaking make this one of the most interesting events on the autumn calendar. Now in its 10th year, the largest pagan festival in Europe with its weird and wild attractions draws in pagans and fascinating experts from around the globe. It’s utterly unique and a fantastic way to celebrate Halloween the authentic way. A giddying line-up of events includes folk and rock music, witchcraft, an elaborate Halloween ritual, free lectures, workshops, information about paganism and a super craft market. The best entertainment comes in the form of Morris dancing. Not the archetypal hopping, prancing and jangling to be seen in summertime on picturesque village greens – this is a much darker affair. The Wild Hunt Morris dance renders the festival silent. A slow beat of drums pre-empts the dancers' entrance. Staves clash and tattered cloaks fly up in a whirl of dizzy motion. It’s impressively dark stuff. The show just seems to get bigger and better each year. This year they will have two headline bands much to the excitement of the wicker world. On the Saturday the stage will be set alight by the wild tunes of Blue Horses, with Woodland performing on the Sunday. You'll also be pleased to know you can recharge your batteries at the bar and sample a real ale or two - the Cobweb Café is a charmingly spooky spot for light refreshment. It’s pretty hardcore Halloween stuff but there’s nothing like celebrating pagan-style over the horror season. Venue: Queen Mary College Address: 327 Mile End Road, E1 Phone: 020 8539 3569 Date: 21st - 22nd October 2006 Time: 12:00 – 20:00 Price: £13 (One Day), £20 (Two Days) Nearest Station: Stepney Green Tube International Halloween Festival - Information | Hotels near International Halloween Festival  Halloween on the CanalLondon Canal Museum, New Wharf Road, King's Cross, N1 29th and 31st October 2006 It’s worth checking out Halloween at the London Canal Museum this autumn. In conjunction with Camden Canals, they have organised a wickedly spooky boat trip through the Islington tunnel. The museum's old boats will be decked out from bow to stern with Halloween decorations. Staff dress up as creepy characters and animatedly entertain all the passengers with gruesome tales. Disappearing into the depths of the long dark tunnel is enough to give the bravest of voyagers the jitters. Expect bloodcurdling sound effects and a number of unwelcome surprises throughout the journey through the 886m pitch black channel. Dazed passengers will emerge the other side on a pretty part of the canal near Upper Street, Islington. Be warned, you’ll have to brave the perils of the tunnel, once again, on your return. Trick-or-treat packs will be handed out and are included in the price. Trips last approximately 50 minutes. The museum itself is also joining in the fun. Ghosts, special lighting effects and heaps of family-orientated Halloween activities are all set to scare visitors senseless. The museum will also open late on these dark, spooky evenings. Admittedly, not what you’d expect at a Canal Museum but still lots of fun. Booking is essential. Venue: London Canal Museum Address: New Wharf Road, King's Cross, N1 Phone: 020 7713 0836 Date: 29th and 31st October 2006 Price: £9.50 (Adults), £7.50 (Children) Nearest Station: King's Cross Tube / Rail London Canal Museum - Information | Hotels near London Canal Museum  Fright Nights 2006: Thorpe ParkThorpe Park,Staines Road, Chertsey, KT16 13th - 31st October 2006 Thorpe Park has recently cranked up the thrill element to appeal to young adults and families with teenagers. Adrenalin junkies can now rocket down over 30 spine-tingling rides. Every year the park celebrates Halloween in wicked style and this year is no different - undergoing a terrifying transformation to welcome in the scare-fest. With a grisly concoction of freakishly bizarre entertainment, it promises to be a whole heap of Halloween fun. The Carnival of the Bizarre is the real highlight. Presented by the world-acclaimed Circus of Horrors, it’s awash with gore galore. Feast your eyes on a grotesque line-up of peculiar performances. Gary Stretch is the world’s stretchiest man, Dan the Demon Dwarf can catch bullets with his teeth and a fantastical aerial act with a terrifying twist in its tail (kids, don’t try this at home). Fifteen-minute shows will run every half hour nightly from 18:00. Check out The Asylum too. It’s a frustratingly scary maze that will have you unwittingly wandering in the dark for hours. The Horror Show also boasts some frighteningly freaky side-shows that will leave your stomach churning. New for 2006, is Se7en - no prizes for guessing what that's all about. Using the Seven Deadly Sins as its inspiration, brave visitors will be invited to enter a terrifying maze. Forced to spurn the forces of evil, you will find yourself lost in a chaotic interactive world of cardinal vices. Thrill-seekers can, of course, also scream their way to ecstasy aboard the park's high octane rides. Braving Colossus, Rush and Nemesis Inferno in the dark, will offer a whole new riding experience. Regular trains run direct from Waterloo to Staines – journey times range from 30-40 mins. A shuttle bus operates from Staines to the park, leaving every half hour. Please be warned, pre-booking is essential to avoid disappointment. This event is not suitable for U12s. Venue: Thorpe Park Address: Staines Road, Chertsey, KT16 Phone: 0870 999 1717 Date: 13th – 31st October 2006 Time: 10:00 – 22:00 Price: £23 (Adults 12+) Nearest Station: Staines Rail Fright Nights at Thorpe Park - Information | Hotels near Thorpe Park  Tim Burton's 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' 3DThe Vue, West End, 3 Cranbourne Street, WC2H October 29th 2006 A typically riotous, wickedly funny and deliciously spooky Tim Burton special, this film is an absolute Halloween classic. The first of its kind back in 1993 when it first hit the big screen, the film has an incredible fan base. Amusingly when it first came out Walt Disney shied from some of the darker content and shafted the film to Touchstone for release instead. Walt Disney never make the same mistake twice. This time they have got in on the grisly Burton action and have remastered an ingenious 3D version planned to be screened in the West End in honour of Halloween and as part of the London Film Festival. For those of you who don’t know the story, it’s a dark serving of really comical fun. The film opens in Halloween Town where the Pumpkin King is finding the repetitiveness of life in the spooky, dark hollows of his kingdom rather droll. Scaring people just doesn’t have the same pizzazz as it once did. One evening he stumbles upon the glittery, colourful, snowy and oh so cheery wonderland of Christmas Town. Finding himself overcome with envy, he hatches a plan, kidnaps ‘Sandy Claws’ as he mistakenly names him, and attempts to impersonate him and Christmas. Rats and shrunken heads appear in stockings while skeleton reindeer skit across the sky. Much to the disappointment of the town dwellers - Christmas just isn't the same with the Pumpkin King in town. The new 3D element will make this already brilliant film even more fantastic. Since its release in 1993 'The Nightmare before Christmas' has snowballed in popularity. An all-time family favourite but also a much-worshipped cult classic, we’re delighted to see it lighting up the screens of Leicester Square once more and this time, it really will be taking us to a new dimension. Venue: The Vue, West End Address: 3 Cranbourne Street, WC2H Phone: 0871 224 0240 Date: 29th October 2006 Time: 15:00 Price: £15 (Adults), £7 (Children) Nearest Station: Leicester Square Tube The Nightmare Before Christmas - Information | Hotels near The Nightmare Before Christmas  Sinister London Coach TourPlunging you deep into the sinister depths of London’s blood-spattered history, this gruesomely garish coach tour is a real treat for Halloween. This terrifying tour will trail its victims around London’s East End and a number of murky riverside neighbourhoods. Dripping with death, despair, torture and execution the tour transports you to places where tourists usually fear to tread. Ghostly graveyards clouded by mist, blood-stained murder sites and the unforgiving ‘gangland’ of London are just a few of the spooky scheduled stops. On a dark, ominous Halloween eve stand on the ‘steps of death’ at the famed riverside execution dock. For part of the tour passengers are safely secured inside a luxury 16-seat mini-coach. On arrival at grisly sites of despair, however, you will get the chance to explore by foot. Experts in the more unusual charms of London, Back-Roads Touring Company, bring a welcome element of individualism, eccentricity and gore to the sightseeing industry. This particular excursion has been ingeniously put together. Incidentally, the tour stops in a haunted pub for a pint on route. We imagine you’ll need it, to steady your nerves! Book Tickets Phone: 020 7437 4370 Time: 18:30 (tour lasts approximately 4hrs 30 mins) Price: £25 (Adults) Travel: Coach from your hotel  Blood and Tears Halloween Walk31st October 2006 Creep round the murky streets of London this Halloween. Gruesome, grisly and gory, London’s brutal history is beset by violence, bloodshed and savage primitiveness. This ghoulish Halloween walking tour is a wonderfully macabre and entertaining way to celebrate this festival. Spine-chilling tales of London’s bloodthirsty serial killers and accounts of gruelling grave-robbings will terrify eager revellers before being led down sinister, gloomy alleyways on the way to blood-stained execution sites. Run by a sole entrepreneur, City Secrets Walks is a fun, spooky and fascinating way to explore London on Halloween. Bursting with bounce and enthusiasm, Declan Mchugh - both tour guide and proprietor - is a hugely dynamic character. A prolific researcher and former actor, he has painstakingly developed some award-winning walks and this one is no exception. Passionate about London, his tours are a great introduction to our vivacious city. This tour promises to be a suitably scary, but entertaining performance. His colourful and abundant knowledge is totally spellbinding. From gruelling horror to a host of fascinating facts – it’s set to be a scream. The Halloween walking tour will start from outside the Barbican Tube station. Your guide will be holding a sign. He does urge all his customers to ring the telephone number given when you book, to check the status of your particular walk. Book tickets Phone: 020 7437 4370 Date: 31st October 2006 only Time: 14:00, 19:00 and 21:45 Price: £6 (Adults) Nearest Station: Barbican Tube  Jack the Ripper Coach and Walking ToursThe legend of Jack the Ripper has tormented Londoners for centuries. This enigmatic murderer terrorised the streets of Whitechapel in the late 19th century. The case has never been solved and, today, the capital hosts a number of delightfully gruesome Jack the Ripper tours, particularly suited to the Halloween season. Theatrical and wonderfully vivid, these tours are well put together and explore, at length, every nasty, gory detail. Ripper hunters can set out on foot or within the safety of a coach. Walking tours are a fun way to get suitably spooked. In the dense darkness of a London night, you’ll find yourself venturing back to 1888, stalking murder sites where the Ripper sought out his victims. Despite the macabre subject matter, the tour guides themselves are fantastic fun. Animated and dramatic, these affordable tours are a wonderful experience. Coach tours are a little more civilised but still wickedly capture the horror and mystery of those sordid nights. It’s a much longer affair, labouring over all the bloodthirsty facts and figures. These tours also call at a wonderfully atmospheric 19th century pub, the Albert, on route. If, by this point, you still have an appetite, you’re encouraged to tuck into a classic serving of English fish ‘n’ chips. We can’t think of anything better! Book tickets Phone: 020 7437 4370 Price: £6 - £20  Thames Murder River CruiseThe Thames suffers from a dark past. Witnessing years of brutality, the murky waters conceal tales of murder and mayhem. This Halloween, dive beneath the surface and expose the sordid secrets of our river. Thames Luxury Charters are celebrated for their rather swanky collection of boats and each year they put together a wonderfully entertaining murderous lunch cruise. Gruesome and gory it’s a wicked recipe for Halloween madness. Feast on a mouth-watering buffet or afternoon tea while listening to horrific anecdotes. For many years Chinese Opium Dens operated on the river banks shrouded by Victorian London’s swirling fog, while in the 60s ferocious gangland wars erupted. As the vessel glides downstream, passengers catch a ghostly glimpse of the striking Old Naval Hospital in Greenwich and the site of the Docklands’ Murders - a particularly foul string of riverside slayings. Thames Luxury Charters have done their research well and this fiendish tour is an acceptably grisly addition to London’s Halloween line-up. Delightfully civilised, it’s a way for more refined individuals to join in with the Halloween mania set to sweep the capital this autumn. With a slap-up meal, posh cruiser and a commentary on the major London sights it’s hard to refuse. Book tickets Phone: 020 7437 4370 Date: Every Saturday Time: 12:00 (the tour lasts 3 hours) Price: £22 (Adults) Travel: Boat from Butlers Wharf Pier, SE1 |
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