THERE were a few scary surprises for the intrepid folk who braved the Alton Hallowe’en ghost walks on Sunday – for as darkness set in they were met by characters with some spooky tales to tell.

Organised by Alton Town Council, they were led by Jonathan Fost, who runs Portsmouth-based Dark Encounters and who conducted three walks – a not-so-scary one for the family, and two for adults with a ghostly figure around every corner.

Jonathan said: “We had a good crowd for each of the walks and, of course, for the family one we let the children interact with their own ideas and stories.

“The adult ones we walked to key areas of the town such as the parish church and the churchyard and historic houses and pubs, and on the way I arranged for several ghosts from the past, actors from my company, to jump out and talk to them.

“They met an innkeeper who had stories about The Crown pub, where he used to work several centuries ago, a rat catcher who spoke of how important his work used to be, and of the houses he had been called to, and a grey lady by Flood Meadow who had a ghostly story to tell.”

All three walks were deemed a success and created a real chill, not only in the ghostly sense but because, he added, “we were freezing as it was a very cold evening!”.