York spook festival plan (From York Press)

York spook festival plan

9:42am Monday 25th October 2010 in Ghosts & UFOs By Julie Hayes, Business editor

FESTIVAL organisers are trying to scare tourists into the city with a new event planned for York’s festival calendar.

The Spooksfest, which is being arranged for March 11 to 13, will celebrate all that goes bump in the night from vampires to UFOs through a range of events and promotions.

Amanda Hayward, from York paranormal investigators In The Company of Ghosts, is organising the festival with guided tour provider Exploring York’s Matthew Greenwood, to fill the gap in York’s events calendar in March, between the Viking Festival in February and Easter.

Amanda said the aim of the festival is to boost footfall in the city centre at a quiet time of the year.

She said: “I intend to get as many people as possible into the city and then get them to move round within the city. There are a lot of these supernatural events throughout the UK but there’s nothing in the North of England. York actually has the badge for being the most haunted city in Europe and everybody’s got a ghost story in York. Ghosts are incredibly popular at the moment.”

She and Matthew are approaching businesses to get on board with the festival and share their ideas, which so far include pub crawls, treasure hunts, séance nights and fortune tellers.

Two events are being held this month to raise money for the festival. In The Company Of Ghosts is holding a ghost hunting event at the York Brewery on October 30 from 8pm to midnight, where guests will learn to use ghost hunting equipment and participate in séances.

Exploring York is also holding a Horrid Histories Family Walk starting from Constantine Statue at the south entrance of York Minster, at 6pm, on October 31.

Phone Amanda on 07501736103 or Matthew on 07981242764 for more information.