Spooky goings on in Toyland shock!

TOYLAND WAS ROCKED TODAY by howling winds, dark clouds and strange events scaring even the land's most fearless characters.

It started this morning when items in the House of Bramble Department Store cafe fell over without anyone touching them. Witness Monsieur Meow, the French chef, said, 'Eet waz abzolutely terrible, zee whole room was shaking and err we did not know why! Zee sundaes made an awful mess on zee floor! Zut alors! Il etait vraiment effrayant'. M. Meow was clearly so terrified that he couldn't bring himself to finish his sentence in English.

The owner of the cafe, Barry Bramble, was skeptical. 'What do you mean ghosts? It's absolute nonsense, where I grew up in Wolverhampton things were always falling over without touching them, but that might have just been things falling apart. That's all I've got to say about that. Ooh it's suddenly gone very cold I ought to go and put on a thicker pair of yellow dungarees!'

King Chris tried to calm his people down. 'I'm not afraid of anything. That cafe nonsense was down to Hurricane Julie, the cleaner who always knocks over toys when she comes! Where did this ghost business come from?' We then told Chris that Julie didn't come today because she had to take Abbi to the wart clinic. 'What? Julie wasn't here? Eeeeeek!' The King's voice then went very high pitched as his brown furry face went pale.

Just across the road on Sunshine Avenue, the Hatton Farm Village was also said by some to be haunted. Mrs Dalmation was taking the Sylvanian nursey children on a class trip to the petting farm when she popped into the gift shop to buy some pumpkin pie. 'I just felt something strange, like there was someone else in the shop with me who I couldn't see... Then when I got back into the coach and sat down, I felt someone tugging on my spotty ears, which the children sometimes like to do. When I turned round to see who it was though there was no-one there! Just baby Freya sleeping away.' This raises the question of whether Toyland is being haunted by ghosts!

In Boston, toys took a more light hearted approach to Hallowe'en. Marissa Cooper is from California, USA, where Hallowe'en is a highly profitable day of the year. 'Oh yes I am going trick or treating tonight! I'm going to knock on all the doors in Toyland and ask for candy! That shouldn't take long!' Marissa then showed us her costume. She will be going as Marie Antoinette, the French queen who had her head chopped off and is now the subject of a new Hollywood film. 'Because I am like a movie star!' Marissa beamed. 'We will also be carving Jack-o-Lanterns [pumpkins - ed]! Marissa's friend Sabrina Spellman loves Hallowe'en even more that her cool California college friend.

'I am going as a black cat!' she announced, to no-one's surprise. Sabrina's dress has black cats on it. 'I will also be doing magic spells! So watch out!'

Even King Cheeky has been getting into the spirit (hee hee!) of things. 'Have you noticed how its suddenly getting all dark in the middle of the day? I don't think that's just coincidence! Also yesterday all of the clocks in Toyland suddenly went wrong! We were told they had gone an hour too fast! I say, there've been strange, strange goings on in Toyland!'