GHOSTLY shrieks and howls echoed round night time Tavistock as a group of amateur entertainers brought the town’s history alive in a spooky way.

The informal group Tavistock Edge created the guided trail walk called A Ghost Walk with Abbot Lyfling ­— actually town historian Simon Dell dressed up and meet fellow characters such as Sir Francis Drake and the Duke of Bedford, in scary make-up and imagainative costumes by the talented Alison Wright.

The event, on the eve of Halloween, started at the Bedford Hotel with a cream tea and ended there for a drink after the spectral reincarnation of some of the town’s most famous people.

Retired pharmacist Hilary Wilsher, alias Lady Howard, accused of murdering her four husbands, took part. She said: ‘The idea is to learn the truth, myth and legend about our past by meeting characters factual, fictional and frightening, in a fun but different way.’