By Ellie Parker

Edition 86 Team A October 16th 2015 Founded by Ben Owen 2011

The Ancient Ram Inn

By Isabelle Preston

Editorial
Ahh, I love this time of year! Pumpkins, sweets
and of course monsters! Thats right, you
guessed it, this weeks theme is Halloween!
First of all, have you ever wondered what its
like to stay in a haunted house? Read
Hannahs story and find out! Secondly, throwing
a Halloween party? Need some fun drinks to
wash down all the sweets? Well, read Bens
article to find out how to make some delicious
Halloween drinks! Next read Izzy Ps article for
some more Captain Slugpace madness, and
finally read Izzy Bs article for a guided tour
around the facts of the making of Harry Potter!

by Georgina Loring
As this week's theme is Halloween, I decided to do
my article on the ancient Ram Inn, an actual haunted
house (or inn) Anya and I visited!
Even from the outside it looks creepy, with cracked
windows, torn lace curtains and chipped paint, though
since it dates back to the early tenth century this is
understandable! It has now closed, so we couldn't go
in it (not that we really wanted to!) but some
paranormal investigators did and they said that it had
an eerie and even evil feeling to it.
The building was built on a burial mound and two
crossing leylines! (lines that are said to have spiritual
energy, especially when they cross. These leylines
happen to lead to Stonehenge as well!) It was built
near St Mary the Virgin church (used to house
workers who were helping to construct the church)
and what was once an abbey which were all
connected by two, now blocked, tunnels.

All this and more in this issue of Totally

Tockington, the paper written BY students FOR
students.
HAAA HAAA HAA (cue evil laugh!)
Georgina Loring

Many ghosts have been sighted there, including a

witch, a priest/monk, a highwayman, two phantom
cats and a cavalier. It was also used by devil
worshipers. Most ghosts are sighted in the Bishops
room. Also, light orbs, cold spots and strange noises
have been seen/heard. Another extremely haunted
room was the witchs room (where the witch is mainly
sighted). The inn was visited by the television shows
'most haunted' and 'ghost adventures' (I couldn't
review them, because I was too scared! It really is a
horrible place!)

Editor Team A
And a Comment from our Editor-in-Chief
BOO! Its nearly Halloween- the scariest night
of the year! So I hope youve got your eyeballs
fixed on our super scary edition of TT! This
week, weve got some Halloween-tastic articles
to get your teeth sunk into, such as Anguss
chillingly creepy quiz, and make sure to read
Jeannes amazing article on where pumpkins
came from!

Is it really haunted? Nobody knows. My mum saw a

ghost in the house she used to live in, but it's your
choice, do you believe in ghosts?
Acknowledgements
Daily mail
Haunted Rooms
The most amazing haunted and mysterious places in Britain
by Readers Digest

So, from all the journalists of Totally

Tockington, we hope you really enjoy our
Halloween special!
Oh no I can hear someone coming up behind
me I turn around to see
AARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Vampires

It's Pumpkin Time!

by Anya Constantinescu

by Jeanne Vron

We all know about vampires. Well, I hope you do

anyway. The kind that have super-fast speed, can
turn into a bat and drink blood from a living soul, and
thats not all Do you know about how the fantasy of
vampires came to life? No? Well, here it is

Originally Jack O' Lanterns were carved out of turnips

and potatoes in Ireland. Irish immigrants brought the
tradition to the USA, home of the pumpkin, and it
became an part of Halloween festivities.

There was once a man called Dracula who lived in the

middle of a forest in Transylvania (a province of
Romania). He was mean, cruel and nasty, a person
who was perhaps lonely deep down in his heart. But
up above he was sick and evil. He would kill people!
Everyone avoided him in fear of dying and being
killed, so one day the local towns decided to return
the dead to him. They built an army and marched
over to where he lived and killed him. He was then
known as a vampire.

The oldest evidence of pumpkin seeds was found in

Mexico between 7000 and 5500 BC.
10 million pumpkins are grown in the United Kingdom
every year. There are millions and millions of
pumpkin recipes in the world. My favourite one is
about pumpkin muffins which are full of vitamin A!
A gardener in Switzerland produced the heaviest
pumpkin in 2014. It weighed 951 kg which is almost
as much as a small car!
Time for a joke: what is a pumpkin's favourite sport?
Answer: squash!

You can still visit his castle today if you dare!! Its
called Bran castle in Transylvania.

Time to get carving!

Bats
by Elodie Preston

Bats are flying mammals, while other flying mammals

can glide, bats are the only mammals that can flyall
the time. There are over 1000 different species of
bats. Bats are nocturnal and can see in the dark using
echolocation. Bats make noises and wait for the
sound waves to bounce back off objects. If they dont
bounce back, then the bat can safely fly forward. Bats
can tell the distance of objects by how quickly the
sound waves bounce back to them. In Britain all
different bat species and their roosts are legally
protected. This means you are breaking the law if
you: deliberately capture, injure or kill a bat, disturb a
bat in its roost on purpose or deliberately disturb a
group of bats. So watch out!!

If you want to read the story of Dracula by Bram

Stoker, it is a new book in our library. Its a classic
story and a scary one. Not for the faint-hearted- you
need to be a YA to read this book. It is a big, fat book
but why not add it to your reading journey if you are
in Year 8?
You can also get it on your Kindle if you want to be
spooked but it is really a teenage to adult book.

What Are You Afraid Of?

The Haunted House

by Hannah Williams

Staff and Pupils Thoughts

Ruby was sulking in the back of the car because she didnt want
to spend the weekend with her parents in some old house they
had borrowed; it was Halloween, she wanted to be at home so
she could go treat or treating with her friends.

by Rachel Shutt

Staff:
Mr Glanville: Mrs Glanville when she is
hungry and tired.

When they arrived, Ruby looked out of the window at the house
and got a surprised feeling it was very old and very large, in
fact humungous! She was so happy she was here! She ran into
her room, it was humungous too! She unpacked very quickly,
putting all her things into the large old wardrobe in the corner.
The final thing was her massive teddy that would take up a
whole cupboard. She tried pushing it in but it was stuck. She
thought her Dad could help so she went to get him. When they
came back her Dad walked into the room in front of her and said
she had to unpack everything else first. But I already have!
said Ruby, looking around. All the things she had unpacked were
lying in a heap on the bed! Ruby was stunned. Dont worry,
well do it later said her Dad, its time for dinner.

Ms Case: Big Spiders. Masks (they terrify

me). Heights! Balloons popping. Spooky
films.
Mme Veron: RATS and masks of a clown.
Mrs Hinchcliffe: SNAKES!
Mrs Gooch: going to the chocolate drawer
and its EMPTY!!!

The next morning Ruby woke up feeling happy and went down
to breakfast. She sat down and put her cereal in a bowl but
there wasnt enough milk, so she went into the kitchen to get
some. When she returned to her seat, her bowl was on the other
side of the table! Thats strange thought Ruby but at the same
time she was interested and thought she would spend the day
exploring the house.

Mr Spencer: Growing old.

Mrs Glanville: The dark!
Mrs Barron: Rats, hornets and horses.

It was nearly getting dark by the time Ruby reached the attic at
the top of the house. She climbed up and started looking around
it was full of dusty antiques. She was in a corner when
suddenly there was a massive bang which made her jump nearly
out of her skin! She looked around and the door to the attic had
slammed shut. Maybe its Mum or Dad, she thought. She
looked out of the tiny window and realized she could see them
both in the garden! For the rest of the evening she made sure
she was close to Mum and Dad, just in case any other odd things
happened. I think this house may be haunted she thought, but
if it was, it seemed to be a friendly ghost.

Pupils:
Angus: little insects and spiders.
Georgina: crocodiles.
Anya: Spiders and ghosts.
Talia: Pigs.
Dalis: Spiders.

When they arrived home the next day and Ruby was feeling safe
sitting on her bed in her un-haunted room in her un-haunted
house she thought about the strange things that had happened
and decided that maybe the weekend had been better than
going trick or treating after all!

James: Dark closed in spaces

Jonathan: Mum and Dad getting ill.

What a scary story from Hannah! Dont have nightmares!

Maddie: Crabs

The Most Haunted Places in Britain

Harry Potter Special Effects Facts.

By Isabel Browning

by Harry Mather

It took the special effects team 1 WHOLE YEAR to create

the digital Hogwarts Castle for Harrys last battle against
Voldemort!

Castles are among the most haunted places in

Britain. Most castles are very old such as
Windsor Castle and Edinburgh Castle. There is
a huge amount of history in these castles and
this leads to stories about ghosts.

In the first few films the Harry Potter props team made
the Quidditch broomsticks to hold a child about 100-120
pounds, but in the last Quidditch matches they had to redesign the broomsticks because the actors had just about
doubled their weight.

Edinburgh Castle in Scotland has many scary

stories linked to it. One of the scariest tales is
about a piper who was sent to investigate the
tunnels under the castle. The piper was told to
keep playing the bagpipes while walking
through the tunnels so that his friends could
track him. While he was walking through the
tunnels, the music suddenly stopped and the
piper was never seen again! Sometimes the
sound of the bagpipes can be heard within the
castle but without a piper!

The actor that played Voldemort wore tights under his

costume but they kept falling down so he cut the top of his
tights off!
At the Harry Potter studios you can see a scale model of
Hogwarts that was made for the films. All of these were
made for the movies

The Tower of London is home to many ghosts

including the ghost of Anne Boleyn, who was
married to Henry VIII, and was executed at the
Tower of London. This story is a bit grotesque
as the ghost is seen as a headless body
walking through corridors ! Other ghosts at the
castle include the famous explorer, Sir Walter
Raleigh.

60 pairs of glasses,
40 lockets,
Five 32-ton trucks worth of polystyrene rubble,
900 memory vials,
250 paintings and
210,000 coins.

To keep the broomsticks light-weight, aircraft-grade

titanium was used.
Why not take a visit to Harry Potter World in London this
half term?

Windsor Castle is one of the homes of our

present Queen and has lots of ghosts. One of
the ghosts is supposed to be Queen Elizabeth I
and I wonder if the current Queen Elizabeth has
seen the ghost of her ancestor ? Anne Boleyn is
another ghost seen at Windsor Castle and this
time the ghost walks around carrying her head !
I prefer my head
on this way

Visit the website to find out more

https://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/

Hope you dont meet

any of these on
Halloween night!!
Pictures by Jacob
Browning.

Halloween Quiz by Angus Duncan

Hand named entries to Angus for the chance to win chocolate or other yummy stuff

1.

When is Halloween?

2.

Another name for Halloween?

3.

What year will be a full moon on Halloween?

4.

What do most people put outside their

houses on Halloween?
What is it called when you go around houses
for sweets?
What do pumpkins grow on?

5.

6.
7.

5
What is J.K.Rowling famous for writing?

Allens Wiggly Worms

By James & Gemma Allen
Were going to show you how to make slimy Halloween worms
Ingredients: 2 cups of boiling hot water, a big bunch of bendy plastic
straws, 30 grams of powder gelatine, one packet of jelly (we chose
strawberry), a bottle of green food colouring
Step 1: Melt the jelly block in the boiling hot water
and mix it up till there is no jelly left. Leave it to cool
to room temperature
Step 2: Add your packets of gelatine to the jelly and stir till you cant see any
gelatine left
Step 3: Take your straws and pull either side so the
bendy bit expands. Put an elastic band around the
straws and place them in a container so they can
stand up.
Step 4: Get your food colouring (it can be any colour and pour
about 15 drops into the mixture then stir. Then pour it into the
straws (wear some disposable gloves - it can stain) but only
about 2cm worth of the mixture then put it in freezer for 20
minutes .
Step 5: After 20 minutes take it out the fridge then pour the rest
in the straws and put it in the fridge for 3 hours. Take it out of
the fridge, pull the straws from the container and take off
the elastic band. Then put the straws under warm water
for 2 seconds and squeeze out the worms from one
side.
Hey presto! Jelly worms

Sources: You Tube

HALLOWEEN EYEBALL COOLER

by Ben Jacobi
If you are looking for a tasty Halloween drink with a bit of drama, here is a great recipe.
All you need to make a Halloween Eyeball Cooler
A Glass
Ice Cube Tray
Orange Juice
2 tablespoons of Grenadine (per glass)
Raspberries
Lychees

1 Place the lychees in an ice-cube tray. Put a raspberry in each lychee hole. This makes the Halloween eyeball.
Put the ice-cube tray in the freezer for 24 hours.
2 Once the eyeballs have frozen, pour orange juice into a glass.
3 Slowly pour in the Grenadine into the orange juice. The red grenadine will sink to the bottom of the glass,
making it look like fake blood.
4 Remove the lychees from the ice cube tray.
5 Place the frozen lychees into the glass.
Now you have made a Halloween Eyeball Cooler!!

By Isabelle Preston