HALLOWEEN is the traditional times for scares, tricks and mischief and 25 years ago a family of nine Elf Service gnomes were kidnapped from a hospital.

A ransom note attached to the only gnome left behind demanded Black Magic to bring them back safely - in the shape of a box of chocolates.

The Mail, on November 1 in 1994, noted: “The gnomes, who reside in the porters’ garden at the hospital, bring a touch of fun to both staff and patients as they change positions in the garden daily.

“One of them is so old that he had a price-tag of two shillings and nine pence in old money and arrived one day with a message that his mum and dad had been eaten by slugs.”

Hospital porter Clifford Bradley said: “When we arrived at work this morning all but one of them were gone.

“There was just a little note saying that if we left a box of Black Magic chocolates in the garden box they would be returned.”

The following day the hostages were safe at The Mail offices on Abbey Road after some swift intervention by editor Donald Martin.

The Mail, on November 2, noted: “The Mail stepped in to pay the ransom demand and was rewarded when two men, clad in balaclavas, stormed into the office earlier today, dumped a box and made their get-away.

“Inside the box all nine of the missing gnomes were found safe and well.”

Among the Halloween events in 1992 was a costume procession with lanterns along Island Road, on Barrow Island.

The parade was followed by a party and disco.

The festival of Halloween is thought to date back more than 2,000 years and is linked to Celtic god Samhain, lord of the dead and winter.

On October 31 Samhain was supposed to collect the souls of the dead and they took on animal shapes.

In the early Christian era, events on October 31 became All Hallows Eve- with All Saints Day on November 1.

The name of Halloween became established and in the 19th century the festival was spread to the United States by Irish emigrants.