02 Jul Village’s giant leap from tranquil to terrifying

They’re lurking behind lamp-posts, crouching in tree-tops and prowling the streets — as Halloween looms, hundreds of ghouls, gargoyles and long-legged nasties have begun to invade a remote West Cork village.

The horrible host began to gather last weekend and, as the days passed, more mammoth monstrosities, including a huge dragon, a giant man-eating spider and a nightmarish sea-monster, clambered their way onto the streets of Leap.

Over the weekend, it’s warned, this normally picturesque rural village will be bursting with everything from a Witches’ Dance to a dire display of stomach-churning bugs, skulking skeletons, and cadaverous critters, along with the usual array of blood-soaked, axe-wielding, gory figures straight from your worst nightmare.

For the third year in a row, the hugely imaginative homemade Halloween figures which have made the Leap Scarecrow Festival such a success, are being created by a mix of local artists and village residents who are not artists by profession, but simply interested in catching the eye of visitors to the village.