Duncan Barkes Halloween has gone far too far '“ now that is really scary

Hijacked by yobs, who get their kicks by donning spine-chilling costumes and disrupting the peace, they are enabled in no small way by retailers who sell terrifyingly-grotesque masks more appropriate to hard-core horror movies than the high street.

And I’m not just talking about gangs of boorish teens who enterprisingly use this time of year to get a few quid for a packet of ciggies and a bottle of cider through trick or treating.

I’m also pointing the ghostly finger at the parents and grandparents who insist on dressing up their youngsters in cheap tat and taking them door to door.

This horrible, tawdry and frankly anti-social activity has grown in popularity as part of an increasing desire to emulate the antics of our friends in the United States, where halloween has been infecting society for years.

A quick internet search for halloween costumes reveals a mass of luminous garbage that will cost a fortune, be used once and then chucked in the attic. And some of the spooky togs give real cause for concern.

Jack the Ripper was a serial killer. He butchered and mutilated women and, not content with killing them, he went on to rip out various organs from the bodies.

A halloween costume based on this mass murderer comes complete with cape, butcher’s apron and a knife. Additional items can be purchased; fake blood and ‘throat slash’ make-up.

How very tasteful. All that is missing is a necklace fashioned from a prostitute’s abdomen.

This is where I feel the obsession with halloween has gone too far. Frankly anyone who believes wearing a Jack the Ripper costume is harmless fun has a highly-suspect moral compass.

This ‘celebration’ has taken a sinister turn, as the desire to shock becomes greater and blurs the lines of taste and decency. Trick or treating has become a method of legitimised begging and October 31 is now a night many people dread.

Millions of pounds are spent on promoting child safety, yet we tell our children it’s acceptable to take gifts from strangers.

Children should not be knocking on doors for sweets or money. If you want to celebrate the spirit of the occasion, then bob for apples or make a Jack O Lantern.

And as for adults, if you seriously believe dressing up as a serial killer is ‘getting into the spirit’, I suggest you need to examine your conscience and question your judgment.

Halloween has become an excuse for spite and harassment. I find that nasty fact almost as scary as the ghastly fright masks that are so readily available.