Brighton Toy Museum to display spooky toys for Halloween

Alongside the more conventional dolls houses and model cars at Brighton Toy Museum, there are objects and creations that would certainly be left hidden at the bottom of any child’s toy box.

With its ghastly grin, beady eyes and pale hands clutched around a broomstick, the green-faced witch, for example, has long since haunted staff and visitors alike.

“The museum is obviously full of fabulous stuff, but in amongst all of that we have some more creepy objects,” said Chris Littledale, the founder and director of the museum.

In amongst these nightmarish knickknacks are petrifying puppets, wicked witches and demon dogs

Many of the hair-raising artefacts date back to the Victorian period, a time in which Chris said there was a fascination around the notion of “the grim”.

Among these nightmarish knick-knacks are petrifying puppets, wicked witches and demon dogs, dating as far back as the 17th century.

Chris said: “We have Punch and Judy and Grimaldi, a famous Victorian clown.

“We have a quite large French bulldog. It is Victorian and made of papier-mâché and it’s quite large. It has the most evil looking face, you pull it along and its mouth opens.

“I don’t know what kind of kid you would give this to, but I think that kid would never have gone to sleep because it really does look evil.”

Edwina the wicked witch.

While all these monstrous miscreants may cause you a fright, the sight of the creepy doll collection may surpass them all.

“In among the dolls is Crazy Alice and my God that is scary. It is again a classic Victorian wax doll. Some of the wax dolls have such eerie faces and I can’t imagine any kid wanting them,” said Chris.

The unsettling ensemble of toys have been put together by curators at the museum as part of a new family half-term trail, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

All tickets must be prebooked from the museum website at https://www.brightontoymuseum.co.uk/