Be prepared to be scared senseless when a new ride opens at Peter Pan's Adventure Island.

Beelzebob, which cost £2 million to build, is on track to open at the Southend seafront amusement park on September 2.

The new family ride will give thrill-seekers the latest in creepy rides..

Visitors will be led into a purple witch's house where they will take a train along a route where hand-painted monsters leap out and witches laugh.

The Beelzebob ride is still in its early stages, but Ted Lewin, marketing manager at Peter Pan's, said the tracks for the train were already in place and artist Paul Clapp, of Clapp Signs, Southend, had moulded several of the scary monsters, ready to be painted.

Mr Lewin said: "Paul has done a fantastic job, he has made all the mechanics that make the monsters leap out and he will be painting them later. They all look wonderful."

The amusement park's other new ride, the Fireball, is proving to be one of the most popular rides on the seafront.

The ride, which has 1,500 lightbulbs fixed on it, opened in March.

Mr Lewin said: "It's a spectacular sight at night and already it is one of our most popular rides."

Owner, Philip Miller has announced he is joining forces with Southend Council for a series of spectacular firework displays in the autumn.

The displays will start on Saturday, September 11, and continue every Saturday until November, 6.

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