York in northern England is a historic city with a long tradition of spooky sightings and eerie apparitions.

This Halloween, the city is celebrating its occult connections with ghosts to attract tourists.

The most popular shop is the York Ghost Merchants, with queues stretching down the narrow lane.

Inside this curious old building are handmade ghosts - the recipe is a secret but the ghosts are tough like stone and each one is handmade in the city and no two are ever exactly alike.

There's a lot of theatre in the store, with secret merchandise hidden behind spooky portraits and all of the staff wear Victorian-era outfits.

The original ghosts sell for £18 ($24) each and little ghosts for £9 ($12) - but the rare and collectable ghosts can sell for upwards of £60 ($79).

The ghosts are a little souvenir from York and have proven popular with tourists from all around the world.

But if these cute little ghosts aren't sweet enough for you then how about a chocolate replica?

Bettys Tea Rooms is collaborating with the York Ghost Merchants, creating their own chocolate ghosts.

Bettys in York even has its own ghost story - there is a legend that the ghost of Bettys' founder, Frederick Belmont, a Swiss emigrant who established the first Bettys tea room in 1919, walks the corridors of the branch.

And to burn off the calories from the chocolate ghosts, how about taking a walk around the city to go ghost spotting?

There are now lots of businesses offering tours, but the Original Ghost Walk of York was the first to offer this service.

For 44 years, Mark Graham has been treading the streets of York telling spooky tales and scaring visitors on his ghost walk.

In the street behind the York Minster cathedral, a haunting occurred that is one of Mark's favorite stories.

He recounts how a plumber friend was standing on a ladder fixing a pipe when suddenly the specter of a Roman soldier appeared out of the wall.

"He screamed, fell off his ladder, scampered into a corner and watched as at least 20 Roman soldiers walked through this wall," Graham said.

His friend's story was not believed, but just over ten years after the event, archaeologists discovered the remains of a Roman barracks near the site of the haunting.