The dark art of filling the dancefloor was demonstrated to full effect in Helston on Saturday night, when more than 5,000 free spirits of the night partied until 6am at the Halloween Masked Ball.

The event, once again at Flambards, has always weaved a special kind of magic and this year's voodoo-theme will have brought even more people under its spell – and probably left a few people feeling like zombies by the morning.

With around a dozen venues and stages, and more witch doctors, high priestesses and voodoo dolls than you could shake your juju at, this year’s event raised the ball’s bar even higher.

Europe’s biggest Halloween party, now a permanent fixture in every hedonist’s calendar and the only one to be staged in a theme park, is a spectacle of the warped, the fanciful and the downright devilish.

Although a trickier theme to interpret than previous Halloween Masked Ball propositions, the imagination of the Masked Ball faithful resulted in a cast of dressed-up demons that would fit in with any Hammer House of Horror production.

In keeping with the Masked Ball tradition of freaky surprises, the team had once again called on their ghostly creative juices to enhance old venues and create new venues summoned from the depths of the underworld.

Voodoo Island saw deep grooves from some of the finest DJs in the south west while the chomp, pomp and cheese of the 1980s reigned supreme in Fangz. Hospitality saw all the biggest names on the UK drum and bass scene shake the gravestones, while The Altar Stage saw surreal and spectacular performances by UK festival favourites Oh, My God It’s The Church and Porthleven’s own boy band Half Kut.

Masked Ball’s master of voodoo, and Cornish Baron Samedi, Kelvin Batt said: “We’ve worked hard this year to make the Halloween Masked Ball full of the surprises for which it is infamous. We’re humbled by our loyal following and to those that throw themselves, with pure abandon, into the event.

“Next year, Arc Live - the production company behind the Masked Balls - has some exciting events and developments planned. We’re putting our decade of experience in running unique parties into some new projects that will be sure to put Cornwall at the top of the list for innovative and inspiring events.”