A TOTAL of 110 new employees have been taken on to help Alton Towers cope with its busiest fortnight of the season.

Staff have been recruited temporarily to help the theme park cope with a surge in visitor numbers during its annual Scarefest, which launched on Saturday.

The resort will extend its opening hours to 9pm every night until November 1 to meet the increased demand.

More than 100 people applied to work as actors whose sole intention is to 'spook' the thousands of guests celebrating Halloween at the Moorlands resort.

Catering staff, ride operators and retail workers have also been appointed.

And Towers bosses are delighted the attraction has not suffered from a reduction in visitors because of the recession.

Numbers are comparable with 2008, when 2.5 million thrill-seekers visited the park.

And attendance levels are anticipated to increase over the next few weeks.

A spokesman for the venue said: "This season has been a very positive year with our new addition Sharkbait Reef and we are expecting this to continue throughout Scarefest.

"We have recruited 110 employees especially for the event including creepy characters for the Halloween attractions across the resort."

The park currently has 2,500 positions during the summer, although the figure falls to 800 during the winter.

However, the 2009 season has been extended to include an 'adrenalin week' when 10 roller-coasters are available to ride for £10.

The spokesman added: "Adrenalin week will follow Scarefest and then we will be looking forward to our exciting festive Christmas event."

In keeping with the Halloween theme, rooms in The Alton Towers Hotel have incorporated special 'trick or treat' suites while a ghost hunt will take place at Splash Landings.

And in line with its image as a home for the supernatural, the theme park was last week voted the second most haunted place in the country.

A survey of 140 different locations and 22,000 visitors discovered The Lady in Black – said to wander the corridors of the towers themselves – was England's second-most seen ghost.

In the past three years, four people have reported seeing the apparition, compared to 32 people who claim to have witnessed the ghoulish figure of Queen Matilda at Oxford Castle.

The survey was organised by Fright Nights, which organises events at various locations, including Alton Towers.

Ian Lawman, a former medium on Living TV's Most Haunted show, now works for Fright Nights.

He explained: "The Lady in Black has been spotted several times walking the corridors of the towers and as she glides by a faint smell of sweet perfume has been noted.

"One visitor in the 1950s saw her peering out from an upper floor window before disappearing. Another time during the 1980s one of the Towers staff asked her to leave the building – only when she disappeared in front of them did they realise the truth."