STAFF at York Dungeon have been accused of carrying out satanic rituals and abusing children, only days before its alternative Christmas grotto opens to the public.

The serious accusations were contained in a small number of letters, received alongside strong letters of objection from members of the Christian community, about Satan's Grotto, which opens at the Clifford Street attraction on Monday.

The grotto will feature a horned "Pan figure" instead of Santa Claus, who will encourage visitors to eat lots of food, spend lots of money and live a life of excess this Christmas.

Visitors will also be invited to sign away their souls in exchange for everything they desire.

Esme Walker, duty manager at the dungeon, said Satan's Grotto - a play on the words Santa's Grotto - aimed to challenge people about the true meaning of Christmas and raise questions about what Christmas has become.

But it has outraged many Christians, and earlier this month the Evening Press reported that church leaders across the city had signed a letter of opposition to the grotto.

Miss Walker, who said letters were arriving daily, said: "The majority state that they do not agree with what we are doing, and why, and thank us for reading their letter.

"Some are not so nice, and suggest that we are involved in satanic rituals and abuse of children.

"The whole premise of the dungeon is to educate in a fun way.

"For most people Christmas has become nothing to do with the Christian festival - people shop, they eat too much and they live to excess, and we are challenging that.

"All children must be supervised by an adult before they come in and nobody will be forced to do anything.

"We are not performing satanic rituals or abusing children, I can't imagine that anyone actually believes that."

Bestselling author Graham Taylor, the former vicar of Cloughton, near Scarborough, said the idea of the grotto was very offensive to him. But he said some of the letter writers were going too far.

He said: "I think anybody accusing dungeon staff of satanic abuse is slightly misguided. I don't think anybody at the York Dungeon will be involved in Satanism and it's ridiculous to even say that.

"People involved in Satanism keep themselves very much to themselves and they keep everything that they do extremely private.

"They would not be advertising."

Updated: 10:56 Saturday, December 11, 2004