Mentalist Derren Brown has officially unveiled his top-secret attraction at Thorpe Park in Surrey – a ghost-train ride that he claims is set to "represent the future for theme parks across the world".

Derren Brown's Ghost Train is based in a 20-metre long, four-and-a-half-metre high, seven-tonne Victorian-style train carriage that is suspended in mid-air three metres off the ground by iron chains.

More than three years in the marking, 1,000 specialists were involved in the development and creation of the ride. The 13-minute-long ride would be the first in the world to utilise virtual reality, with each passenger given a specially created VR headset to wear throughout their journey, which apparently involves several encounters with a host of terrifying characters, plus explosions and temperature changes.

Speaking before the unveiling of the ride, 44-year-old Brown said: "This is their [Thorpe Park's] biggest investment to date. It is the first of its kind anywhere in the world and it is the future I think of what theme park rides will be. It should be terrifying and hart-stopping and thrilling and exciting. It is a complete reinvention of this idea of the ghost train".

The attraction is due to open to the public in Spring 2016.

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