You’d think that Elvira, Mistress of the Dark , would have plenty of advice on how to spend Halloween . After all, she’s made a career out of highlighting the spooky and macabre.

But think again. “I haven’t done anything but work on Halloween for the last 38 years, except when I had a baby in 1994,” she said recently while preparing for appearances this weekend at the Chiller Theater convention in Parsippany, N.J. “When people ask me what I’d like to do, I’m like: anything but work!”

Fortunately, I found some others with horror in their bones to share recommendations on how to spend the scariest night of the year. The responses have been condensed and edited.

Paul Tremblay

Halloween is a time when I dip into short stories. I’d pair two of my favorite modern collections with classic collections.