A single-use plastic bag

If you really want to cause a fright at this year's Halloween get-together, roll up as a plastic grocery bag and wait to hear the screams. Real talk: Non-biodegradable plastic in the French Broad River is pretty scary.

Chain restaurant food

We sure like our local grub here in the 828. With restaurants serving up the best tapas + small plates and the most amazing local cheeseburgers, there is absolutely no room for even a kids meal-sized anything. Grab a whole lotta tin foil, wrap yourself up as a Chipotle burrito, and scare all the neighborhood children.

The Pink Lady

Does it get spookier than the Pink Lady, haunter of Room 545 at the Omni Grove Park Inn? For the uninitiated, the Pink Lady fell from a fifth-floor balcony of the hotel in the 1920s, and possibly was pushed. Get yourself a pink ballgown, get into character, and boom, scary Halloween.

A hotel developer

Dress up in this costume at your own risk, lest the neighbors run you out of town. Microhousing? Sure. Even more Devil's Foot manufacturing? Please. But a big new hotel is the stuff of many Ashevillian's nightmares.

A broken East Fork Pottery mug

Goodbye, $40. Goodbye, limited-edition seasonal color. We're spooked just thinking about the possibility of The Mug from East Fork Pottery lying on the kitchen floor in shards.

Light beer

With so many breweries around Asheville (there's ~55 — here's the ultimate list), we forget there's any other option to be had. True fear is seeing a can of Budweiser or Miller walking around town Halloween night.

A litterbug

Picture this: You're cruising down the Blue Ridge Parkway when the driver in front of you rolls down the window + pitches some trash into the mountains. Is there a bug out there that would make you scream more than a litterbug?

Couples costume: a bear + a trash can

Can you say true love? Our local bears love eating trash as much as our locals love protecting bears. We're not sure if this one would spook Asheville as much as it might delight Asheville.