Welcome to a very spooky Friday.

☀️ Today's weather: Sunny. High of 80, low of 47.

🎧 Sounds like: "Psycho Killer" by Talking Heads.

🎂 Happy birthday to our member Barry Whiteman!

⏰ Situational awareness: Tomorrow is the last day of in-person early voting and the day before the clocks fall back an hour at 2am Sunday.

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Today’s newsletter is 1,080 words — a 4-minute read.

From uninvited wedding guests to a long-dead movie theater manager who never clocked out, Richmond's history is alive and well — perhaps a little too alive.

Why it matters: Halloween is upon us, so we're digging up local ghost stories that might make you believe in things that go bump in the night — or ghostly fingers brushing against your flesh.

Driving the scare: These aren't old ghost stories. They're accounts from locals who swear they've seen, heard or felt the unexplained.

• Here are some to haunt your weekend:

👰🏻‍♀️ The wedding crasher: Guests at Chesterfield's Magnolia Grange venue have spotted a woman in Victorian clothing silently watching weddings from the second-floor landing.

• And she's not alone: A visiting medium reported seeing a brooding man in black downstairs. NBD.

📸 The boy in the photograph: Visitors to Chesterfield's Castlewood have reported hearing children's laughter and footsteps upstairs — even when nobody's there.

• Lore links the hauntings to a former owner's son who died — and whose reflection reportedly showed up in a newspaper photo decades later.

☕️ The brunch guest from beyond: If you've ever been to Helen's in the Fan, you might have shared a meal with someone who's been dead nearly 60 years: Helen Donati, the daughter of the family that opened the restaurant in 1935.

• Staffers have reported flying coffee pots and mugs, plus a woman floating into a booth.

🎬 The manager who never clocked out: Robert Coulter ran Carytown's Byrd Theatre for 43 years, until 1971. Apparently, even death couldn't keep him away.

• He's reportedly been spotted in his favorite balcony seat, only to vanish when approached — and is not to be confused with the little girl haunting the women's restroom — who has been heard laughing.

The bottom line: Richmond has no shortage of ghosts — including an unsettling number of creepy children. Sweet dreams.

Keep reading for one more

Some Richmond-area residents are buying less candy this Halloween or rationing treats. Others are stocking up on more than 1,000 pieces.

Why it matters: Candy prices are soaring, and how much Richmonders buy depends on where they live, Axios' reader survey found.

By the numbers: Over a third of the 182 respondents said they're buying less candy, switching to cheaper brands or giving out fewer pieces per kid.

• Another 45% aren't changing their plans.
• Nearly two-thirds are spending $50 or less, a quarter budgeted $51-$100 and only four are spending more than $200.
• One Henrico resident is buying two-thirds of their usual amount and swapping some chocolate for cheaper fruit snacks.

The big picture: With Halloween on Saturday, some residents are expecting bigger crowds.

• A Museum District newcomer heard they'll need 1,000 pieces of candy to survive Halloween night.
• A Hanover Avenue resident said they hand out over 1,200 pieces annually.
• One Chesterfield neighborhood attracts at least 500 trick-or-treaters, a resident said.

Meanwhile: Sue L., a Southside resident, said trick-or-treaters have dwindled every year.

• Five respondents blamed trunk-or-treat events or families flocking to Halloween hot spots for fewer kids knocking.

The bottom line: One Hanover resident has a bigger concern: Who's going to eat the leftovers now that their kids have moved out?

Full story

A woman was shot yesterday outside Virginia GOP headquarters in downtown Richmond. Police say she was a bystander in a dispute at a nearby hair salon, unrelated to the election, and suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Another woman was arrested. (AP)

⚡️ Dominion Energy wants to add $10 to $13 to monthly electric bills starting March 2027 to recover costs from Virginia's return to a regional carbon emissions program. (Virginia Mercury)

• State-funded bill credits are expected to offset nearly all of the increase, pending regulatory approval.

🤖 A former Chesterfield official who helped negotiate Google's $9 billion data center investment now works for the tech giant as a data center site scout. (The Richmonder)

💧 Henrico broke ground on the first mile of a 13-mile water line that's part of a $300 million effort to prevent another water crisis. (VPM)

• The project, intended to reduce the county's reliance on Richmond's water supply, is expected to finish by 2031.

Welcome to a packed Halloween weekend lineup.

Friday

🚢 Eerie Canal Cruises return with spooky boat rides along Richmond's historic canal. Friday-Sunday. Every half hour from 5-8:30pm. $6.

Saturday

🐶 CONEX Spooktacular has a family Halloween party with a dog costume contest, bounce house and candy. 11:30am-8pm. Free.

🎃 Scott's Addition is having a Pumpkin Festival at CarMax Park with hayrides, inflatables and food. Noon-6pm. Free.

🪩 VITCO is hosting a Halloween Day Party with DJs Markus Gold, J. Kirven, OhEmGhi and more. 1-7pm. Tickets start at $6.64.

🏠 Hill-O-Ween at Libby Hill Park is back with its annual costume parade with a map of Church Hill's spookiest houses. 5-5:30pm. Free.

💀 All Saints Theater Company's annual Halloween parade starts at Monroe Park. 7pm. Free.

Full list, including a Día de los Muertos celebration with Abuelita's

Still scrambling for a Halloween costume? Dress as something only Richmonders would understand, like:

🏢 The Mayor Avula cutout at City Hall: Wear a dark blue button down, gray pants and a belt then recreate the "Navigating City Hall" sign above.

🐶 Lou DiBella and his tiny dog Topolina: Find a Flying Squirrels jersey and black-rimmed glasses to channel DiBella, the team's owner, and a stuffed dog to play his small but feisty sidekick, Topolina.

📸 A Flock camera: Wear black, attach a cardboard camera to your head and carry a "CANCELED" sign.

Keep reading for the $60,000 DPU bill and sidewalk chicken bone

😬 Karri once went to a wedding at Magnolia Grange and was so afraid of the ghost stories that she made people go to the bathroom with her all night.

🍿 Sabrina loves the reader who wrote in saying they never skip buying Halloween candy anymore because the year they did, trick-or-treaters showed up — and got microwaved popcorn instead.

Thanks to Alexa Mencia Orozco for editing today's edition