An American master's tell-tale heart

If you want a free, zero-calorie treat destined to put you in a Halloween mood take Edgar Allan Poe off the shelf, head to the library or download some stories.

Edgar Allan Poe's short stories make for the perfect Halloween reading. 

Halloween can be genuinely spooky without going to a haunted house, putting yourself in a sugar haze or redecorating.

Nothing wrong with any of those activities and I often thought one of the perks of motherhood was skimming some of your favorite candy from your kids' treat bags and I like a jack-o-lantern as much as anyone.

Yet, if you want a free, zero-calorie treat destined to put you in a Halloween mood take Edgar Allan Poe off the shelf, head to the library or download some stories.

Light a candle and hush the house. Turn off the phones, email and all devices for 10 minutes and read aloud "The Tell-Tale Heart." The 1843 short story is but six pages in the 1979 Franklin Library edition of "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" sitting on my shelf.

Poe's tight little masterpiece could be found anywhere. The point is to read it out loud, with a candle flickering and in otherwise silence.

If you have forgotten it, or never read it, the background is: a younger man lives with an older man, likely in his employ but possibly a relative. The younger man is spooked by the older man's vulture-like eye, which has a cloud over it. He plots to kill him and here he does:

"In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done. But, for many minutes, the heart beat on with a muffled sound. This however, did not vex me; it would not be heard through the wall. At length it ceased. The old man was dead. I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he was stone, stone dead. I placed my hand upon the heart and held it there for many minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more."

The man, of course, must now figure out what to do with the body. That scene alone is worth reading this out loud, preferably to someone who does not know what is coming.

Though I recommend shutting off devices, if you really want to scare someone, have this set up near you and as you get to the climax of the short story, play this.

Here's to a spooky Halloween.