India, Oct. 24 -- Later, when the music is down and the snacks are gone, switch off every light, put one candle on the table and ask the oldest person in the room for a story. Chances are, that is the part everyone will remember.

The fan would slow to a stop, the inverter would beep its last, and someone's nani would pull the candle closer before beginning, "Ek baar ki baat hai." Every ghost story worth remembering began in a power cut like that. This Halloween, those stories make far better costumes than plastic fangs and pointed hats.

The last passenger

Dust the face with a little cocoa powder for a sepia, old-photograph look, dress in something from a grandparent's trunk and carry a battered suitcase with a yellowed ticket dated 195...