Oct. 31

  Look, I won't pretend to be stunned by this because it's been going on forever: But why exactly is the evil of yesteryear turned around as the entertainment of today? I remember seeing "Bonnie and Clyde" as a kid and, you know, they did some bloody stuff, but Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty sure made engaging bandits. Well, with Halloween approaching it's the time when all the ghastly stuff from the past is hauled out as fun-fun-fun and no more so in Boston than the two-hour trolley & foot "Ghosts & Gravestones Tour," which (witch?) is up and running through Oct. 31. There's a camp element, too - can walking the streets once stalked by the Boston Strangler really be spine-tingling? Isn't that every street? And was Albert DeSalvo really that Strangler? All kinds of stories are told - phantom ships, haunted buildings, a few from Poe - and if nothing else the tour (at 6,7,8 and 9 p.m. starting at the Old Town Trolley Ticket Center) should put you in right mind for haunting. Tickets: $32-$19.

Atlantic Ave., adjacent to the Marriott Hotel, 617-269-3626