Just in time for (next) Halloween, you can own part of Elvira's spooky legacy

Everyone's favorite "Mistress of the Dark" is back, right on time for Halloween.

Julien's Auctions announced Thursday morning that it will be selling property from the collection of Elvira, the wisecracking horror hostess who rose to fame on L.A.'s TV airwaves in the early 1980s.

In October of next year, Julien's will auction off memorabilia from the pop-culture icon, played to campy perfection by actress Cassandra Peterson, including her signature black gown, props and costumes from her TV series and films. The auction will take place online, as well as at Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills.

Peterson, 69, talked to The Times about her favorite items for sale, her status as a gay icon and how she'll be celebrating Halloween during the pandemic.

What's your favorite item up for auction?

Mistress of the Dark

It was a gift from my in-laws. And I love it so much. It's a really, really cool, dark, German carved desk. I'm sad to see it go. … [There's] a lot of sentimental value for me in that desk. It's something I had to go back and forth in my brain to see if I really wanted to give it up.

What items might be especially popular with fans?

You co-wrote "Mistress of the Dark," right?

the Groundlings

Then I segued into writing "Movie Macabre," and then eventually writing this movie and the next. I've written three books with John Paragon that were a young-adult book series. And then I wrote my autobiography recently, which was completely me on my own. I just want people to know: no ghostwriting, no nothing. I personally love autobiographies when they're in the voice of the person who's writing it.

People don't realize as much that you're a writer and comedian. Would you consider the Elvira character a comedian too?

So when the Elvira thing came along, I wasn't sure if they wanted comedy. They might have been thinking of a more, you know, "Come in, darling, drink a glass of blood," that kind of vibe. But I did a little improvised sketch, I kind of riffed on the script they gave me. And they loved it. They said, "Oh, so interesting. We could make this funny and sexy and spooky." And the three things together really teamed up to make a very unique character.

You once remarked that you were “raised by a pack of wild drag queens." What impact did drag culture have on Elvira, and vice versa?

And then I went on to form an act with seven gay men and myself, called Mama's Boys. And for several years, we toured the country. And they were like my best friends, my brothers, everything to me. We were so close. And they influenced me tremendously. Even right down to one of them — who was my very best friend — helping design the Elvira costume. He and I really talked about how it should look. He was an artist, and he drew up the sketch, and he came up with that hairdo, the makeup. We both decided to make the dress as sexy as possible.

Would you consider yourself a gay icon?

How do you typically celebrate Halloween? And how are you celebrating it this year given COVID?

Hocus Pocus Hulaween

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.