I'm all about getting the bejesus scared out of me, so much so that I have very little bejesus left in me these days. That lack of bejesus comes courtesy of two shows on South Sound stages for Halloween.

I wrote about Woman in Black last week, a show that didn't disappoint.

The show is Tacoma Little Theatre's gamble designed to draw a late-night crowd for its second stage shows through the season. Odds are that if quality counts, the gamble will pay off big time.

The two-man show is adapted by Stephen Mallatratt from the book by Susan Hill and directed by John Munn. It is a masterfully grinding, suspense thriller that centers on the story of Arthur Kipps, who has hired an actor to help him tell a tragic story about his childhood. He wants to tell his family about a ghostly encounter the most effective way he knows how in hopes that his telling of the story to the next generation will purge his mind of the experience and the barrage of nightmares it has created through the years.

Kudos to one of the creepiest shows I have seen in quite a while. The success comes because it is allowed to slow boil and get spooky in its own time.

The other spooky show to watch this weekend is Theater Arts Olympia's The Uninvited, at Washington Center for the Performing Arts. Tim Kelly’s tale is amazingly crafted as it tells the story of Dorothy Macardle's classic novel that features a brother and sister, Roddy (played by Roddy Fitzgerald) and Pam (Michelle Garayua), who purchase a house in England by the name of Cliff End that overlooks the Irish Sea. The location has an unsavory reputation of being the scene of a murder 15 years prior. They disregard the murder scene and what happens next is what all great ghost stories are made of, complete with blowing windows, cool drafts, dreadful apparitions and things that go bump in the night.

The balance of the cast makes a perfect marriage between script and stage for this thriller that won't disappoint anyone looking for a good scare and a solid night at the theater. ââ�¬Â¨

[Tacoma Little Theatre, The Woman in Black, through Nov. 1, Thursday 7:30 p.m., Friday-Saturday, 10:30 p.m., $15, 210 N. I St., Tacoma, 253.272.2281]

[Washington Center for the Performing Arts, The Uninvited, through Nov. 6, Wednesday-Saturday 8 p.m., Sunday 2 p.m., special 1 p.m. Halloween matinee on Oct. 31, $12, 512 Washington St., Olympia, 360.753.8586]