The Miami Beach Botanical Garden will host a free Halloween-season arts night Friday, Oct. 23, featuring ghost stories, shadow puppetry, live music and unusual art.

"Folklore & Foliage," a gathering celebrating art, literature and the macabre, will run from 6 to 11 p.m. at 2000 Convention Center Drive.

According to the city's events calendar, the evening will bring together local artists, performers, writers and vendors for a Halloween-themed celebration.

Ghost stories, live music and shadow puppetry

Author Thomas Smith will share stories from his book, "The Ghosts of the Florida Atlantic Coast," in a presentation by Books & Books. Musician Bruno Esposito, performing as Lone Wolf One Man Band, will provide live music.

Stockholm-born, Miami-raised artist Christina Pettersson will present a site-specific shadow puppet performance in the garden.

Pettersson has held solo exhibitions at Everglades National Park and the Deering Estate, according to her website. Her work includes community-oriented shadow puppetry projects throughout South Florida.

Vintage Halloween films and unusual art

Archival Halloween footage from the 1950s through the 1970s will be screened throughout the evening, along with historical news clips about reportedly haunted locations in South Florida.

The footage comes from Miami Dade College's Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives, which preserves historical film and television footage documenting South Florida.

Visitors can also browse vendors offering dark art and oddities, receive tarot and astrology readings from Aída the Energy Witch, or request a personalized poem from Oscar Fuentes, known as the Biscayne Poet.

Fuentes will compose poems using his vintage typewriter.

A "Boo-tanical Bar" will serve a signature cocktail.

Free admission and upcoming Halloween events

Admission is free, and tickets are available through Eventbrite.

The city's event listing indicates that food vendors and additional programming are still being finalized.

Other upcoming Halloween-season events in Miami Beach include a free Day of the Dead salsa party at Normandy Fountain on Oct. 24 and the Lincoln Road Halloween Block Party on Oct. 31.