Cassandra Peterson has worn black velvet, eight-inch heels, and a self-replenishing smirk for more than forty Halloweens, yet the woman behind Elvira, Mistress of the Dark insists her real life is “less cobwebs, more Costco.” In this sit-down she traces the cult icon’s origin story: a Vegas showgirl gig that taught her camp stagecraft, a failed comedy pilot that donated Elvira’s trademark wig, and a late-night LA casting call where producers begged for “a horror hostess with cleavage and quips.” Peterson delivered both—and syndicated TV was never the same.
The conversation pivots to 2021, when she released her memoir Yours Cruelly, Elvira and quietly detonated hetero assumptions by revealing a 19-year relationship with partner Teresa “T” Wierson. “I figured if anyone could survive a plot twist, it’s horror fans,” she laughs. Still, the disclosure rattled gatekeepers who assumed the Queen of Halloween must also be the Queen of Safe Marketing. Peterson shrugs it off: “Nothing scarier than pretending to be someone you’re not.”
She reflects on the eerie timing—coming out during a wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation. Fan mail doubled overnight, much of it from older women who finally saw their own late-blooming love stories mirrored back. That feedback loop fuels Elvira’s current projects: a traveling “Haunt for Equality” charity show and a limited-edition Pride cape stitched from recycled horror-convention banners. Even in retirement-age, she’s turning camp into community funding.
Peterson also teases this year’s spooky-season plans: an Amazon Live stream teaching DIY graveyard cupcakes, a Shudder marathon of Elvira’s Movie Macabre deep cuts, and a guest voice role on an animated series she can’t name yet (“think goth Scooby gang—but sluttier”). Through it all, she maintains the raspy wit that made late-night viewers fall in love with bad movies and the buxom ghoul who roasted them.
Asked if Elvira will ever truly rest in peace, Peterson winks: “Only when the world stops needing an unapologetic, raven-haired misfit to remind them that weird is wonderful—and love, in any form, is immortal.”
