Looking for a last-minute costume idea? We've got one scarier than Katie Couric dressing as a Jon & Kate Plus 8 kid. Even scarier than Jon reality-dating the Octomom.

Our hair-raising concept combines ugly shoes, ghostly balance sheets, and a fear of heights. That's right -- you, too, can impress your friends by dressing as 2009's World's Scariest Stocks. But before we announce this year's candidates, let's look back on last year's picks.

And 2008's Scariest Stock was ...
Last year, Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) won our World's Scariest Stocks contest. However, as the market returned 17%, Starbucks and most of our other picks thumped Wall Street's performance. Only Citigroup was truly a frightener:

Company

Price on 10/28/08

Price on 10/29/09

Return

Citigroup (NYSE:C)

$13.21

$4.31

(67%)

Dendreon (NASDAQ:DNDN)

$4.45

$26.58

497%

First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR)

$114.09

$126.47

11%

Sears Holdings

$57.25

$70.66

23%

Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ:SIRI)

$0.36

$0.58

61%

Starbucks

$10.86

$19.52

80%

Talbots (NYSE:TLB)

$8.10

$9.54

18%

Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO)

$12.36

$16.13

31%

Source: Yahoo! Finance, using adjusted close prices for the given dates.

We're hoping to get back to the clinic we put on in 2007 with this year's scariest stock picks (a couple of which are double downs from last year). Click on the links for each bloodcurdling stock below to read our write-ups, then vote whether each stock is "scary" or "scary awesome." Your top five scariest stocks will make our final round. Stay tuned. Stay Ghoolish.  

The World's Scariest Stocks:

And lest we forget: Happy Halloween from The Motley Fool!