Scary basements

Like most, my basement is super scary. Our house is over 100 years old and the basement was originally where the coal was kept. As a result, it's dark and creepy. I try my best to stay out of there. I wish I could put some carpet tiles for basement down there to make it a bit less freaky. It's just a concrete slab floor right now. Unfortunately, I think it gets too...not damp really. I'm not sure how to describe it. There's no mold problems but it's definitely a warm cozy place. Any other type of flooring would probably suck up all the grossness THEN there would be a mold problem. And that would be no good. I'm probably just going to have to live with a scary basement.