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16 Books That Will Give You Nightmares
This Halloween, skip the haunted houses and scare yourself silly with a book. We asked on Facebook and Twitter: What frightening read could give a reader nightmares? If you dare, try out one of the top answers. We suggest finding a dark, dank place and lighting a single candle (or turning on a single book light). Those menacing bumps and whines and scrapes you hear as you crack open your book? Probably nothing. Definitely not a clown crawling toward you or a ghost trapped in the walls. Be careful out there, readers. Something spine-tingling this way comes….
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What book has sent the biggest chill down your spine? Is It really Stephen King's creepiest read? Talk scary books with us in the comments!
(Image credit: Book cover for The Silence of the Lambs.)
Comments Showing 1-50 of 162 (162 new)
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Keiry
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Oct 21, 2016 07:19AM
Coraline and It <3.
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Amityville! Reading it as a teen it scared the crap out of me and I will forever avoid houses that look like that Dutch one!
I thought Dark Places was much more nightmare-ish than Sharp Objects, but that's just me
I'm reading It now and it hasn't really scared me. My librarian has recommended me The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon because it is the only book that has scared her, that was written by King.
The Silence of the LambsThe Shining
House of Leaves and The Turn of the Screw are pretty tame.
I haven't read the book but I watched the movie of Coraline and despite it being a kids movie with stop animation style filming it did creep me the hell out!
I've read dozens of books marketed as horror but the only one that scared me and gave me goosebumps was The Woman In Black by Susan Hill. Especially the scene with the dog scratching the door because. . . . .
Before I even clicked I was thinking: Stephen King's IT. Hands down the scariest thing I've read.
This is one genre I normally don't read.
Besides It and The Shining by King...They Thirst by Robert McCammon
Classic 80's horror. No glittery romance or pretty boys with these vampires. First book that ever gave me legit anxiety.
It is a great book, but I thought Stephen King's scariest book was The Shining, personally.
I read the Haunting of Sunshine Girl, and it didn't give me nightmares.
A girl next door. It's not *tehnically* a horror but it's scary. And sad. :/
Pet semetary by Stephen king had me too scared to turn the page!
Silence of the Lambs and MiseryI don't dare read It.
Haunted Heartland Haunted Heartland &/or Haunted America Haunted America . HH has great tales from around my hometown of Topeka, KS. HA is good for the entire country.(Personal advice: don't read the chapter about Horicon, WI after dark. Yeesh.)
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IT was really good until the end. Ugh. Coraline however is more like a kids book. I'm reading it at the moment and it has yet to scare me!
Ghost Story by Peter Straub, and Carrie - the very end bit!
The Road, Cormac McCarthy...yes the cannibals and the dystopia are scary, but the worst is the helplessness felt by a father in caring for his child.
I personally think that Black House by King and Saul was pretty freaky and Four Past Midnight depicts some really gruesome images.
Summer of Night was excellent. Scariest book I've ever read.
Stephen King's "'salem's Lot" caused me some sleepless nights.
The Haunting by Shirley Jackson. As always the book far outshines either of the two movies. I read The Exorcist while house-sitting. It scared me enough to stop reading until I had returned to my own home and family.
The Shining by Stephen King actually did give me nightmares. I read it just before my grandfather passed away. The night before his funeral, I dreamt that his casket fell into the grave and my purple grandfather crawled out! Pet seminary also scared me. I sure wasn't expecting the ending. Clowns scare me at the best of times, so I haven't read It.
I couldn't leave my bed after reading IT. I WAS SO SCARED
Salem's Lot - I remember reading that as a younger kid and OMG- scared me 1/2 to death- the 1979 movie was pretty darn good too!
House of Leaves is the only BOOK that has given me nightmares!
Alyssa wrote: "I thought Dark Places was much more nightmare-ish than Sharp Objects, but that's just me"My book club is reading Dark Places this month. My co-organizer and the former oraganizer of the club were split on which was more disturbing. I personally found Sharp Objects more disturbing.
I feel like The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian should be on this list.
C.E. wrote: "The Silence of the LambsThe Shining
House of Leaves and The Turn of the Screw are pretty tame."
The Shining was incredibly eerie. I read it for a class in college and it was amazing!
I just read The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson and maaaan it freaked me out. DO NOT read it in the dark! haha.
The Exorcist is a magnificent work and The Amityville Horror is chilling
I don't know that House of Leaves is really all that scary and I can't imagine it giving someone nightmares, but it's definitely one of the best books I've ever read.
"Christine" by Stephen King. After I read that book, and I was in my 40s when I read it, I had a nightmare in which I actually smelled the rotten-corpse smell and woke up as that horrible old man reached over from beside me in bed. When I TRULY woke up, I was standing inside my bedroom closet screaming. Never had any book affect me like that before or after. Most terrifying nightmare ever.
Jamie wrote: "I'm reading It now and it hasn't really scared me. My librarian has recommended me The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon because it is the only book that has scared her, that was written by King."I used to be a big fan of Stephen King, but I hated that book.
My favourite, scares-me-silly novels are Pet Sematary by Stephen King, and The Woman in Black by Susan Hill.
Dan Simmons, The Terror. Read it on a tropical beach and he made me feel the cold. The fact that it was partly based on true events and involved cannibalism made it that much scarier.
Jamie wrote: "I'm reading It now and it hasn't really scared me. My librarian has recommended me The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon because it is the only book that has scared her, that was written by King."I looooved The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. It was absolutely terrifying to me when I read it about a decade ago. DO IT.
