Scariest Book You Have Read

[Kathy]

I've read ALOT of scary books in my life, but the one that has always stayed with me is Stephen King's Black House I almost said Stephen King's , but the other has stayed with me for years.

[Linda]

I'm tied between and . Neither of them kept me awake at night or anything but there are certain creepy images that have stayed with me throughout the years...Randy's mother feeding the baby pudding in Salem's Lot, but he's already dead, so it keeps coming out, and she refuses to face it. And the moving topiary animals in The Shining. As books go, that's it. Movies, another story

[Lydia]

The Shining The scene when Danny sees what's inside Room 217 gets me every time. I still think about it when I pass by a dark bathroom in the middle of the night. Also Pet Sematary, but it's different kind of scary. I read it when my son was around the same age as Louis Creed's boy, which made it difficult to get through.

[Nick]

So far the scariest book I've gotten my hands on is The Exorcist. It's the first and only book that I've read that actually made me feel uneasy when alone or in the dark. Only a couple of movies have been able to do this, and never a book, until now.

[Linda]

Nick wrote: "So far the scariest book I've gotten my hands on is The Exorcist. It's the first and only book that I've read that actually made me feel uneasy when alone or in the dark. Only a couple of movies ha..."

I can´t remember if I´ve read the book. The movie, however, I have never been able to finish, because every time it comes on, I´m alone. Once her head starts spinning, that´s it. I´m done.

[Nick]

Linda wrote: "The movie, however, I have never been able to finish, because every time it comes on, I´m alone. Once her head starts spinning, that´s it. I´m done. "

Then you don't want to read the book alone. I didn't find the movie scary at all. but the book made me afraid to walk around my house alone at night.

[Linda]

Haha, I almost feel that like a challenge...! :)

[Nick]

that DOES sound fun.
re-read it alone in the root cellar of my 130 year old house.

[Linda]

okay, well, no WONDER you´re creeped out by it! Yeesh!

[Παναγιώτα]

"IT", by Stephen King, I guess. At least, it's the one i remember as having such an effect on me. Close behind would be "The Sleepless" by Graham Masterton. I actually
had to close the book and take a deep breath in quite a few instances.

[Lydia]

Nick wrote: "So far the scariest book I've gotten my hands on is The Exorcist. It's the first and only book that I've read that actually made me feel uneasy when alone or in the dark. Only a couple of movies ha..."


I haven't quite built up the guts to read this yet. I managed to check it out from the library once, but all it did was sit on my nightstand for a few weeks before I had to take it back. Maybe someday.

[Holly]

Is it possible to get too old to be scared by books?

Books used to frighten me when I was younger; sometimes to the point of having to sleep with the lights on. These days......not so much. The best I can hope for is a few creepy moments or feelings of dread and unease while reading.

Has anyone else experienced this unwelcome side effect of the aging process?

[Linda]

Holly wrote: "Is it possible to get too old to be scared by books?

Books used to frighten me when I was younger; sometimes to the point of having to sleep with the lights on. These days......not so much. The ..."

Yep! What scares you when you're younger is not the same as what scares you when you're older. It's the same for me, and feels logical. When you're older, you know that there's no such thing as vampires and werewolves. When you're younger, you're not as frightened at the possibility of your own death as you are when older, because it seems so far off and far away. And you don't have any responsibility when you're younger, others are responsible for you. When you're older, if you're lucky, you have family and other significants that you worry about as much as yourself.

I posed that question to Stephen King for a GR interview with some group, but the moderator didn't choose it.

That's why The Shining is still kinda sorta scary for me.

[Lydia]

Linda wrote: "Holly wrote: "Is it possible to get too old to be scared by books?

Books used to frighten me when I was younger; sometimes to the point of having to sleep with the lights on. These days......not ..."

Completely agree. It's the domestic and family themes that have the potential to scare me now, more than ghosts, monsters, etc. The thought of losing a child is much scarier to me than just about anything else, which is why some parts of Pet Sematary were nearly unreadable for me after becoming a parent.

[Kathy]

Linda wrote: "Nick wrote: "So far the scariest book I've gotten my hands on is The Exorcist. It's the first and only book that I've read that actually made me feel uneasy when alone or in the dark. Only a couple..."

LOL I know, that freaked me out pretty good too!

[Kathy]

Even as an adult the things you wouldn't possibly think could happen, actually does. A few years ago there was a news story about people who consider themselves vampires and go around attacking people and drinking their blood. It showed this one refrigerator with bottles of blood in it!

[Linda]

Kathy wrote: "Even as an adult the things you wouldn't possibly think could happen, actually does. A few years ago there was a news story about people who consider themselves vampires and go around attacking peo..."

Was that in the Enquirer, by any chance? (or whatever it's calling itself these days) :D

Moving hedges and ghosts aside, the basic premise of The Shining (a family snowed in in an isolated place, a recovering alcoholic goes off the wagon and tries to axe his whole family)--not too far off, sadly, from stuff that happens on a regular basis.

[Kathy]

No, it was on an actual news show, in New York I think as a matter of fact.

[Aileen, #1 Scaredy Cat]

I find creepy kids to be children of the corn scary.

How about those two girls that stabbed their 12 year old friend because of the Slender Man?
The girls told investigators they hoped killing Payton (their friend) would please Slender Man, a character they had read about in online horror stories. The tales describe Slender Man as an unnaturally thin, faceless creature who preys on children.
Police captured the girls on the outskirts of the city that same day. They told investigators they planned to walk 300 miles to the Nicolet National Forest, where they hoped to live as Slender Man's servants in his mansion.

[Linda]

Aileen wrote: "I find creepy kids to be children of the corn scary.

How about those two girls that stabbed their 12 year old friend because of the Slender Man?
The girls told investigators they hoped killing P..."

Wasn't there someone posing as Slender Man online chatting with them? (ie, false profile?)

[Linda]

Kathy wrote: "No, it was on an actual news show, in New York I think as a matter of fact."

Your comment made me go look up something, and I found articles from Discovery and some other science journal quoting the Discovery article, by a journalist who investigated these communities. Yes, there are people who believe they need to feed off others-either blood or their energy (so King's latest would be an exaggeration of that, with "the steam"), but they don't believe in violence, but rather having willing donors.....news to me...

[Kathy]

Linda wrote: "Aileen wrote: "I find creepy kids to be children of the corn scary.

How about those two girls that stabbed their 12 year old friend because of the Slender Man?
The girls told investigators they ..."

I think there was and the guy said it was all in fun. Now the girls are being tried as adults.

[Linda]

So sad, and an interesting question of morality, maturity, what determines when they're adults, etc. I used to live in the area...Of course, "SVU" did their take on it, which had a really creepy ending...

[Rachel]

Aileen wrote: "I find creepy kids to be children of the corn scary.

How about those two girls that stabbed their 12 year old friend because of the Slender Man?
The girls told investigators they hoped killing P..."

Now THAT is pretty creepy... ugh. *shudders*

[Robert]

Oh, we probably haven't seen anything yet. Wait a few years. Each generation seems to get more creepier!

[Kathy]

Kids kill anybody on a dare anymore! I'm so thankful I was born in an earlier century! lol

[C.]

There are only two books that I have ever read in my 65 years of being an avid reader that caused white knuckle-pulse racing reading and they are.....

[his Demon in the Freezer is another good read]

and



All nonfiction! Horror fiction just can't do it at all, and I believe I have read all the usual recommendations.

[Kathy]

This book, is so real that I'll bet it actually happens, or came from a true story.
The Manhattan Hunt Club

[Aileen, #1 Scaredy Cat]

Kathy wrote: "This book, is so real that I'll bet it actually happens, or came from a true story.
The Manhattan Hunt Club

"
thanks, I just put this book in my ToRead pile

[Kathy]

I read it a long time ago, but it's one of the best and has stayed with me all these years.

[Rebecca]

Not straight up horror, more psychological thriller, "Those Girls" by Chevy Stevens really freaked me out. The torture that the main characters go through is absolutely horrifying.

[Anthony]

One book that turned me on to reading horror was The Other - way back in 1971.

[Jay]

Short stories tend to actually scare me more, esp. ones about slowly going mad, i.e. The Yellow Wallpaper. I know Michael Marshall Smith had one in 999: Twenty-nine Original Tales of Horror and Suspense that stuck with me, as did Richard C. Matheson in Haunted: Dark Delicacies III, I think. There's also one called The Other Room, can't remember the author's name, that has seriously haunted me.

[Marie]

The creepiest books that I have stuck with me are:

by John Saul

by Ed Warren

and just within the last two months I read this book and it was really scary:

by Lee Mountford

[Brian]

Salem's Lot would have to be one of mine. The House Next Door is also one that I remember as being scary at the time. It has been a long while since I have read it though. Going to have to try some of these others found scary.