The Exorcist question

Read The Shining at 12, Exorcist at 15, and Red Dragon at 16. Nothing I've read since has been nearly as scary.

The Haunting of Hill House. You won't want to get into your bed at night.

I read The Exorcist when I was thirteen and had to sleep with the lights on for two weeks.

The Girl next door by Jack ketchum.

On the river- Guy de Maupassant. A short story about a man who has to spend a night on a raft in the middle of a river...
N- Stephen King. Oh, this one scared me... I HATE numbers.
In the Hills, the Cities- Clive Barker. There is one paragraph I cannot, will not, read again.
The Doll Who Ate His Mother- Ramsey Campbell. Less pulp that the title makes believe!! and veeery creepy ending.

I will agree with several people on here by saying it really depends on what scares you. For me, there have been few books that have really scared me. Pet Sematary by Stephen King is one. I cannot finish it. I have tried several times and I just can't handle it. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson gave me several nightmares. Autopsy Room Four by Stephen King really bothered me. Though for this one, I would suggest finding the audio of it. I listened to Stephen King read it and that is what put it over the top for me.

Though I have not read it, my mother said that Helter Skelter, which is an account of Charles Manson's trial written by the prosecuting attorney, Vincent Bugliosi, scared her to death. The Exorcist and The Shining are both great choices as well, and I have read those. :)

Depends on what you class as scary, things that go bump in the night or potential events you may find yourself in real life. For me it would be:

1) The Exorcist, same as the film nothing I have read or seen comes close.

2) Jaws, read it back in the 70's never been deeper than knee high since.

3) Down to a Sunless Sea by David Graham, The potential is there, read the book in the early 80's.

4) The Hot Zone, freaking scary thinking people are messing around with this stuff.

All of King's books were scary, but the Exorcists gave me nightmares. I even thought my bed was shaking one night. I also saw the movie, and I wished I hadn't.....

The Falcon and the Snowman, and Sybill. I saw parts of the movie of the Shining, and it does still creep me out.

The Exorcist
The Bell Witch
Salem's Lot
Pet Semetery
Unholy Messenger (story of BTK)

I got to read an ARC of Silence of the Lambs when I was working in a bookstore. It pretty much freaked me out. For non-fiction, I have to say The Hot Zone.

Kirsty wrote: "Im looking for inspiration for a genuinely terrifying read? Looking for some suggestions please x"

All great answers - the Exorcist and almost anything by Steven King will keep me up at night. Last Halloween, I reread Bram Stoker's Dracula and found it delightfully scary.

The Doll Who Ate His Mother, and Incarnate both by Ramsey Campbell, and The Books of Blood by Clive Barker should all give you many sleepless nights.

My numero uno 'scared the crap outta me' read was David Martin's "Bring Me Children".
If you wanna shiver, shake and turn cold while reading, read this book. No fantasy, no sci-fi; just plain unadulterated terror!
A book that has stayed with me for over 50 years is 'Night of the Hunter. OMG!, suspense throughout and FEAR. This is also one of the rare instance in which the very fine film catches both the letter and spirit of the novel. Oh yeah; it's sad as well.
I must agree with Sharon above; "The Hot Zone' non-fiction that it is, is a horror story with many horrible incidents. The book sort of dares one to finish it.... if you have the guts.

Red Dragon is the only book where I actually jumped while reading. The Exorcist the second time through: I was reading in bed late at night and just as I got to the shaking bed part I thought I would quit for the night. A couple of hours later there was an earthquake but no one could convince me of it. I could SEE a head coming up over the end of the bed.

IT by Stephen King
Pet Semetary by Stephen King
The Shining By Stephen King
Lurking Fear by H.P.Lovecraft
The Shadow Out of Innsmouth by H.P. Lovecraft
Summer of Night by Dan Simmons
Song of Kali by Dan Simmons
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar by Edgar Allen Poe

I have read at least 80% of the books mentioned here. I read most of these books within months of publication. The Exorcist and Shelter Skelter kept me awake at night. I have found true crime to be the most disturbing since I know humans are capable of horrible things. Please specify what scares you....vampires...monsters....supernatural. There are great books to be had for each one.

King's "The Stand" is it for me...the unabridged edition.

Apartment 16 and The Ritual both written by Adam Nevill have given me nightmares during my night sleep! They're really scary and disturbing, well written novels that are worth reading.

Zodiac by Robert Graysmith. That was terrifying but sooo interesting. The zodiac killer was on my mind for a long time after that read. Had trouble getting it all out of my head...

I have to agree with Wynter, it was definitely "Hell House".

"It" when I was a teenager, but today the winner is "The Girl Next Door". Never read anything like it, and the reality of the story makes it even scarier.

the ring
it was so damn scary

The Bad Place by Koontz and The Exorcist by Blatty and Pet Semetary all have a place in that order.

I'll throw in the Survivor by James herbert, bit dated now but scary back in the day!

The Shining is so scary to me - being alone in a huge hotel with ghosts and a crazy husband!

Salem's Lot, The Shining, Amityville Horror, The Demonologist

Am I the only one who didn't find The Exorcist to be that scary?
Sure, there were a lot of tense moments... but scary? Not really.

Same goes with Stephen King's It. I loved it but didn't find it scary at all.

As for the question, I can't really think of any because I've never read a book that actually made me feel scared or gave nightmares...

Kirsty wrote: "Im looking for inspiration for a genuinely terrifying read? Looking for some suggestions please x"

The book that scared me the most was "IT" by Stephen King. I couldn't watch the movie because the book scared me so bad. (I still haven't seen it!).

Thanks to the person who recommended The Ritual. I just read it and thoroughly enjoyed it. Just what I was looking for - atmospheric, horrific, and very spooky.

Kirsty wrote: "Im looking for inspiration for a genuinely terrifying read? Looking for some suggestions please x"

Try 1984 by George Orwell. It may be classed as dystopian science fiction rather than horror but it conjures an unrelenting nightmare from which there is no escape. Room 101 is a terrifying invention, a place where your secret, deepest fear is used against you. The State sees all and controls all. There is no such thing as individual freedom or privacy. This is a world of unending war, famine and barbarity. A world that crushes love beneath a nailed boot. I love horror fiction but this is what gets my top vote for a truly chilling vision.

classic scariest: King's "It" and Lovecraft's "Dunwich Horror"
Most realistic scare: Blatty's "The Exorcist"
Most recent scariest: McGhee's "Murder Red Ink"
Personal fave: Poe's "Cask of Amantillado" but only because it's humanity scary

The Exorcist was the only book to give me a bad dream. Different books work on different people and the timing may just have to be right. How we experience a book can have a lot to do with it too. When I was in college, my friend and roommate was blind. He requested and recieved Amityville Horror from Books for the Blind. It came on LP's. One night we sat and listened to the entire thing on scratchy records. It was the scariest experience of a book for me.

The Mask & The Bad Place by Dean Koontz scared the heck out of me.

As someone posted already, scary is a subjective thing from one person to the next. For me, stories of demon possession, whether based on an actual case or strictly fiction, it is the psychological fear that gets inside your head and threatens your concept of reality.
There are a few books that have impacted me in such a way. Here are my personal top 3 picks:
1. The Exorcist, by William Peter Blatty
2. The Amityville Horror, by Jay Anson
3. Rosemary's Baby, by Ira Levin

Pet Sematery - Stephen King
Hell House - Richard Matheson
Exorcist - William Peter Blatty
Legion - William Peter Blatty
Devil Rides Out - Dennis Wheatley
The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson
Tell Tale Heart - Edgar Allen Poe
Charles Dexter Ward - HP Lovecraft
Books of Blood - Clive Barker
Demonic - Stephen Laws
Maccabre - stephen Laws
Ghost Story - Peter Straub

Apt Pupil and Rose Madder by Stephen King. The 1st is about a Nazi influencing a sociopathic teen and vice versa.

The 2nd is about a woman fleeing an abusive husband. Both scared the sh*t out of me because they can and DO happen.

1. Exorcist - William Peter Blatty
2. Shining - Stephen King
3. Salem's Lot - Stephen King
4. Legion - William Peter Blatty
5. Devil Rides Out - Dennis Wheatly
6. The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson
7. Dracula - Bram Stoker

Bangla Books:
8. Kutu Mia - Humayun Ahmed
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

His name is ‘Kutu Mia’, a middle aged man of forty to fifty. He is an expert chef and can cook all types of dishes. Once he worked for a pilot and has a certificate from him. With this certificate, he came to work for Mr. Alauddin.
From the very beginning Mr. Alauddin did not like Kutu Mia. He thought somewhere there is a big problem but he didn’t know what. Against his will, his life began to change. After some time he started to sing with Kutu Mia

Black is the water of river Jamuna
It feels great to bath in it
Water takes the youth

Kutu Mia knew he died years ago, he was put in grave. And when he woke up in pitch blackness, he was submerged in rain water with boils covering his whole body and insects in it.

'Kutu Mia' is a story of the darkest world. It is the story of growing panic in the deepest pit of our consciousness. The terror that we know in our heart, but can never face.

The Passage was an eerie read and American Pyscho just made me laugh until I thought about how people actually act like that, then it became very very disturbing.
The Exorscist is by far the scariest book I've ever read. It still makes me terrified after reading, needing to seek solace in brigt lights, hordes of people and a need to avoid all forms of ouija breads. William Peter Blatty caught our absolute fear of being possessed to a t, the way we could be overtaken and have zero control over it.

Absolutely, "Alice In Wonderland". I stole it from my older sister's room when I was seven, and secretly read the whole thing. I did not understand "Victorian England", nor what those two terms separately conveyed. I only knew: Nothing and no one in this entire book is normal.

1. The Exorcist

2. Helter Shelter......about Charles Manson

3. The Stranger Beside Me....about Ted Bundy

# 2 and 3 because they were true

Well, The Exorcist is definately number one on my list of Hibbie gibbies worthiness. I still can't watch the movie by myself without hiding my face with my hands. Stephen King's it gave me the willies and so did the Omen. Also, let's not forget the master of gross and creepy, Clive Barker. A couple of his stories from the Books of Blood gave me the chills.

I have to agree with others that The Exorcist did it for me, and this is coming from a jaded horror bibliophile. I have yet to read Pet Sematary and Legion, though so we'll see!

Misery by Stephen King. The bit where Annie Wilkes is at the foot of the bed, and all he hears is the thudding sound of something she is holding but he doesn't know what it is but all he knows is that she is mad with him... the film is well known for this scene, because of it's gross-out visuals, but in the book it is much, much scarier. I remember not wanting or daring to turn the page to find out what she was holding and in the book what she was holding was much more terrifying than the mallett that she used in the film.

One book I haven't seen in the responses is Justin Cronin's "The Passage" - I'm not one who is easily creeped out, but this one got under my skin. Also, Bram Stoker's "Dracula" is another one that I found rather creepy, probably because I didn't actually expect it to be scary given that it's been misused and abused so much over the ages.

As a kid, The Exorcist scared me so badly that I couldn't finish it. The night I stopped reading it, I couldn't even sleep w/it in my room. & I guess it was bad enough that I've never attempted to pick it back up again as an adult. I read a few of John E. Douglas' books a few years back, & I've never forgotten the fear they instilled either - but I could finish those!

Salem's Lot. Hands down. It scared the bejesus out of me. Really. Didn't sleep for two days afterward.

I was scared by Salem's Lot and I read Jaws before the movie and found it scary.

The scariest true story I ever read was Helter Skelter.

You should try dracula the undead by drake stocker and ian holt.It has a lot of scenes that will give you some delightful nightmares