What is the scariest book you've ever read?

[Anonymous]

Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn and The Dollhouse Murders by Betty Ren Wright both terrified me as a child. I still get chills reading those books as an adult!

I reread The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson every October - it’s probably my favorite horror novel. I also like The Uninvited by Dorothy Macardle, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, Some Must Watch by Ethel Lina White (also published as The Spiral Staircase), and The Woman in Black by Susan James.

[Anonymous]

Alice in Wonderland. Terrifying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I remember that when I was a kid I read The Amityville Horror and it scared me so badly that not only did I throw the book away, I didn't throw it in the trash in the kitchen, I took it into the alley and put it in our big garbage can there.

OMG I did this with the Nick Cave album Murder Ballads. I left it in a trashcan on the other side of campus.

For me it’s either Pet Sematary or the Exorcist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember that when I was a kid I read The Amityville Horror and it scared me so badly that not only did I throw the book away, I didn't throw it in the trash in the kitchen, I took it into the alley and put it in our big garbage can there.

OMG I did this with the Nick Cave album Murder Ballads. I left it in a trashcan on the other side of campus.

For me it’s either Pet Sematary or the Exorcist.

Lol, Nick Cave will do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Shining

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Me too! Omg that furnace! Couldn’t go in the basement for a long time

[Anonymous]

Misery

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The hot zone

this.. or more fictional - The Sparrow

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell?

Yes

[Anonymous]

The Collector by John Fowles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn and The Dollhouse Murders by Betty Ren Wright both terrified me as a child. I still get chills reading those books as an adult!

I reread The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson every October - it’s probably my favorite horror novel. I also like The Uninvited by Dorothy Macardle, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, Some Must Watch by Ethel Lina White (also published as The Spiral Staircase), and The Woman in Black by Susan James.

Ooohh - those were my childhood favorites, too! I can still remember the chills I felt at the end of Wait Til Helen Comes. My son has read all of the MDH graphic novels and loves them. I know my sensitive daughter would be sleeping on our floor for years if she read these at the age I did. I started reading Steven King in middle school and most of those were terrifying to me, too, especially when I chose to read them while babysitting at night! Then I read all of the Thomas Harris books. Red Dragon was the scariest.

As an adult, I was so disturbed by Dan Chaon’s books, especially Ill Will and Stay Awake (short stories). There’s one in there that I can barely think about. More psychological terror than supernatural.

[Anonymous]

I agree with many of these books and plan to read the ones I haven’t tried yet.
I would like to add Rosemary’s Baby. Extremely creepy.

Ray Bradbury short stories: The Small Assassin, There will Come soft rains are two.

A short story adaptation of Sorry Wrong Number I read as a child. I still think about it at times!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with many of these books and plan to read the ones I haven’t tried yet.
I would like to add Rosemary’s Baby. Extremely creepy.

Ray Bradbury short stories: The Small Assassin, There will Come soft rains are two.

A short story adaptation of Sorry Wrong Number I read as a child. I still think about it at times!

This is an incredible story. I performed it for Forensics in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with many of these books and plan to read the ones I haven’t tried yet.
I would like to add Rosemary’s Baby. Extremely creepy.

Ray Bradbury short stories: The Small Assassin, There will Come soft rains are two.

A short story adaptation of Sorry Wrong Number I read as a child. I still think about it at times!

This is an incredible story. I performed it for Forensics in high school.

Yes! Another fan of There will Come Soft Rains. Bradbury was an excellent writer.

[Anonymous]

The Turning of the Screw.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I also read The Shining in middle school, my first scary book. I think I read Intensity by Dean Koonz not long after. I can't remember if it was really that scary or if it was just because I was 12!

Also, who can forget Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and Goosebumps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In Cold Blood

I've been meaning to read this, was it good? As in- I enjoy well written books and literature, and I enjoy true crime. Is it a good combination of this?