Scariest book/ghost story you've ever read

[Aria]

"Heart Shaped Box" by Joe Hill was a pretty scary book, and very well written.

As for movies: I've seen a lot of horror movies, but the only ones that I thought were really scary were "The Ring" (despite all the plot holes) and "The Strangers." Well, I also thought "The Blob" was terrifying, but that was when I was in elementary school. 

[Quiltin Nana]

The only book that has truly bothered me to the point where I had trouble sleeping is Suffer the Children by John Saul. 

[Quiltin Nana]

Shirley Jackson, "The Lottery". 

I

I love that short story.  I did not see the ending coming and it left me actually speechless. 

[mechtilde]

Ghost Stories of an Antiquary by M R James.

Some of Robert E Howard's horror stories are good- Pigeons from Hell is an absolute classic.

Guy de Maupasson has some good ones as well.

Sabine Baring Gould's Book of Ghosts

Amyas Northcote's short stories.

Henry James, The Turn of the Screw.

I'm sure I'll think of more...

[Amalthea]

Fantastic recs.  Thanks. I think I'll start with The Shining. Is it good all the way through?  I read IT several years ago, and the ending kind of ruined it for me.

I should have put this in my OP, but here's my favorite internet ghost story. http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/The_Ballad_of_Jane

[Aria]

I liked that story, Amalthea! It kind of reminded me of some YouTube videos/short stories I watched a while back by thelittlefears. I particularly liked "The Portraits" and "A Trick of the Light."

[siamesecat2965]

the original short story "The Birds" by Daphne DuMaurier - which Hitchcock based his movie on.  Again, the unknown, because if I remember correctly, there was no explanation for WHY the birds went berserk, and the story just kind of ended and sort of left you hanging.

[Bijou]

Tame by today's standards, but.....
I remember being about 12 or 13 years old and going to the midnight show at the theater on Halloween (this would be about 1952).  They would show maybe 3 scary movies.  I remember one of them was The Mummy with Boris Karloff and when I got home I was just scared sick by it.  Plus, we had to walk home from the show.  Gosh, it gave me major creeps.  I remember being in bed wide awake, scared out of my wits.  While you're watching it with your sisters, friends and cousins it seems "HA-HA...I ain't scared, you guys!!!" but by the time you get home and are all alone in bed....Woooooooooooooooooooooo....Wooooooooooooooooooooooooo....

[Lexophile]

The Exorcist. I know it's mainstream, but this book scared the living daylights out o fme. Partly because it's based on a true story.

[doodlemor]

the original short story "The Birds" by Daphne DuMaurier - which Hitchcock based his movie on.  Again, the unknown, because if I remember correctly, there was no explanation for WHY the birds went berserk, and the story just kind of ended and sort of left you hanging.

Daphne du Maurier wrote some wonderful stories of suspense, both novels and short stories.  Her novel Rebecca isn't a ghost story, but is a wonderful novel with a lot of suspense that is hard to put down once you start reading.

[Bijou]

The Exorcist. I know it's mainstream, but this book scared the living daylights out o fme. Partly because it's based on a true story.

The movie had me on edge for a few months.  Honestly, it was the worst most sickening, scarey thing I have seen.   

[Hillia]

M. R. James has some of the most horrifying stories I've ever read, with no gore or things jumping out of closets.  'Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You' springs to mind, but really anything he wrote is wonderful. 

The original movie of 'The Haunting', made in the 60's (the Owen Wilson thing is awful).  There's never a visible monster, although you do hear things. Terrifying.

[magician5]

Stephen King's Salem's Lot ... terrifying!

[Twik]

Tame by today's standards, but.....
I remember being about 12 or 13 years old and going to the midnight show at the theater on Halloween (this would be about 1952).  They would show maybe 3 scary movies.  I remember one of them was The Mummy with Boris Karloff and when I got home I was just scared sick by it.  Plus, we had to walk home from the show.  Gosh, it gave me major creeps.  I remember being in bed wide awake, scared out of my wits.  While you're watching it with your sisters, friends and cousins it seems "HA-HA...I ain't scared, you guys!!!" but by the time you get home and are all alone in bed....Woooooooooooooooooooooo....Wooooooooooooooooooooooooo....

Is anyone flashing back to Bill Cosby's story of staying too late at the movie theatre (the boys were too scared to come out from under the seats), then having to walk home? "Oooh, Weird Harold! It's ten o'clock! Ten o'clock is when the monsters come out...."

[lady_disdain]

This may not be a particularly popular book, but Ghosts of Sleath really freaked me. An entire village where people are haunted by the ghosts of the people who did the worst things to them - a girl haunted by the pedophile who abused her, a woman haunted by her dead husband (who also killed their son), etc.