Scariest book/ghost story you've ever read

[eltf177]

Agreed, anything in The Cthulhu Mythos by Lovecraft, Derleth and others.

And of course Stephen King, but avoid the longer material. One of the spookest is the novella The Mist (later made into a very chilling movie) which can be found in his anthology SKELETON KEYS...

[WillyNilly]

High Rise the 1975 novel by J. G. Ballard.

Its not a traditional "horror" story but its a story that has for years haunted the back of my mind (perhaps because I, and just about all my family and close friends, live in apartment buildings).

[Syfygeek]

The Mist- I've been terrified of fog since the 80's- that's when I read it.

The Shining- I had it as part of a boxed set, loaned it to a friend and when they tried to return it I refused to take it. The book and the movie scared me so bad, that (and this tells you my age) when it was on TV, I would refuse to go past the channel it was on- if I was watching something on channel 12 and wanted to go to channel 8, and The Shining was on channel 10, I would turn the dial the log way around, just to not pass the movie in case the dial got stuck there.

The Hyde Effect-by Steve Vance- read it over 20 years ago and it scared the bejeebers out of me.  I ordered a copy from Amazon, just to see what scared me so bad, and yep, scared the bejeebers out of me again- think werewolf, government testing, and locked facility- what could go wrong?

[Zilla]

It from Stephen King.   Really any of his older works are awesome.  But I noticed that top ten list included his one of his later works, Under the Dome.  It isn't worth it and not very scary.  I would caution against that one.


Alot of my suggestions already been mentioned here, if you like classics, you might want to check out Edgar Allan Poe.  Love his work.

[MindsEye]

If you want movie suggestions also, try "The Others", "Identity", "The Sixth Sense", and "Stir of Echoes".

[siamesecat2965]

Slightly OT, but in the same vein, I cannot watch any shows about hunting ghosts or people's homes being possessed or having ghosts.  I don't have nightmares about the actual shows, but very uneasy and freaky dreams.  And not much scares me, aside from spiders, but this type of show I just can't handle.  Ithink its the unknown part of it.  Is it really real, or not?

[Cyradis]

If you want movie suggestions also, try "The Others", "Identity", "The Sixth Sense", and "Stir of Echoes".

I'll second 'The Others.' Lots of subtle freak outs in that film.

'Rosemary's Baby' and 'The Exorcist.'

'The Shining' book and film. Honestly, even now I shiver at the sight of Jack Nicholson. He'll always be that character for me. 'Christine' scares me quite a bit because I read the book too young. Cars, possession and mayhem seem to go together.

[LadyMisha]

Ok, this isn't a book, but websites that will give you the willies:

http://www.warrens.net/

I don't know how many have heard of Ed and Lorraine Warren, but they have investigated some of the most haunted locations (including the Amityville house).  Read this one with the lights on if you are easily freaked out.

http://theshadowlands.net/

This has an impressive collection of true ghost stories.  Warning:  some are very poorly written, but it is a good read if you can look past the poor grammar and punctuation.  It also has haunted places listed by state, so it is kind of fun looking around to see what your state has that you may or may not have been aware of.

And the last:

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/index.html

Scary, because these are the true monsters that walk among us that we truly don't see.

[Petticoats]

F.G. Cottam writes excellent, scary supernatural novels. The House of Lost Souls and Lost Echo are my favorites.

[MorgnsGrl]

This is really good if anyone hasn't seen it -
http://www.dionaea-house.com/
The Dinoaea House

[Sirius]

True crime scares me more than the supernatural does, especially unsolved crime. 

[rose red]

The Amityville Horror. I still remember one part where they said something about "activity" about 3-something am, which is supposedly when the actual murders in the house took place.  So even now, 30 so years later, if I wake up around that time, I get slightly freaked out.  I don't know why, but that book had a lasting, not good, impression on me.

The 3am thing freaks me out too and there was a period of time when I wake up every single night for the bathroom during that time.   Eeeek!

What really scared me about that book was a little mundane detail.  When the couple went to look at the house the first time, the husband noticed all the neighbors' windows that are facing the house are closed with blinds/curtains.  Such a little thing, but I remember that single image all these years later.

[siamesecat2965]

The Amityville Horror. I still remember one part where they said something about "activity" about 3-something am, which is supposedly when the actual murders in the house took place.  So even now, 30 so years later, if I wake up around that time, I get slightly freaked out.  I don't know why, but that book had a lasting, not good, impression on me.

The 3am thing freaks me out too and there was a period of time when I wake up every single night for the bathroom during that time.   Eeeek!

What really scared me about that book was a little mundane detail.  When the couple went to look at the house the first time, the husband noticed all the neighbors' windows that are facing the house are closed with blinds/curtains.  Such a little thing, but I remember that single image all these years later.

And I think it was in this one, the part about the little girl’s “friend” a pig, and its glowing red eyes.  To this day, if I see something in my bedroom that glows, like my phone, cable box, etc, and its very early in the am, I get the shivers as it reminds me of this .

[WillyNilly]

^ As someone who grew up in NY and did the obligatory drive out to see the house in my 20's, I have to say its a very notable house - super easy to find even without the address.  And that's because its situated sideways on its lot.  Every other house, like normal houses, faces the street.  The Amityville horror house faces the house next door.

[guihong]

Shirley Jackson, "The Lottery". 

I actually prefer unsolved crimes, mysteries, monsters .