History NightmareFuel / AgathaChristie

* ''By the Pricking of My Thumbs''. Killers in Christie-verse sometimes display some psychopathic traits, but this is probably the only case in Christie's oeuvre where being deranged seems to be the ''sole'' murderer's motive for killing. And the result is terrifying, especially since the victims were ''children''.

* ''By the Pricking of My Thumbs''. Killers in Christie-verse sometimes display some psychopathic traits, but this is probably the only case in Christie's oeuvre where being deranged seems to be the ''sole'' murderer's motive for killing. And the result is terrifying.

* ''By the Pricking of My Thumbs''. Killers in Christie-verse sometimes display some psychopatic traits, but this is probably the only case in Christie's oeuvre where being deranged seems to be the ''sole'' murderer's motive for killing. And the result is terrifying.

* ''By the Pricking of My Thumbs''. Killers in Christie-verse sometimes display some psychopatic tendences - but this is probably the only case in Christie's oeuvre where being deranged seems to be the ''sole'' murderer's motive for killing - and the result is terrifying.

* The short story "Philomel Cottage" is packed with scary moments, including a truly MindScrew ending. First, we have Gerald Martin, who's TheBluebeard to an extreme--he's married at least three women in the past and killed them all. We learn this when his new wife Alix snoops around and finds newspaper articles about the crimes. What's worse, Alix is able to correctly deduce that Gerald plans to murder her that very evening. The second half of the story consists of Alix sitting in the drawing room with her husband after making a coded call for help, knowing that the man sitting in front of her is a cold-blooded killer with everything laid in place. Then, just as he starts to make his move, Alix cries out that she wants to make a confession, and proceeds to tell an outlandish story about how she is secretly a BlackWidow who has murdered two husbands by poisoning them. She deliberately invokes DissonantSerenity as she explains this, smiling and even bragging about her supposed misdeeds all while internally panicking. And what makes it truly terrifying? Somehow, for some unexplained reason, Alix's story is so convincing that ''Gerald dies of fright.'' He [[AssholeVictim definitely deserved it]], but the fact that a simple story (plus a bitter cup of coffee that he suspected was poisoned) was able to kill a fully-grown man through [[YourMindMakesItReal the power of suggestion alone]] is unnerving. Even Alix is affected by the death, entering an almost trance-like state as the police discover Gerald's corpse:

* The sheer AdultFear involved in the murder of Daisy Armstrong in ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress''. A little girl was kidnapped by a vicious gang, who demanded a ransom from her rich parents or they would kill her. The parents eventually paid the ransom, only for it to turn out that the gang's leader [[WouldHurtAChild killed her anyway]] ''after receiving the ransom'' seemingly ForTheEvulz. Plus the PoliceAreUseless aspect, since before the gang was identifed the police were convinced a completely innocent girl did it and ended up driving her to suicide with their relentless harassment.

** This culminates in TheReveal that the whole thing was a trick by her nephew, who used a wire attached to the radio and a false mostauche to scare his aunt to death so he could inherit. Whether this makes things better or worse is unclear.

* The premise of "Wireless" is pretty creepy, revolving around an elderly woman who receives messages from her dead husband telling him she is about to join him.

* The concept of ''The Pale Horse'' is terrifying to think about. Three elderly women are accused of being witches with the power to cast fatal curses on people; during their gatherings, one of their number also trots out a massive machine that she claims fires "waves" of some kind into the air, swaying even the most skeptical people into believing that something suspicious is going on. Sure enough, everyone they "curse" begins to suffer and slowly die of unknown symptoms, ''and no one can explain why.'' TheReveal makes it even scarier by mixing in ParanoiaFuel: it turns out the women have an accomplice who sneaks into the target's house and quietly switches out various household cleaning products and cosmetics with versions tainted with thallium, a deadly poison--and no one object is poisoned enough to be fatal, so the victim keeps unintentionally using the products until it's too late.

* [[spoiler:Henet's]] murder in ''Literature/DeathComesAsTheEnd'', especially with the modern Western association of mummies with horror.

* The title locale in "The Idol House of Astarte" is heavily implied to have satanic influences that [[MoreThanMindControl contributed]] to someone committing murder.
* [[spoiler: Nevile Strange's]] VillainousBreakdown in ''Literature/TowardsZero''. It's deeply unsettling to see such a [[spoiler: seemingly nice young man]] turn out to be a ''psychopath.''
** Apparently [[spoiler:his]] breakdown is so bad as to be very likely to claim [[spoiler:his]] life before the trial, which makes [[spoiler:his]] insanity even more unsettling since pushing the right buttons could not only trigger a breakdown but cause [[spoiler:his]] death which is in of itself disturbing.

** Apparently [[spoiler]]his[[/spoiler]] breakdown is so bad as to be very likely to claim [[spoiler]]his[[/spoiler]] life before the trial, which makes [[spoiler]]his[[/spoiler]] insanity even more unsettling since pushing the right buttons could not only trigger a breakdown but cause [[spoiler]]his[[/spoiler]] death which is in of itself disturbing.

** Apparently his breakdown is so bad that he won't live to come to trial which makes his insanity even more unsettling since pushing the right buttons could not only trigger a breakdown but cause his death which is in of itself disturbing.

* ''And Then There Were None'' though the Radcliffian ending kind of spoils it. Incredibly effective use of [[spoiler: seaweed!]] There's a reason Agatha Christie is known as the grandmother of the slasher film and that reason is ''And Then There Were None''/''Ten Little Indians''/''Ten Little Niggers''. Say hi to Grandma, kids!
** ''"Don't you see?'' We're ''the zoo!''" Shiver.
** Emily Brent's hallucination of the dead Beatrice Taylor walking towards her fits here too. Especially if you know what [[DrivenToSuicide she has done to the girl]].

* [[spoiler: Nevile Strange's]] VillainousBreakdown in ''Towards Zero''. It's deeply unsettling to see such a [[spoiler: seemingly nice young man]] turn out to be a ''psychopath.''

* [[spoiler: Nevile Strange's]] VillainousBreakdown in ''Towards Zero''. It's deeply unsettling to see such a [[spoilers: seemingly nice young man]] turn out to be a ''psychopath.''

* [[spoiler: Nevile Strange's]] VillainousBreakdown in ''Towards Zero''. It's deeply unsettling to see such a [[seemingly nice young man]] turn out to be a ''psychopath.''

* [[spoiler: Nevile Strange's]] VillainousBreakdown in ''Toward Zero''. It's deeply unsettling to see such a [[seemingly nice young man]] turn out to be a ''psychopath.''

One would expect the world's most famous mystery author to have moments of NightmareFuel. After all, murder and death are the order of the day.

** Emily Brent's hallucination of the dead Beatrice Taylor walking towards her fits here too. Especially if you know what [[DrivenToSuicide she has done to the girl]].

* The [[http://rm7guy.co.uk/AC061.HoundDeathF.jpg cover]] of Creator/AgathaChristie's ''The Hound of Death''. It's a skull with one eyeball swollen so big as to be nauseating.