The Most Horrific, Scariest, And Down Right Terrifying Books

I used to work in a library and I remember reading the inside jacket of Noughts and Crosses and shuddering inwardly before putting it firmly back on the shelf. Same thing with Bound by Donna Jo Napoli. I loves me some young adult books, but ho-ly hell-in-a-handbasket, that's just WAY too horrifying for me.

Speaking of terror-inducing books for young individuals, Neil Gaiman's Coraline is probably the scariest thing I've ever read in my life. When I got to the part with the buttons, needle and thread sitting on a plate, every fiber of my being wanted to throw the book across the room. I had the same visceral reaction to the horrible doughy mass of the Other Father in the cellar.

Despite the icy death grip of terror on my spine, though, I literally could not make myself put it down—I read the whole thing straight through. And then I couldn't get to sleep because of all the subtext! Subtext, subtext everywhere!

edited 3rd Dec '10 10:46:09 AM by countrymatters

I'm not sure if I'd count it as "terrifying", but Perfume by Patrick Suskind was downright disturbing.

Coraline.

Well, I have to give my vote to House Of Leaves. I haven't really found anything that can match that in terms of sheer "Why did I read this at night"-itude.

I got a 'This might be scary if it weren't so theatrical.' vibe.

Another House Of Leaves advocate here.

I have heard very, very sinister things about Pierre Guyotat's Eden Eden Eden. Apparently it is practically unreadable due to the shear volume of High Octane Nightmare Fuel (and Nausea Fuel) contained within.

Being an avowed, obsessive fan of Thomas Ligotti - and as any fan of his will tell you, there is no other kind - I really can't help but advocate for his work here. But at the same time, one really needs to let his work sink in to get the full effect. Case in point: "Mrs. Rinaldi's Angel" is unsettling enough as is, but once you really consider the implications of the story's key concept, your ability to sleep will be very seriously impaired.

In a similar vein, the original short story '1408'. The menu sequence. Dear god...

edited 19th Jan '11 3:35:15 AM by JHM

"The Call of Cthulhu." Where it all began. Although Cthulhu's become something of a geek-culture punchline, with countless parodies and such, the original Lovecraft short story is creepy as all get out, particularly the climax on the ship. So is the excellent film version by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society.

In terms of full-length books: Pet Sematary, definitely. If this wiki's entry on it is to be believed, King scared himself with it. That would take some doing.

Ugh... Pet Semetary. I was doing fine until about halfway through when it was outright stated that a young character was going to die. ._. I pretty much figured how that would go and I thought "yeaaaaaaah... no *puts the book in the cupboard*" But the scariest book I've read all the way through is Misery. It's tense and brutal and the main antagonist is completely terrifying. I've only managed to read it once though.

"Death is my Trade" Robert Merle. The Other Wiki says: "The protagonist, Rudolf Lang, was closely based on the real Rudolf Höß, commandant of the concentration camp Auschwitz."

@Taco Ninja: Yeah, it's unfortunate that King felt the need to state outright that Gage was going to die. I understand why he did it: it added pathos to the otherwise sweet "Kite flyin', daddy!" scene, but at the cost of over-telecasting that which would prompt Louis to take the risk he did.

I love me some horror, but the only two works I can think of off the top of my head that truly terrified me were Stephen King's short stories "The Monkey" and "Gramma" from Skeleton Crew.

edited 19th Jan '11 4:30:22 PM by Willbyr

John Dies At The End actually managed to creep me out.

And make me laugh.

This reminds me of the fact that I really need to read more in general, including full-sized horror literature... because I haven't actually read a single full-sized horror book.

As for short stories that creeped me out massively? Latia has apparently removed the link to "Ghosts" from his/her signature. I can't find the previously existent TV Tropes page for it, I can't find the story on Google. That's a damn shame, as it was creepy, creepy goodness. I still vividly remember the "SSSSHHHHHHKKKKKK".

Farenhiet 451. I tried reading the first few pages of that. Good Lord that book is disturbing.

edited 20th Jan '11 10:56:50 AM by AlirozTheConfused

Oh, almost forgot: Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows". Any book with this story in it jumps way up the list. Ditto E.F. Benson's "Caterpillars", and T.E.D. Klein's "Black Man with a Horn".

Now, if an anthology had all three of those...

I'm making an Unpublished Works page for that. Maybe.

edited 21st Jan '11 3:09:42 PM by JHM

The Death Of Ivan Ilyich unsettles me. It's a short book about someone dying slowly. As positively as I view death I do not deny that it frightens me.

Lord of the Rings isn't all around terrifying, but Shelob is...she's horrifying. And I like spiders....

Book one of Bio of a Space Tyrant by Piers Anthony. And various scenes from some of his other books. Firefly seemed that way when I was in high school; maybe the death grip of puberty made a monster that made you too horny to run away believable.

@Muzozavr: T...thank you, that's very nice of you. I'm glad that it had that kind of response.

Um, I removed it from the Internet though, I really shouldn't have posted it in the first place, since I eventually want to sell it somewhere. As for the page, well, it was really pretentious of me to have made a page for a short story. I deleted it too.

Only two books have ever managed to disturb me or make me squirm: John Dies At The End and Chuck Palanihuk's Haunted. I'm generally impossible to scare/unsettle, so I highly value any books that can manage it. I love Stephen King, but his books are more suspenseful than scary. I've actually attempted to read House Of Leaves (twice :P), but still haven't managed it; it's just too dense. I'll get around to it eventually though. I've taken the Thomas Ligotti recommendation though, looking forward to checking him out.

I really shouldn't have posted it in the first place, since I eventually want to sell it somewhere.

I hope everything works out for you alright.

Uhmm...Coraline's already been mentioned... I always got a bit creeped reading about Havisham, Magwitch, and Jaggers, and as long as we're on Dickens, I remember a Christmas Carol as surprisingly creep. I dunno if I've ever read the actual dickens version, though. We might have had a kid's version.

Similarly the children's illustrated classic versions of Jeckle and Hyde and Frankenstein (that's two book titles there, but now I kind of want to write the two all run together like that). The real Jeckle and Hyde holds up quite well, and there's one part when I know I got good and chilled "For god's sake, Utterson, have mercy!" and you start to wonder about the whole thing, but the real version of Frankenstein is utter crap and it only got better in being condensed.

Short stories, Harrison Bergeron and the Yellow Wallpaper...and the Cask of Amontillado. And (poems I know) Anabelle Lee and The Raven, and for some lighter fair, the Cremation of Sam Mc Gee.

I had to read Ethan Frome for school and I think on it's own it's overrated, (it strikes me as a bit whiney, drippy, overdramatic or whatever, and my teacher is absolutely in love with how "scary" it is) but I read that thing by flashlight in an empty, pitch black auditorium, and I know it made me squirm. Notre Dame is a good read...I dunno, these are starting to blurr into sort of creepy gothic, because I never seem to read any downright horror, and I scare embarassingly easy when I read late at night which is when I usually read.

That said, Chamber of Secrets, whenever Harry hears the Basalisk whispering in the walls. Just to round off my list of pretentious, highly-regarded literature.

edited 25th Jan '11 2:09:14 PM by DaeBrayk

The children's series Animorphs

The Door To The Dragon's Throat probably wouldn't have been too scary, except I read it as a child! For kids they said!

Would the pdf of FATAL's rulebook count? I may have only read 745 pages of it, but my good it was like staring into the depths of R'lyeh.

That pdf terrified me, that it did.

Hyperion and its sequel really freaked me out. With a book that had A man being crucified and dying over and over again for many years. Having sex with what was basically an Eldritch Abomination. Relying on an Eldritch Abomination murdering people to write poetry. The idea of how aging backwards would really work. (Waking up every day, forgetting, and being briefed on your situation), Going up against an Eldritch Abomination by yourself, being crucified to a tree resulting in the most painful existence possible. And a lot more. ... So both of the books were pretty damn scary. And before reading them, I'd never been scared by a book before.

edited 29th Jan '11 8:57:08 PM by Kraftwerk