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Scariest Book Ever?

kasstorr

kasstorr

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Hey I was wondering what has been the scariest book you've ever read? So far, "Hell House" by Richard Matherson has been the scariest book I've ever read and I'm trying to find something as good or better.

I like to read books that make you jump when you hear an unexpected noise (like someone knocks on your door while your reading and you scream!)
 
I don't read horror novels that often, almost never actually, but there is one that I just have to mention in this thread, considering it's just so scary and so good.

The novel I'm talking about is 'House of Leaves', which is the debut novel of an author named Mark Danielewski. The novel has a very simple and interesting premise. A couple buy a house which turns out to be a hole lot bigger on the inside than it appeared on the outside. Also, these mysterious rooms keep shifting and moving.

Sounds lame, you might say, but the interesting part is the way in which the novel has been written. It's about a guy who finds the written account of this aforementioned couple, and his estrangement from society as he reads all their experiences. The novel also recounts the events caught on several videotapes made in the mysterious rooms, and this is done in a very compelling and scary way. As you further progress through the novel you will actually physically notice the despair experienced by these people, simply because the layout of the pages will start to shift, making it more difficult to follow.

Give this one a go, it gave me quite a scare.

Cheers, Martin :D
 
Scariest (story) ever

I can't really mention a book, but the one that did it for me was the Edgar Allen Poe story, "The Masque of the Red Death". Read it on my own alone in the house when I was 14 and almost died of terror everytime a floorboard creaked.

There is a bit about death walking through a series of rooms in the castle that will scare you to pieces if you let it.

For me this is still the daddy.
 
The Shining by Stephen King.

I was a few months pregnant when I started reading it and had to stop because it was so spooky I thought it would do wierd things to the baby! :eek: :eek: :D

Or maybe it was just my hormones run amok!!
 
I read The Amytiville Horror when I was 12 scared the pants off me for days after I finished it. Don't know how it would hold up now though Lol that was a long time ago. I remember Ghost Story by Peter Straub being quite good but that's all I can think of right now.
 
Ell said:

I was a few months pregnant when I started reading it and had to stop because it was so spooky I thought it would do wierd things to the baby!
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Wow Ell, that's quite extreme. Afraid you would spawn the devil's child or something? You didn't name it Damian did you? Did the baby yell "Heeeeeeere's Johnny!" immediately after it came out? ;)

Another book (or actually film, I've never read the book) that scared me was 'It', by Stephen King. Just the entire idea of a demonic clown freaked the bejeezes out of me. Maybe not so strange considering I was only 9 or 10 years old at the time.

That's it, proceed...

Cheers, Martin :D
 
"Into Thin Air" John Krakauer

It's NF but it's still the scariest most horrifying book I've ever read.
 
The Shining, by Stephen King, which I couldn't read if I was in the house by myself.
Ghost Story, by Peter Straub, ditto
 
You didn't name it Damian did you? Did the baby yell "Heeeeeeere's Johnny!" immediately after it came out?
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LOL.

No, he turned out fine, but he does have a rather macabre sense of humour.
 
Ell said:

No, he turned out fine, but he does have a rather macabre sense of humour.
Click to expand...

There you go. That's the result of reading creepy books when you're pregnant. So, assuming this fact counts for the entire population, we can state that everybody with a macabre sense of humour has a mother who loves (or at least likes) to read scary books. Always nice to know.

Cheers, Martin :D
 
The Shining by Stephen King is the only book I've ever read that made me nervous about turning out the light! "It" also un-nerved me, though not as much, probably because I find clowns scary in reality!!;)
 
Halo said:
"It" also un-nerved me, though not as much, probably because I find clowns scary in reality!!
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What is it about clowns? I find them scary, too! When I was young and taken to the circus, I could never figure out why people thought they were funny.

Martin said:
That's the result of reading creepy books when you're pregnant. So, assuming this fact counts for the entire population, we can state that everybody with a macabre sense of humour has a mother who loves (or at least likes) to read scary books.
Click to expand...
Hey, Martin. There may be something in this. King was one of the first author's my son really loved. When he was about 11, he devoured all the King novels he could get his hands on! :D
 
Point proven.

Thank you, thank you, thank you very much.

*Nods contemptiously*

Next week I'll be writing my book on the Effects of Crap Fiction on the Human Psyche. Look out for it.

Cheers, Martin :D
 
It by Stephen King, again with the scary killer clowns (I too am a clownaphobic, cant stand them)
 
Lock your doors!

In Cold Blood was probably the scariest book I've read.

It's NF, actually, you could call it journalism, I suppose.

It details the events surrounding the grisly murder of an entire family in their own home.

Most of the novel depicts the life of the family long before the murder, and there is nothing particularly creepy about it, except the fact that you know their fate. It's a murder that doesn't make sense, seemingly motiveless.

The second half of the book humanizes the killers by showing us who they are. That part is a lot less scary, but the book still haunts me, and I can't sleep without locking the doors anymore.

One bit that stuck with me -- One of the killers took aspirin every day, and chewed it, because he liked the taste.

By Truman Capote

Author of Breakfast at Tiffany's [which I haven't read. Is it worth reading?]
 
I agree with you about In Cold Blood. It is quite chilling. I haven't read Breakfast at Tiffany's, but I would recommend another Capote book, Other Voices, Other Rooms. It's kind of autobiographical fiction, more a long short story than a novel, and very good.
 
That's really funny Serene. I think it did happen on Friends. It was a Stephen King book but I think it might have been Cujo. LOL!

Art imitating life, imitating art!
 
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