Scariest book you've ever read...

[Lochnar]

I have never read truly scary fiction...the closest I can come is "The Descent" by Jeff Long and "Midnight" by Dean Koontz. Oh and one line from the Stand...something like "his fingernails peeled back wetly" creeped me out. But that's more disgust not fear.

[Foxtrot]

I'll have to go with "1984" by George Orwell. It can actually happen.

[Wolve]

I am not sure about the scariest, but "The Tell-Tale Heart creeped me out the first time I read it. I was extremely young and I am completely neurotic so I am sure that has everything to do with it, but by the end I was hearing the friggan heart myself for hours.

Also, on the Orwell line:

The Lord of the Flies was just completely disturbing. The concept of innocence being corrupted to that degree was just disturbing.

And though I adore it; the artworks of H. R. Geiger can be quite disturbing (yet beautiful) as well.

[Imaginarygreenthunder]

Shade of the tree by piers anthony. *shudder*

[Saya]

Forgot about Lord Of The Flies, is scary in a similar way that 1984 is I guess, I think disturbing might be a better word.

Haven't read anything bone chilling lately, although I reread Let The Right One In and it raised my blood pressure but overall it didn't scare me (well the r@pist faceless vampire at the end was a frightening image, it reminded me of a Silent Hill monster. Silent Hill scares me more than anything.) And the short story Survivor Type by Stephen King made me incredibly squeamish. I could barely finish it I thought it was that disgusting. Completely lost my appetite for hours.

[zerademark]

Stephen King's "The Pet Sanctuary" (dunno if this is the correct translation, I've only read the dutch translation) gave me the creeps.

[ph03nix]

Originally Posted by iroti

I've read a lot of horror fiction, but nothing has succeeded to scare me. Maybe I should take some of the books off here.

Honestly, the only thing that ever genuinely creeped me out, and still does is the artwork in those "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark". The art is by Alvin something, but it always irked me. :x

OMG! I thought I was the only one that thought that! I used to read those books a long time ago, and those images are what kept me up at night. (The story of the dead woman coming out the basement, and the half cat, half woman stories in particular)

[synthetic-xlora]

Originally Posted by Despanan

Honestly? Coraline.

I don't read horror very often (if at all) But that book was fucking freaky.

Though it wasn't very frightening, yeah, Coraline was a pretty messed up children's novel. It certaintly stuck with me after I finished it.

This is a good thread- I haven't read enough horror novels. I can get some good ideas on what to read here.

[JethroAranas]

1408. stephen king. so weird and sooo freaking creepy. ughhhh.

[Angelic Dissonance]

Pet Semetary. Stephen King.

Also, maybe.... Pickman's Model, by Lovecraft? A classic by the father of Horror and Science Fiction---and a Damn good fantasy writer. Anyone read The Dream-Quest of Unkown Kadath?
Freaking
AMAZING.

I used to listen to audio-tapes of his stories, as a little kid on WRFL, the college station.... 88.1 FM. I remember it being, like, 2:00 or 3:00, and listening to The Thing on The Doorstep. God, those were the days.

[DarkestSunrise]

Ooh, I've got one no one has mentioned. I only found it because it's set locally so it was out on a table at a local bookstore- It's "The Year of Past Things" by M. A Harper. I'd never been scared by a book until I read that about two years ago. It is wonderfully creepy! I lent it to a few people who said they didn't think much of it from reading the jacket but ended up not wanting to read it when they were alone. Good stuff.

[Vlh]

The Tommyknockers by Stephen King. Scared me to no end, still can't think of it without shuddering. None of his other books were as bad, just this one.

[Heretic]

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis



At first I was simply uncomfortable with a story in which the author puts you inside the mind of a serial killer. But about halfway through, it became progressively frightening before finally hitting terror at the end of the book. Was it the gore? The things the main character was willing to do? Nope; the terrifying thing about this book is how you start to identify and think like the character. The author somehow manages to bend your mind bit by bit until the main character's twisted, distorted view of humanity becomes, briefly, yours.

I was sleepless, physically ill, and depressed by the time I finished that book. I've never found another one that affected me like that. Read it if you feel you must, but be warned.

As for straight, run-of-the-mill chills, I'd have to go with the short story "The Boogeyman" by Stephen King, from the short story collection "Night Shift". The twist ending freaked me right the fuck out when I was a kid and served as my gateway drug to the rest of his work, as well as numerous other horror authors.


- Heretic

[ape descendant]

I felt rather ill while I was reading 1984....

[lady_cthulhu]

"Freak Legion", from the Old World of Darkness roleplaying series. It's really just a roleplaying guide, but it had me so paranoid I was afraid of my own bathroom for MONTHS. Just google 'freakfeet' and you'll see what I mean.

The only other story that ever truly scared me was "The Dreams in the Witch-House" by H.P. Lovecraft. Brown Jenkins is the reason I surround myself with cats at night. Forever.

[bear vs bear]

Yeah, I agree with Heretic on American Psycho.
At some points I wanted to vomit. I didn't want to finish the book and it would stay on my shelf for a few weeks before I could resume reading it. It's a book I'll most likely never read again.

Another book was Crash. JG Ballard. Maybe it wasn't so creepy when you got into it, but, the sexual fetishism regarding car crashes were gut turning and disturbing. Had to return it - Ended up buying American Psycho instead. Which, once again, was a mistake.

[Pineapple_Juice]

American Psycho made me feel physically nauseated.

[Athanos]

Dracula, when I was 15. It doesn't hold up, but my memory of the fear does

[Scion of Patria]

I really didn't like American Psycho but that was mostly because I didn't like the writing style. I did finally stop reading it when he murdered the gay guy and his dog.

I read Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark when I was younger. The illustrations were what really added to the scare factor.

[aisehino]

Frankenstein sorta freaked me out, not through the contact but the social commentary. I had to do a paper on it in year 12 and it just left me hating humanity, which shocked me.

I can't really think of any that have caused pant wetting style fear.

[Aeryka]

The Rats in the Walls by H.P. Lovecraft.

[Vladimir Lessard]

I would not say they scared me but they are extreme novels:

Haunted (2005) by Chuck Palahniuk. A a collection of 24 fictional short stories filled with some violent and graphic imagery.

Knuckle Supper (2010) by Drew Stepek. An unforgiving, vicious and realistic horror story. Stepek explores chemical dependency, inner-city brutality, religion, molestation, abortion and the very nature of evil itself—the evil not necessarily being the undead.

[Geoluhread]

I have never read anything that made me nauseated. Ever.

I read some sick shit though, I wasn't scared but I was amazed by the creativity of the author mainly.
The sickest thing I've read was In the Miso Soup. Oh man, half way through the book where the main .. ehm .. "event" takes place, I didn't think much of the book, but then it hit me. This book is awesome.

Another book gave me strange disconnected-from-reality feelings (although the content itself was very ordinary and not at all sick, mostly) was a book by Haruki Murakami called The Wind-up Bird Chronicle.

[Saya]

Oh, Stephen King has some really gross stories, I can't remember which anthology it was or the name of the story, buts its about a surgeon who crash lands on a desert island and eats himself. I couldn't eat for the rest of the day after I read that.

[Class-Punk]

Originally Posted by iroti

Honestly, the only thing that ever genuinely creeped me out, and still does is the artwork in those "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark". The art is by Alvin something, but it always irked me. :x

This comes to mind.. too bad they changed the artwork. When I was a kid, I couldn't stop reading those books, even though they completely creeped me out.

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