Which book, in your opinion, is the scariest supernatural that you have read? Thinking more along the lines of subtle ghost stories than monsters, gore etc.
What's the scariest supernatural...
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I can't think of anything that has ever really scared me, but my Mum who is also into horror/supernatural thrillers always tells me about how The Haunting of Toby Jugg by Dennis Wheatley scared her so much she could only read it while sat in the middle of a lit room with her eye on all the windows hehehe.
Film wise the only one i have watched that seemed too dark somehow was Event Horizon, there is something about that film i can't quite put my finger on.
Film wise the only one i have watched that seemed too dark somehow was Event Horizon, there is something about that film i can't quite put my finger on.
I really enjoyed The Haunting of Toby Jugg.
My choice? Probably Susan Hill's The Woman in Black, or Naomi's Room.
My choice? Probably Susan Hill's The Woman in Black, or Naomi's Room.
Film wise the only one i have watched that seemed too dark somehow was Event Horizon, there is something about that film i can't quite put my finger on.
OMG! That movie scares the crap out of me! The Ring (U.S. version) gave me nightmares!!!!!!!!!!
Book wise- The Haunting of Hill House- Jackson, The Color Out of Space- Lovecraft, Pet Cemetary- King, The House Next Door- Siddons.
Can you tell I have a 'thing' for haunted houses??
Fiona, the absolute creepiest book I've ever read was by a Welsh author. I read it while I was in Jolly Olde' Englande' in 1990 while attending the U.S. Air Force NCO Academy at RAF Upwood. We had this lending library in the dorm where I was staying and I stumbled across this paperback called The Cormorant by Stephen Gregory.
It was, by far, the creepiest, most depressing story I've ever read. RAF Upwood, at that time, changed weather each hour, but was for the most part, gloomy and it fit the story. Every time I read a few chapters, I wanted to take a warm shower. It creeped me out! I wasn't so much scared as bummed? I don't know, but I've never read another story like it. I don't think I liked the ending but I read it 21 years ago and can't remember excactly what happened. Needless to say it left an impression on me.
It was, by far, the creepiest, most depressing story I've ever read. RAF Upwood, at that time, changed weather each hour, but was for the most part, gloomy and it fit the story. Every time I read a few chapters, I wanted to take a warm shower. It creeped me out! I wasn't so much scared as bummed? I don't know, but I've never read another story like it. I don't think I liked the ending but I read it 21 years ago and can't remember excactly what happened. Needless to say it left an impression on me.
Feidb - Thank you for recommending The Cormorant. I've now ordered my own copy. Read some reviews - people say it's unsettling and creepy. Can't wait.
Saw the movie first and then read the book....so knew how it ended....and when I read it....scared me....King's Pet Cemetery. 
I can remember reading William Blatty's "The Exorcist" in '71 and I found it profoundly disturbing. Three years later the film was even more unsettling.
I think the book/movie got to me because I had heard it was based on a real local event (I grew up in Washington, DC). I did some digging and found out the possession and initial exorcism happened in 1949 to a young boy (Robbie Mannheim) in a small house in Mt.Ranier, MD, just blocks beyond the DC/MD line (Eastern Ave). There was a news story printed in the Washington Post at the time about the possession and exorcism. The final rites were performed at a Jesuit facility in St. Louis.
With a bit more digging, I found the house - smack-dab in the middle of a working-class neighborhood - or rather I found the original concrete foundation. The house had been torn down. I stood on that concrete, right in the center - in broad daylight and felt totally creeped out. I left, and never went back. That was almost 40 years ago, but that moment is as vivid in my recollection as this morning's sunrise.
I think the book/movie got to me because I had heard it was based on a real local event (I grew up in Washington, DC). I did some digging and found out the possession and initial exorcism happened in 1949 to a young boy (Robbie Mannheim) in a small house in Mt.Ranier, MD, just blocks beyond the DC/MD line (Eastern Ave). There was a news story printed in the Washington Post at the time about the possession and exorcism. The final rites were performed at a Jesuit facility in St. Louis.
With a bit more digging, I found the house - smack-dab in the middle of a working-class neighborhood - or rather I found the original concrete foundation. The house had been torn down. I stood on that concrete, right in the center - in broad daylight and felt totally creeped out. I left, and never went back. That was almost 40 years ago, but that moment is as vivid in my recollection as this morning's sunrise.
Ooh yes, The Exorcist. I read it when I was a teenager and it scared the hell out of me.
A while back, I came across this interesting investigative piece on the real events that's it's based on, too: The Haunted Boy. I won't give away its conclusions here, but it turns out that some of the details in the Post article had been changed (probably to protect the family's privacy). It's a fascinating story.
A while back, I came across this interesting investigative piece on the real events that's it's based on, too: The Haunted Boy. I won't give away its conclusions here, but it turns out that some of the details in the Post article had been changed (probably to protect the family's privacy). It's a fascinating story.
I personally have always liked The Shining by Stephen King. Some of my favorite darker films are The Shining and Event Horizon.
BjornAbust
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Koji Suzuki wrote a collection of short stories entitled Honogurai Mizu no Soko Kara. It was released in the US as 'Dark Water', and while his style is a little too clinical for my likes, the stories themselves are good and creepy.
The Ring by Koji Suzuki was fantastic Very atmospheric (and yes clinical, but that almost made it worse) and creepy. And creepy for the fact that so much of it takes place in very mundane settings.
I haven't read the sequels though, they sound like a big departure from the first book and that may or may NOT be a good thing.
I haven't read the sequels though, they sound like a big departure from the first book and that may or may NOT be a good thing.
Maybe it was because of my age when I read it, but nothing has ever creeped me out as much as Mark Twain's "The Mysterious Stranger."
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Another by Stephen King had me shivering under the covers. IT. Not the gory details but the tiny ones like how the IT crawled through the sewers and such. I would do my business as quickly as possible. Only a few stories scared me like that one did.
My daughter would agree with this one--and she was an adult when she read it. It scared her so badly, she had nightmares and was jumpy for weeks. She got to the place where she was too scared to keep reading, but she enjoyed it so much she doesn't ever get rid of it because someday "I'll get brave enough to finish it."
I read this specifically for that reputation, but stopped reading about 200 pages from the end out of boredom (and hatred of the characters as adults).
This is my problem. I've yet to read anything that's scared me, and most movies people say are scary are more "gotcha" than really frightening. Maybe my brain is miswired? Don't know.
But I do keep looking. I'm sure something is out there that will scare me.
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Novels... Plenty I like, but I can't think of any that creeped/freaked me out as much as some short stories.
The Wendigo and The Willows, both by Algernon Blackwood. The Wendigo is the only story that ever made me jump with fright, when the doorbell rang while I was reading it.
Squire Toby's Will, J. Sheridan LeFanu. Beautiful, dreamlike, haunting, and oh, gods, it's gonna touch you, it's been on your bed, agh!
An Episode of Cathedral History, The Diary of Mr. Poynter, and A Warning to the Curious, by M.R. James (everything else he wrote is good, too). (By the way, did you know the fabric on which Poynter hinges is a real thing? I saw it in an issue of Elle Decor years ago - 18th century fabrics being reprinted by the V&A. You could make curtains of it, just like Mrs. Denton did in the story. Put it in your guest room and make sure a bound chapbook of the story is on the nightstand. Hehehe.*)
The Color Out Of Space, Dreams in the Witch House, The Rats in the Walls, by Lovecraft.
And the Lovecraft-inspired The Thing in the Moonlight (practically flash fic, but yikes!)
* It occurs to me, this might hint why it's so rare for a horror story to truly scare me.
The Wendigo and The Willows, both by Algernon Blackwood. The Wendigo is the only story that ever made me jump with fright, when the doorbell rang while I was reading it.
Squire Toby's Will, J. Sheridan LeFanu. Beautiful, dreamlike, haunting, and oh, gods, it's gonna touch you, it's been on your bed, agh!
An Episode of Cathedral History, The Diary of Mr. Poynter, and A Warning to the Curious, by M.R. James (everything else he wrote is good, too). (By the way, did you know the fabric on which Poynter hinges is a real thing? I saw it in an issue of Elle Decor years ago - 18th century fabrics being reprinted by the V&A. You could make curtains of it, just like Mrs. Denton did in the story. Put it in your guest room and make sure a bound chapbook of the story is on the nightstand. Hehehe.*)
The Color Out Of Space, Dreams in the Witch House, The Rats in the Walls, by Lovecraft.
And the Lovecraft-inspired The Thing in the Moonlight (practically flash fic, but yikes!)
* It occurs to me, this might hint why it's so rare for a horror story to truly scare me.
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I've never read IT, because my mother did, and the instant she finished it, she called me.
Ring! Ring!
"Hello?"
Mother's voice, tight and seething with rage: "A fucking spider! A fucking goddamned giant spider from outer space! That son of a bitch -- I want my hours back! Argh!"
"Hi, mom. Finished that book?"
ETA:
I'm the same way. Folks like us remind me of those fairy tales about the hero who couldn't shudder. Somewhere in my house I have a version of that tale in which, all the demons of hell and monsters and whatnot having failed to frighten him, the princess/heroine finally teaches him to shudder by pouring a bucket of live minnows down his back.
I love the thrill I get from pretty little jewels of horror-moments, but they don't really scare me in any serious way, no way that lasts past the closing credits or back cover, no matter how wild the ride was while it lasted. I can only think of a few exceptions -- when I was a kid An American Werewolf in London, even though it was a comedy (wasn't it? I laughed.
), was shot well enough that I got creeped out walking home in the dark from the theater*; also the climactic scene in From Hell (no spoilers). That's kind of all I can think of as scaring me, as opposed to serving up some juicy, delicious chills and thrills that I glommed onto like a chocophile in a bon-bon shop.* Strangely though, I wasn't afraid of subway stations after that movie, even though that was the scariest scene in the movie.
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Stephen King's IT, particularly the part with the voices coming out of the drain in the bathroom, is the only one to ever give me nightmares.
...and make me afraid of bathrooms for three weeks.
...and make me afraid of bathrooms for three weeks.
The bit where the voices say "we are legion"? I love it! I would say both It and Pet Sem were two books that actually kept me up at night.
Sadly, even though I am a big reader, no other books have kept my wink-count down. It hasn't stopped me enjoying horror books. But it's mostly films that have stuck in my head.
Sadly, even though I am a big reader, no other books have kept my wink-count down. It hasn't stopped me enjoying horror books. But it's mostly films that have stuck in my head.
Stephen King's IT, particularly the part with the voices coming out of the drain in the bathroom, .
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