A Horror Book That Scared The Socks Off Ya

[Extollager]

James Howard Kunstler's nonfiction The Long Emergency was a bit worrying. But he seems to have been wrong about peak oil.

 

[svalbard]

Hostage to the Devil by Malachi Martin left me some troubled thoughts for months afterwards. Nothing more I want to say about that book.

 

[james lecky]

A lot of the stories in the Pan Book of Horror, particularly those in the mid to end editions of the series, genuinely disturbed me.

In terms of having my socks scared off, the only one I can really think of is Salem's Lot. A real creepy read first time out (and afterwards).

 

[River Boy]

Recent book 'Not Far From Aviemore' by Michael Reuel - the writer does a good job of making it clear to the reader that the characters are more vulnerable and more is at stake than they realise, while the dark forces standing in their way are sinister and ambiguous.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Not a book, but when I was in grade school one of my teachers read Poe's "The Black Cat" to the class and it haunted me for years.

 

[Pedro Del Mar]

Salem's Lot, read it three times and each time it's given me bad dreams!

 

[A. Fare Wells]

I tend to find the most disturbing stories are the ones that provide just enough details to give some idea that something er, not right, is going on but don't go over-the-top to explain precisely what is happening.

They are few and far between, but those that make me lie awake trying to make sense of what I just read have a profound impact. They provide just enough coherency to tie the elements together but somehow don't quite fit—like two pieces of a puzzle that are shaped to go together but are just different enough that they don't — but have still been forced together.

Most recently, Ramsay Campbell's "Potential" fit that bill. I found it to be very disturbing in its content.

 

[BAYLOR]

The Hungry Moon by Ramsey Campbell . It's about an English town called Moonwell which a has an well with an even more ancient horror living below in the darkness. I know it sounds pretty basic, but trust me It's anything but. It's simple one of the best epic horror novels ever written and when you get into it, you understand why.

 

[Pedro Del Mar]

The Hungry Moon by Ramsey Campbell . It's about an English town called Moonwell which a has an well with an even more ancient horror living below in the darkness. I know it sounds pretty basic, but trust me It's anything but. It's simple one of the best epic horror novels ever written and when you get into it, you understand why.

Sounds great! just ordered it from Ebay

 

[Pedro Del Mar]

Just to add to my post re: Salem's Lot.

I'm currently listening to the audiobook in my car and it's absolutely superb. It's without a single doubt the most scary book I've ever read (or listened to!)

 

[Ravenna]

Joe Hill - Heart-shaped box was scary, I thought I saw the dead man's suit everywhere!

Several Stephen King's books have scared me. I remember leaving Pet sematary unfinished because I couldn't read it through (the first time). I finished it later.

 

[BAYLOR]

The Hungry Moon by Ramsey Campbell The way he built up the Menace beneath the town Moonwell . It's funny, but as I read the book I kept hearing certain doom music from the original Outer Limits, whenever I would get to the scariest scenes in the book and there were more then a few of those.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Don't tend to find King scary, but the short story 'The Sun Dog' was very chilling, and the last lines still stay with me.

Other than that 'Domain' by James Herbert, probably because at the time of reading, nuclear war seemed very likely.

 

[ratsy]

Some of Kings shorts can be really scary. I think it was N that freaked me out. I had a hard time getting the story out of my head for days after I read it.

@Teresa Edgerton I was scared by The Tell Tale Heart when I was a kid. I think I was too young to read Poe and my older brother told me to read that. Not a good idea.

I also started Heart shaped box by Joe Hill but something about it made me put it down. It was freaky though.

 

[BAYLOR]

I find it best to always wear shoes when im reading horror books , that way, ill never get the socks scared off of me.

 

[Juliana]

I'd probably find it tame now but the first one was Agatha Christie's "Hound of Death."

I don't read horror, because I'm too much of a scaredy-pants, but I love Agatha Christie, and my mum had a huge collection. Some of her short stories, in particular, are absolutely freaky.

 

[Toby Frost]

I'd have to nominate Clive Barker's Books of Blood. The stories vary but a generally of a very high quality, and most of them still resonate with me. In particular, "Rawhead Rex" and "In the Hills, the Cities" are very unsettling. I'd also nominate Ramsay Campbell's book The Doll Who Ate His Mother, which seems to get stronger every time I read it, and The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons, which I wrote about here: http://www.sffchronicles.com/threads/539959/. I was also quite unsettled by Lovecraft's story "The Whisperer in Darkness", which pretty much pre-empted the X-Files by about 50 years.

Also, when I was a small child, I had a book about Nessie, on the cover of which a very sinister grey-black Nessie was rising out of the water next to two people in a very small boat. I still have a lingering fear of sea monsters - which is one of the better phobias to have, as I'm unlikely to run into many of them.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I don't read horror, because I'm too much of a scaredy-pants, but I love Agatha Christie, and my mum had a huge collection. Some of her short stories, in particular, are absolutely freaky.

I have it on my Kindle but not sure if I want to read it or not. At 8 or 9 I was blown away by it but wonder if I would feel let down now?

Also, when I was a small child, I had a book about Nessie, on the cover of which a very sinister grey-black Nessie was rising out of the water next to two people in a very small boat. I still have a lingering fear of sea monsters - which is one of the better phobias to have, as I'm unlikely to run into many of them.

Mine is a lingering fear of Bertie Bassett after Dr Who's Kandy Man. The only villain to have me hiding my head in a cushion. It's also an easy enough phobia to avoid.

 

[Juliana]

I don't know, Anya. I would...

I find she's very good at creating a creepy atmosphere, even in her novels, where you know it's a live, human killer. Like the Tommy and Tuppence one with the house, or some of her Poirot ones.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I don't know, Anya. I would...

I find she's very good at creating a creepy atmosphere, even in her novels, where you know it's a live, human killer. Like the Tommy and Tuppence one with the house, or some of her Poirot ones.

I know. I have just reread all the Miss Marples and they were as good as I remember. The Hound of Death was so good I'd hate to ruin the memory.