Vintage, Purely Psychological Horror Short Stories/Novelettes/Novellas

[Guttersnipe]

I'm looking for psychological horror stories that don't have supernatural, sci-fi, etc. elements, specifically stories that could happen in real life. As per usual, I'm looking for older ones, from the late 19th century to the mid 20th century. I'm familiar with Shirley Jackson and the stories "The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "The Whole Town is Sleeping," by Ray Bradbury, and "Lucy Comes to Stay," by Robert Bloch. It doesn't have to be about murder or gore. Any takers?

 

[BAYLOR]

The Birds by Daphne du Maurier

 

[paranoid marvin]

Frankenstein. And although it's mid 1970s, The Shining is arguably the greatest.

I would also suggest many of M R James' short stories, which could be ghosts; but could also be imagination. Casting the Runes is one of my favourites for this. Do victims succumb to a demon, or to overactive imaginations and coincidences?

 

[Randy M.]

There are writers who work along the border of the horror and the mystery story who would be of interest. Cornell Woolrich comes to mind: Black Alibi and The Bride Wore Black, for instance.

I just read Japanese Tales of Mystery and the Imagination by Edogawa Rampo, and some of those would probably fit.

Would you consider Herman Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener" psychological horror? Hawthorne's "The Birthmark"? And Poe. Pretty much all of Poe is psychological: "The Fall of the House of Usher" and so on. (Do we take Guy de Maupassant's "The Horla" at face value, or is it psychological horror?) Then there's Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge".

Dorothy L. Hughes' In a Lonely Place is deep, dark noir.

I think Stanley Ellin's "The Question" is horror. I found that one on the Internet -- not sure it should be, but it is.

 

[Randy M.]

A few more titles, including two obvious (duh) titles: Psycho by Robert Bloch; Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural has an initial "terror" section and at least three stories could be argued as psychological horror: "The Killers" by Ernest Hemingway, "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner and "Silent Snow, Secret Snow" by Conrad Aiken.

Other titles I thought of over night: "The Hands of Mr. Ottermole" by Thomas Burke; "Mr. Kempe" and "Seaton's Aunt" by Walter de la Mare (that latter presents as supernatural, but there's nothing there to confirm it is); "Three Hours" by Cornell Woolrich; and, though I feel like I'm not on the firmest ground suggesting these, "Mr. Loveday's Little Outing" and "The Man Who Liked Dickens" by Evelyn Waugh.