• Welcome to BookAndReader!

    We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!

    Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.

What is the Scariest Horror fiction you've ever read???

Stonemojo

New Member
I rarely if ever... no wait, I never if rarely... ok... its been a long time since I've any read horror fiction and when I did it was mostly Lovecraft. Anyways I'm turning into a fear junkie so I'd like your opinions on what the scariest, spookiest or creepiest novel you've ever read. I will politely ignore all Stephen King suggestions because at the rate he vomits out his encyclopedia sized tomes.... well I'll leave it at "He's never impressed me." (ducks from the ensuing flame war). Please no offense to anyone I'm just stating my humble opinion. So lets hear yours.

THE SCARIEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN IS...?
 
If you want scary read some of Peter Straub books. :eek:
Koko and the whole Blue Rose Trilogy, Mystery, Houses without Doors, Shadowland.... all really good.
 
I found Stephen Kings Desperation a bit disturbing..but then again i am a bit of a wimp when it comes to horrors..!

Amy
 
Actually, you hit the Master of Horror right off the bat.
H.P. Lovecraft was the absolute scariest i've ever read. Noone else even comes close to him. :eek:
 
"Ditto" Lovecraft! Terror on a grand scale! I think the Victorian settings make it even creepier. To read about the masters of the genre, check out Stephen King`s "Danse Macabre", where King acknowledges his influences.
 
although as a side note when i was a freshman in high school, i had gotten about 1/3 through "The Stand" and came down with a severe sinus infection that had almost the exact same symptoms as Captain Trips.
now THAT scared the ever-livin bejeesus out of me!
 
Salem's Lot - King
At the Mountains of Madness - Lovecraft
Mr Clubb and Mr Chuff - Peter Straub

Those are the three scariest, the best horror book I've read though is probably Misery.
 
Horror and fantasy is my favourite kind of books. I can say that the scariest i read are:

1. Guy De Maupassant - almost all his stories

2. Clive Barker - Books of Blood (all)

3. Stephen King - It , Desperation, Salems Lot, The Shinning
 
To be honest, I'm finding it hard to think of any from adulthood (not that I'm immune to being scared or anything - as soon as I let my imagination run loose... ) :) No doubt, someone will post up a title though and I'll remember it.

A story I remember from childhood that scared me silly was about the legend of the vampire of Croglin Hall (a supposedly true story). I think it was the description of the victim seeing a pair of faintly glowing eyes watching her from across the garden, slowly creeping across the lawn, scrabbling up the ivy on the wall and then picking out the lead on the windows to get in the room that affected me. I still remember it pretty clearly. Must have been about 8 at the time :)

Kev
 
Whitley Strieber!

I don't know if I believe this guy's stories, but he seems to believe them; I almost couldn't leave my chair to go up to bed one night -- that's how scary I found him to be:

On December 26, 1985, at a secluded cabin in upstate New York, Whitley Strieber went (siding ?) with his wife and son, ate Christmas dinner leftovers, and went to bed early.

Six hours later, he found himself suddenly awake...and forever changed.

Thus begins the most astonishing true-life odyssey ever recorded -- one man's riveting account of his extraordinary experiences with visitors from "elsewhere"... how they found him, where they took him, what they did to him and why...

Believe it. Or don't believe it. But read it -- for this gripping story will move you like no other... will fascinate you, terrify you, and alter the way you experience your world.


:eek:
 
SPEEDY_PARKER said:
Horror and fantasy is my favourite kind of books. I can say that the scariest i read are:

1. Guy De Maupassant - almost all his stories

2. Clive Barker - Books of Blood (all)

3. Stephen King - It , Desperation, Salems Lot, The Shinning
I'm right with you on this one... Guy de Maupassant sure wrote some scary stuff! :eek:
 
i know you are avoiding stephen king, but he is really the only horror writer i've read. i loved "the stand" but i didn't find it scary in a creepy, jump from the door to your bed type scary, just frightening in light of today's virus' etc. he wrote a short story called "the boogie man" that scared the bejeesus out of me, but i can't remeber which short story compilation it was in, maybe "night shift". and "it" scared me, to a point. when the kids were the main characters it was so much more believable. balloons and clowns to this day freak me out, but when they grew up, it seemed forced and implausible. i really don't know how it ended. ooooh and salem's lot with the window tapping,eeeek. yuk. i guess i like his older stuff.
 
I dunno. My partner introduced Lovecraft to me last year and I really didn't find him all that scary. In fact, I found the whole concept of Cthulu and the fish-people quite hilarious actually (and that's saying alot, considering I'm a BIG woss). Or maybe I was just reading the wrong stuff from him.

I'm not much of a King fan myself, but Salem's Lot really did spook me out quite a bit. It gave me nightmares :eek:
 
Jeffrey Deaver scares the *%&#$ out of me.
I like his books but can't read him close to bedtime or I have scary dreams :rolleyes:
 
Salem's Lot was definitely the scariest I've read. Seems like it was always
late at night when I was reading it and I kept hearing strange noises at the window. Not for the faint of heart. The movie didn't do the book justice.

Jeri :eek:
 
I've only really read King in the horror genre, but the ones that scared me were The Shining, Desperation and It.
 
Back
Top