Pet Sematary. All the parts where they go into the woods up to the Micmac cemetery are pretty spooky.
PleasantLeaf on
Head Full of Ghosts
freerangelibrarian on
A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny.
HaikuSnoiper on
I actually prefer short story collections during October to cram as much spook in of variety that I can. Thomas Ligotti, Ambrose Bierce, John Langan, Stephen King, all great options.
eighty2angelfan on
Helter Skelter and Night Stalker are scariest books I’ve ever read.
ALittleNightMusing on
Susan Hill. The Woman in Black is a classic for a reason, but I’ve got a big soft spot for The Man in the Picture too – very creepy. They’re both quite short too.
NerdLifeCrisis on
The Thief of Always by Clive Barker, it’s more dark fantasy than horror and geared more to a younger crowd…but a boy gets whisked away to a place called Mr Hoods Holiday House and every night is Halloween there! Sinister stuff goes down too. It’s still got plenty of creepy to it and happens to be one of my fav books of all time
A_Squid_A_Dog on
Summer of Night by Dan Simmons. Great horror novel and a fun slow burn.
Salems Lot by Stephen King. Feels very complete, good characters and no fluff.
My two favorite scary books.
Jenstarflower on
I’m starting Horrorstör.
macamc1983 on
Pet Cemetery
NoNameLMH on
The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon was good and creepy
magicsgone on
I’m starting Slewfoot
zenithzinger on
The Shining
edsicalz on
I’m getting into Stephen King this spooky season. I picked up Carrie and ‘Salem’s Lot. I also picked up a copy of The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings by Poe.
Elinaamble22 on
I will be indulging into my now annual read of American Psycho (and also rewatching the Twin Peaks tv series again)
DHWSagan on
Like folk horror? – – my October rec is always Harvest Home. Thomas Tryon
doctoryt on
House of leaves
Creeped me out a lot
Porterlh81 on
I’m going to start *Interview with a Vampire*
jdg84530 on
Something Wicked This Way Comes
ldl84 on
The Green Ribbon (about a girl with a ribbon around her neck) lol this scared the shit out of me in 1st grade.
Holly by Stephen King. I just got it & waiting to start it til the 1st.
RainRunner42 on
“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream…”
*Haunting of Hill House* will never not be my go-to fall read
Saxzarus on
Hound of the baskerviels
zonayork on
The Amityville Horror. Book scared the hell out of me!
ModernNancyDrew on
Rebecca
The Little Stranger
Ghost Story
imabaaaaaadguy on
Frankenstein is always good. And any Edgar Allen Poe collections. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is only a 25-ish minute read.
Remarkable_Clerk277 on
Anything Stephen king lol
keepcalmscrollon on
Start reading A Night In Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny on September 30th. One chapter a day until October 31st. I learned this tradition in this sub and it’s delightful. More cozy than spooky but a perfect Halloween companion.
Otherwise I love old short stories. Algernon Blackwood, M.R. James, William Hope Hodgson (His Carnacki the Ghost-Finder stories are tons of fun and House on the Borderlands is a straight horror acid trip), and ye olde mainstays Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft.
These are some of the big names but they have no shortage of less famous contemporaries collected in myriad anthologies. These old guys were masters of atmosphere. For me they’re comforting and creepy.
All this stuff is in the public domain and readily available for free from Project Gutenberg, Libby, etc. You can also find them collected in cheap anthologies as ebooks on Amazon which can be nice to get a curated variety. Sometimes they’ll even have little introductions for each of the stories to give them some context. That can add to the fun.
Theopholus on
Something Wicked This Way Comes from Ray Bradbury.
30 Comments
Let the Right One In
Pet Sematary. All the parts where they go into the woods up to the Micmac cemetery are pretty spooky.
Head Full of Ghosts
A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny.
I actually prefer short story collections during October to cram as much spook in of variety that I can. Thomas Ligotti, Ambrose Bierce, John Langan, Stephen King, all great options.
Helter Skelter and Night Stalker are scariest books I’ve ever read.
Susan Hill. The Woman in Black is a classic for a reason, but I’ve got a big soft spot for The Man in the Picture too – very creepy. They’re both quite short too.
The Thief of Always by Clive Barker, it’s more dark fantasy than horror and geared more to a younger crowd…but a boy gets whisked away to a place called Mr Hoods Holiday House and every night is Halloween there! Sinister stuff goes down too. It’s still got plenty of creepy to it and happens to be one of my fav books of all time
Summer of Night by Dan Simmons. Great horror novel and a fun slow burn.
Salems Lot by Stephen King. Feels very complete, good characters and no fluff.
My two favorite scary books.
I’m starting Horrorstör.
Pet Cemetery
The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon was good and creepy
I’m starting Slewfoot
The Shining
I’m getting into Stephen King this spooky season. I picked up Carrie and ‘Salem’s Lot. I also picked up a copy of The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings by Poe.
I will be indulging into my now annual read of American Psycho (and also rewatching the Twin Peaks tv series again)
Like folk horror? – – my October rec is always Harvest Home. Thomas Tryon
House of leaves
Creeped me out a lot
I’m going to start *Interview with a Vampire*
Something Wicked This Way Comes
The Green Ribbon (about a girl with a ribbon around her neck) lol this scared the shit out of me in 1st grade.
Holly by Stephen King. I just got it & waiting to start it til the 1st.
“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream…”
*Haunting of Hill House* will never not be my go-to fall read
Hound of the baskerviels
The Amityville Horror. Book scared the hell out of me!
Rebecca
The Little Stranger
Ghost Story
Frankenstein is always good. And any Edgar Allen Poe collections. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is only a 25-ish minute read.
Anything Stephen king lol
Start reading A Night In Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny on September 30th. One chapter a day until October 31st. I learned this tradition in this sub and it’s delightful. More cozy than spooky but a perfect Halloween companion.
Otherwise I love old short stories. Algernon Blackwood, M.R. James, William Hope Hodgson (His Carnacki the Ghost-Finder stories are tons of fun and House on the Borderlands is a straight horror acid trip), and ye olde mainstays Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft.
These are some of the big names but they have no shortage of less famous contemporaries collected in myriad anthologies. These old guys were masters of atmosphere. For me they’re comforting and creepy.
All this stuff is in the public domain and readily available for free from Project Gutenberg, Libby, etc. You can also find them collected in cheap anthologies as ebooks on Amazon which can be nice to get a curated variety. Sometimes they’ll even have little introductions for each of the stories to give them some context. That can add to the fun.
Something Wicked This Way Comes from Ray Bradbury.
Anything by Shirley Jackson.