Scariest Book Ever?

[Dragonbreathp9d]

Hands down without a doubt absofuckinlutely gotta be "House of Leaves" by Danielewski. Jesus tity fucking christ that scared the shit outa me! 800 pages and I was done in 4 days, went camping, and kept thinking I'd come across stairs! Great, awesome, scary-as-hell, realistic-sounding/feeling book. Highly reccomended.

[Arkham House]

1. "Conjure Wife", by Fritz Leiber

This is from 1943--I have the copy of "Unknown" it appeared in, believe it or not--and it remains to this day the most frightening fantasy novel ever written in the US. It's short--blessedly--and totally to the point, has a remarkable momentum, gets to its point and keeps you suspended on the point, even after the climax, which comes when Tansy emerges from the water...best of all, due to its brevity, most of the horror is implied, buried under the surface--but unlike Lovecraft, say, the horror is *shown*, and dealt with on-page. But the implications are there... Leiber was probably the greatest American fantasy writer ever, though he's beel largely forgotten. This is a terrific book...

[LostinVA]

2. "It" -- hands down the winner!!!

[flying rabbit]

71. You are correct!

We all float here.

[kay1864]

3. The Hot Zone

because it was true. Ebola in Reston Virginia. :scared:

[CottonBear]

91. I second The Hot Zone. Absolutely terrifying and completely true.

:scared:

I just read it again last week.

A number of years ago, I went to a lecture by the husband and wife Army vets who worked on the Reston, VA Ebola in the monkeyhouse case. They opened the lecture with a slide picture of them in Level 4 space suits. They said "If you wake up and see us in these suits it means that you are probably going to die."
:scared:

[SoxFan]

4. Salem's Lot/Demon in the Freezer

It's hard to believe if you've only seen the cheesy David Soul movie version, but "Salem's Lot" is a very scary book. I read it when I was a teenager, and for weeks afterwards I kept sneaking glances at the tree branch that was outside my window, expecting to see an undead kid floating out there.

In the non-fiction category, it's "The Demon In The Freezer", by Richard Preston. If the notion of bioengineered, weaponized smallpox doesn't scare the living hell out of you, then nothing will.

[MotorCityMan]

11. Another vote for Salem's Lot

I agree, the original movie sucked (and had no desire to see the recent remake), but the book scared the crap out of me the first time I read it in my teens.

I was home alone at night, and I got to the chapter in the book that started "The town knew darkness..." I had to stop reading, turn on lights, and call the dog to sit on my lap.

[Reciprocity]

23. Salem's Lot did it for me too. n/t

[Bjornsdotter]

29. Gotta go with Salem's Lot

...just as I finished reading it, I was walking down the basement stairs at night and the electric went out. I damn near killed my cousin pushing him back up the stairs yelling "Vampires."

He still talks about this and it's been 30 years.

Cheers

[Ahpook]

97. Heh..

That made me chuckle. It is a creepy book to read though;-)

Anyway, Anne Rice's vampire series got to me as well. She was really good at describing a setting and putting you in there.

I was stupid and watched those crappy movies and it fucked up the imagery.

[Javaman]

30. Two very fantastically terrifying books! nt

[alphafemale]

5. The Hand Maid's Tale

One of the scariest anyway, because you can see how something like that could happen.

[Dragonbreathp9d]

8. Have you read Oryx and Crake?

[alphafemale]

9. No. Is that also by Atwood?

I think a visit to the library is in my near future.

I'll be interested in many of the books listed in this thread.

[Dragonbreathp9d]

59. Yes it is

and it will blow your finger licking mind

[skygazer]

85. Great book

Astonishingly great. :thumbsup:

[ThomCat]

10. I agree. At the very least, certain elements of The Hand Maid's Tale

are definitely plausible. :(

[RandomKoolzip]

6. "14,000 Things to Be Happy About"

:scared:

[MysticalChicken]

7. Lord of the Flies

The ONLY book that's ever truly scared me.

[Aristus]

12. "The Shining" with an honorable mention for "'Salem's Lot".

I used to deliver a morning newspaper when I was a kid. I had to get up at 4am to walk my route. When it was dark, I used to be terrified by the visions conjured up by Stephen King's writing. I used to imagine that the vampires were out there...waiting...just waiting...for me...

[MotorCityMan]

15. I had an early morning route, too

After reading Salem's Lot, I kept expecting the door to creak open on this old, abandoned, spooky house I passed every morning.

The other thing that scared me was the original Alien. I thought that damn thing was hidden in a tree, waiting to pounce.

Good thing I had my trusty dog Corky along with me every morning.

[AlCzervik]

13. Pet Cemetery, maybe not the best but it scared the shit out of me and i made the mistake

or reading it when everyone else in my house was away on vacation.

[Midlodemocrat]

14. I did the same thing. Scared the absolute shit out of me.

Anything by Stephen King in the horror genre does, actually. Have you read 'Cell'?

Holy. Shit.

[AlCzervik]

16. No but i did buy it, i'm reading Lisey's story right now. Right before i went on vacation

i finally decided i needed a break from non-fiction so i picked those 2 King books and one other total piece of fluff. I'm really glad to hear "Cell" is scary because and i'm looking forward to reading it.

[Midlodemocrat]

19. I'm reading Lisey's story, too! Just started it last night.

Some of the imagery in the Cell is still with me. :scared:

I think you'll like it.

[AlCzervik]

22. Huh! Great minds and yah i will totally let you know what i think about Cell

no i'm uber excited to start it.

[lost-in-nj]

24. Cell is great

but I felt ripped off at the end..
heard a rumor they are making a movie...
how is Liseys story.... I just can't get into it....
should I keep reading????
I am at the part where they went to the crazy sisters house

thanks

lost

btw I agree with It and Pet Semetary....
read alone, late at night...

yeah scared

[AlCzervik]

35. i'm still on chapter 2, i keep picking it up and putting it right back down again.

i am determined to finish it, i think maybe it's just a slow starter.

[MotorCityMan]

17. The Cell was good

Have you read any of his short stories? 'The Jaunt', which I believe was in his book Skeleten Crew, still gives me the willies.

[Midlodemocrat]

20. I read the collection called 'Night Shift' many, many years ago.

There was one story about a guy who suddenly sprouted 'eyes' on his hands and another about the 'Ten O'clock People' :scared:

[kaiden]

36. Wasn't there a short story in that collection called "The Raft?"

College kids go swimming out to a raft in the middle of a lake and something keeps picking them off one by one. Yikes!

[Midlodemocrat]

37. That I don't remember. I do remember the Lawn Mower Man

and the Fog (?) and the Mangler.

:scared:

[alphafemale]

89. "The Raft" was also in "Creepshow 2"

The movie.

[Mad_Dem_X]

63. I love his short story collections

I remember one called "Rainy Season," where this small town was plagued by frogs falling from the sky, with razor-sharp teeth. And these tourists came to town, and they ignored the warnings from the locals, and, well... :scared:

[MotorCityMan]

92. Yes, his short stories are great

"The Mist" was excellent. Some of the charactors were actually scarier than the monsters.

My favorite is "The Jaunt", though. In the future, a scientist invents a way to instantly teleport objects. But something goes wrong when live things are teleported....

[last_texas_dem]

94. I know that story...

In fact, the old paperback copy of Night Shift that I have has the bandaged hands with eyes peaking out of them on the cover!



That is probably my favorite Stephen King book of the eight or nine of his that I have read. I think it features some of his best writing, and definitely some of the creepiest stuff he's come up with.

[SoxFan]

26. A bigger mistake

Would be reading something like that when you're alone...except for the cat.

Years ago (about 1980), I listened to a particularly creepy episode of the "CBS Radio Mystery Theater". Just as I finally dozed off, my cat, the late, great Patchy, jumped onto my chest with a loud "chrrrrp".

I shot about 4 feet in the air, and the cat managed to make it downstairs without having her feet touch the ground.

[Left Is Write]

28. I'd put Pet Sematary right up there too. And "It."

[yorkiemommie1]

76. Pet Sematary for me too

scared me silly.

[Jack_Dawson]

86. Pet Sematary (sic), Definitely

Had my hair standing on end. Another movie-didn't-do-it-justice moment. The Shining - the only movie better than the book.

[MotorCityMan]

93. I have to say I'm one of the few who didn't like Shining the movie

I really enjoyed the book. The movie, not so much. In my opinion, the whole book was about a loving father going crazy and turning into a monster. In the movie, I thought Jack Nicholson looked nuts from the beginning (full disclosure: not a huge Nicholson fan).

I can appreciate (parts) of the movie, like the river of blood, the creepy twin girls, but the book scared me more. I didn't like the hedge maze like the hedge animals in the book.

I still think Carrie is one of the best King adaptations. Sissy Spacek was perfect in the part, along with Piper Laurie. Sissy was the only one who actually looked like a real high school student in the movie.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

18. Couldn't sleep for a week after I read Orwell, either ANIMAL FARM or 1984.

Scariest shit ever, that. Stereotypes are absolutely spot-on.

[Mad_Dem_X]

64. 1984 scared the crap outta me

'Cause some of it has happened already.

[BreweryYardRat]

21. Parts of "A Storm of Swords" scare the piss out of me every time I read them.

[Help me help Earth]

47. Awsome book from an awsome series. nt

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

25. Lots of King books.

In order of how much they disturbed me, most to least:

From a Buick 8
Bag of Bones
Tommyknockers
Dreamcatcher
The Long Walk
Insomnia

Many others were great reads, but those left me actually feeling disturbed.

[ironflange]

50. Hoo yeah

He really pulls out the stops in "Buick 8." Dreamcatcher isn't his best, I think, but two scenes really stick out: the terrified woman on the road, and the (ugh) bathroom episode. Then there's all that bacon. . .

I'm reading "Bag of Bones" next week when I'm camping, really looking forward to it now.

I'd like to add "The Stand." While most of it isn't scary, the first part, when the disease is ravaging the world, is some of his nastiest stuff.

[Downtown Hound]

57. Bag of Bones is a good one

In my opinion his best horror novel in the last 10-15 years. he's done other good non-horror stories in that time, but Bag of Bones I think was his best.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

65. What got to me during dreamcatcher...

was all the animals moving through the forest during the snowstorm followed by the lights coming through the clouds.

[Mad_Dem_X]

81. I still think about "The Long Walk"

every time I take a walk. The ending, especially.

[azmouse]

27. "Summer of Night" by Dan Simmons

I hated to turn off the lights to go to bed after reading it.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

45. I have Simmon's 'The Terror'

Long book, loved it.

[Critters2]

31. _The Jungle_ by Upton Sinclair nt

[Manifestor_of_Light]

79. We're back to that now with gutting regulatory agencies.

USDA, FDA, OSHA, etc. etc....


The Gilded Age has returned

[FloridaJudy]

32. Dan Simmons' "Song of Kali"

http://www.amazon.com/Song-Kali-Fantasy-Masterworks-Simmons/dp/0575076593/ref=sr_1_6/102-5052163-1791352?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1187126983&sr=1-6

Scared the fertilizer out of me. Also cured me of any notion of going to India, though my sister visited there and loved it.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[last_texas_dem]

34. It's tough to pick the scariest

I enjoy reading some horror/thriller books but it's rare that one actually creeps me out; you know, makes it hard to sleep at night, want to sleep with the light on, etc. For whatever reason, scary movies seem to be more effective in this department. But off the top of my head, I'm thinking of John Saul's Second Child. I remember reading that one when I was seventeen and home alone, and deciding to sleep downstairs on the couch that night!

I read more books that actually creeped me out when I was a pre-teen/in my early teens. Lois Duncan's Stranger with My Face, about a girl with an evil twin and "astral projection" is a very good thriller, even if it's targeted to a young adult audience. She is a very good thriller writer. I also remember Julia Cunningham's Dorp Dead, a short but downright creepy little book about a kid with a truly horrible life messing with my head a little. And Alvin Schwartz's (I believe that's the name) Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series included some tales that scared me a bit; of course, I was only nine when I was reading them- so that could be part of it!

[Parche]

38. My Pet Goat

:hi:

[Beaverhausen]

39. Ghost Story by Peter Straub

I got so I couldn't read it once the sun went down. :scared:

[pitohui]

49. another good story by straub is "the throat"

actually all his books are good, aren't they!

[MotorCityMan]

90. Ever read "Floating Dragon" by Peter Straub?

That's a good one. There are some similarities to Stephen King's "It"

Read it a couple times and it still gives me the creeps.

[amitten]

58. Agreed! Scariest horror novel EVER. n/t

[Xipe Totec]

40. The Universal Encyclopedia of Torture

Not a novel, a manual.

Scarier still, is that somebody stole it from me...

[Brigid]

41. "The Shining."

The movie too. I don't know what it is about that book and movie, but they freak me out! :scared:

[YellowRubberDuckie]

43. So scary you have to put it in the freezer.

(Blatant Friends Reference)
:evilgrin:

[rug]

42. The Exorcist

[MorningGlow]

44. The Road

I just can't deal with postapocalyptic stories, let alone one with Earth in nuclear winter. And then the guy had to have a young son with him--NOT good for mommies to read.

In that vein, A Handmaid's Tale. I keep seeing parallels with current events.

And for pure go-to-bed-with-the-lights-on fright, The Shining. (I read that at 15 and was too afraid to keep reading, yet too afraid to turn out the light and go to sleep. I had to pee at 3 in the morning--and I had just read the chapter about the blue lady in the bathtub. It took every ounce of will I had to get my ass out of bed and into the bathroom!)

[pitohui]

51. jinx!

i put "the road" in my list too, see downthread, altho i think as science fiction it falls down -- there is no way all plants could be killed on earth including the trees without microwaving humans from the inside -- so this couldn't really happen, it is not a realistic nuclear winter scenario, so don't let it play on your mind too much

still while you're reading it if you turn on your suspension of disbelief it's effing scary as hell!

[MorningGlow]

52. That was the only thing that got me through it

Realizing that, scientifically, it was impossible. Luckily I read an article a few months before (linked here on DU, I think) about the area around Chernobyl, and how plants were growing and animals were coming back. If I recall correctly, scientists are surprised that the place wasn't a no-man's-land for as long as expected.

Of course, when I was reading the book, it took me quite a while till I went "Wait a minnit..."--and until that time I was absolutely sick with fear.

The other thing that kept me going for a long time was picturing the child as dark-haired...until the dad washed his hair and commented on how blonde it was (my son is blonde). THEN I was a total wreck for another 20 pages.

[martymar64]

46. Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven

More of a scifi story about an asteroid hitting the earth, but it chillingly illustrates how fast civilization can fall apart.

It still creeps me out.

[pitohui]

48. wonderful book but hardly the scariest book ever

for that i might put something like "oryx and crake"/atwood, '1984"/orwell, the superflu part one section of "the stand"/stephen king, "the road"/maccarthy, "cloud atlas" by david mitchell, "a friend of the earth" by tc boyle

i guess what is really scary, to me, is the future!

[MorningGlow]

53. OMG the "chickens" in Oryx and Crake did it for me

I don't think I ate fast food again for a month.

[mentalsolstice]

54. Already mentioned - "The Shining"

However, I'll nominate any of Stephen King's books from the 80's and early 90's. "Carrie", "Cujo", or "Pet Cemetery" were all scary as shit. Hard to put down...yet you would look at your innocent pug or a Toyota Corona at 2:00 in the morning, and wonder which was going to attack you first.

I'm reading "Stephen King: On Writing" right now, and it's an interesting look into his mind and his method into madness. And it turns out that he's not really that MAD.

[volstork]

55. Helter Skelter

runner up: In Cold Blood

[salin]

70. I was about to post both of these, if noone else had...

Ann Rule's "The Stranger Beside Me" (about Ted Bundy) is up there for this genre.

[Pied Piper]

56. I read "House of Leaves" when it first came out

I found it to be a bit of a chore, didn't spook me a bit, but I've seen several references to it here on DU, so I'm willing to give it another chance. I'll get back to you in September.

[RebelOne]

60. Any books by Dean Koontz and Stephen King are guaranteed

to scare the pants off you.

[Puglover]

61. The Haunting of Hill House

by Shirley Jackson or Silence of the Lambs.

The original movie made "The Haunting" with Julie Harris and Claire Bloom is scary as well. Plus a great lesbian subplot. Pretty prevocative for the 60's.

[yellowdogintexas]

66. oh I read that during a storm, alone, upstairs in my aunt's creaky

old farmhouse. Talk about atmosphere. Scared the Bejeebers out of me.

Another one: the original story of the Bell Witch of Tennessee.

[jgraz]

62. Bush on the Couch

When you really understand what it means in terms of the thing that is occupying the White House right now, you'll be scared shitless.

[XemaSab]

67. The Shining and the Haunting of Hill House

with an honorable mention for It. :scared:

[salin]

68. I read the Haunting of Hill House as a kid...

loved it. Haven't heard, nor seen a mention of it in years. Can't remember who wrote it - or even much about it except that it scared the heck out of me.

I would include It and Salem's Lot.

[XemaSab]

73. Shirley Jackson

she also wrote "The Lottery" and many other excellent short stories and books. :D

[salin]

75. almost wrote that... but couldn't remember if I was confusing

it with another book of hers that I read at the time (I think it was called "We Have Always Lived in a Castle") - and didn't want to claim the Haunting of Hill House as hers, incorrectly. Thanks for the confirmation (that my memory isn't as bad as I sometimes suspect that it is...)

[XemaSab]

77. We Have Always Lived in the Castle

is another of her books.

I read it earlier in the week (for about the 10th time).

It kicked ass.

Again. :D

[salin]

96. a day late - but never too late for...

:thumbsup: Good reads - I no longer have the books - am going to have to hunt them down to re-read them. But my memory of those books (it has been more than a decade + since I read them) - is strong. I can't say that about a whole lot of books.

[Arugula Latte]

69. The Bible

Seriously -- it's filled with scary, sick shit. And just look at the damage it has done to our planet throughout history.

[elshiva]

78. The tale of the concubine in Judges 19

[Ivan Sputnik]

72. As a kid

I remember the books that scared the bejesus out of me were Dracula, Helter Skelter, In Cold Blood and The Interrupted Journey.

[rucky]

74. The Call of Cthulhu

Lovecraft

[DarkTirade]

80. Only book that ever kept me up at night was one that I never even finished...

I can't remember the name of it, but it was by John Bellairs. Everything else of his that I'd read up until then I'd loved. This one kept me awake at night and I ended up throwing the book away. :)
I'd kind of like to reread it now though, just to see if it's still as scary when I'm not a kid.

[XemaSab]

82. The Figure in the Shadows?

:shrug:

[DarkTirade]

95. It was something about a robot that steals eyes

that's all I remember. And baseball was involved somehow.

[JANdad]

83. Mr Murder...

By Koontz

[noonwitch]

84. "House Of Leaves" is a mindbender

It didn't really scare me, but it was so strange.

I love the "interviews" the filmaker's wife made with various writers, from Steven King to Camille Paglia to Harold Bloom. I loved it that he had King ask her if it was real.

[YankeyMCC]

87. "Childhood's End" by Arthur Clarke

It's a Science Fiction tale about - well on the surface it's about encountering advanced extraterrestrials - but it deals with a future - an evolution really of the human race Very Very different from the development the aliens took not to mention my own ideas about the possible development of human future. I was 15 or 16 when I read this.

I'm sure Clarke meant to shake up deep seeded preconceptions of people, particularly the type of people who read SF :) but I don't know that he meant it to be scary and maybe this really isn't the 'scariest' book in the sense the OP meant but to me this unexpected shake up of some of my preconceptions left me feeling pretty shaky and I usually like to question things...but maybe that was just the beginning for me...or just an unexpectedly large step on the path I was already on in terms of questioning preconceptions and traditions.

[BOSSHOG]

88. TO BUILD A FIRE By Jack London

You want scary, click on the site and read. Its a short story, 12 pages long, for real and incredibly scary, because it could actually happen.

http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Jack_London/To_Build_a_Fire/To_Build_a_Fire_p1.html

Go ahead, I dare ya!

[hyphenate]

98. While I haven't read them

I think for me the scariest books around are those written by Tim Lahaye. (the "Left Behind" series for fundies)