What's the most frightening book you've ever read? It doesn't have to be something that's good Ravenloft material; it just has to be something that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and that you couldn't let yourself read right before you went to bed.
I'm probably going to have to go with a pretty standard answer: The Shining by Stephen King. Hands down the scariest book King has ever written. He does a really good job of slowly building tension throughout the book, and a lot of the most terrifying moments are surprisingly and unnervingly subtle (a little boy getting strangled by a ghost is nothing compared to topiary animals that seem to move when you aren't looking at them, or an unoccupied bathroom that has the moving silhouette of a woman behind a shower curtain).
Also, even though it's a short story instead of a book: The Colour Out of Space by H.P. Lovecraft. 'Nuff said.
"I'd really love a cup of tea, but it would be, like, blood or death or evil or something."
~Matteo Brazi, Borcan thief, Day 3 of Bleak House
You might not be surprised to discover that your choice comes up quite often in the boards I've visited, Charlatan. I must get ahold of that book sometime, just to discover what was terrifying all these children.
As for me, neither horror novels nor movies frighten me - I've experienced too much. However, I was terribly disturbed by a book on Oregon myths I'd read in high school. (wish I could recall the title) Since I live in Oregon and had lived in the woods at that time, the story of Bandage Man scared me to my core. ( you could probably find information on him doing a web search ) The author of the article wove quite a terrifying tale.
The old Point Horror books that first came out when I was 11-13, can't remember which, had an anthology called "13 More Tales of Horror. One was about a posessed piano called, appropriately, The Piano. That scared me.
"Blood once flowed, a choice was made
Travel by night the smallest one bade" The Ballad of the Taverners.
The Galen Saga: 2000-2005
Same here! Scary Stories... and the sequel. I had to read them in the library because I was too scared to check them out and take them home! I've avoided them since because I fully expect them to be silly and not live up to my memories... Anyone read them lately?
"We're realistic heroes. We're not here to save the world, just nudge the world into a better place."
Stephen King's It was scary for me. Especially because it was a totally different take on horror. The weirdest things in the world were scary. Things that would have been totally funny otherwise.
But my all time favorite scary book is The Exorcist. If you thought the movie was bad, the book is far worse in the fright factor. Also, interesting is that there is a big debate in the book as to whether or not the possession is real, or metal illness. Not just scary, but facinating.
As far as short stories, my faves have always been traditional ghost stories. I sort of collect ghost stories as a hobby. Here's a good site for some:
Phantoms by Dean Koontz, when I read that book I read it from beginning to end in a 36 hour period, stopping only to eat and use the toilet. I could not even sleep! That book really had me going in places.
I'll second It by Stephen King as a good and scarry book (well, at least if you can stomach King's style which can become very hard to do). But the scariest one - I can't decide; I'll therefore say both Shining (again, by King), which I read in a bit more than 24 hours, reading the whole night through because I couldn't stop and Koontz' Key to Midnight (at least, I think that's the books title in English).
I could add quite a lot of other books to this list - many King and Koontz - but that would hijack the thread...
PS: This one I just have to add : Salem's Lot by Stephen King; a dark and frightening vampire story. I especially like when - well, that would be a spoiler.
There were actually threeScary Stories books, although I personally found the second one to be the scariest, back in third or fourth grade. Still have the books, too. I agree with Charlatan, though - the illustrations were definitely what made those books so terrifying. Just for you, Jack, here's a quick example, courtesy of Google:
Alas, I can't really think of any books that have really given me the creeps like that book did back then. Getting jaded as I get older, I guess. Although, the original Dracula had some moments.
"You see, what you thought was a gibbering abomination from the pits of Hell was really just a fruitbat. We get 'em all the time in Salt Lake."
I would have to sayGearalds Game by Stephen King.
It is definatley one of the less popular books by the King, but it definatly had the biggest impact on me.
I don't want to give anything away, but to those who have read it, you have to agree that the descriptions in the book towards the end are so chilling. I swear I thought I was going to pass out due to What the lead character was going through, and doing to herself.
Also i have been tempted many time to create a villain based on the mystery man which appears to heroine through out the book. He was so sadistic, it was beautifull.
A few other good King books that Non die-hard fans usually skip over, the short story The Mist which appears in Skelelton Crew and also The Long Walk which He wrote under the psuedonym Richard Bachman.
And of course anything by Edgar Allen Poe is essential for terror. I recoment The Cask of Amontillado,The Black Cat, and The Fall of the House of Usher.
BigBadQDaddy wrote:I would have to sayGearalds Game by Stephen King.
It is definatley one of the less popular books by the King, but it definatly had the biggest impact on me.
I agree, that book spooked me right out, because of the nature, being alone with a dead body, unable to do anything about it.... ughhhh.
I also like the way one of the scenes ties in with Dolores Claiborne, which has a scene which ties in with this one too.
I prefer King's later psycological stories much to his alien/otherworldy creature or spooks stories..... Though the rifts in The Dark Tower - Tower and Glass are damn freaky
The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural...
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