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What horror and/or thriller has kept you up at night?

What horror and/or thriller has kept you up at night?

Natasha #questionnaire #horror #thriller

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695 Answers

Sarah

The Shining

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Kim

I’m just getting ready to read it for the first time. Eeek!

2
Sarah

Sooooooo much better than the movie!

2
Erika

@Sarah I couldn’t agree more. The first time a book has me spooked when I was home alone. Personally I really disliked the movie. I like Jack Nicholson as an actor, but the movie was terrible.

2
Sarah

They cut out too much of the character development in the movie. In the book you really see Jack Torrance descend into madness. In the movie, Jack Nicholson is creepy from the get go.

0
Judith

Jurassic Park. Both book and movie (went to it at an Imax theater!)

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Peggy

In Cold Blood

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Judith

Yes, Sarah Hendess! You beat me to it. LOL. I read a lot of horror and/thriller books and The Shining is the only book that kept me up at night. It is now my all time favorite scary book. ?

1
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Hannah

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn… maybe more mystery than horror but still creepy good!

1
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Gwen

I agree! I’m looking forward to the HBO series.

0
Hannah

Oh my goodness, I didn’t know there was going to be a series! Exciting!

0
Gwen

Sharp Objects https://g.co/kgs/izUqag

0
Dawn

The Shining… my babysitter took me to see it in the theater when I was like 8 or 9… scared the wits out of me… slept in my parents room on the floor for a week!

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Dawn

As far as a read goes, the Shining is up there… but “It” was probably scarier for me…

1
Kathy

Both are just terrifying!

1
Kathy

Definitely The Shining!! I was in high school. Read it during the summer. Slept with my lights on. My mother could not believe I was that scared by a book. ?

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Debbie

Salem’s Lot

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Barbara

Peretti’s “The Visitation”

1
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Kelly

Love Peretti!

1
Kelly

Oh and Ted Decker!

1
Jill

Pet Sematary

1
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Pat

THE EXORCIST

2
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Darlene

The Exorcist. I was a teenager at the time it came out. It freaked me out so much that I would put it outside on the porch before I went to bed ?

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Pat

i couldn’t leave the book face up on my night stand!

0
Vicki

Pet Sematary, Exorcist, Shining, IT, and the list goes on & on

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Sharon

Pet Sematary was really scary!

0
Jill

When I meet a child named Gage!!!! Why?!??

1
Jill

Stephen King: Carrie, Pet Sematary, the shining. He’s the master! ?

1
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Nancy

The Haunting of Hill House

1
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Michele

Cujo

1
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Sarah

I read it at about age 12 and was terrified to sleep with my closet door open!!

0
Stacey

Intensity by Dean Koontz. More recently Bird Box by Josh Malerman.

1
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Susan

I read Bird Box but it didn’t frighten me. I was prepared to become frightened as so many others said that they had been in their reviews of the book. Sigh.

0
Nancy

Communion

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Lynn

Amityville Horror!

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Lynn

I was afraid to go to sleep, nightmare fear!

1
Cindy

Salem’s Lot! It still freaks me out..

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Kathi

Me too!

0
Adele

Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot” and “Children of the Corn”, and then also Lara Parker’s “Angelique’s Descent” – gothic ‘Dark Shadows’. Lara Parker played Angelique in the ‘Dark Shadows’ gothic soap back in the 1960s. I refused to read any of these books after dark.

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Ryan

IT.

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Ryan

Of course, I read it in 8th grade…. might not have been that scary.

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Eric

@Ryan I read IT for the first time in 7th grade and then again last summer before the movie came out. Scared me just as much at 21 as it did at 13. Lol

1
Ryan

@Eric Cool. Don’t feel so bad. Can’t wait to read The Stand, too.

0
Nicole

Bird Box – Josh Malerman

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Cindy

Just read that, it was so good!

0
Nanci

The Shining.

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Michelle

Reading Behind Closed Doors. Slow first 50 pages then gets insane

1
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Michelle

More of a pyschological thriller but a page turner for sure

0
Peggy

The Haunting of Hill House

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Denise

Don’t need to read horror when Dystopian novels have been hitting too close to home for over a year now.

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Sharon

The Omen. I couldn’t move off the sofa because I was so frightened.

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Kathy

“IT”

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Kim

Salem’s Lot and the haunting of hill house.

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Eleni

Thinner

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Sandra

Oldies..The Exorcist.

4
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Yvonne

The Stand

1
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Kimberly

Revival by Stephen King

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Irene

Bird Box. The Butterfly Garden.

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Lynn

A long time ago… when I was 17… The Exorcist! ?

1
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Denise

Pet Cemetery

3
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Kris

Movies: The Birds and Psycho

1
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Veronica

The first Paranormal Activity…normally movies don’t get to me but I kept thinking someone was standing over my bed watching me sleep…oh damn now its gonna be back in my head??

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Emily

Salem’s Lot

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Jettye

Gone Girl

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Ginna

The Mummy by Anne Rice.

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Darla

Amitiville Horroe

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Beth

The seed

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Kim

I’m going to also say Jaws by Peter Benchley and Meg by Steve Alten for you shark lovers out there.

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Kim

Carl Beaty yes!!!!

1
Jettye

Oh yeah! Anything by Anne Rice!!

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Charon

The Shinning, The Road

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Michelle

Horror is my favorite genre. Haven’t been scared by a book in a long time. Get a little chill sometime though.

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Laurie

Helter Skelter

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Kim

Salem’s Lot. Only book that made me sleep with a light on.

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Stacey

Probably the first horror book I read. Still one of my favorites.

3
Andrea

Silence of the Lambs

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Cathy

EAP.

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Linda

The Shining

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Sherry

Gerald’s Game

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Vicki

I had crazy dreams after that one.

1
Heather

The Exorcist

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Bobbie

Same here!

0
Kelly

Read it as a teen, what was I thinking?!

0
Mary

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

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Mary

Because it was a true story, I was afraid to go to sleep for months after reading that one.

3
Karen

House of Leaves. Possibly the most frightening novel I’ve ever read and I’ve read a lot of them. The premise alone is enough to give me the creeps.

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Penny

None. But I have burned out on horror at times, usually after binging on it, and have had to set it aside for a while.

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Rose

The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson

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Michael

That’s on sale at Amazon….$2….I snagged it because I love the movie….

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Rose

@Michael , it’s a good read. Two movies, 1963 and 1999. I liked 1963 version with Julie Harris the best.

2
Lauralyn

“And whatever walked there, walked alone”.

2
Michael

@Rose….#MeToo….1963….I rarely watch remakes….

0
Michael

“In the night, in the dark”….

2
Shauna

Amityville Horror

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Michael

I think that’s the only scary book I’ve ever read….

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JoAnne

The Shining. So much more terrifying than the movie! Also, Capote’s In Cold Blood.

1
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Karen

Rosemary’s Baby

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Nancy

Sybil

2
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Cathy

‘Salem’s Lot…scared me so much!

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Lauralyn

Yup, that’s mine as well. I was wayyyy to young.

1
Chris

Pet Semetary

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Atlanta

The Stand, reading now.

1
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Bobbie

I just scrolled down here to add that one….great minds think alike….and get scared and entranced alike too!!❤️

1
Beverly

The shining

1
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Shannon

Christine…I’m sensing a trend. Stephen King 🙂

1
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Cheryl

Pet Semetary

1
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Jennifer

Silence of the lambs

1
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Lauren

Ghost Story by Peter @Straub

2
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Carly

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill, Salem’s Lot by Stephen King.

2
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Betty

Hill sure does have his parent’s gift!

1
Carly

Agreed! I still get the creeps thinking of parts of that book.

0
Michaél

“Amityville Horror.” I read it in the 4th grade. Where was my mother and why wasn’t she aware of what her child was reading !

4
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Kelly

I read horror as a teen living in a historic style house…creaky floors etc! Never read it now!!

1
Michaél

@Kelly I don’t read it either nor do I care for horror movies!

0
Kelly

Agree!!! I went to IT in the theater! People say the book is even scarier!?! Nope!

1
Sophia

Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Black Cat when I was a teen. Then I stopped reading horror stories after I got married.

1
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Toby

Exorcist

0
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Lisa

The Amityville Horror has been the only book to ever give me nightmares!

0
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Mary

Short story by Stephen King Boogeyman

0
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Carole

The Shining

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Janet

Yes!

0
Pamela

Salem’s Lot.

2
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Tracy

Ditto

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Ricki

The Exorcist

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Christopher

Count me in with the ‘Salem’s Lot crowd.

1
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Zachary

Misery by Stephen King

1
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Mishelle

Tommy knockers, Needful things, Dracula…..

0
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Betty

Dean Koontz “Intensity”, Stephen King “It, Salem’s Lot & The Stand” and Stoker’s Dracula…that scene where the woman comes to the castle screaming for her baby…that was bone chilling!

0
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Betty

Carl Beaty I think that is about as dark as you can go….

1
Betty

Oh…and of course the “Houses” Hill, Hell and Usher…

0
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Sidika

I am all-nighter with any book I read. I cannot get out of the world of my book until I finish it?

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Nancy

Salem’s Lot

0
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Janet

Swan by Robert McCammon

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Rick

The Outsider.

2
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Sandy

Salem’s Lot!

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Betty

honorable mention…. Poe… The Telltale Heart, Cask of Amintillado, Pitt & the Pedulum

1
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Dina

Silence of the Lambs

1
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Wendy

The Monkey’s Paw, Kujo

3
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Betty

Great one!

0
Betty

Oh! WAR OF THE WORLDS! HG Wells! Every time I hear a crane make that loud screeching I think of those blood thirsty aliens!

2
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Paula

IT – I had wake up screaming nightmares

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Wendy

I hated clowns BEFORE I read it. Even more so after.

1
Amila

@Wendy, I legit CANNOT read that BECAUSE I hate clowns THAT MUCH! I am a voracious reader, but damnit there’s a LINE!
? <—-it’s right there!!!

2
Amanda

The Deep

0
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Kathleen

The Stand

0
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Patti

Cujo!

1
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Chris

I hope you mean kept up reading, I love Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Poe, Lovecraft, all of them! Nope, never scare me awake or prevent shut-eye.

2
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Eleanor

The Exorcist, The Haunting of Hill @Liz

1
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Lynn

The Amityville Horror.

0
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Tami

The Amityville Horror

0
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Jennifer

C.J. Box…mystery writer out of Wyoming who spins a gripping tale, folding in the beautiful scenery, with a chilling but well-told narrative.

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Chris

Love his books, but don’t find them terrifying in the same way as others above.

0
Jennifer

true…not terrifying, but page-turning! Still upsets the sleep patterns!

1
Jennifer

horrifying – Exorcist and Tell Tale Heart

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Yvonne

I have to read Joe Pickett into the wee hours too, Jennifer Amend!

1
Janice

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

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Marda

Have you read The Haunting of Hill House?

1
Janice

Oh yes indeed, as well as We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

1
Lynn

It and The Telltale Heart.

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Jossalyn

helter skelter

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Kathy

Oh yes! That’s mine. I’ll never get over that one. And the pictures…ugh!!!

1
Wendy

I lived in Southern California when it happened, made the book even creepier.

0
Eliza

The Haunting of Hill House

2
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Marcia

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

2
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Janice

Oh my,how could I forget,
The Giver. That book still haunts me.

1
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Barb

Sixth Sense, The Shinning, The Haunting of Hill House, Snakepit

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Kathryn

The Historian

2
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Carol

Amityville Horror

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Kristi

A book about identical twins, one mentally abhorrent. Everyone thinks that’s the twin that died, and end of the book it’s revealed the evil twin had survived. We’re talking the 70’s and I can’t remember the name!!!

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Kathy

Was it The Other by Thomas Tryon? The movie is FREAKY too!

1
Kristi

@Kathy Yes- Thank you!! It seemed too simple of a title, but yes!

0
Jennifer

omg…I remember that book! I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

0
Laura

Yes I think the Other is it. great book. Ghost by Peter Strauss was good too. And the first Stephen King I read, Salems Lot was really good.

0
Deborah

@Kathy Did you happen to also read his book The Lady?

0
Laura

Don’t know “The Lady” but I remember Harvest Home.

0
Kathy

@Deborah No! I should check that out. I think he died rather young, if I’m not mistaken.

0
Kristi

@Deborah will try that.

0
Kristi

@Laura I loved Salem’s Lot-it didn’t keep me up once finished, however.

1
Deborah

@Kathy yes, he was an actor first. I read Harvest Home too

0
Mary

I happened upon the movie “The Other” a few years ago – couldn’t believe I’d never seen it or knew about it. Read the book after that. Both very good imo.

0
Kathy

@Kristi You’re welcome! Yes, that book stays with you big time!

0
Kathy

@Mary Scary stuff, right? Wow! Disturbing, but compelling.

0
Kathy

Helter Skelter. OMG. And it was TRUE! That’s the worst part.

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Liz

The Other by Thomas Tryon.

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Janice

His book Harvest Home is so scary I couldn’t finish reading it.

2
Cathi

I loved The Other. Stephen King really bashed Tyron’s next novel Harvest Home, but I found it riveting.

1
Jan

Pet Cemetary

2
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Kathy

Oh, yes! This one really got me. The little boy coming back…and the cat! Yikes!

2
Nan

Oh, that one too. Gross.

1
Kathy

@Nan Yes. You just have this feeling of dread while you’re reading it.

2
Shelia

The House on the Hill

0
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Susan

The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde

0
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Mary

anything by Stephen King!

1
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Lupita

the long walk

1
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NatashaQuestion author

Who is the author?

0
Laurel

@Natasha Stephen king

1
Lupita

@Natasha i think steven king but i dont remember …

0
Lupita

that book still haunts me…
even awake (shiver)

0
Sari

Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot.

1
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Jennifer

Amityville Read it at 15 and when turned the page with the flies…scared the daylights out of me. Salem’s Lot was pretty frightening too

2
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Abbie

The Shining

1
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Patsy

The Shining

1
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Kathy

Yes! King didn’t care for the Kubrick version, but that movie was probably the scariest film I’ve ever seen..especially in a dark theater. Wow!

1
Atlanta

Yeah I read the shining recently.

0
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Laurel

Woman in black

1
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Laurel

mothman prophecy

3
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Barbie

Son of the Endless Night by John Farris. I had to remove the book from my bedroom when I slept, it was so terrifying!

1
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Cynthia

Rosemary’s Baby, i read that in one sitting at night. Craziest book ever. The movie was ok

2
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Cyndi

Intensity by Dean Koontz.

1
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Andrea

God, that sounds familiar to me too.

0
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Jana

The strain trilogy!

1
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Pamela

Misery – I hate scary books and movies but was tricked into reading this. I kept reading to the end even though it scared me because Stephen King paints amazing pictures in your head as you read and I could not quite midstream.

2
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Marilyn

In Cold Blood. I was in high school, and we lived in an old farm house that had doors that didn’t lock. It was late at night, and I was the only one awake. The dogs started barking. I raced up the stairs to my bed but don’t think I slept all night.

1
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Nan

IT was the only one. I didn’t take a bath for about 10 years after reading that book.

2
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JoAnn

Scared me too!

0
Megan

Remember when Joey put ‘It’ in the freezer because it was too scary?

0
Kimberly

“The Other” by Thomas Tryon.

3
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Lupita

a boy called it….not a horror book
but at the same time

2
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Cjn

Stephen King books.

2
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Siobhan

The Shining!!
Read it in HS… took me many years to read another King book- Misery – stayed off until my fav-Green Mie

1
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Deborah

Pet Cemetery by Stephen King

2
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Cyndi

The only King book I could never finish.

1
Michele

Silence of the Lambs

2
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Lisa

Some of Stephen Kings short stories have stayed in my imagination more than his novels.

5
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Gwendolyn

Agreed!

0
Linda

Yep, like his 1982 The Raft

0
Lisa

@Linda yes!! ?

1
Merla

The Hideaway by Dean Koontz – major heebie jeebies

0
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Shari

The Exorcist, more so the movie

0
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Deborah

Saw movie in HS. Keep a night lite on in my room for weeks. That’s why The Stand bothered me too

0
Erin

11-22-63 by Stephen King

0
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Erin

Never Let You Go by Chevy Stevens (Thriller)

0
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Bethany

Velocity by Dean Koontz

0
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Karen

My favorite Koontz book.

1
Bethany

@Karen I couldn’t sleep afterward! But it was great! I could really appreciate the imagery and the brilliant plot.

1
Cyndi

Thunderhead by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

1
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Lupita

love their books

0
Alison

Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi. The story of the Manson murders. Scared me to death!

3
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Laurel

I forgot about this one. Definitely gave me the creeps since it’s true

0
Ginger

I forgot about that one. It was just too creepy, especially since it was true!

0
Kathy

Oh, yes! It was actually on a high school book report list of choices. And I picked, and had trouble sleeping. Weird how that crime is still just absolutely horrifying.

2
Julia

@Alison Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood

1
Susan

The Shining, The Exorcist. Among many others!

0
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Ginger

Silence of the Lambs scared the stew out of me! I was staying with family on a farm near Pryor, OK when I read it. Since they were in the middle of 150 acres the curtains on the windows were Lace. It was so dark at night & I kept imaging Hannibal Lecter peering in the window at me. I couldn’t finish the book ?

2
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Stacy

I don’t know if most people think of it as a thriller, but Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut is one of the spookiest things I’ve ever read.

1
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Stacy

“We Have Always Lived in the Castle” by Shirley Jackson! The Haunting of Hill House gets all the attention, but I think WHALITC is spookier and more atmospheric.

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Janice

Yes, I think so too.

1
Kelly

I don’t like horror, but my book challenge has one in it. Is Shirley Jackson a good choice? Stephen King is just too much for me!

0
Janice

I would say so, she also wrote Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons, not horror, nonfiction about raising her children. I mention them because the titles read like horror stories but they are very funny.

1
Stacy

@Janice I read Raising Demons when I was young and before I had read any of her other books. It was years later that I realized they were by the same author.

1
Stacy

@Kelly Yes! Shirley Jackson is an excellent choice, You’ve probably already read her short story, “The Lottery” in high school or college. “The Haunting of Hill House” is a great book–don’t be discouraged by the many horrible movie adaptations, but I’ll bet you’d like “We Have Always Lived in the Castle.”

1
Kelly

@Stacy, thanks! I think this may be my choice for my book list this year!

1
Stacy

Cool! Let me know what you think of it.

1
Becky

Comes the blind fury by John Saul. I love the book and have read it often but it still scares me every time

1
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Anne

Silence of the Lambs

1
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Janet

Never saw silence of the lamb so there you go! I’m 72 and the wicked witch of the west was the villain of my day??

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Anne

Book way better than the movie.

0
Heidi

Edgar Allen Poe. The Bells. The raven and the tell tale heart. Annabelle Lee. Fall of the House of Usher. Etc. anything Poe.

1
Cathy

Pet Sematary.

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Kathy

Yes! Talk about a ‘feeling of dread’ through that one. Whew.

1
Donna

@Kathy I had to put it down for a couple of days because of that feeling! I had to get away from it before l could finish it.

1
Diane

Pet Semetary is disturbing…..

0
Tracie

Stephen King novels… I read most of them in my teen years. I did not sleep well for three months.

2
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Shilla

da vinci code. picked it up on a sat. afternoon, read straight through to sunday eve.

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Janine

Was that scary? Maybe I’ll try it…?

0
Shilla

not scary—just suspenseful.

2
Shilla

a page-turner, as they say. 😉

2
Janine

The Shining. Such an awesome horror book by the master of horror. Also, The Dark Half was good, more suspenseful than scary though.

1
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Mary

Misery

0
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Jennifer

Carolyn Haines’s Darkling! So haunting and suspenseful!

0
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Jerri

‘Under the Dome’

1
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Valerie

Cujo and Pet Cemetary….thanks Mr King…

2
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Brenda

It

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Margaret

When I was a teenager I read Helter-smelter and it absolutely gave me the willies. I wouldn’t go to sleep (When I could sleep) without a light on for months.

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Joe

Pet Semetary scared the hell out of me, gave me nightmares, and made me get up to check on my sleeping children. Yikes.

1
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Pamela

The Shining.

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Tammy

The Shining

1
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Denise

Blair witch project

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Linda

A short story by Stephen King called The Raft! I hollered for my husband to make sure he was still in the house with me, LOL. Also, Jaws scared me too.

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Kelly

The Exorcist…as a teen. Then my father freaked out!! Oh boy was I in trouble!

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Sharon

It, Cujo, basically anything by Stephen King

0
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Mary

The Exorcist when I was in college. Heard two cats fighting outside my bedroom window one night right after reading it, and thought the demons had come for me for sure!

0
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Natalie

The Birds.

0
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Mary

The Exorcist

0
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Denise

Me too!

0
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Lou

Anything
Stephen King writes ?

1
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Nicole

Harvest Home by Thomas Tyron

1
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Ginger

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

3
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Annette

The lives they left behind

0
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Anne

Love Clive Barker, but still have nightmares once in a while about pinhead!

0
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TerryRose

The Silence of the Lambs

1
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Debra

Jaws

1
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Diane

The Exorcist

1
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Karla

Salem’s Lot by Stephen King?

1
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Laura

Salem’s Lot

0
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Sarah

Carrie

0
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Linda

King.

0
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JoEllen

The Exorcist

1
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Elizabeth

The Shining did that for me yikes lol

0
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Leslie

Pet Cemetery. We had a fluffy gray cat and my hubby was deployed. Slept with the lights on for weeks!!

1
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Toni

Christine.

0
Reply
Nell

Salem’s Lot-it still scares me.

3
Reply
Joyce

The stand by stephen king.

1
Reply
Ronna

In Cold Blood

2
Reply
Abby

Pet Semetary

2
Reply
Carolyn

Helter Skelter

3
Reply
Amila

The Road by:Cormac McCarthy

1
Reply
Amy

“Gerald’s Game” by Stephen King

0
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Laraine

Ghost Story by Peter Straub, read it in college, had to sleep with the light on for a while.

3
Reply
Robin

Helter Skelter. Read it as a teenager and had nightmares about it!!

1
Reply
Frances

IT, Pet Cemetary and The Exorcist.?

1
Reply
Julie

The Witching Hour

0
Reply
Laura

Rockinghorse by Wiliam W. Johnstone

0
Reply
Chip-Lori

The Shining

1
Reply
Donna

Pet Cemetary

1
Reply
Darci

It. I slept with the lights on the entire summer of my 15th year thanks to this book ?

0
Reply
Angela

Amityville Horror

1
Reply
Karla

Flowers In The Attic when I was younger.

0
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Mary

In Cold Blood many years ago.

1
Reply
Karen

The Shining. Pretty much the last horror book I ever read and we are talking over 30 years ago!

1
Reply
Patricia

Same here, The Shining did me in for never reading another horror book

1
Lyn

Salon’s Lot.

0
Reply
Carol

Salem’s lot

0
Reply
Megan

Bird Box by Josh Malerman

0
Reply
Lyn

Salem’s.

0
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Barbara

The Exorcist

2
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Carol

A new one by Billy O’Callaghan.. “The Dead House.”

0
Reply
Liane

Even though it’s non-fiction, Helter Skelter.

0
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Donna

I could never finish that book – tried reading it twice – made me ill

1
Carol

In Cold Blood

1
Sue

I SO agree with Helter Skelter–scared me more than anything else.

1
Liane

I always lock my doors even when home!

1
Cecelia

The Shining

0
Reply
Kay

Amityville Horror. I was afraid when looking out a window after dark of seeing red, glowing pig eyes staring at me.

1
Reply
Sue

Black House by Stephen King

0
Reply
Kecia

It

1
Reply
Kecia

The Trap by Tabitha King

0
Anne

Pet Semetary

0
Reply
Lois

Silence of the Lambs

0
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Sally

Intensity by Koontz (which I was watching a scary movie one night and realized they had ripped off the beginning of the book almost exactly- and then read that they knew they were plagiarizing, but didn’t seem to care!) The book as a whole just gets strange, but the beginning still freaks me out!

0
Reply
Jennifer

It and Pet Cemetery

1
Reply
Amy

Amityville Horror. I read it as a teen and I haven’t read a scary book again. I don’t enjoy them.

0
Reply
Cathi

Salem’s Lot.

1
Reply
Vicki

Cujo

0
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Harrison

The day ‘ The Shinning’ arrived at my house was memorable. I read some that evening but when my husband went to work on night shift, I thought I would read a bit more. At 5 AM I locked all the doors in the house. At 8 AM when he got home and couldn’t get in, he sacred me half to death with the banging. AT 9 AM I finished it. That is still the scariest book for me. What a ride!!

1
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Laura

LOL. Yep, my hubbie was working the night I started The Shining. My brain automatically turned REDRUM around in my head. I threw the book across the sofa and ran next door to a neighbor’s house where I sat for the next few hours. hahahaha. Great read though. Hated the movie. Left too much out but then that happens with King books. Hard to put all that head stuff on the screen. Thanks for the memory!

1
Harrison

It was fun!!

0
Barbara

I was reading it at home alone. It was during the day but I eventually had to call my friend to come over and sit with me.

0
Gwyneth

The Shining.

0
Reply
Kary

Summer of Night by Dan Simmons

0
Reply
Amy

In cold blood. Read it as a teen and slept with the lights on for weeks

3
Reply
Anna

King’s short story 1408

0
Reply
Carol

Diary of Anne Frank.

0
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Marilyn

Anything by Stephen King

1
Reply
Merrill

IT Stephen King.

2
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Denise

Salem’s Lot by Stephen King. I kept thinking there were vampires scratching on my windows to get in!

3
Reply
Michele

Salem’s Lot, when I was pregnant in 1988. Didn’t sleep for days.

0
Reply
Laura

The Witching Hour. Anne Rice always made me use the night light!

0
Reply
Amanda

Heartsick thoroughly freaked me out

1
Reply
Janet

The Exorcist.

1
Reply
Shauna

Oh yes! The Exorcist made my skin crawl!!!!

0
Laura

Ooh yeah, I remember The Exorcist. I was 14 when I read it. Clearly too young. Scared the pants off me!!!

1
Reply
Judi

I stopped reading horror stories a few years back (I’m a big weenie!) but years ago Stephen King’s “The Stand” kept me awake!

3
Reply
Laura

I was reading The Stand at work on my lunch hour. A coworker coughed and I thought Oh No! Captain Trips!

1
Judi

@Laura, sorry! But I had to chuckle at that!

0
Laura

scared me to pieces. I liked her alot! glad she pulled through. 🙂

0
Ruth

Never books, only movies do this

0
Reply
Kecia

The book It keeps me awake now-so does Jaws at the beach. lol

0
Debrah

The Exorcist

0
Reply
Diane

Definitely! ?

0
Lorra

Amittyville Horror

0
Reply
Janice

It did me too. It was a long time ago, but I won’t read it again. It gave me the heebie-jeebies.

0
Ruth

Good word choice

0
Mary

The Stepford Wives ☺️

0
Reply
Virginia

The Shining, The Stand

0
Reply
Judi

Agreed!

0
Natalie

“Ghost Story” by Peter Staub.

2
Reply
Kelly

Pet Semetary, Carrie, Thinner, It and the Shining. Stephen King has scared me.

0
Reply
Carolyn

My life…

2
Reply
Lillie

The Shining and Pet Cemetery

0
Reply
Robin

Stephen Kings’ books, especially “The Shining”.

0
Reply
Sue

Nothing has ever kept me up, but Shirley Jackson’s the Haunting (of Hill House) scared me to bits.

4
Reply
Mary

When I was about junior high age I read Prophecy. It’s about a giant mutant bear terrorizing the woods. Scared me to death. Lived in the woods and wouldn’t go by a window at night for a couple of years!

0
Reply
Carol

That was a frightening book. The movie was unnerving, too.

1
Mary

@Carol I agree!

0
Deb

Helter Skelter

2
Reply
Nita

Salem’s Lot by Stephen King. I just knew vampires were coming for me.

2
Reply
Marie

In Cold Blood, Truman Capote ?

3
Reply
Mary

None. I love scary books.. now they might make me check the closet and under the bed, but I sleep fine.

0
Reply
Nancy

First Rosemary’s Baby, then Silence of the Lambs. Both kept me awake for a week. Never saw or read anything scary since then!

1
Reply
Natalie

Me too

0
Andrea

I have 2 that really got me – Rosemary’s Baby and The Shining. I had to read all night just to know what happened….

0
Phyllis

The Stand

0
Reply
Deborah

Salem’s Lot by Steven King.

2
Reply
Robin

I just remembered, Stephen Kings’ The Mist” terrified me, because I during my reading of the book I went to the local A&P and was standing in the check out. I was looking out the glass windows and realized the fog had rolled in. It was like I was sucked into his story. Very creepy ride home.

2
Reply
Laura

IT

0
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Nancy

That does it! I was going to give Stephen King a shot, but not now. I’m sure even his tamer books have a bit of terror in them!

1
Reply
Yvette

He is a master storyteller! Try his novellas in the book Different Seasons. There are 4 short stories. Two of them I didn’t like (especially the one about a Nazi— ghastly disturbing), but the other two are classics. One is called The Body (made into the movie Stand By Me) and the other is Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (you know the movie ?). I read them 30+ years ago and don’t remember them being scary. Their movie versions were not scary, just great storytelling.

1
Nancy

Ok. I’m back in!

0
Desiree

Joyland is great and it’s not a horror, even though there is a ghost. ?

1
Bruce

Try 11.22.63. It‘s a what-if done King style. Not horror at all and I think it’s one of his best

1
Phyllis

I loved Stephen King and read every book. But I’d get such night mares that I had to give them up. Now when my son talks about King books I’m envious but can’t go there.

0
Reply
Carol

Helter Skelter ?

0
Reply
Janet

Don’t read them

0
Reply
Valerie

The Exorcist. Read it straight through in one night. The only book I ever stayed up all night to finish.

3
Reply
Brian

https://goo.gl/images/4wiyRY

1
Reply
Cate

No can do, Don’t read them either.

0
Reply
Olivia

Intensity by dean koontz

2
Reply
Sheila

That book scared mr to death!

0
Renee

Definitely the scariest and most appropriately titled book I have ever read! I read it over 10 years ago and still think of it often.

1
Elizabeth

Exorcist

3
Reply
Elizabeth

Had nightmares

0
Carol

The scene between the lawyer and Lisbeth in Girl with a Dragon Tattoo really got to me.

2
Reply
Peggy

Those books need to be in the top 100!

3
Beth

I have It, I want to wait around first of October to read tho

0
Reply
Dayna

The Stand, Steven King!

2
Reply
Connie

Any thing by Dean Koontz

1
Reply
Terri

Silence of the Lambs

3
Reply
Debbie

Almost forgot that one. A really good book. I also liked The Red Dragon.

1
Randy

I found Red Dragon more frightening.

0
Mary

Mine is a movie—-Blue Velvet.

0
Reply
Mary

Mine was a movie—–Blue Velvet!

0
Reply
Angela

Pet Cemetery!!

0
Reply
Debbie

The Shining, Cujo, and not really horror but Flowers in the Attic haunted me.

1
Reply
Karla

Me too!!

0
Bruce

Ghost Story by Straub. I was staying by myself at a beach house on a stormy, windy night and the damn book kept me up all night. I finished it as the sun rose and finally got some sleep wit some weird dreams. Loved it by the way

4
Reply
Sue

Exactly, I was at a cottage on the beach. Up all night!

1
Debbie

I just bought that. I’m glad to know others like it.

0
Bruce

The tag line still gets me at times-“What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?”

1
Sue

Ghost Story.

0
Reply
Atiya

Helter Skelter