My favorites are The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty Ghost Story by Peter Straub Intensity by Dean Koontz Amityville Horror by Jay Anson Origin by Jack Kilborn Afraid by Jack Kilborn
I don’t usually scare easy with books but The Witching Hour by Anne Rice was scary and actually gave me a nightmare. I finished the books and the 2 others that followed. Good but scary.
@Cathy thanks Cathy!!! I won’t be reading Majestic as after Communion, I didn’t sleep well for a year and a half if I slept at all. I get really scared. I think I will stick to happy books
Pet Semetary was quite creepy! I had to stop reading for a few months because my step-mom passed away when I was in the middle of the book and I couldn’t handle it. Also I was 18.
@Lori Helter Skelter was the one that got to me cause Charles Manson was a mad man and I wondered how many of his followers would continue to do evil in his name
One Rainy Night by Richard Laymon. . This guys takes horror to a new level . King and Koontz are sleepy reads compared to this guy lol . If you love horror you definitely have to check him out.
Loved them as a kid…still do.☺ Although I lean toward thrillers now, seems a lot of horror is just gore. I can take the gore, but there has to be a story…a good one.
My mortgage ??
Pet Cemetery
@Debbie Same.
@Debbie Totally agree!!
Psychological scary – Behind Closed Doors
I think that one is still messing up my brain. I met my boyfriend while reading this book….
@Nicole my stomach was in knots
The Shining
@Barbara my scariest so far!
@Claire I remember when I was reading it that the heat clicked on (loudly, like it always did). I jumped out of my seat! lol
@Barbara ?
Intensity by dean koontz?
@Patty that was so scary. I wasn’t sure who wrote but it was awful!
@Cyndee scared me too death!
Havent read a book that scared me yet.
Silence of the lambs before film came out and it’s predecessor the red dragon
My favorites are
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
Ghost Story by Peter Straub
Intensity by Dean Koontz
Amityville Horror by Jay Anson
Origin by Jack Kilborn
Afraid by Jack Kilborn
I don’t read scary. Watch the news at night now that’s scary. Haha
Dracula
IT.
@Deb me too
Misery
I don’t usually scare easy with books but The Witching Hour by Anne Rice was scary and actually gave me a nightmare. I finished the books and the 2 others that followed. Good but scary.
I love scary movies. But haven’t read scary books really. Maybe I should.
@Keri that’s what I’m trying now. Trying to get one that scares me as much as a movie
@Keri Stir of Echoes was a scary movie.As much of a Matheson fan that I am, I have to admit the movie was better than the book.
Christine It
@Maryann Christine is scary.
@Mel yup
IT
This is the only book I closed before the end and never reopened.
The Never List
The Amityville Horror
Same!!
The bible
@Cynthia it’s what I came here to say!!! ?
Stephen King would be the goto for that…It, Cujo, The Shining…
Salem’s Lot
This but the Amityville Horror was worse.
I read that when I was MUCH younger…creeped me out.
The Exorcist
Canadian Income Tax Act (2800 pages of “What did I just read?”).
It
IT
‘Salem’s Lot
Pet cemetery
In Cold Blood.
Grimms Fairy Tales hahahha
Carrie
Dr. Sleep / Stephen King
Hands down, The Exorcist.
Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill or Penpal by Dathan Auerbach.
I read the Ammityville Horror when I was a pre-teen and it scared the bejezus out of me! ?
Bag of Bones by Stephen King
Demonoligst by Ed and Lorraine Warren and Communion not sure who its by. Its an abduction book
Whitley Strieber wrote Communion.
He also has one called Majestic, it’s about Roswell…it creeped me out.
Really good though.
@Cathy thanks Cathy!!! I won’t be reading Majestic as after Communion, I didn’t sleep well for a year and a half if I slept at all. I get really scared. I think I will stick to happy books
The short stories in Stephen King’s Full Dark, No Stars, especially the one titled “Big Driver”
@Nancy The Gingerbread Girl short story of Kings scared the heck out of me.
I don’t think I have one! Misery was pretty crazy intense.
Dracula
Salems lot
Helter Skelter
When I was young I tried to read Amityville Horror…. Couldn’t do it. Had to actually get rid of the book because even the cover scared me!
I actually got rid of my copy after I read it! I was terrified!
Did you try putting it in the freezer like Joey did with The Shining on Friends? ?
The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule
‘Salem’s Lot
The Shining and Salems Lot to this day when I open the blinds I expect to see a vampire floating outside my window ?
@Mary I covered my windows with heavy blankets while I was reading it!
Following
The Exorcist
Much scarier than the movie!
Stephen King but I don’t read scary books, or watch horror flicks. They stay with me for a long time.
Pet Semetary was quite creepy! I had to stop reading for a few months because my step-mom passed away when I was in the middle of the book and I couldn’t handle it. Also I was 18.
@Hannah movie out soon
Looks good!
I think the name of the book was Intensity? Scared the heck out of me!!
@Cyndee Yes! by Dean Koontz. I was so stressed out that I had to walk around while reading it!
Salem’s Lot!
Helter Skelter!
The Exorcist is by far the scariest book of all time.
@Kristen i’m afraid to read it
@Mel — You should be afraid because it’s absolutely terrifying. Lol. I highly recommend you read it.
@Kristen yes I saw the movie afterwards and it wasn’t scary at all by comparison
@Dee – I agree. The movie was good but not as scary as the book. Not even close!
Dracula by Stoker
Salem’s Lot..
Salems Lot & The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule
The Bourne Identity.
Pet Semetary, Salem’s Lot
The Stand.
It by Stephen King
The Shining by Stephen King
And that’s saying a lot since I’m a paranormal writer. ✍?#yesfearismyreallastname
Totally agree !
I think the Mr. Mercedes series was scarier. NOS4A2 is super creepy as well.
The Shining
The Exorcist
The Shining
Rosemary’s Baby
@Linnea did u see the movie?
The Handmaid’s Tale
Silence of the Lambs
The Hot Zone by Richard Preston The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus ? because truth is always scarier than fiction..
I’d have to agree with you on this one. I read that book years ago and it still sticks with me. Viruses are scary.
Helter Skelter
Honestly? Bram Stoker’s DRACULA. I got to the point where I had trouble entering the room the book was in, while reading it, I was so terrified.
@F.b. that’s how I felt about Misery. I had to put the book down and leave the room while hyperventilating!
@F.b. i had nightmares and I have never had nightmares before or after with any book.
Yes. It has an insidious sense of evil that is unmatched.
In cold blood and Helter Skelter
I couldn’t read ICB. It totally skeeved me out.
@Lori it scared me also but I had to finish it lol
@Lori Helter Skelter was the one that got to me cause Charles Manson was a mad man and I wondered how many of his followers would continue to do evil in his name
Carrie.
Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Puppet Masters by Robert Heinlein…granted I was only 14 but I read the whole book in one night and had nightmares for a week!
It
Love Stephen King. The Regulators. Dreamcatcher. The Mist.
Kiss the Girls by James Patterson.
@Debbie yes!
@Debbie love all of the Alex Cross books! And scary in a different way-because it could be real!
pet cemetery. But I haven’t read that many. Because of Pet Cemetery.
The Stand
The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen
@Barbara the bible ? ?
Pretty much any Stephen King book and The Exorcist when I was in middle school!
Salem’s Lot
Pet Cemetery
The Shining
Salem’s Lot
Cujo
The devil in Connecticut
Nonfiction- Helter Skelter.
Some memoirs are right up there too.
Pretty Girls by Karen Slaughter
Totally.
I may check this out if it’s recommended by you two! ?
The Exorcist
The stand. Steven king
IT
CUJO!!! Steven King
Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter (fiction) and I’ll Be Gone In The Dark by Michelle McNamara (nonfiction).
Pet Cemetery by Stephen King.
Pet Semetery
@Debby YES!!! Couldn’t even finish it for awhile. Had to put it down it freaked me so bad!!!
It.
Jaws! I didn’t even want to take a bath after reading that!! I stay away from scary books most of the time!
I went to Galveston after reading that.
Some guys brought in 3 large sharks they caught. ? I wouldn’t get in past my ankles.
@Cathy, I don’t blame you a bit! I will get in the ocean now, but I am always wary!!
One Rainy Night by Richard Laymon. . This guys takes horror to a new level . King and Koontz are sleepy reads compared to this guy lol . If you love horror you definitely have to check him out.
@Denise totally agree. Richard Laymon is in a class of his own!
@Denise whoa, that must be really scary!!?
@Susan not for the faint of heart for sure!
@Susan definitely not a light read lol
Possibly the one I just read The Butcher by Jennifer Hilliard
Following…
I remember reading In Cold Blood by Truman Capote while stuck in bed with the mumps. Living on a farm in Iowa the story was way too close for comfort.
I read Rosemary’s Baby when I was 11 or 12, and it freaked me a little bit more than the Stephen King that I loved reading.?
Animal Farm
Won’t read them
Read them when I was young. Live alone now and don’t same with scary movies
Loved them as a kid…still do.☺
Although I lean toward thrillers now, seems a lot of horror is just gore. I can take the gore, but there has to be a story…a good one.
The Shining.
1984 and Handmaid’s Tale, mostly because they are fiction that could become fact.
@Sasha agreed