Scariest scenes in SK works

Lily Sawyer · Jul 16, 2014

I'm not including films in here, only written works. Just a few to start with...

1.

when Ben Mears and Jimmy Cody await sunset in the mortuary room with Marjorie Glick's body...the feeling of dread and then outright terror when her body rises up from the table

2.

when Mother Abagail walks eight miles from her house in Hemingford Home to her neighbors' to get some chickens to feed her guests...and fends off weasels, among other varmints

3.

in the "Thayer Gets Weird" chapter.....Richard Sloat's prep school is the collision point of two worlds, when Richard sees Twinners of school boys he knows for the first time and doesn't believe his eyes or his mind...and Jack Sawyer has to help him out of some *very* difficult jams

4.

when Lisey is mutilated with a can opener by Scott Landon's psychotic stalker fan

5.

when Church has come back to life after being buried...and tosses a rat into the tub where Louis is taking a bath...then climbs onto the commode and begins to sway...

GNTLGNT · Jul 16, 2014

...the last page of any novel of his...coz I gotsta wait till the next one....

xkittyx · Jul 16, 2014

That part in Gerald's Game

where Jessie realizes the 'space cowboy' is real and not just a figment of her imagination

is the first that comes to mind, I'll have to come back when I think of others.

Walter Oobleck · Jul 16, 2014

Desperation:

First thing that comes to mind is Desperation...so many scenes within that story to recount them all here...but the chase in the gravel pit had me flipping pages, reminded me of so many nightmares I've had...always right there a step behind reaching out for you.

Rose Madder...

Norm. Norm is spooky bad.

The Dark Tower 1-7 + some:

Roland and Susannah in the tunnel...thing right there, a step behind. Jake under New York.

danie · Jul 16, 2014

xkittyx said:
That part in Gerald's Game

where Jessie realizes the 'space cowboy' is real and not just a figment of her imagination

is the first that comes to mind, I'll have to come back when I think of others.

THIS

MadamMack · Jul 16, 2014

xkittyx said:
That part in Gerald's Game

where Jessie realizes the 'space cowboy' is real and not just a figment of her imagination

is the first that comes to mind, I'll have to come back when I think of others.

When she realizes he's standing in the corner --that made me drop the damn book! :lol:

It's the only scariest scene to me . . .the rest shook me a bit but this scene 'got to me'.

CriticAndProud · Jul 17, 2014

Every second page in IT.

Jimpy · Jul 17, 2014

It's not a novel but

When Mort Rainy finds his cat dead and realizes how crazy John Shooter is. And later when Rainy gets his hand on the copy of Elery Queens Mystery Magazine and you figure out how crazy Rainy is.

Jimpy
If you can't take the heat don't swim with the big dogs

skimom2 · Jul 17, 2014

1) Gerald's Game

The SpaceCowboy in the moonlight. Freaks me out to even think about it.

2) The Stand

Larry's trip through Lincoln Tunnel. Oh, and when Flagg and his huge, slavering mouth running & screaming, "YOU SCREWED UP, BOBBY TERRY!" I can see that clearly in my mind to this day.

3) Duma Key

The scene where Edgar is minding his own business and then a water zombie thing was just THERE in his kitchen. I gasped aloud and jumped for the first time in many, many years the first time I read that part.

4) The Talisman

The scene where Jack is almost (molested? Killed? something worse?) in the Oatley Tavern.

5) IT

Ben and Pennywise in the library.Terrified me.

6) The Shining

Inside Room 217. 'Nuff said.

7) The Man In the Black Suit

when he changes and the kid has to pretend he doesn't notice

8) The Boogeyman

when he comes out of the closet clutching his doctor mask in "one rotten, spade shaped claw"

9) A Good Marriage
The whole thing

10) Gramma
Lord, that story creeped me out

blunthead · Jul 17, 2014

MadamMack said:
When she realizes he's standing in the corner --that made me drop the damn book!

It's the only scariest scene to me . . .the rest shook me a bit but this scene 'got to me'.

Yep, that's the one I think of, too.

carrie's younger brother · Jul 17, 2014

xkittyx said:
That part in Gerald's Game

where Jessie realizes the 'space cowboy' is real and not just a figment of her imagination

is the first that comes to mind, I'll have to come back when I think of others.

Yes!!!!!! Exactly!!!! That's pretty much what I was going to post!

and the space cowboy in general

Shoesalesman · Jul 18, 2014

The second half of Pet Sematary.

TheKaijuProphet89 · Jul 26, 2014

Almost everything in IT. For real, like almost everything.

The part in Pet Sematary when sends shivers down my spine. Hell, the last 100 or so pages of that book are a masterclass in uneasy and rising tension.

The Lobstrosities in Drawing of the Three always creeped me out. The aforementioned part of Gerald's Game is a huge one too. One of his most unnerving accomplishments.

And I think the entirety of Salems Lot is very creepy. There is a sort of old school Gothic elegance to the tone of that book that sets it apart for me. It has what I call "old-timey scares".

Flat Matt · Jul 27, 2014

It's the grave robbing scene in Pet Sematary for me.

Louis is exhuming his own son's broken body... at night! King's description - and the way he captures Louis's fear of being caught in the act - is some piece of writing. I felt like I was there in that cemetery with him - and knowing that the whole desperate act is both futile and deadly adds even more to it.

VultureLvr45 · Jul 27, 2014

1. Geralds Game -spoiler-

Horrified about what she did to herself to get out of the handcuffs.

Gives me the 'heebiee jeebies' to think about it.

2. The Stand - several places- spoiler-

Harold, Nadine, but the worst, was at the end when Randall Flagg 'begins again' with a huge grin and a whole bunch of new minions.

3. Rose Madder- spoiler-

Normans thought process throughout the story and the abuse details; it was very hard to read. I wanted to beat him silly.
This story so reminded me of the real life conviction of cop Drew Peterson, in prison for killing his 3rd wife after 4th went
missing.

CordialJim · Jul 28, 2014

Misery - When Paul leaves his room while Annie is out of the house. So much tension and terror, almost too much.

A Very Tight Place - The whole scene with Curtis trapped in the Port-O-San, in the baking heat no less, is also right up there for me. Talk about your "worst nightmare" situations! Yikes. But there are many others, many.

asoul · Aug 2, 2014

Shoesalesman said:
The second half of Pet Sematary.

Ditto...

blunthead · Aug 2, 2014

1408

Virtually the whole story, but especially watching the protagonist gradually losing his mind via terror. I love how even after he's finally escaped, he's still kind of trapped; an idea expressed by a statement to the effect that once one enters the room he can never leave.

The Mist

The pharmacy sequence.

mjs9153 · Aug 3, 2014

Agree with blunthead in the pharmacy sequence in the mist.. Not a big fan of

giant killer spiders, at all..

Blake · Aug 3, 2014

'The soil of a man's heart is stonier, Louis,' the dying man whispered,' A man grows what he can...and tends to it.' The first 100 pages of Pet Sematary is weird.

Scariest scenes in SK works

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