Oh, and I forgot to mention - welcome to the forum and to a VERY friendly, intelligent, articulate and hospitable group of people!
Something REALLY scary ;)
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Neesy
#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
After traveling a bit with the military to places like Pakistan and Africa I know what you mean about thanking the Lord for being born where I was; coming back home to Canada was such a relief!The scariest works of fiction I have ever read are Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs, both by the wonderful must-make-him-a-saint-one-day Thomas Harris.
Tragically, however, the scariest books I have ever read have all been non-fiction. Any book about North Korea, for instance - there are a few good ones, but I would say that Nothing To Envy by Barbara Demick and The Aquariums of Pyongyang by Kang Chol-Hwan are probably the best. And, as a special personal recommendation, The Good Women of China by Xinran Xue. Xue was the first journalist in communist China to be allowed to cover women's issues, and she travelled all over China interviewing women from party cadres to housewives to illiterate labourers to students and teachers, and asking them about their experiences of living in a brutal and deeply patriarchal dictatorship. The Good Women of China is a collection of some of her most memorable (in other words, the most heartbreaking, outrageous and unjust) encounters... She is a superb, perceptive and intuitive interviewer and a marvellous prose writer, and the result is... Well, the result is the saddest and the most moving book on my shelves by a country mile. You will cry, and you will rage, and you will thank the Lord you were born where you were.
In that same vein, I read a book about polygamist families where the young girls were being forced into marriage to men three times their age and that happened both in the US and in a place in BC called Bountiful. Not exactly a scary story but it must have been awful for those poor young women who had no choice in the matter.
The scariest works of fiction I have ever read are Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs, both by the wonderful must-make-him-a-saint-one-day Thomas Harris.
Tragically, however, the scariest books I have ever read have all been non-fiction. Any book about North Korea, for instance - there are a few good ones, but I would say that Nothing To Envy by Barbara Demick and The Aquariums of Pyongyang by Kang Chol-Hwan are probably the best. And, as a special personal recommendation, The Good Women of China by Xinran Xue. Xue was the first journalist in communist China to be allowed to cover women's issues, and she travelled all over China interviewing women from party cadres to housewives to illiterate labourers to students and teachers, and asking them about their experiences of living in a brutal and deeply patriarchal dictatorship. The Good Women of China is a collection of some of her most memorable (in other words, the most heartbreaking, outrageous and unjust) encounters... She is a superb, perceptive and intuitive interviewer and a marvellous prose writer, and the result is... Well, the result is the saddest and the most moving book on my shelves by a country mile. You will cry, and you will rage, and you will thank the Lord you were born where you were.
Right on with Thomas Harris! The reason Red Dragon frightened me wasn't so much the story, as the fact that by the end of the book, I was starting to sympathize with him.
Another that really bothered me was Mountains of Madness. We still haven't really found out what's in Antarctica, and Lovecraft was such a master of reaching into your head and scrambling things around. A lot have written like him, but none were ever as utterly terrifying.
I guess it depends on what scares you 
Different things give me the creeping meemees in books and films. Movies: home invasion scares the absolute crap out of me, when done well. I've only managed The Strangers and Funny Games once apiece, but they're burned into my brain nonetheless. Books are harder. The only books to give me nightmares have been It and the novella A Good Marriage. The Shining made me have to go sit between my parents (I was a young teen the first time I read this book) to read the worst parts ("Inside 217" *shudder*). Other than those, no book has really scared me. Oh wait--I just thought of one: Little Star, by John Ajvide Lindquist. Maybe Harbour by him, too (disappearing kids horrifies me, as a parent). And one of his short stories got me, too. I think about those three a lot. So I guess there IS still someone who can creep me out, aside from Mr. King--lol.
Different things give me the creeping meemees in books and films. Movies: home invasion scares the absolute crap out of me, when done well. I've only managed The Strangers and Funny Games once apiece, but they're burned into my brain nonetheless. Books are harder. The only books to give me nightmares have been It and the novella A Good Marriage. The Shining made me have to go sit between my parents (I was a young teen the first time I read this book) to read the worst parts ("Inside 217" *shudder*). Other than those, no book has really scared me. Oh wait--I just thought of one: Little Star, by John Ajvide Lindquist. Maybe Harbour by him, too (disappearing kids horrifies me, as a parent). And one of his short stories got me, too. I think about those three a lot. So I guess there IS still someone who can creep me out, aside from Mr. King--lol.
Pet semetary
The Terror by Dan Simmons
The Terror by Dan Simmons
So many recommendations, I'm taking notes.
I second The Ruins by Scott Smith. Loved it.
The Shining, obviously.
House of Small Shadows by Adam Nevill (this really creeped me out, my first time reading about taxidermy and it was fascinating)
The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers (actually not as scary as it promised but enjoyable)
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (beautiful writing, powerful imagery)
The Monk by Matthew Lewis (if you like the Gothic setting)
I second The Ruins by Scott Smith. Loved it.
The Shining, obviously.
House of Small Shadows by Adam Nevill (this really creeped me out, my first time reading about taxidermy and it was fascinating)
The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers (actually not as scary as it promised but enjoyable)
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (beautiful writing, powerful imagery)
The Monk by Matthew Lewis (if you like the Gothic setting)
The original B&W Night of the Living Dead
Wow, it took 28 posts to get to this one. This is really one of the most frightening novels written. I refuse to have it in my house! The evil just oozes off of the pages and it's strange because there really isn't any blood and guts and gore-type thing going on at all.
The Haunting Of Hill House is another good one.
The Nightrunners by Joe Lansdale.
Night Chills by Dean Koontz.
So may books to read! Hopefully I will find one that creeps me out
I have never read the Exorcist, I have seen the movie and love it, I imagine the book is much better. It is that kind of thing that I find frightening, blood and gore I love but it isn't what I would call scary. I think the most frightening stories are the ones where you don't know/can't see the thing that you are afraid of.
I have never read the Exorcist, I have seen the movie and love it, I imagine the book is much better. It is that kind of thing that I find frightening, blood and gore I love but it isn't what I would call scary. I think the most frightening stories are the ones where you don't know/can't see the thing that you are afraid of.
Some of these sound great! I haven't heard of all of them either which is great! thanks
The Shining is hands down the scariest book I've ever read. It was so visual! The images haunted me for weeks after reading it - had to cut down a bush outside the back door in order to keep my blood pressure down
Fowles' "The Collector" is pretty disturbing.
The Shining is hands down the scariest book I've ever read. It was so visual! The images haunted me for weeks after reading it - had to cut down a bush outside the back door in order to keep my blood pressure down
On The Amityville Horror: if I recall correctly, there was something in the book about hearing a marching band playing late at night in the living room. That was scary to me (in addition to what the previous poster mentioned).
On The Strangers: completely agree about that, that subject matter is absolutely terrifying.
On The Strangers: completely agree about that, that subject matter is absolutely terrifying.
The Shining is hands down the scariest book I've ever read. It was so visual! The images haunted me for weeks after reading it - had to cut down a bush outside the back door in order to keep my blood pressure down
Heehee - that is SO much like something I would do!
So may books to read! Hopefully I will find one that creeps me out
I have never read the Exorcist, I have seen the movie and love it, I imagine the book is much better. It is that kind of thing that I find frightening, blood and gore I love but it isn't what I would call scary. I think the most frightening stories are the ones where you don't know/can't see the thing that you are afraid of.
I wrote about this in the "Strange people at work" thread just a few weeks ago, but I think it bears repeating! I hope nobody minds.
A few years ago I heard a comedian tell a great story in a couple of interviews. Unfortunately I can't remember the comedian's name, which is a shame because the story is a real world-beater! Apparently, back when he had a day job, there was a man at work who was a catholic, and he went to see The Exorcist. He decided that The Exorcist was evil - in the sense of demonic - and that to watch the film or own a copy of the book was to invite the devil into your life.
"So," the man said, "as soon as I got home, I took my copy of the book, went out to the beach, walked all the way to the end of the pier and flung it as far as I could into the sea!"
So this comedian went out at lunchtime, bought another copy of the book, soaked it in the bathroom sink for a few minutes and stuck it in this man's desk drawer.
I'm not a vindictive person, and I believe in respecting people's religions - but I laughed like a hyena when I heard that story!
Heehee - that is SO much like something I would do!
I wrote about this in the "Strange people at work" thread just a few weeks ago, but I think it bears repeating! I hope nobody minds.
A few years ago I heard a comedian tell a great story in a couple of interviews. Unfortunately I can't remember the comedian's name, which is a shame because the story is a real world-beater! Apparently, back when he had a day job, there was a man at work who was a catholic, and he went to see The Exorcist. He decided that The Exorcist was evil - in the sense of demonic - and that to watch the film or own a copy of the book was to invite the devil into your life.
"So," the man said, "as soon as I got home, I took my copy of the book, went out to the beach, walked all the way to the end of the pier and flung it as far as I could into the sea!"
So this comedian went out at lunchtime, bought another copy of the book, soaked it in the bathroom sink for a few minutes and stuck it in this man's desk drawer.
I'm not a vindictive person, and I believe in respecting people's religions - but I laughed like a hyena when I heard that story!
OMG that is halarious! How freaked out would you be though!? Haha! Too funny!