Scariest Book!

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MandarkC

Active Member
Mar 11, 2014
26
93
London, United Kingdom
I think it was a close tie between 'Salem's Lot and Pet Semetary as to which one scared me the most. But I think this was the book that actually gave me shivers down my spine. Probably because I've always found the idea of something sinister happening in a small insular town/village to be more believable than the Pet Semetary events happening (I've never had a pet because my dad's allergic to fur and I was basically brought up in a concrete jungle so never had the opportunity to link the events from the book to real life, whereas I sort of can imagine 'Salem's Lot happening)

Did anyone else find 'Salem's Lot to be as scary?
 

bigkingfan91

Well-Known Member
Mar 1, 2014
190
921
32
WV
Yes!! For me though right now, Pet Semetary takes the cake, since I've had some strange animal encounters in the past few years. All have came from a cat who got ran over in front of our house a couple years ago, but that's a whole other story for a different thread. Most Ghost Stories also scare the heck out of me, those are by far my favorite types, but Salem's Lot was just eerie and creepy as heck. Something about that book just really hit a nerve. He did GREAT with that one!
 

Walter Oobleck

keeps coming back...or going, and going, and going
Mar 6, 2013
11,749
34,805
Yeah, 'Salem's Lot...like a bug going around only some don't know they're about to get bug-bit till it happens say like that bus driver. Remembering bus drivers from my youth now...Mr. Darcy...Old Man Moilanen...heh! Had this one, was like he couldn't get us there to school quick enough, off the bus! Or this other one, took us to Building Trades...looked like a Herman character? He'd regale us w/tales of how he was just trying to be a Good Joe (don't harm me). But Pet Semetary...whew...there's something about the whole idea of death, coming back from the grave. But then I guess, both stories share that idea.
 

not_nadine

Comfortably Roont
Nov 19, 2011
29,655
139,785
Behind you
Yes, and with this cover.. at 13 yrs old! I went right from here to the Shining. Oh my.

Salems+lot+book+cover.jpg
 

Bryan James

Well-Known Member
Apr 3, 2009
5,150
7,644
South Cackalacky
When I was doing a post-grad stint, I used to eat a handful of nuts before bed. That "old wives" tale about nightmares, nuts causing them, petercetera.

I wanted to have one that stuck (nightmare, not nut) so that what I was going through in reality would weigh lighter.

It never worked.

The only thing that did was the time-condensed idea of Pantywise and the sewer great in "It."

That got to me good.

I don't get scared anymore, and I miss it. I'm not talking about that machismo crap like "No Fear" stickers on the back of Ford F150s.

Such a loss of interest is not liberating. Stay afraid of the dark. Stay afraid of clowns. If the ice cream truck's music unnerves you, perverse it.

(all spelling and gramagical errors intended, because it be me)
 

bigkingfan91

Well-Known Member
Mar 1, 2014
190
921
32
WV
When I was doing a post-grad stint, I used to eat a handful of nuts before bed. That "old wives" tale about nightmares, nuts causing them, petercetera.

I wanted to have one that stuck (nightmare, not nut) so that what I was going through in reality would weigh lighter.

It never worked.

The only thing that did was the time-condensed idea of Pantywise and the sewer great in "It."

That got to me good.

I don't get scared anymore, and I miss it. I'm not talking about that machismo crap like "No Fear" stickers on the back of Ford F150s.

Such a loss of interest is not liberating. Stay afraid of the dark. Stay afraid of clowns. If the ice cream truck's music unnerves you, perverse it.

(all spelling and gramagical errors intended, because it be me)

I actually have a "NO FEAR" tattoo on my right arm, lol! It has a lot more meaning to it though then most think. I'm a tattoo buff, can never have enough! Just thought I'd share that, LOL. A lot of meaning in all of my ink though.
13391_568712393173757_581286196_n.jpg
 

Bryan James

Well-Known Member
Apr 3, 2009
5,150
7,644
South Cackalacky
To: BurgerKingFamily (joking, I do that)

If that slogan means something to you then it means something to me. I'm with you on that...I just don't like idiots in big red trucks making other idiots in big red trucks because they were improperly influenced.

As my days wane I have increasingly become a fan of wisdom.

Peace In, Bro
 

guido tkp

Well-Known Member
Oct 1, 2009
2,632
480
outside the dome
the lot...hands down

it is also the only (full length) book that, once i picked it up...i only set it down to a) eat once or twice...b) sleep (very little, as i remember)

i read it all in less than one weekend...started on a friday afternoon and finished it early sunday morning...

the mist probably would come in second...'cept it's a squidgy little short thing compared to most...still, it packed a mighty fearful wallop !

PS was creepy and spooky..and sad and demented as all get-out...but so was cujo...and the shining...
 

EMARX

Well-Known Member
Feb 27, 2009
2,970
15,757
...The Lot really didn't scare me, entranced maybe-but didn't scare...Pet?...that one did, just because of how dark and hopeless it was...
Pet Semetary. :nightmare:

I remember I told my Hubby when I'd finished it, "They should never make a movie of this one." But they did. And that sucker is scary, too!!
I have tried many times and this book stops me in my tracks every time. It just gives me such an uncomfortable feeling. I will get there in the end though. Isn't that bit of a foreboding statement.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
I have tried many times and this book stops me in my tracks every time. It just gives me such an uncomfortable feeling. I will get there in the end though. Isn't that bit of a foreboding statement.
....EBooger:)biggrin2:), I feel ya on that....I was honestly almost nauseated when I did my first read-somehow I feel like I tapped into that grim mindset of Steve's during the time I flipped the pages and I just couldn't shake the darkness for sometime afterward.....
 
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Hall Monitor

All bars serve the Beam.
Nov 7, 2013
187
1,013
New Jersey
For me, I found Pet Sematary to be the more frightening book, for several reasons. It was the first book I read by SK, and I think there is a certain impact there. I also look at it totally differently now that I have kids, and I think the non-supernatural elements of the book are more frightening than the other content. That takes nothing away from the Lot, however. Some of the most genuinely frightening moments I've ever read are in that book, and it is a great study in the dynamics of the small American town.