Creepiest book ever?

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What is it, for you? I've honestly yet to find one. And not King or Blatty or Straub anything like that...I'm on the lookout for less well-known authors. I guess the spookiest thing I've read recently is a big Lovecraft anthology, bit it didn't exactly make me paranoid or afraid to turn out the lights or anything like that, which is what I'm after. Any advice, fellow consumers?

― writingstatic (writingstatic), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 00:32 (twenty-two years ago)

The Exorcist is pretty spooky.For real. The creepiest book i've ever read might have been The Room by Hubert Selby Jr. But it's not spooky. or a horror novel. well, it is a horror novel, but not a genre horror novel. it's just really really, um, disturbing.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 00:59 (twenty-two years ago)

scott: Well, I liked 'The Demon', so maybe I'll scope that one out. Cheers.

― writingstatic (writingstatic), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 01:04 (twenty-two years ago)

A children's book called 'Grinny'. I've forgotten the author, although he's very well known...

― pete s, Wednesday, 14 January 2004 01:18 (twenty-two years ago)

there's only one book i've ever taken outside and thrown in the trash because i was so freaked out i didn't want it in the house. and it was a steven king anthology! i don't remember what the anthology was called but the particular short story involved a teleportation experiment gone horribly wrong (think "the fly"), which ends in a pretty disturbing bit of self-abuse.

i find lovecraft to be about as spooky as a good black sabbath song. so, spooky but also somehow satisfying and fulfilling and fun in the end. spooky and unresolved is, i think, the real keep-you-up-at-night killer.

― vahid (vahid), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 01:18 (twenty-two years ago)

It was Nicholas Fisk i believe.

― pete s, Wednesday, 14 January 2004 01:20 (twenty-two years ago)

oh and let's not forget nonfiction books about uncaught serial killers (the zodiac guy!) or people with severe multiple personality disorder. there was one called "when rabbit screams" or something about a girl with 70 personalities that was really mindbending. life-after-death books!! carlos castaneda talking about really bad drug trips!!!

― vahid (vahid), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 01:21 (twenty-two years ago)

vahid: I think I perhaps meant more "atmospheric" rather than "spooky" with Lovecraft.

― writingstatic (writingstatic), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 01:44 (twenty-two years ago)

The Collector by John Fowles. Not a book to dwell on.

― MikeyG (MikeyG), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 14:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Any Danielle Steel Novel should creep you out sufficeintly.

― Cupie (Cupie), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 16:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I think I perhaps meant more "atmospheric" rather than "spooky" with Lovecraft.

if there's one word i'd use to describe HPL that'd be it. well, and awesomely amazing. i can honestly say i remember every single story of his (that i've read) in detail.

― vahid (vahid), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 17:11 (twenty-two years ago)

The ghost stories of Algernon Blackwood and Ambrose Bierce.

Much by Guy de Maupassant is good for many hours of unease.

"The Yellow Sign and other stories" -- the weird tales of
Robert W. Chambers.

Depending on your age and disposition, Lord Dunsany is also worth
a look-up.

― George Smith, Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:10 (twenty-two years ago)

"yellow sign" = "the king in yellow"??

― vahid (vahid), Thursday, 15 January 2004 21:36 (twenty-two years ago)

The creepiest book I've read recently has got to be Gustav Meyrink's The Angel of the West Window.

― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 15 January 2004 23:37 (twenty-two years ago)

American Psycho weirded me out. Its the only book that as an adult I couldn't keep on my bedside table because it scared me - I had to put in under the bed.

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Friday, 16 January 2004 09:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" put me in a state - and vahid, the King story you're thinking about is "The Jaunt," found in the anthology "Skeleton Crew:"

"Long Jaunt, Dad! Longer than you think! I saw! I know! It’s forever in there! Longer than you think!"

Come to think of it, there's another story in there: "Survivor Type," about a doctor stranded on a deserted island who has to resort to eating himself piece by piece. My, that just creeped me out as a kid...

― Joseph J. Finn, Friday, 16 January 2004 16:40 (twenty-two years ago)

"yellow sign" = "the king in yellow"??

Yep.

― George Smith, Friday, 16 January 2004 18:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Crash: A Novel by Ballard

― George Foreman Grill, Friday, 16 January 2004 20:38 (twenty-two years ago)

The Necromancer by Peter Teuluth(sp?) is from the 1700s and is supposedly rather well done and creepy.

― Gear! (Gear!), Monday, 19 January 2004 08:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Communion by Whitley Strieber, because it's a "true story".

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 20 January 2004 04:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Allegedly.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 20 January 2004 04:06 (twenty-two years ago)

actually, you right. that is one fucking creepy book. creeeeepy movie, too (christopher walken! before he got cheesy!)

― vahid (vahid), Tuesday, 20 January 2004 04:25 (twenty-two years ago)

"She was so frozen with terror at the sight of him that he had plenty of time to put his hands to her throat. She did not attempt to cry out, did not budge, did not make the least motion to defend herself. He, in turn, did not look at her, did not see her delicate freckled face, her red lips, her large, sparkling green eyes, keeping his eyes closed tight as he strangled her. For he had only one concern, not to lose the least trace of her scent." (Perfume. Patrick Suskind.)

― R bunged V (Jake Proudlock), Tuesday, 20 January 2004 17:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo is one of those books that I found hard to read. You know, when you start squinting at the print in the hopes that it won't upset you too much, but it just keeps getting worse?

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Thursday, 22 January 2004 12:44 (twenty-two years ago)

The only thing that leaps to mind for me is Lost by Maguire. Which wasn't that well-written and I read one night when I was home alone and in the process of getting a cold and it made me feel all creepy-crawly on my skin and I couldn't leave my bed for fear of the ... (sorry, can't remember what I thought was under my bed, but it wasn't pleasant).

I pretty much avoid anything that will creep me out - my imagination is far too active and since the new meds tend to lead to vivid dreaming, well, I'm happy reading about cheery puppies and whiskers on kittens and so forth.

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Friday, 23 January 2004 12:43 (twenty-two years ago)

If you look intently at whiskers on kittens you will see what sinister evil appendages they truly are, designed so the animal can sense leaves and cobwebs as it creeps up on unsuspecting rodents in the dark in order to rip them apart after a sustained prologue of torture.

― R the bunged up with jollop of V (Jake Proudlock), Saturday, 24 January 2004 01:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh oh oh... I love rodents so much, that image just makes me quake in terror... I am the mouse...

Actually though humans are way scarier than just about anything else... thus I'd have to say Amelie Nothomb's Hygiene de L'Assassin was just about the creepiest book I've ever read if only because by the end I felt near-perfect empathy for a horrible, horrible, horrible human creature.

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Saturday, 24 January 2004 01:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Thank you, Jake. Thank you ever so very much. You've now ensured that I will be having dreams of murderous kittens and innocent lil' mice and rats. *sniff*

Ann - I too am the mouse (and you might want to check out The Tale of Despereaux - just won the Newberry Award - the story of a tiny mouse who falls in love with a princess named Pea). My current Rat, Pepper, and current hamster, Norbert, and hedgehog, Miss Penelope Anne will all quake in terror with us.

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Saturday, 24 January 2004 02:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Ohhh you have a hamster named Norbert, that's one of my favorite rodent-guy names... my guinea pig is officially named Monkey, however I usually call him Bumbletaro, half after the hero of a children's book I wrote whose illustrator has yet to get much done (I love her work and I knew she was slow and elaborate when I picked her, so I'm being patient) and half after the Great Hero Hamtaro.

He quakes when the pigeons cluster around his window, beating their wings and watching, watching...

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Sunday, 25 January 2004 00:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I can't believe nobody's mentioned Shirley Jackson. The Lottery is pretty well renowned, and truly eerie. As are all her short stories, really.

― Charles Hatcher (musenheddo), Sunday, 25 January 2004 04:08 (twenty-two years ago)

*laughing* I love the descriptions of your Bumbletaro, Ann. I ended-up with Norbert by accident. He was given to a little boy for his (the boy's) birthday - and the little boy developed a severe allergic reaction to his dander - and eventually Norbert ended-up here at the house. He's sweet.

Back to the original thread topic, though - I remember being disturbed by Heinlein's The Puppet Master's to an absurd degree - and by some of Orson Scott Card's horror works.

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Monday, 26 January 2004 03:20 (twenty-two years ago)

House of Leaves was very creepy. It did have this sort of amateurish feel to it though, like it was written by a very talented high school student. It was still good.

― Dan I., Sunday, 1 February 2004 00:06 (twenty-two years ago)

The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson was the only book that scared me back when I was a horror-reading pre-teen. Still scares me a little when I think about it today.

― David Nolan (David N.), Monday, 2 February 2004 03:14 (twenty-two years ago)

These are all sounding great and I've assembled a nice little recommended reading list. Thanks for your help, chaps.

― writingstatic (writingstatic), Monday, 2 February 2004 23:52 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

Revive! and i'm a little drunk. and i like creepy books.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 03:02 (twenty years ago)

Alright. Just for you, 'Satan Wants Me' by Robert Irwin, very odd and definitely creepy in a deliciously English way.

― snotty moore, Monday, 11 July 2005 13:33 (twenty years ago)

thank you!

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 11 July 2005 13:47 (twenty years ago)

A lot of the Gormenghast trilogy was fairly cuddly -- but when Steerpike really started to lose it I lost that night's sleep. His homicidal madness put Hannibal's to shame. And the fact that he managed to keep lurking around the castle, picking its denizens off like a herd of sheep... brrrr!

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Monday, 11 July 2005 21:27 (twenty years ago)

Thank you, Jake. Thank you ever so very much. You've now ensured that I will be having dreams of murderous kittens and innocent lil' mice and rats. *sniff*
Ann - I too am the mouse (and you might want to check out The Tale of Despereaux - just won the Newberry Award - the story of a tiny mouse who falls in love with a princess named Pea). My current Rat, Pepper, and current hamster, Norbert, and hedgehog, Miss Penelope Anne will all quake in terror with us.

-- I'm Passing Open Windows (MsLaur...), January 24th, 2004.

Hee! I finally got a copy of Despereaux for my birthday and read it... sheer pure mousie joy.

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Monday, 11 July 2005 21:29 (twenty years ago)

Do people really read the whole Gormenghast trilogy? I stopped at the first one. I liked it, but I didn't feel the need to proceed.

― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 11 July 2005 21:30 (twenty years ago)

For some reason The Second Tree from the Corner by E.B. White made me feel like I might be going mad while I was reading it (and it is only 7 pages). Haven't read it in a long time, wonder if it still would... The Haunting of Hill House also made me quite nervous. And The Tutor by Peter Abrahams was great in that way.

― Donald, Monday, 11 July 2005 22:45 (twenty years ago)

The intro to Ramsey Campbell's "The Face That Must Die" (the author's nightmarish childhood with his schizophrenic mother) was so disturbing that I've never actually read the rest of the novel. I don't think it could ever top that, really.

― Philip Alderman (Phil A), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 10:11 (twenty years ago)

k/l, are you joking? By the time I reached the end of the first one I was eager to read the second; by the time I got halfway through that I felt like I was living in the castle and never wanted to leave. I don't think I'd been so completely transported to a world since childhood.

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 21:38 (twenty years ago)

There was a lot of seriously creepy shit in Clive Barker's Books of Blood. Has Barker written many short stories since that collection?

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 01:47 (twenty years ago)

k/l, steerpike's tragic villainy gets pretty epic. there are also many many dazzlingly if incidental surreal set-pieces to savor. not much of a creepy book, though. it's more pure delight

― a respectable citizen, Wednesday, 13 July 2005 02:06 (twenty years ago)

Hm, maybe I'll give it a crack. Most bookstores I've been to only stock the first one, so I assumed the rest weren't worth the trouble. But maybe somebody else gave me that impression, Anthony Burgess in his 99 Novels, maybe?

― k/l (Ken L), Thursday, 14 July 2005 01:11 (twenty years ago)

the second book in the trilogy is my favorite. steerpike's machinations come to a head so fantastically the tolkien comparisons make sense. i never got far in the third one

― a respectable citizen, Thursday, 14 July 2005 17:17 (twenty years ago)

Capote's In cold blood and am not sure exactly why now

― misshajim (strand), Friday, 15 July 2005 12:22 (twenty years ago)

There was a lot of seriously creepy shit in Clive Barker's Books of Blood. Has Barker written many short stories since that collection?

No. Those are his best books and he goes steadily downhill from there, even though his first couple of novels are quite good. But his later stuff is unreadably bad.

I'm voting for I Am Legend. I don't care if Ray doesn't think it's creepy. It just bloody is.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Friday, 15 July 2005 12:44 (twenty years ago)

There was a lot of seriously creepy shit in Clive Barker's Books of Blood.

Oh shit, is the story where the hands stage a revolution in that book? I think it's called 'The Body Politic'.

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 15 July 2005 15:12 (twenty years ago)

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