Terminalcoffee discussion

For me, it was Relic by Lincoln Child & Douglas Preston. At one point I was whimpering and pulling the quilt over my head, and it was the middle of the day.

I do have to concede that I don't read much horror. Most of what I've read just had me rolling my eyes.

Well I'm not quite sure about scary but the creepiest stories I have read were The Private Memoir and Confessions of a Justified Sinner', by James Hogg, which was relentless, unsettling and also quite funny; likewise his 'Some Terrible Letters from Scotland', about a cholera epidemic. Bret Easton Ellis' 'American Psycho' was also unsettling, relentless and very funny. Susannah Moore's 'In The Cut' is also very creepy and unsettling. Its dark humour is also far more subtle than the previous mentioned tales.

The scariest book I ever read was THE SHINING by Stephen King when I was twelve. It was my mom's and was forbidden to me, but who's to stop a sneaky girl in the night with a flashlight? I stayed up all night for the first time in my life and scared myself into nervous hysterics. I had no idea how creepy the sounds of a house are at night when everything is still enough to notice them. Add to that the fear of being busted with a banned book...probably scarred me for life.

"The Exorcist" & "Legion" by Blatty. Also, the prologue to "The House of the Seven Gables" about the witch trial,curse and then the old man dying with the blood dripping down his beard. I was 11 when I first read it and kept seeing that scene in my head all that summer.

Michele wrote: ""The Exorcist" & "Legion" by Blatty. Also, the prologue to "The House of the Seven Gables" about the witch trial,curse and then the old man dying with the blood dripping down his beard. I was 11 wh..."

Is the book scarier than the movie?

It was a long time ago, but I think the title was "My Brother's Keeper." They were hoarders, and the book was so bleak and gritty, I scrubbed my house like mad, and threw stuff away. My house wasn't even bad, cosy and clean, but I was traumatized.

Aynge wrote: "Michele wrote: ""The Exorcist" & "Legion" by Blatty. Also, the prologue to "The House of the Seven Gables" about the witch trial,curse and then the old man dying with the blood dripping down his be..."
Yes...all of them. My imagination is more vivid than the movies. I can scare myself silly sometimes. After reading "The Shining", I kept checking under my bed. "Legion" in book form was better than the movie in my opinion. It confirmed my desire to burn and scatter.

Excorsist
Pet Sematary

I started reading "It" when I was 12 and thought it would be good after finishing Pet Cemetary. I couldn't get through it. I was scaring myself too bad. One day I'll get back to it.

America's Real War by Rabbi Daniel Lapin

I read Phantoms by Dean Koontz in one night, sitting in the hallway with my back against the wall because I was too scared to read in my room but couldn't stop.

Ten years later, I did the same thing with The Stand by Stephen King, but in the living room of my family's vacation condo.

Two or so years ago, I read Smoke and Mirrors by Tanya Huff, and I continue to be amazed that a book that scared me to death also had me snorting with genuine laughter throughout.

I can't read scary books. I put them down. Seriously.

Do you tell them they're ugly?

I needed a minute of screen-staring to get that.

The Shining was definitely the one that scared me the most.

I stopped reading Everville because it got a bit too creepy for me.

Hands down it was "Pet Sematary" for me.

Ok, I don't have a scariest book because I usually don't read that stuff but I have a good story. I live in Gainesville, which you may know had a serial killer in 1990. At the time I was working in the 9-1-1 center which you can imagine was ridiculously busy during that time. Well, cut to 1995, I've moved in with a new roommate. I had the upstairs room, it's 2 am, I'm in bed reading some true crime thing that had been written about our serial killer. All of a sudden I hear a BLOOD-CURDLING scream and footsteps pounding across the house. Needless to say given what I was reading about and that it had happened where I live, I was spooked already before the BCS&Fs across the house. So now I'm hanging from the ceiling.

My roommate had neglected to tell me that her 4-year-old had screaming nightmares sometimes and would run across the house to her room.

RandomAnthony wrote: "I needed a minute of screen-staring to get that."

I'll try to remember to limit my smartassery when you're tired. ;)

The Omen, The Shining, The Exorcist.
I remember staying up all night reading each of these and scaring the bejesus out of myself.

Barb wrote: "I don't do scary."

Ditto. Especially after reading the Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby when I was an innocent young teen, that was the end of all scary books for me. NOTE: I had stopped scary movies at a very young age.

Most horror novels don't scare me but House of Leaves is the scariest book I've ever read. It's about a family who move into a new house and I read it when I first moved onto my house. It scared me so much that I was glad when I lent it to someone and never got it back.

When I was about thirteen I went through a strange phase of reading horror. Mostly Stephen King: The Shining, It, Needful Things, The Stand. Also some of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents books. None of those scared me half as much as a couple of kids' books that scared my sister first, and then she hid them in my room because they scared her so much, so I'd find them and get scared all over again. There was the one about the woman at the dance who wore a scarf tied around her neck, and when the man untied the scarf (why'd he do that anyway?) HER HEAD FELL OFF! And the one about the girl who completed a puzzle AND IT LOOKED JUST LIKE THE ROOM SHE WAS IN, EXCEPT THERE WAS A MONSTROUS FACE LOOKING IN THE WINDOW, SO SHE LOOKED UP...

Myles wrote: "Ha, I'm pretty sure you're talking about Alvin Schwartz, Sarah. I loved those books growing up, definitely a lot of fucked up things for a kid to freak out about.

I've heard a lot..."

My 4-year old son loves "In a Dark, Dark Room" by Schwartz and laughs every time I read the story about Jenny and her head falling off when Albert unties the ribbon around her neck on her deathbed. I think the book is creepy for young kids but my son thinks it's funny. Go figure.

I wonder what kind of book Mary Shelley would write now. What we can do to extend/tamper with human life these days puts Frankensstein to shame.

Did you read Joe Hill's 1st book? scary yes.

I LOVE THE SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK BOOKS!!! THEY ROCK!!!
Yes, I love the story about the girl with a ribbon around her neck, keeping her head on! Yes, I love the story about the viper, coming to vipe your vindows!

Yes, I'm excited about them!!! THEY ROCK!!!

Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark
More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Scary Stories Treasury; Three Books to Chill Your Bones: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark/ More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark/ Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones