# Best Horror Stories (short fiction and novels) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 23, 2016, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-horror-stories-short-fiction-and-novels/772844 "2016-11-23T22:06:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-horror-stories-short-fiction-and-novels/772844/1 "2016-11-23T22:06:04Z")
It’s almost Christmas time - when you celebrate love and light, and then gather round the fire to scare the pants off everyone (at least in the tradition of M.R. James). A friend posted an alleged list of the best horror stories ever, and it left a lot to be desired. So I started my own. Please add your favorites! Short stories H.P. Lovecraft: - The Color Out of Space - The Statement of Randolph Carter - Pickman’s Model F. Marion Crawford: - The Dead Smile - The Upper Berth M.R. James: - The Mezzotint Robert W. Chambers: - The King in Yellow Arthur Machen: - The Great God Pan Christ Priestly - Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror (entire collection) Stephen King - Skeleton Crew (entire collection) Novels Michelle Paver - Dark Matter Mike Carey - The Girl with All the Gifts Neil Gaiman - Coraline John Ajvide Lindqvist - Let the Right One In Peter Straub - Ghost Story Stephen King - The Gunslinger ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-horror-stories-short-fiction-and-novels/772844/2 "2016-11-23T22:47:35Z")
Best decades old short story I never heard of until this year: [Smee](http://www.scaryforkids.com/smee/) by A. M. Burrage ---
**Author:** ![f.coli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eada6e/32.png) [@f.coli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/f.coli)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-horror-stories-short-fiction-and-novels/772844/3 "2016-11-23T22:48:44Z")
“Jerusalem’s Lot” is my favorite King story. “The Exorcist” is also worth reading. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-horror-stories-short-fiction-and-novels/772844/4 "2016-11-23T23:06:41Z")
Stephen King — _The Shining_ ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-horror-stories-short-fiction-and-novels/772844/5 "2016-11-23T23:50:29Z")
For Lovecraft I’d choose instead **The Shadow over Innsmouth** , **The Cal of Cthulhu** and, for a novel, **The Case of Charles Dexter Ward** I don’t think I have a favorite Stephen King story or novel. Robert E. Howard – **Worms in the Earth** Clark Ashton Smith – **The Colossus of Ylorgne** I still have a special love for Robert Lewis Stevenson’s **The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mister Hyde**. If you haven’t read it, do so. It’s much better than any film adaptation. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2016, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-horror-stories-short-fiction-and-novels/772844/6 "2016-11-24T00:42:08Z")
> [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](#): > > M.R. James: > > - The Mezzotint - Count Magnus - The Treasure of Abbot Thomas ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2016, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-horror-stories-short-fiction-and-novels/772844/7 "2016-11-24T01:10:51Z")
“It” by Theodore Sturgeon “The Rats in the Walls” by H.P. Lovecraft “The Autopsy” by Michael Shea “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” by Harlan Ellison “We Are All Completely Fine” by Daryl Gregory Novels _Carrion Comfort_ and _Summer of Night_ by Dan Simmons ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2016, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-horror-stories-short-fiction-and-novels/772844/8 "2016-11-24T01:27:33Z")
More: “[The Yellow Wallpaper](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1952/1952-h/1952-h.htm)” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman “The Roaches” by Thomas Disch “That Only a Mother” by Judith Merrill “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson “The Father-Thing” by Phillip K. Dick “With Folded Hands” by Jack Williamson ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2016, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-horror-stories-short-fiction-and-novels/772844/9 "2016-11-24T13:02:09Z")
**Lovecraft** _Out of the Aeons_ (with **Hazel Heald** ) I’ve loved his works for almost 30 years and there was a time when I was _really_ into the whole mythos (I even bought [this](https://www.amazon.com/Petersens-Field-Guide-Cthulhu-Monsters/dp/0933635486)) but his stories never really scared me. This one, however, made me feel _very_ uneasy for some reason. I re-read it in my early 30s and, yes, still creepy… _The Dreams in the Witch House_ also has some unsettling passages. The other stories, and I must have read almost all of them, are usually good, often absolutely great, absorbing and thought-provoking, but never really terrifying. **Crawford** _The Upper Berth_ I read it in an otherwise so-so anthology of gothic fiction and found it unexpectedly spooky. **Blatty** _The Exorcist_ Of course. **Gilman** _The Yellow Wallpaper_ I’d heard of it for a long time before actually reading it and it lived up to the hype. The last lines are haunting. * * * Among the ones that have been mentioned, these three pique my interest, especially the first one which was named less than a month ago in a similar thread on another board. **Chambers** _The King in Yellow_ **James** _The Mezzotint_ **Machen** _The Great God Pan_ * * * And two classics, perhaps not that scary, but must-reads all the same: **Poe** _The Fall of the House of Usher_ **De Quincey** _Suspiria De Profundis : Levana and Our Ladies of Sorrow_ So eerily evocative… ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2016, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-horror-stories-short-fiction-and-novels/772844/10 "2016-11-24T13:08:35Z")
“Who Goes There?” by John Campbell, Jr, writing as Don Stuart, in 1938 ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2016, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-horror-stories-short-fiction-and-novels/772844/11 "2016-11-24T16:17:59Z")
Stories of monsters, ghosts, etc., have never scared me. _Examination Day_, by Henry Slesar, scared the ever-living fuck out of me. _1984_ can keep me awake at nights, too. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2016, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-horror-stories-short-fiction-and-novels/772844/12 "2016-11-24T18:01:53Z")
One of the most chilling horror stories ever written is [Schalken the Painter](http://www.online-literature.com/lefanu/1780/) by the great Joseph Sheridan LeFanu. For great modern horror novels you can do no better than _Ghost Story_ by Peter Straub and _Floating Dragon_ by the same author. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2016, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-horror-stories-short-fiction-and-novels/772844/13 "2016-11-24T22:53:28Z")
Short Stories: “Silent Snow, Secret Snow” by Conrad Aiken “The Monkey’s Paw” by W. W. Jacobs “It’s a _Good_ Life” by Jerome Bixby Novel (YA) **Sorrow’s Knot** by Erin Bow ---
**Author:** ![Mavic\_Chen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mavic\_Chen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mavic_Chen)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-horror-stories-short-fiction-and-novels/772844/14 "2016-11-25T14:37:08Z")
Blatty’s “Legion” (aka The Exorcist 3) is also a great read. And MR James “The Ash Tree” and “View From a Hill” are my favourites by him. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-horror-stories-short-fiction-and-novels/772844/15 "2016-11-25T15:22:04Z")
Daniel Lewizinski (sp?) House of Leaves is chilling (novel) ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-horror-stories-short-fiction-and-novels/772844/16 "2016-11-28T17:59:11Z")
My favorite Lovecraft story is “Herbert West – Re-animator”. I suggest Richard Matheson’s “Prey”. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-horror-stories-short-fiction-and-novels/772844/17 "2016-11-28T18:07:37Z")
“In the Tall Grass” by Stephen King and Joe Hill. Most disturbing thing I’ve read in years. I have to warn you, though, if you are pregnant or have recently been pregnant -DO NOT read this story. I’m not kidding. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-horror-stories-short-fiction-and-novels/772844/18 "2016-11-28T19:18:20Z")
Oliver St John Gogarty wrote “The Most Haunted House of Them All”–collected in _[A Week End In the Middle of the Week and Other Essays On the Bias](https://www.amazon.com/Week-Middle-Other-Essays-Bias/dp/B0007DX2IC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480360286&sr=8-1&keywords=weekend+in+the+middle+of+the+week)_. In which he recounts the tale of the Leap Castle Ghost. Originally recorded by the Anglo-Irish lady spiritualist who resided in the castle & seriously investigated by Yeats before the castle burned. Then ludicrously featured in one of those Ghostfacers shows shot in the reconstructed great house. But Gogarty’s version is the best… ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-horror-stories-short-fiction-and-novels/772844/19 "2016-11-28T19:22:26Z")
“All the Birds Come Home to Roost” “Flopsweat” Both in Harlan Ellison’s **Shatterday**. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-horror-stories-short-fiction-and-novels/772844/20 "2016-11-28T20:01:26Z")
I don’t know if you count it as horror, but Ray Bradbury’s “All Summer in a Day” will disturb you forever… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-horror-stories-short-fiction-and-novels/772844.md?page=2)