# favorite ghost stories?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-ghost-stories/208325>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 19, 2003, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-ghost-stories/208325 "2003-10-19T06:59:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ratty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ccd318/32.png) [@ratty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratty)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-ghost-stories/208325/1 "2003-10-19T06:59:40Z")

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Halloween is coming soon, and I’ve been re-reading my favorite author of creepy stories, M.R. James. He never fails to freak me out, even though I’ve read most of these stories 20+ times over the course of my life. I love the older ghostly tales, especially from the last two decades of the 19th century, but I haven’t found much modern short fiction (or even novels) that manage to scare me like James. The one exception that comes to mind, and which I think is the best, most frightening supernatural novel ever written, is Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Haunting of Hill House’.

So, in my never-ending quest for something to read, anyone want to recommend their favorite spooky stories and authors for Halloween?

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**Author:** ![Eternal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@Eternal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eternal)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-ghost-stories/208325/2 "2003-10-19T07:43:45Z")

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“There’s a spider on your shoulder!!!”