# Getting Near Hallowe'en: Scary short fiction/ghost stories? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 14, 2008, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scary-short-fiction-ghost-stories/467937 "2008-10-14T19:50:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scary-short-fiction-ghost-stories/467937/1 "2008-10-14T19:50:09Z")
Any scary stories you’d recommend? Any good personal ghost stories and the like? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scary-short-fiction-ghost-stories/467937/2 "2008-10-14T19:56:26Z")
[The October Game](http://lib.ru/INOFANT/BRADBURY/october.txt) by Ray Bradbury I just went looking to get the URL and ended up reading the whole thing and tensing up all the way through… ---
**Author:** ![Stauderhorse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Stauderhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stauderhorse)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scary-short-fiction-ghost-stories/467937/3 "2008-10-14T19:58:34Z")
Edit: jayjay beat me to it. ---
**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:** [October 14, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scary-short-fiction-ghost-stories/467937/4 "2008-10-14T20:15:55Z")
[Ted’s cave story](http://www.angelfire.com/trek/caver/). There are several pages to the story; don’t quit too early. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scary-short-fiction-ghost-stories/467937/5 "2008-10-14T20:42:01Z")
[The Beckoning Fair One](http://www.english.upenn.edu/~nauerbac/onions.html) is a nice creepy little story I read years ago and was delighted to fine online. ---
**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:** [October 14, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scary-short-fiction-ghost-stories/467937/6 "2008-10-14T20:51:55Z")
H.P. Lovecraft is always good. If you haven’t read him, give **The Case of Charles Dexter Ward** a shot. A shot novel, but short enough. Or try the story **The Shadow over Innsmouth**. Lovecraft used Gloucester and other North Shore towns as models, but it’s pretty clear to me that Salem, MA fits the overall scheme better than the others. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scary-short-fiction-ghost-stories/467937/7 "2008-10-14T22:46:52Z")
M.R. James’ “Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come To You, My Lad” is one that gets mentioned a lot in these types of threads – I’ll have to admit it didn’t resonate with me until I’d read it a couple of times (it finds its way into many a ghost story anthology), and now it’s one of my favorites. Shirley Jackson’s _The Haunting of Hill House_ is a must-read (and the 1963 movie adaptation, _The Haunting_, is a must-view). I read _Alone With the Horrors_, a compilation of Ramsey Campbell’s horror fiction, a year ago; it contains a lot of great stories, of which “Call First” was perhaps the best. I’ll second \*\*Ellen Cherry’s \*\*recommendation for “The Beckoning Fair One,” which I enjoy reading around this time of year. You’ll also find a lot of other great recommendations in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=391872) that I started two years ago, _almost to the very day_. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scary-short-fiction-ghost-stories/467937/8 "2008-10-14T23:54:32Z")
Hilary Mantel’s Beyond Black. Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle and “The Daemon Lover” cycle (short stories). Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scary-short-fiction-ghost-stories/467937/9 "2008-10-15T00:56:50Z")
If you like scary old churches (and who doesn’t?) try “The Cicerones” by Robert Aickman. There’s a BBC version online, but the story’s better. Any other October-resonant suggestions are welcome. October is my favorite month, and horror is my favorite genre. (Yeah, Bradbury, yeah, yeah, yeah. Anything else?) ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scary-short-fiction-ghost-stories/467937/10 "2008-10-15T01:27:18Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > H.P. Lovecraft is always good. > If you haven’t read him, give **The Case of Charles Dexter Ward** a shot. A shot novel, but short enough. > > Or try the story **The Shadow over Innsmouth**. Lovecraft used Gloucester and other North Shore towns as models, but it’s pretty clear to me that Salem, MA fits the overall scheme better than the others. I came in to mention Lovecraft, but i was sure someone would have beaten me to him. [Dagonbytes](http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/index.html) has a lot of creepy stuff, including [The entire works of H.P. Lovecraft](http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scary-short-fiction-ghost-stories/467937/11 "2008-10-15T01:37:16Z")
Oldies but goodies: [The New Mother](http://www.geocities.com/orwellus/newmother.htm) [The Monkey’s Paw](http://www.americanliterature.com/Jacobs/SS/TheMonkeysPaw.html) And this one is more a humorous story, but there are “ghosts” involved: [The Open Window](http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/OpeWin.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scary-short-fiction-ghost-stories/467937/12 "2008-10-15T05:04:53Z")
Algernon Blackwood, “The Wendigo” and “The Willows” David Drake, “Something Had to be Done” C.M. Kornbluth, “The Mindworm” Fredric Brown, “Blood” ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scary-short-fiction-ghost-stories/467937/13 "2008-10-15T07:00:05Z")
[Pigeons From Hell](http://arthursclassicnovels.com/arthurs/howard/pighell10.html) [The Toll House](http://arthursclassicnovels.com/arthurs/jacobs/toll10.html) ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scary-short-fiction-ghost-stories/467937/14 "2008-10-15T11:47:27Z")
Lovecraft’s THE DUNWICH HORROR and THE THING ON THE DOORSTEP Poe’s MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, CASK OF AMONTILLADO, THE BLACK CAT, THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER, and of course, THE TELL-TALE HEART. Clive Barker’s THE HELLBOUND HEART (HELLRAISER) ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scary-short-fiction-ghost-stories/467937/15 "2008-10-15T17:58:30Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > [Ted’s cave story](http://www.angelfire.com/trek/caver/). > > There are several pages to the story; don’t quit too early. No site updates since 2001, so I guess that’s where the story ends. That was pretty good, especially the last journal entry. Are we just supposed to assume that… they never return from the next journey into the cave? That whatever force was messing with their minds ended up killing them? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scary-short-fiction-ghost-stories/467937/16 "2008-10-15T18:06:29Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Or try the story **The Shadow over Innsmouth**. Lovecraft used Gloucester and other North Shore towns as models, but it’s pretty clear to me that Salem, MA fits the overall scheme better than the others. **Cal** , out of curiosity, what do you think of the movie **Dagon** , which, despite the title, is actually based on The Shadow over Innsmouth? It’s not a great film, but it seems to be a better treatment than Lovecraft usually gets. ---
**Author:** ![Black\_Sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ce73a5/32.png) [@Black\_Sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Black_Sunshine)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scary-short-fiction-ghost-stories/467937/17 "2008-10-15T20:11:52Z")
Chaz Brenchley’s [“The Keys to D’Esperance”](http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/keys.htm) Guy de Maupassant’s [“The Horla”](http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new?id=MauStor&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=4&division=div) Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ["The Yellow Wallpaper](http://www.horrormasters.com/Text/a0059.pdf) and Stephen King’s “1408.” (Which is online somewhere, but I can’t find it.) I only really came on here to recommend Bradbury’s “The October Game” as above. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scary-short-fiction-ghost-stories/467937/18 "2008-10-15T22:04:02Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > [Ted’s cave story](http://www.angelfire.com/trek/caver/). > > There are several pages to the story; don’t quit too early. Max are there only 10 pages to that story? The story just kinda chops off when they head off back to the cave, but I don’t know if there are more pages that aren’t accessible, or if they chop it off at that point to be creeepy. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scary-short-fiction-ghost-stories/467937/19 "2008-10-15T22:50:04Z")
> [@Batsinma\_Belfry](#): > > [Pigeons From Hell](http://arthursclassicnovels.com/arthurs/howard/pighell10.html) Don’t be put off by the dumb name. The story is exceedingly well written and has the number one scariest moment of anything I have ever read. I cannot recommend it highly enough. **Brother Cadafel** I’m a big HPL /Mythos fan myself. I love Dagon. There are some minor things I would change, but overall I thought it was a wonderful adptation of his work. RE HPL If you want a short Cthulu story, go with The Festival. ‘For there were rites older than Christianity, this was the ancient yule fest of his people and he had been called to come’ ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scary-short-fiction-ghost-stories/467937/20 "2008-10-15T22:57:14Z")
Another really effective Lovecraft: _ **The Outsider** _. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scary-short-fiction-ghost-stories/467937.md?page=2)