# Ghost stories **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 22, 2009, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-stories/518493 "2009-11-22T02:46:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**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 24, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-stories/518493/21 "2009-11-24T17:12:17Z")
I haven’t had time to get farther in than the opening, but [**House of Leaves**](http://www.amazon.com/House-Leaves-Mark-Z-Danielewski/dp/0375703764) is looking mighty creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Gesturing\_Mildly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/65b543/32.png) [@Gesturing\_Mildly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gesturing_Mildly)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-stories/518493/22 "2009-11-24T19:50:08Z")
> [@Savannah](#): > > **The House Next Door** , by Anne Rivers Siddons. Not a traditional haunted house story, but it’s excellent. Agreed. I read that a few years back, and it’s really stuck with me. > [@Max\_Torque](#): > > I haven’t had time to get farther in than the opening, but [**House of Leaves**](http://www.amazon.com/House-Leaves-Mark-Z-Danielewski/dp/0375703764) is looking mighty creepy. Re-reading this right now. (well, not _right_ now, as I type . . .) Not traditional in any sense of the word, but just downright unsettling. Takes effort to get through it, but it’s totally worth it, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-stories/518493/23 "2009-11-25T12:21:33Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > That’s not a ghost story, though; that’s a psychological horror story. > > It’s a good one, though. Very creepy, and I spent a lot of time in English class rereading it instead of paying attention. Yes, I thought about this when I had also thought of Saki’s The Open Window. But as you say, the creepiness factor is certainly there. A favorite _ghost_ ghost story of mine is Charles Dickens’ The Signal-Man. ---
**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:** [November 25, 2009, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-stories/518493/24 "2009-11-25T15:57:24Z")
It’s a short novella, or a very long short story, but Oliver Onions’ _The Beckoning Fair One_ is an all-time favorite of mine. It’s available on Gutenberg, but it’s best read from a book rather than on a screen. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-stories/518493/25 "2009-11-25T21:20:50Z")
Another vote for _House of Leaves_. No “normal” ghost story has ever gotten under my skin as much. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2009, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-stories/518493/26 "2009-11-29T04:21:28Z")
Thoughts so far: [spoiler] What is it with ghost stories not having endings?!? _A Fine And Private Place_ especially- I realize the story was supposed to be more about Mr. Rebeck than the ghosts, but couldn’t we at least see Mike and Laura in the new cemetary? Talk about a let-down. And _The Ghost Writer_ (which, as far as I can tell, is a psychological thriller and not a ghost story per say) ends with Gerard in the process of escaping the house. No “tying everything together” section (which I usually need to figure out what happened), no figuring out what was what with Anne- the protagonist hasn’t even left the property yet! The third book I’ve gotten up to is _The Haunting Of Hill House_. The copy my library had turned out to be the original 1959 printing, which is cool. What is not cool is that fifty years of readers with filthy hands (which could be a pit thread in its own) left it a mess. I’m a bit confused about the ending- Eleanor dies, right? [/spoiler] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-stories/518493.md?page=1)