# Most Terrifying Book (Movie, etc.) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 5, 2009, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772 "2009-06-05T03:04:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Goblin\_Queen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Goblin\_Queen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Goblin_Queen)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/1 "2009-06-05T03:04:18Z")
So I’m on page 418 of _House of Leaves_ right now and I would be farther, but after the first day of reading I made myself a rule that I would only read it during the daytime. I hope other people who have read it don’t think that I’m ridiculous when I say that that book is one of the most disturbing pieces of fiction I have read in quite some time. Some of the problem may be that it’s the first book I decided to read after moving into a new house for the summer…bad timing much? But it’s really kind of bizarre. I leave it in the living room at night because I don’t want it sleeping in the same room as me. I leave the hallway light on until I go to bed. In any case, I really recommend this book, because it’s really a trip to read, but man oh man will I be relieved when it’s over. Other books/short stories that have seriously freaked me out: I forget the title, but I think it was something by Neal Stephenson perhaps? It ended with the protagonist descending into an underground tower (reminiscent of the Spiral Staircase:eek:) in the woods and encountering rooms on the way down, one of which contained a horribly deformed skeleton. The skull was the weird part–which I thankfully forget now–but the description left me with that creepy feeling between my shoulder blades for at least a day or so afterwards. Why do people descend into dark places! It never ends well! _Minuke_ by Nigel Kneale: Fairly typical haunted house story, but somehow ten times as disturbing. It was the first in an anthology called _Ghosts_ and I had planned to read one story every night before bed. That idea was quickly scrapped. That same anthology also contained another story about a giant glowing slug–it sounds stupid, and the story was only a page and a half or so, but it still packed a punch. Finally, in contrast to my bad timing in reading _House of Leaves_, my best timing was when I read an anthology of Lovecraft while on vacation. Freaked me out badly in the way that really good horror should, and required my “daytime reading rule” again, but fortunately I was in the best situation for letting myself get completely drawn into the stories: the middle of the Arizona desert. (If it had been a beach vacation that year–well, things would not have been good). P.S. Don’t read about the Mothman late at night from sources that are convinced that the creature’s real. So what books, movies, etc, have given you the heebiest jeebies? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/2 "2009-06-05T13:04:08Z")
I haven’t been truly scared by a book in a long time (I guess I’m going to have to read House of Leaves), but when I was a kid, reading the Amityville Horror freaked me out so much I got up in the night and shut the book in the bathroom at the end of the hall. I just didn’t want it in my room. The movie Poltergeist scared the pants off me too, and still does. Love it! ---
**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:** [June 5, 2009, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/3 "2009-06-05T13:43:56Z")
_Flop Sweat_ - Harlan Ellison _I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream_ - Harlan Ellison _All The Birds Come Home To Roost_ - Harlan Ellison _Croatoan_ - Harlan Ellison ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/4 "2009-06-05T13:47:53Z")
I read **The Shining** late at night during a snowstorm. I was so freaked out that I woke the baby up and hung out with him til I could calm my mind enough to go to sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/5 "2009-06-05T13:58:55Z")
I read _The Shining_ in seventh grade and I still don’t lock bathroom doors until I open the shower curtain. You know, just in case. “Oh Whistle, and I’ll Come To You My Lad” freaked me the hell out sitting at a public desk working at a library, which is pretty hard to do, especially for something written in 1904. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/6 "2009-06-05T14:01:53Z")
I slept with a firearm under the bed when I read _Red Dragon._ 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/7 "2009-06-05T14:11:51Z")
I love scary movies and books, but truly good ones are hard to find among all the slasher drek. When I was around 15, I read _The Exorcist_ while I was riding a bus from Oklahoma City to east Texas at night. This was when the paperback version of the book was just released, well before the movie and its associated brouhaha; I had never heard of it. It was written so realistically that it scared the hell out of me, even though I was pretty much of an atheist by then. Another book with a scene that creeped me out was in _Ghosts_ by Ed McBain, of all people. Something about the juxtaposition of a police procedural and haunted house seemed to make it that much more unexpected. More recently, I admit that several scenes in _The Grudge_ raised the hairs on the back of my neck ---
**Author:** ![corvidae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@corvidae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corvidae)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/8 "2009-06-05T14:15:41Z")
**Poltergeist** still freaks the hell out of me and I saw it over 20 years ago. ---
**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:** [June 5, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/9 "2009-06-05T15:50:55Z")
Just about anything by H.P. Lovecraft, really. That guy was the master of unseen horrors. Try reading [**Herbert West: Re-Animator**](http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/reanimator.htm) in bed, at night, alone, with one small lamp on. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/10 "2009-06-05T15:56:44Z")
I read _Salem’s Lot_ one night when I was about 11. it scared me so that I didn’t sleep the rest of the night. But the book that scared me the worst was _Helter Skelter_ by Victor Bugliosi. The idea that it was all real and there were people out that that would kill just for the heck of it disturbed me for a long time. StG ---
**Author:** ![Charley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/97f17d/32.png) [@Charley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charley)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/11 "2009-06-05T16:05:09Z")
The first few times I read Stephen King’s _It_ I got into the habit of putting the plug into the plughole as soon as I went into any bathroom. I was absolutely terrified. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/12 "2009-06-05T16:26:27Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > I read _Salem’s Lot_ one night when I was about 11. it scared me so that I didn’t sleep the rest of the night. But the book that scared me the worst was _Helter Skelter_ by Victor Bugliosi. The idea that it was all real and there were people out that that would kill just for the heck of it disturbed me for a long time. > > StG I read that when it first came out and it hit me the same way. I was drawn to it and horrified by it at the same time. It kind of made me question my own sanity that I could even continue reading it. ---
**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:** [June 5, 2009, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/13 "2009-06-05T16:39:04Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I haven’t been truly scared by a book in a long time (I guess I’m going to have to read House of Leaves), but when I was a kid, reading the Amityville Horror freaked me out so much I got up in the night and shut the book in the bathroom at the end of the hall. I just didn’t want it in my room. Ha! I did the same thing, only I was 18, and I put it outside because I didn’t even want it in my apartment. FTR, I’ve been reading horror as long as I’ve been reading, and _House of Leaves_ is the first book I’ve ever had to take a break from. There is something very, very wrong with that book. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/14 "2009-06-05T16:52:09Z")
I’d have to go with **Cujo** (The book, not the movie). No monsters, no over-the-top psychos, just a big dog with rabies and a bunch of suburbanites who made some bad decisions. Could happen to anybody. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/15 "2009-06-05T16:56:05Z")
Stephen King is the only writer who ever genuinely scared me. He doesn’t have that effect on me now but when I was younger I was really freaked by most of his books, especially Pet Sematary, which I read in one sitting on an overnight transatlantic flight. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/16 "2009-06-05T17:02:45Z")
Day of the Triffids as a book freaked me out. The movies obviously not, though the BBC TV production had some pretty good pyschologically scary moments. It’s not the plants, obviously, but the breakdown of society engendered by the blindness that I found so chilling. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/17 "2009-06-05T17:47:36Z")
_Alien_ scared the crap out of me when I first saw it. I’m much more jaded now, but at the time it had just the right combination of horror and suspense. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/18 "2009-06-05T18:12:57Z")
> [@Goblin\_Queen](#): > > So I’m on page 418 of _House of Leaves_ right now and I would be farther, but after the first day of reading I made myself a rule that I would only read it during the daytime. I’m not a fan of horror, but a lot of my favorite books fall into the realm of “difficult” literature, and having only vaguely heard of this book, I had an equally vague idea that it might be something of interest. I didn’t even know that it was a horror novel. Is it possible to say, without spoilers, what’s so disturbing about it? Is it just general creepiness, or do shocking and repulsive things happen? ---
**Author:** ![mariposalabrown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ad7895/32.png) [@mariposalabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mariposalabrown)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/19 "2009-06-05T18:18:25Z")
You will love it if you like difficult literature. There is nothing repulsive, it’s just… someone else has to describe it. I got very panicky reading it and never made it even halfway. I plan on trying again some day. ---
**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:** [June 5, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772/20 "2009-06-05T18:32:15Z")
Lovecraft is mine. And it still creeps me out when I reread anthologies of his short stories. Some of his imitators (homagiers?) also do really good work on bringing the creep…Derleth, for example. _Pickman’s Model_ is one of the really good ones. Kept me away from basements for months. Also, _The Colour Out Of Space_ had me watching the water coming out of the tap very carefully for a while. Also, books that have fictionalizations of “real” hauntings…there’s one called _Haunted Heartland_ about hauntings in the Midwest that kept me up nights for a while. I mean, I KNOW there are no ghosts, just like I KNOW there are no eldritch horrors from distant stars, but that doesn’t stop the primitive reptile brain lurking beneath my cerebrum from going on high alert. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-terrifying-book-movie-etc/498772.md?page=2)