# Please recommend a scary ghost book. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 11, 2005, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-scary-ghost-book/294011 "2005-03-11T13:41:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Licentious\_Ectomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@Licentious\_Ectomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Licentious_Ectomorph)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-scary-ghost-book/294011/1 "2005-03-11T13:41:29Z")
My SO is looking for a good, straightforward ghost story that is truly scary. Something along the lines of _The Haunting of Hill House_. He just finished _Black House_ by Stephen King and Peter Straub, and came away unsatisfied. Since I don’t really read that genre (I love, _love_, **LOVE** scary movies, but seldom read fiction of any kind), I can’t really help him in this regard. But I have no doubt the all-knowing Dopers can come through. What do you recommend? No Stephen King, please; he’s been there/done that ad nauseum. And it has to be a _ghost_ story. Thanks. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-scary-ghost-book/294011/2 "2005-03-11T15:51:29Z")
_Ghost Story_ by Peter Straub has an excellent ghost, and some truly freaky minor characters too. Also _lost boy lost girl_ by Peter Straub, and its sequel (which I haven’t read but have heard is excellent) _In the Night Room_. _The Good House_ by Tananarive Due and _Burnt Offerings_ by Robert Marasco. _The Other_ by Thomas Tryon ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-scary-ghost-book/294011/3 "2005-03-11T15:58:40Z")
I buy a lot of collections of short ghost stories. There is one that was collected by Roald Dahl that has several good ones. ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-scary-ghost-book/294011/4 "2005-03-11T16:50:35Z")
Richard Matheson’s “Hell House” is quite good. Jay Anson’s “The Amityville Horror” was a decent read to me when I was around 20, but it might not suit your husband’s tastes. Dunno that I’d recommend it, but I figured I’d throw it out there anyway. M.R. James wrote some good ghost stories, but no novels based on that premise that I’m aware of. Several collections of his stories are available, though. ---
**Author:** ![Freejooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba8739/32.png) [@Freejooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freejooky)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-scary-ghost-book/294011/5 "2005-03-11T17:02:09Z")
While it’s not really a straight \*ghost \* story, **House of Leaves** by Mark Z. Danielewski is the best horror novel I’ve read in probably 15 years. It scared the _shit_ out of me, and was really, really engrossing. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-scary-ghost-book/294011/6 "2005-03-11T17:05:27Z")
You’re not gonna beat _The Haunting of Hill House_, IMHO, though. He should have saved the best for last. 😉 I get freaked out just thinking about it. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-scary-ghost-book/294011/7 "2005-03-11T17:27:09Z")
Great timing. I wanted a thread like this one. If people could mention in their suggestions if the books tend toward graphic grossness, I’d appreciate knowing. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-scary-ghost-book/294011/8 "2005-03-11T17:33:10Z")
None of the books I mentioned are gross. Did you ask because you like it or because you don’t? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-scary-ghost-book/294011/9 "2005-03-11T17:36:40Z")
I hate gross. I have a low squick threshold. Most scary authors seem to delight in being gross. I’m looking at you, Stephen King! ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-scary-ghost-book/294011/10 "2005-03-11T18:13:25Z")
King is low on the Gross-O-Meter compared to some of the new horror writers. The World Horror Convention has been staging a Gross Out Contest for a few years now. ::shaking my head:: Kids. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-scary-ghost-book/294011/11 "2005-03-11T18:39:00Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > _Ghost Story_ by Peter Straub has an excellent ghost, and some truly freaky minor characters too. > > Also _lost boy lost girl_ by Peter Straub, and its sequel (which I haven’t read but have heard is excellent) _In the Night Room_. > > _The Good House_ by Tananarive Due and _Burnt Offerings_ by Robert Marasco. > > _The Other_ by Thomas Tryon Beat me to it, **AuntiePam**. I loved all those books, except _The Other_. I thought _Harvest Home_ was much more fun. Since you mentioned Peter Straub, who is _much_ better than Stephen King, IMO, don’t forget _Julia_. It scared the living crap outta me. Straub’s Blue Rose mystery series (Koko, Mystery, The Throat) is great too, but it isn’t horror. I don’t know what to call it, it’s not really mystery either. Maybe Mystery/Thriller/Page-turner/Fiction. I just finished the worst haunted house book I’ve ever read: _The Haunted Hotel_ by Wilkie Collins. I loved _The Woman in White_ but _The Haunted Hotel_ was a clunky yawner with a denouement so absurd it was unintentionally funny. Maybe I was thoroughly whooshed and it was supposed to be. 😕 …nah, it bit. \ ***jsgoddess** , _Julia_ is not gross, but it’s certainly disturbing. _Koko, Mystery_ and _The Throat_ all had some pretty graphic violence. _Harvest Home_ had some squishy parts too, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![booklover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@booklover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booklover)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-scary-ghost-book/294011/12 "2005-03-11T22:11:58Z")
I rarely read full-length ghost stories, but love short stories and can highly recommend both _The Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories_ and _The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century Ghost Stories_. There are a few others in this series (Victorian, Canadian, Australian) so these are a good bet. I’ve also been meaning to read _The Dark_, which is edited by Ellen Datlow. It’s gotten good reviews on Amazon and I’m a big fan of her SF/fantasy anthologies. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-scary-ghost-book/294011/13 "2005-03-11T22:25:36Z")
> [@Sauron](#): > > Richard Matheson’s “Hell House” is quite good. Oooooh, yes. I read “Hell House” late at night in the early '70s, and I still remember the creepy feelings it gave me. The movie “Legend of Hell House” was a pale, disappointing thing, but the book is a thrill ride. Matheson sure knows his stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2005, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-scary-ghost-book/294011/14 "2005-03-12T00:34:13Z")
Anything by H.P.Lovecraft. ---
**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:** [March 12, 2005, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-scary-ghost-book/294011/15 "2005-03-12T01:55:44Z")
Anyone here ever read Robert Marasco’s 1973 novel **Burnt Offerings**? That’s what _I’d_ recommend. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2005, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-scary-ghost-book/294011/16 "2005-03-12T01:58:38Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > Anyone here ever read Robert Marasco’s 1973 novel **Burnt Offerings**? > > That’s what _I’d_ recommend. Wow, yes. That was a goodie. Movie was not so hot, though. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2005, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-scary-ghost-book/294011/17 "2005-03-12T02:15:47Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > Anyone here ever read Robert Marasco’s 1973 novel **Burnt Offerings**? > > That’s what _I’d_ recommend. Ike, that was on my list. It’s one of my favorites. Definitely some good old-fashioned scary story-telling there. ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2005, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-scary-ghost-book/294011/18 "2005-03-12T08:36:26Z")
> [@Freejooky](#): > > While it’s not really a straight _ghost_ story, **House of Leaves** by Mark Z. Danielewski is the best horror novel I’ve read in probably 15 years. It scared the _shit_ out of me, and was really, really engrossing. I have that on my bookshelf and I tried to read it once, but the multi-page footnotes got to be too annoying. It’s good to know that you enjoyed it, though. Maybe I’ll give it another shot this weekend. I third the recommendation of Richard Matheson’s _Hell House_. I don’t recommend _The Amityville Horror_. I never thought it was very scary, although that might have to do with the whole thing being a hoax. You know, _The Haunting of Hill House_ always gets brought up in these discussions and although I love it and think it’s a great story, I’ve never found it _scary_ in the least. What am I missing? ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2005, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-scary-ghost-book/294011/19 "2005-03-12T09:14:03Z")
Scariest ghost story ever written, bar none, is _Schalken the Painter_ by J. Sheridan LeFanu. And whaddya know, it’s online. [A Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter](http://home.epix.net/~wallison/schalken.html) ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2005, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-scary-ghost-book/294011/20 "2005-03-12T17:56:31Z")
> [@MidnightRadio](#): > > You know, _The Haunting of Hill House_ always gets brought up in these discussions and although I love it and think it’s a great story, I’ve never found it _scary_ in the least. What am I missing? I dunno, but it definately scared the crap out of me! I could hardly breathe the first time I read the bit where they go down the path. I can’t even point to anything that’s particularly frightening about it when you look at it objectively, but it got under my skin in a big way. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-scary-ghost-book/294011.md?page=2)