# Scariest/Creepiest Book Ever.. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 8, 2000, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-creepiest-book-ever/44566 "2000-12-08T01:52:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-creepiest-book-ever/44566/41 "2000-12-11T23:28:21Z")
**fire** – you’d probably like The Wasp Factory. I don’t think his style is boring, but not much “happens” in his books (the ones I’ve read, anyway) – he sets a nice mood though. ---
**Author:** ![Marvel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marvel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvel)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-creepiest-book-ever/44566/42 "2000-12-12T00:03:31Z")
I can’t believe no one has mentioned anything by Poe yet! Just thinking of “The Raven” or “Fall of the House of Usher” gives me the heebie-jeebies! Once Upon a Midnight Dreary… Patty ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-creepiest-book-ever/44566/43 "2000-12-12T00:07:59Z")
I’m contemplating buying The Wasp Factory some time. Actually I was contemplating back when I was on the Guess The Book thread. It sounded good to me…You guys think it is? ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-creepiest-book-ever/44566/44 "2000-12-12T00:43:43Z")
“The Hot Zone” Richard Preston “In Cold Blood” Truman Capote “Into Thin Air” Jon Krakauer “In The Heart Of The Sea” Nathaniel Something-Or-Other Obviously, fiction really doesn’t do it for me when it comes to getting scared. I mean…it’s made up! How is that scary at all? Oh well… ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_Next\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@Girl\_Next\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_Next_Door)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-creepiest-book-ever/44566/45 "2000-12-12T02:02:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Stephe96 \* > \*\* > > “The Hot Zone” Richard Preston > > “In Cold Blood” Truman Capote > > “Into Thin Air” Jon Krakauer > > “In The Heart Of The Sea” Nathaniel Something-Or-Other > Obviously, fiction really doesn’t do it for me when it comes to getting scared. I mean…it’s made up! How is that scary at all? > > Oh well… \*\* Oh God, I was reading IN COLD BLOOD at my fiance’s (now husband’s) parents house and just as I was reading the part where they describe the murders in detail… where they cut the phone lines and went in to murder the family…the lights went out! It was three in the morning and I went and woke up my fiance. “Save me! We’re going to be MURDERED!” ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-creepiest-book-ever/44566/46 "2000-12-12T04:00:54Z")
That sounds Very Vaguely Creepy to me. (Hint: lets resurrect that thread…) I read it too; it didn’t freak me out though…maybe _that’s_ creepy/scary? I liked it a hell of a lot but it didn’t scare me… ---
**Author:** ![Gundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Gundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gundy)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-creepiest-book-ever/44566/47 "2000-12-12T19:02:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Colin Wilkinson \* > And a second vote for **Hanibal**. The ending just creeped me out big time. Man, I thought the ending to Hannibal sucked donkey balls. The last hundred pages absolutely blew. Gotta second the vote for non-fiction here: **In Cold Blood** and **Helter Skelter** did the most damage to my sleeping patterns. When Vince Bugliosi described the Manson Family’s practice of “creepy-crawling” people’s houses…many restless nights after that. ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-creepiest-book-ever/44566/48 "2000-12-12T23:34:30Z")
Since nobody has mentioned them, _Collected Ghost Stories_ by M R James (various editions). _Naomi’s Room_ by Jonathan Aycliffe (an Irish writer who also writes religious thrillers under the name Daniel Easterman). It was published in the 1980s or early 90s but for some reason it’s already out of priunt. ---
**Author:** ![Medea\_s\_Child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Medea\_s\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Medea_s_Child)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-creepiest-book-ever/44566/49 "2000-12-12T23:35:11Z")
_Helter Skelter_. _shiver_ Oddly enough, _The Lord of the Flies_ got me. My world view is based on the idea that people are basically good and strive to be better, morally and emotionally. I refused to eat pork for a few months. _Its a Good Life_ was also pretty wrong/scary. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-creepiest-book-ever/44566.md?page=2)