# Scariest Stephen King moment **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 12, 2008, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-stephen-king-moment/459727 "2008-08-12T12:15:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mudkicker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@mudkicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mudkicker)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-stephen-king-moment/459727/1 "2008-08-12T12:15:07Z")
Inspired by the ‘Stephen King adaptations’ thread. By scary I mean in the books - those moments where you realise your heart is hammering, the hair on your arms (and your chest 😃 ) is standing up and you have to remind yourself to breathe. Here are mine, in no particular order: _Salem’s Lot_ - Matt hears Mike upstairs the day after Mike dies, and creeps upstairs with a crucifix to confront him. :eek: _Salem’s Lot_ - Susan and Mark in the basement of the Marsden House as it’s getting dark. Danny in _The Shining_ outside Room 217. The short shory ‘Gramma’, from _Skeleton Crew_. Oh dear Og. _Pet Sematary_, where Louis is reburying Gage. ‘1408’ from \*Everything’s Eventual. \* The end of ‘The Jaunt’, from _Skeleton Crew_. I think I actually gasped out loud in shock… (And on a related note, can anyone recommend books by other authors that have scared them witless? The only ones I can think of that I’ve read are John Wyndham’s _The Day of the Triffids_ and Shirley Jackson’s _The Haunting of Hill House_. Suggestions gratefully received!) ---
**Author:** ![Orbifold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orbifold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orbifold)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-stephen-king-moment/459727/2 "2008-08-12T12:19:30Z")
Not a moment from a book so much a moment while reading a book, but when I read “Cujo” I happened to be sleeping in a basement room while my mom and stepfather were repainting my bedroom. It being a basement room, it tended to get damp in summer, so I had a dehumidifier, which turned itself on and off depending on whatever humidity level it sensed. Funny fact: when the dehumidifier turned itself on it sounded remarkably like a dog growling… ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-stephen-king-moment/459727/3 "2008-08-12T12:23:11Z")
_Misery_–When Paul Sheldon is reading Annie Wilkes’s book of newspaper clippings. That is the scariest scene ever written with no action and no dialogue. Just Paul reading about Annie’s past history. ---
**Author:** ![mudkicker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@mudkicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mudkicker)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-stephen-king-moment/459727/4 "2008-08-12T12:25:05Z")
Ha brilliant! I remember reading about some poor sod reading The Stand for the first time…while he had flu. 🙂 Forgot to mention above as well - the short story ‘The Man in the Black Suit’ in _Everything’s Eventual_. Like ‘1408’, a great example of teh scaries building up and up… ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-stephen-king-moment/459727/5 "2008-08-12T12:28:58Z")
“Ladyfingers” in _Skeleton Crew_ (I think that’s what it’s called) really freaked me out. Other scary authors: although it doesn’t show up on the horror shelf usually, Joyce Carol Oates’s book _Zombie_ will scare the hell out of you. It’s the most convincing first-person sociopath I’ve read. And she has a short story whose name is a black bar, the sort of bar used to censor text, that builds up dread to a wild crazy crescendo. That woman is a sicko. It’s great. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-stephen-king-moment/459727/6 "2008-08-12T12:29:04Z")
The bit in **Pet Sematery** when Louis Creed finds the dirt on his feet, and realises he might not have just had a nightmare, was simple but remarkably effective for me. I thought the whole story and it’s exploration of a parents biggest fear, was very well done, and it is one of my fave SK books. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-stephen-king-moment/459727/7 "2008-08-12T12:36:32Z")
Bah! Missed the edit window. Re the rest of the OP, \*\*They Thirst \*\*by **Robert R. McCammon** is worth a read. ETA embarassing spelling mistake. ---
**Author:** ![beowulf573](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@beowulf573](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulf573)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-stephen-king-moment/459727/8 "2008-08-12T12:44:41Z")
For several weeks after reading Salem’s Lot I just knew Hubie Marsden was hanging in my closet. I didn’t get a lot of sleep that summer. ---
**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:** [August 12, 2008, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-stephen-king-moment/459727/9 "2008-08-12T12:49:30Z")
There actually aren’t many moments when I have actually felt fear when reading. But these are the moments that came closest: **Salem’s Lot** - Danny Glick at Mark Petrie’s window, Father Callahan’s failure of faith in the presence of Barlow **The Shining** - room 217 **Gramma** **The Boogeyman** **Pet Sematary** - all things to do with Zelda or Pascow. This is both one of the most frightening and most disturbing books to read. For obvious reasons, I haven’t attempted it much since my kids were born. There is another part in this book where Louis is describing how his mind dealt with unbearable fear. (“Passed it like a stone.”) In that paragraph, he says something like, this is how you deal with the hand from under the bed that stroked your foot in the middle of the night. Gah! **Gerald’s Game** - Jessie realizing there is someone standing in the corner. So those are my “fear” moments…of course, there are a lot of things in the books that don’t exactly scare me but are very difficult to read. The first one that comes to mind is in Salem’s Lot: the childbeating mom discovers her baby is dead. That fucks me all up. * * * I don’t know if it would scare me now, but when I was about thirteen, I had to get up in the night and lock The Amityville Horror in the bathroom because I was too scared to sleep with it in my room. ---
**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:** [August 12, 2008, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-stephen-king-moment/459727/10 "2008-08-12T12:51:00Z")
[QUOTE=Left Hand of Dorkness] “Ladyfingers” in _Skeleton Crew_ (I think that’s what it’s called) really freaked me out. [/QUOTE] Survivor Type. Obviously that last line scarred you. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-stephen-king-moment/459727/11 "2008-08-12T13:00:50Z")
[QUOTE=Dung Beetle] Survivor Type. Obviously that last line scarred you. 😃 [/QUOTE] 😃 Indeed! Daniel ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-stephen-king-moment/459727/12 "2008-08-12T13:13:53Z")
[QUOTE=mudkicker] Ha brilliant! I remember reading about some poor sod reading The Stand for the first time…while he had flu. 🙂 [/QUOTE] What got me when reading _The Stand_ was noticing how many people around me had the sniffles … ---
**Author:** ![mudkicker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@mudkicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mudkicker)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-stephen-king-moment/459727/13 "2008-08-12T13:22:12Z")
I wouldn’t watch the TV adaptation of Salem’s Lot when I was a kid, because vampires were then (and are still now) the one thing guaranteed to have me gibbering under the bed with the dust bunnies. But once, when I was being babysat and was reading Enid Blyton held right up to my face because the babysitter insisted on watching Salem’s Lot, I went out to the kitchen for something…and inadvertantly glanced at the TV screen on my way back to my seat… …to see Danny Glick hovering outside Mark’s window. With _that_ grin. I can still hear his fingernails clicking… :eek: Slept with rosary beads taped to my window for ages. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-stephen-king-moment/459727/14 "2008-08-12T13:48:15Z")
Another vote for King’s 1408… when he says absently into the recorder, “My brother was eaten by wolves on the Connecticut Turnpike,” and again when he picks up the phone to hear, “This is nine. NINE! All your friends are dead! Every friend is dead!” Still shudder. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-stephen-king-moment/459727/15 "2008-08-12T14:28:47Z")
Ritual of Chüd in “ **It** ” when they confront Pennywise. Shudder… ---
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-stephen-king-moment/459727/16 "2008-08-12T15:10:22Z")
First: “Yay, I inspired someone”. Secondly: The Monkey is just plain creepy, and The Jaunt is pretty scary. And Day of the Triffids is incedibly scary. The day after reading it I brushed against a bush and jumped… ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-stephen-king-moment/459727/17 "2008-08-12T15:12:37Z")
I got to the end of Pet Sematary and was pretty freaked out, so I went upstairs to be with my family. I lived in the finished area of the basement, but to go upstairs, I had to pass through the unfinished area with the freezer, furnace, dark and menacing objects, cement floor and such. I went out from the suite area and into the basement, heading toward the other finished area. The lights went out, and I was alone in the dark. Freaky. Then I tripped over the cat in the dark. The cat. In the DARK. Screaming commenced. ---
**Author:** ![Paragod22510](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b5ac83/32.png) [@Paragod22510](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paragod22510)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-stephen-king-moment/459727/18 "2008-08-12T15:35:29Z")
In 4 Past Midnight, one of the first stories was about a plane crash. Oddly enough I bought the book in the Bangor Airport about to fly to San Francisco… But really, the scariest moment in a book while reading is when the girl from _The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon_ realized she was lost…it was, IMHO, the most singularly scary, self terrifying story I’ve read… ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-stephen-king-moment/459727/19 "2008-08-12T15:37:37Z")
This isn’t jumpy scary, but there’s a bit in the extended version of **The Stand** that is all about survivors of Captain Trips who died in freak accidents, and all of those were horrifying. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-stephen-king-moment/459727/20 "2008-08-12T15:44:05Z")
**Gerald’s Game** - Jessie realizing there is someone standing in the corner. I actually quit reading at that point and never went back. Just way too disturbing for me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-stephen-king-moment/459727.md?page=2)