# What books/authors have genuinely scared you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 22, 2009, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644 "2009-06-22T21:00:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [June 24, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/61 "2009-06-24T14:23:04Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > A couple of well-written scenes in _The Little Stranger_ by Sarah Waters really creeped me out. I was reading in bed, and when I turned off the light, I had to put my head under the covers else I imagine letters appearing to be scratched in the walls and a jittery black shadow passing under the door. I finished that book at about 1:30 this morning. I felt like I had ants on me. Creep. Creep. Creep. Bleargh. I had to read a cheery book for a while to settle down. I started to wonder if it was actually the Doctor’s doing. And the “You!” just horrified me. Eek. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/62 "2009-06-24T15:17:18Z")
**jsgoddess** , re your spoiler – I’m pretty sure you’re right. Faraday might not have pushed Caroline over that landing (I think he did), but even if he didn’t, something in him unleashed a malevolent power in the house.. Great book. I think it’s right up there with _The Haunting of Hill House_. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/63 "2009-06-24T15:24:26Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Great book. I think it’s right up there with _The Haunting of Hill House_. I found it more unsettling than _The Haunting of Hill House_, but I’m not the same person I was when I read that one. Additional spoiler: The fact that Faraday kept seeing himself in the mirror when he thought he was seeing something other felt like the giveaway, while at the same time being completely logical. Yow, I’m still creeped out. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/64 "2009-06-24T15:43:22Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Sure. Which play/story are you thinking of? The Monkey’s Paw. Ugh. That bit when the son comes back… excuse me, I think I have to go hide under the covers now. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/65 "2009-06-24T16:29:16Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > The Monkey’s Paw. Ugh. That bit when the son comes back… excuse me, I think I have to go hide under the covers now. Oh yeah, great one. I remember reading that for the first time when I was pretty young and just thinking, “Oh man!” ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/66 "2009-06-24T16:48:35Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > The Monkey’s Paw. Yep. That story’s the reason I stop myself when I wish I had more money. **jsgoddess** , oooh, I didn’t pick up on that. I might just have to re-read the book. But one hint early on about that character was when he (Faraday) betrayed Roderick almost immediately by sharing what Rod had told him in confidence. I don’t always recognize the “unreliable narrator” until it’s spelled out for me, but I caught it earlier this time. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/67 "2009-06-24T18:05:45Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Oh yeah, great one. I remember reading that for the first time when I was pretty young and just thinking, “Oh man!” When I was in 6th grade, we got to listen to The Monkey’s Paw on audio. Seriously creepy! I can’t think of any stories that \*scared \*me. Just creeped out. I read that story upthread, _Guts_. OMG. I read this book one time - can’t remember the name of it - about bubonic plague descending upon New York City. That was pretty frightening. The stuff that could actually happen, like disease, or being trapped all alone - those things frighten the piss out of me. The Stand, for example. After everyone was dead, it wasn’t so scary anymore - except for Stu Redman fleeing the CDC! And maybe the scene in the corn with the Old Woman. _brrrr!!!_ ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/68 "2009-06-24T19:18:13Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > I think the reason that I don’t get “scared” is because many of the scary things in books and movies are things that I’ll never encounter (ghosts, vampires, zombies, giant tentacled monsters). But put a spin on something I run into every day (a drain, an underground space) and you can scare me. Yeah pretty much. _It_ scared me, because of the drain. And there was a King short story in which [spoiler] a finger came out of the drain, and it just kept extending and extending and extending…and tapping around the tub… Someone came on here and laughed and laughed about how that wasn’t scary at all. But I could imagine it coming out of the tub and wrapping around my hair and pulling and pulling… [/spoiler] Yeah. That scared the shit out of me. Little things scare me. I loved _The Shining_, but what scared the crap out of me was when he sees the body in the tub, and it opens its eyes and they are silver. Those silver eyes gave me nightmares for a long time. I could picture them exactly for some reason. “The Tell-Tale Heart” is scary. “Monkey’s Paw” still creeps me out. ---
**Author:** ![Judith\_Prietht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b19c9b/32.png) [@Judith\_Prietht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Judith_Prietht)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/69 "2009-06-24T19:29:19Z")
I’m currently reading _Monster Nation_ by David Wellington, and while I haven’t been put-the-book-down-now scared (yet), some of the images he’s conjured up are definitely sticking with me in a way I’d rather they not. Good creeps, though. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/70 "2009-06-24T19:29:29Z")
I remember a scene from a movie I saw when I was a kid, which featured a guy going into a haunted house and being found totally insane staring up at an empty light socket. For some reason I found that image totally frightening. ---
**Author:** ![MN\_Maenad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@MN\_Maenad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MN_Maenad)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/71 "2009-06-24T19:50:28Z")
\*John Dies at the End \*- I’ve just read it online, haven’t yet bought the print edition. David Wong perfectly hits that line between reality and horror so that you think that all this horrible stuff could happen _right now_. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/72 "2009-06-24T20:48:26Z")
The Exorcist was the first book that truly freaked me the fuck out; or maybe it was Rosemary’s Baby. 'Salem’s Lot was pretty creepy also, as it was King’s first commercially successful foray, and a different twist on the vampire theme. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2009, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/73 "2009-06-24T20:54:18Z")
Ramsey Campbell’s short story “Call First,” available in his compendium _Alone With the Horrors_, freaked me right out – I remember reading it in broad daylight on a bus ride home from work surrounded by other commuters, and slamming the book shut when I read the ending. It’s very effective (as is a lot of other Campbell short fiction, but this one really got me). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/74 "2009-07-10T19:45:59Z")
My earliest scary story, which my fifth-grade teacher read to our class during a rest period, was Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes tale “The Speckled Band.” The book from which my teacher read had these very stark, dramatic black-and-white illustrations; I still remember the picture of the snakebit sister standing in the hallway of the country house, a look of absolute terror on her face as she died, illuminated by a single oil lamp. Yikes! I was very scared by Harris’s _Red Dragon_ and King’s _Salem’s Lot_ (both of which stayed with me for a looooooong time), George R.R. Martin’s _Fevre Dream_ (another great vampire story, set before the Civil War), and Ira Levin’s _The Boys from Brazil_ (a thought-provoking and very chilling novel about cloning). I have to say, although I enjoy the atmosphere and inventiveness of his books and stories, H.P. Lovecraft has never scared me. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/75 "2009-07-10T21:18:25Z")
I am told that I had nightmares as a child from Ambrose Bierce’s _Chicamauga_, but the only thing I can remember being frightened by was Laurie Garrett’s _The Coming Plague_. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/76 "2009-07-10T21:22:40Z")
The one book that really freaked me out as a kid was _The Stand_, but that was mainly because of a specific incident that happened while I was reading it for the first time. I was probably about 12 or 13, and I was home alone at my mom’s house on a Saturday morning (my mom and my brother were at dance–my class wasn’t until later in the day). I was in the middle of the book when the phone rang. It was my dad. “Where are you?” he asked. “Upstairs in Mom’s room.” “Stay there, I’m coming to get you.” “What?” “Just stay away from doors and windows; I’m coming over to get you.” “What?! What’s going on?” “I’ll tell you when I get there. Stay away from the doors and windows!” _Click_. What followed was quite possibly five of the most terrified and interminable minutes of my life. What I found out when Dad arrived and took me back to his house (just on the next block) was that our neighbor across the alley had had some kind of breakdown. This would be the neighbor who liked to collect high-powered rifles. Aaaaand his wife and son were in the house with him. Our next-door neighbors got a SWAT team on their back balcony for a while. > [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > There’s one with a woman with no eyes and long stringy hair. BLECH!!! Yes! I always had to psych myself up to look at that one! ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/77 "2009-07-10T21:28:19Z")
This was when I was a kid (I was allowed to read pretty much anything I wanted, and happily worked my way through gory horror novels, _Helter-Skelter_, and a non-fiction book about serial killers, so I was no literary shrinking violet) but the book \*83 Hours Till Dawn \*scared the crap out of me. It was the true story of an heiress who was kidnapped and buried alive until her father paid the ransom. I haven’t ever read it again–I probably should, to see if it’s still as scary now as it was to my 10-year-old self. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/78 "2009-07-10T21:57:59Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > The one book that really freaked me out as a kid was _The Stand_, but that was mainly because of a specific incident that happened while I was reading it for the first time. > > I was probably about 12 or 13, and I was home alone at my mom’s house on a Saturday morning (my mom and my brother were at dance–my class wasn’t until later in the day). I was in the middle of the book when the phone rang. It was my dad. > > “Where are you?” he asked. > “Upstairs in Mom’s room.” > “Stay there, I’m coming to get you.” > “What?” > “Just stay away from doors and windows; I’m coming over to get you.” > “What?! What’s going on?” > “I’ll tell you when I get there. Stay away from the doors and windows!” _Click_. > > What followed was quite possibly five of the most terrified and interminable minutes of my life. > > What I found out when Dad arrived and took me back to his house (just on the next block) was that our neighbor across the alley had had some kind of breakdown. This would be the neighbor who liked to collect high-powered rifles. Aaaaand his wife and son were in the house with him. Our next-door neighbors got a SWAT team on their back balcony for a while. The scariest reading moment from my childhood was the time I was reading a collection of Poe’s short stories and poems late at night at the kitchen table when suddenly there was a gentle tap-tapping on the screen of the kitchen window - I looked across to see a _tiny, shriveled black hand with long claws_ tapping at the screen! I nearly jumped out of my skin with fear - until a masked face appeared in the window and I realized it was only a raccoon, attracted by the bread and fruit piled up right in front of the window. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/79 "2009-07-10T22:06:23Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > …Also, the Thing? Do you guys remember [this](http://lh3.ggpht.com/_tUzRAhpJFjc/Rf4aAig-UDI/AAAAAAAAAzA/d1K2H8pD5Yc/the-thing.jpg)? I hate that I can’t look at it for too long without getting uncomfortable. I’m not seven anymore! Linky no worky. ---
**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:** [July 10, 2009, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/80 "2009-07-10T22:09:55Z")
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