# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Trick\_Rider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Trick\_Rider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trick_Rider)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/81 "2009-07-10T22:36:35Z")
The Tell Tale Heart scared me way more than I thought it would. I’d been led to believe that something supernatural was driving the whole story. Finding out that it was really more like psychological horror messed me up. ---
**Author:** ![Sparrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Sparrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparrow)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/82 "2009-07-10T23:16:26Z")
I was reminded of one today on the 2012 thread on this board … “The Forge of God” by Greg Bear. The end of that with the destruction of the Earth, really terrified me. Another that comes to mind is the short SF story “Sandkings” by George RR Martin - I think that one was made into a Twilight Zone episode. Sheez that one scared me! ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/83 "2009-07-11T00:08:40Z")
[Behind the Attic Wall](http://www.amazon.com/Behind-Attic-Wall-Camelot-Books/dp/0380698439/ref=pd_sim_b_3), by Sylvia Cassedy. Book needs burying at a crossroads with a stake through it. :eek: The reviewers at Amazon obviously did not read the book I and other Dopers read. I have a thing about human dolls (uncanny valley, I suppose, even from a very young age), and that book did not help _at all_. Or Stephen King’s “The Dark Half”. Complete squick city. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/84 "2009-07-11T00:11:04Z")
I want to say “Thank you for scaring me” to the ones who have posted links of short stories. That one about the purple eyed demon… I want to read more about him (the demon). I also read crimelibrary, although I’ve learned to do so during daylight. For a woman living by herself, it is not a good thing to read at night. ---
**Author:** ![Nation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@Nation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nation)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/85 "2009-07-11T02:16:19Z")
I read it when I was about 15 or so and I didnt go to bed that night. Stephen King’s Bag of Bones is another one. ---
**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 11, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/86 "2009-07-11T03:35:15Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Sorry. This better? > > [http://www.evilontwolegs.com/uploads/childhoodhorrors/smttitd4.jpg](http://www.evilontwolegs.com/uploads/childhoodhorrors/smttitd4.jpg) Yes, thanks… he seems like an unpleasant fellow. Another vote for Martin’s “Sandkings,” which I first read in high school. Really good stuff. The short story is far, far, far better than the TV adaptation. ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/87 "2009-07-11T04:17:45Z")
Swan Song really creeped me out. Stephen King’s early stuff scared me to bits, but the one that does it the worst is _The Stand._ ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/88 "2009-07-11T04:47:31Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > 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_. I read _The Coming Plague_, so I know what you mean. But I literally had nightmares after reading Richard Preston’s _The Hot Zone_. I dreamed about being chased by someone who would infect me with Ebola if s/he touched me. I totally agree about the movie _The Haunting_. And the book _Helter Skelter_ – another nightmare inducer. Anne Rice’s first vampire book scared me so badly I set it aside for years. Then years later I started reading _The Witching Hour_, and it damned near did the same thing. Anne Rice can write some really, really scary stuff, but then she always seems to spin off into scenarios that are just weird. ---
**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 13, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/89 "2009-07-13T15:04:00Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > But I literally had nightmares after reading Richard Preston’s _The Hot Zone_. Oh yeah, that was defintely one of the freaky ones. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/90 "2009-07-13T15:33:55Z")
I read _1984_ when I was about 9 or 10 years years old and it scared the crap out of me. In the UK we still had rationing and a goodly number of bombed sites so it really wasn’t all that hard for a young sprog to envisage the dastardly Russians invading us and making 1984 a reality ---
**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 13, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/91 "2009-07-13T17:08:58Z")
I just remembered another one: _Communion_, by Whitley Strieber. I think at the time it was supposed to be a true story of an alien contact/abduction incident, though if I’m remember right it was later debunked. All I remember about it was that it freaked me the hell out, worse than any book I’d ever read before or since. I’m not sure why, and don’t really want to read it again to find out. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/92 "2009-07-13T17:32:44Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Actually a lot of Roald Dahl’s adult short stories are pretty creepy. William and Mary comes to mind. [This one always gets me…](http://74.125.45.132/search?q=cache:Sz4ke9MjUXQJ:www.roalddahlfans.com/shortstories/inthtext.php+in+the+ruins+dahl&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a) ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/93 "2009-07-13T17:49:48Z")
> [@wunderkammer](#): > > _World War Z_ by Max Brooks made me genuinely afraid of the zombie apocalypse–or any apocalypse. Well, more dread and sadness than actual fear, but you get the idea. It was pretty evocative. I bought this book. And I’m afraid to read it because I think it will frighten/depress me. How lame is that??? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/94 "2009-07-13T18:47:17Z")
I don’t remember what they’re called, but there’s a couple Lovecraft short stories at my grandparents’ which gave me nightmares for weeks… ---
**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 13, 2009, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/95 "2009-07-13T19:59:35Z")
> [@NicePete](#): > > [This one always gets me…](http://74.125.45.132/search?q=cache:Sz4ke9MjUXQJ:www.roalddahlfans.com/shortstories/inthtext.php+in+the+ruins+dahl&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a) Wow, I hadn’t read that one before. Creepy. War, hell, etc. ---
**Author:** ![wunderkammer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ed8c4c/32.png) [@wunderkammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wunderkammer)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644/96 "2009-07-13T20:59:05Z")
> [@Archergal](#): > > I bought this book. And I’m afraid to read it because I think it will frighten/depress me. > > How lame is that??? :smack: Well… If you’re not a soldier, a doctor, or a skilled tradesperson, you will gain the kind of persepective that nobody wants. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-books-authors-have-genuinely-scared-you/500644.md?page=4)