# What is the scariest book you ever read? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 25, 2007, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124 "2007-07-25T18:32:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/1 "2007-07-25T18:32:00Z")
I remember reading the novelization of “Alien” by Alan Dean Foster when I was a wee bairn, and remember it scaring me even more than the movie. But I think the last book I read that really gave me the willies was The Shining by Stephen King. So recommend me some scary-ass books please! ---
**Author:** ![Lunar\_Saltlick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@Lunar\_Saltlick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lunar_Saltlick)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/2 "2007-07-25T18:45:04Z")
_Dreams in the Witch House_ (H. P. Lovecraft) isn’t a novel, but it scared me silly when I read it years ago. Don’t know if it would have the same effect today. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/3 "2007-07-25T18:45:18Z")
The Exorcist ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/4 "2007-07-25T18:50:05Z")
The Shining scared the ever-lovin’ crap out of me back in junior high. ---
**Author:** ![Meltdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Meltdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meltdown)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/5 "2007-07-25T18:51:23Z")
Stephen King’s “It” scared the bejesus out of me when I was 15. You’d never know it by watching the miniseries, though. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/6 "2007-07-25T18:53:52Z")
_Red Dragon_, by Thomas Harris. I never thought that Hannibal Lecter was anywhere near as scary as the … Red Dragon guy. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/7 "2007-07-25T18:55:25Z")
I somehow got a copy of _The Exorcist_ when I was a wee lad. Maybe 9 years of age. Wow. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/8 "2007-07-25T18:55:51Z")
[QUOTE=Hung Mung] The Shining scared the ever-lovin’ crap out of me back in junior high. [/QUOTE] Scared the crap out of me, too. I woke the baby up so I’d have someone to sit with me. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/9 "2007-07-25T18:57:14Z")
The Amityville Horror. I remember reading it in my dorm in college and being terrified of the dark for days. ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/10 "2007-07-25T18:58:26Z")
I can’t believe I didn’t think of _The Exorcist_. The movie scared the hell out of me as a kid. ---
**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:** [July 25, 2007, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/11 "2007-07-25T18:58:40Z")
_Flanders_, by Patricia Anthony. It wasn’t horror, but it sure was horrifying. Very good book, too. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/12 "2007-07-25T19:00:50Z")
Seconding _IT_, by Stephen King. I read it when I was like 9 years old or so, and it scared the crap out of me. I was terrified to go into our bathroom for weeks after reading that damn thing. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/13 "2007-07-25T19:01:30Z")
It and a few of King’s short stories had me reading with fingers over my eyes when I was a teen. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/14 "2007-07-25T19:04:22Z")
_It_. _The Holy Bible_ makes me pretty nervous too–cataclysimic ending with monsters & stuff ---
**Author:** ![Humble\_Servant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/47e85d/32.png) [@Humble\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Humble_Servant)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/15 "2007-07-25T19:05:09Z")
[QUOTE=koeeoaddi] _Flanders_, by Patricia Anthony. It wasn’t horror, but it sure was horrifying. Very good book, too. [/QUOTE] Another very good book that is not horror per se: My Antonia, by Willa Cather–the wolves! The wolves! ---
**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:** [July 25, 2007, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/16 "2007-07-25T19:06:12Z")
[QUOTE=Mr Bus Guy] The Amityville Horror. I remember reading it in my dorm in college and being terrified of the dark for days. [/QUOTE] I read it when I was about thirteen. After lying awake in wide-eyed terror half the night, I finally took the book up the hall and shut it in the bathroom so I could get some sleep! ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/17 "2007-07-25T19:06:49Z")
[QUOTE=Hung Mung] The Shining scared the ever-lovin’ crap out of me back in junior high. [/QUOTE] Me too. ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/18 "2007-07-25T19:19:47Z")
[QUOTE=Humble Servant] Another very good book that is not horror per se: My Antonia, by Willa Cather–the wolves! The wolves! [/QUOTE] Non horror books are good too! The more the merrier. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/19 "2007-07-25T19:22:27Z")
_Shining_. For me, I had a narrow window where I was old enough that I could read a 400 page novel, but not so old that I thought it was stupid. I read _The Shining_ in that period. ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/20 "2007-07-25T19:25:18Z")
[QUOTE=Lunar Saltlick] _Dreams in the Witch House_ (H. P. Lovecraft) isn’t a novel, but it scared me silly when I read it years ago. Don’t know if it would have the same effect today. [/QUOTE] _Color out of space_ by HPL was the story I most remember being freaked out over when I was a kid. Didn’t help that we lived in a rural New England town at the time. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124.md?page=2)