# 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:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/61 "2007-07-26T13:26:10Z")
[QUOTE=Humble Servant] Another very good book that is not horror per se: My Antonia, by Willa Cather–the wolves! The wolves! [/QUOTE] Ooo, this is on my pile to get to sometime. This inspires me to get to it sooner! Cujo and Misery both freaked me out when I was younger, and The Sparrow, while not scary per se, had a level of creepiness as things were revealed. ---
**Author:** ![Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myron_Van_Horowitzski)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/62 "2007-07-26T14:26:31Z")
_Nightflyers:_ a haunted spaceship complete with exploding heads, reanimated corpses and the mysterious unseen ship captain. _Fevre Dream:_ vampires on a 19th century riverboat. Do not read after dark. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/63 "2007-07-26T14:44:55Z")
_The Exorcist_, with _Ghost Story_ by Peter Straub coming in a very close second. I read the latter at the beach - lounging by the ocean in a recliner at a most tranquil setting. And I was scared to damned death while reading this book! ---
**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 26, 2007, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/64 "2007-07-26T15:45:12Z")
[QUOTE=auRa] Also read at the same time were most of the works of Stephen King and Clive Barker’s Books of Blood. The Moving Finger was… gaa-a-ah. And the one with the fog and the creatures in it, can’t remember the name. [/QUOTE] _The Mist_, which is also being made into [a movie](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0884328/), directed by Frank Darabont, who previously directed _The Green Mile_ and _The Shawshank Redemption_. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, because this is one of my all time favorite King stories. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/65 "2007-07-26T15:55:32Z")
[QUOTE=Myron Van Horowitzski] _Fevre Dream:_ vampires on a 19th century riverboat. Do not read after dark. [/QUOTE] Huh. Although I enjoyed it very much, I didn’t find _Fevre Dream_ particularly scary. Fascinating, gripping, eventually touching. But not scary. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/66 "2007-07-26T18:08:28Z")
Oh, I’m listening to \*Heart Shaped Box \*by Joe Hill right now, and so far it’s very good and creepy. It jumps right in to the scary stuff, it’s not shy. And I think I see some interesting threads already being woven - we’ll see if it maintains the level it sets up in the beginning. And, yes, I have to agree that “The Color Out of Space” is dynamite. So is “The Rats in the Walls.” Come to think of it, I read both in _My Favorite Horror Story,_ an excellent compilation by leading horror authors. ---
**Author:** ![auRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@auRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auRa)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/67 "2007-07-26T18:14:17Z")
[QUOTE=Dante] _The Mist_, which is also being made into [a movie](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0884328/), directed by Frank Darabont, who previously directed _The Green Mile_ and _The Shawshank Redemption_. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, because this is one of my all time favorite King stories. [/QUOTE] Oh, crap. Another addition to “Movies **auRa** would _reeeeeally_ like to see but won’t because she’ll be hiding her face behind her hands the whole time”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/68 "2007-07-26T18:28:18Z")
The Turner Diaries… Because he meant it. And “I have no mouth but I must scream” Not a book and not exactly frightening as horrifying. Still haunts my dreams. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/69 "2007-07-26T20:20:05Z")
Not the scariest book, but the opening chapter of _Rose Madder_ didn’t do me any favors - and it wasn’t even a horror scene, just horrible. As far as “scariest book” - other than stuff I read as a kid (and forgot), the scariest I can think of is _Pet Semetary_. Oh! I, too, read _The Exorcist_ at an age that no mother would approve - I was 8. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/70 "2007-07-26T20:37:50Z")
“Ghost Story”…while I’m not sure I liked the book all that much or think it was particularly good…did seem to sneak up on me and freak me out more than any other book I have read. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/71 "2007-07-26T20:47:09Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Not a horror novel as such, but S.M. Stirling’s [_The Domination_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Domination) series gave me nightmares. I never had nightmares about Dracula, Cthulhu, Freddy or Jason, but I had nightmares about the Draka! [/QUOTE] Oh Jesus Christ yes. The first one wasn’t too bad, but the 2nd and 3rd freaked me right out. I had to give the books away to make sure I’d never read them again. ---
**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:** [July 26, 2007, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/72 "2007-07-26T20:48:30Z")
**The Stranger Beside Me** Many people think Ann Rule got the job because she knew the serial killer, but her contract to write this book was signed before Ted Bundy was even a suspect. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/73 "2007-07-26T21:08:54Z")
**Dracula** is actually quite scary. You get quite invested in the characters, because it is mainly told through their diaries and letters to each other, and it is really well-paced–not a lot of jump scenes, but a lot of slowly growing menace. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/74 "2007-07-26T21:16:30Z")
The Hot zone was rather disturbing, as were the “Superflu” sections of The Stand by Stephen King, the religious-crap at the end of the book bored me, but the depiction of Captain Trips was quite unsettling… ---
**Author:** ![Labtrash](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/labtrash/32/528_2.png) [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/75 "2007-07-27T00:31:28Z")
[QUOTE=lisacurl] _The Hot Zone_ by Richard Preston. It’s non-fiction. > **[The Hot Zone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hot_Zone)** > > The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story is a best-selling 1994 nonfiction thriller by Richard Preston about the origins and incidents involving viral hemorrhagic fevers, particularly ebolaviruses and marburgviruses. The basis of the book was Preston's 1992 New Yorker article "Crisis in the Hot Zone". The filoviruses—including Ebola virus, Sudan virus, Marburg virus, and Ravn virus—are Biosafety Level 4 agents, extremely dangerous to humans because they are very infectious, have a high fatality rat... [/QUOTE] Like a lot of you, I came in here to say this as well. Mostly because my sister \*works \* at USAMRIID. Through all the containment, her office is appx 200 ft or so from the Ebola virus. FYI, the actual building is \*\*not \*\* as impressive as the book makes it out to be. It looks like an old high school in some places. I have signed copies of both Hot Zone & Demon… 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/76 "2007-07-27T01:05:05Z")
[QUOTE=KRC] Strieber’s _Communion_ . I could only hope he was crazy. [/QUOTE] Agree! Seems silly now but at the time I was reading it I got seriously creeped out. Even more so because, years before I read it I had a very memorable dream that had a lot of “abduction” elements to it. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/77 "2007-07-27T05:32:07Z")
Two collections I read as a child seriously crept me out. Both were edited by August Derleth, but the only title I can recall now is **Who Knocks**? ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124/78 "2007-07-27T05:36:09Z")
_Mein Kampf_, by Adolf Hitler. I read only about five pages many years ago, and it still gives me occasional sleepless nights. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-book-you-ever-read/413124.md?page=3)