# What is the scariest story you ever read? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 8, 2004, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-story-you-ever-read/223446 "2004-01-08T17:01:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Winston\_Bongo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9adbd/32.png) [@Winston\_Bongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Bongo)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-story-you-ever-read/223446/101 "2004-01-16T06:49:51Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > Okay, this seems like an appropriate thread. If anyone knows the answer to this, they’ll be hangin’ out here. My very first Harlan Ellison experience was in **Omni** magazine. That month, they had four short stories by four horror writers. There was a Stephen King story, a Poul Anderson story, and the scarriest short I’ve ever read, by Harlan Ellison, and I can’t freakin’ remember the title! It’s about this serial killer (very gruesome stuff he does, too. At one point in the story, he slices open a woman’s belly, pulls out her itestines, with the woman still alive, and makes her lick them. That’s an image that was good for a few sleepless nights). But the twist is that the murderer knows how to transport his essential self into someone else’s body. In the story, this is called “shriking”. He gets his comeuppance in the end, but, boy, what a creepy ride! Can anyone here name this story for me? I’m pretty sure that’s **Mefisto in Onyx**. Quite a disturbing story, but I was disappointed that I was able to guess the big plot twist. Speaking of Ellison, I also thought **Shattered Like a Glass Goblin** was pretty damn creepy. And I second another poster’s vote for **Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been**. In fact, I’d probably say it’s the single most disturbing story I’ve ever read. Joyce Carol Oates is sometimes a little too “literary” for my taste, but when she wants to she can really scare the crap out of you. ---
**Author:** ![Tommyturtle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@Tommyturtle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tommyturtle)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-story-you-ever-read/223446/102 "2004-01-16T07:22:54Z")
Thanks **MidnightRadio** it was The Jaunt you’re right…it was on the tip of my tongue and I just couldn’t of think of it while writing that post As you can tell I like those stories where the horrror is implied…not to say books like the Shining aren’t favorites too ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-story-you-ever-read/223446/103 "2004-01-16T16:40:12Z")
the link doesn’t work, btw. Google “The New Mother” and “Lucy Lane Clifford” & open “cached” when at the first result (which is the link given). OK, the story was unsettling, especially the fate of the children (that is NOT a spoiler) and the behavior of the mother, but how the hell is the actual ending scary? ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-story-you-ever-read/223446/104 "2004-01-18T02:58:36Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Winston Bongo_ > I’m pretty sure that’s Mefisto in Onyx. You are absolutely correct! Thank you, thank you, thank you!! ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-story-you-ever-read/223446/105 "2004-01-18T03:33:41Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > the link doesn’t work, btw. Google “The New Mother” and “Lucy Lane Clifford” & open “cached” when at the first result (which is the link given). [Here](http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:YCT8ANNiQDEJ:www.ualberta.ca/~woollard/new_mother.htm+&hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8)’s the cache link. This is another story I first read in one of Alvin Schwartz’s _Scary Stories_ books. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-story-you-ever-read/223446/106 "2004-01-18T03:42:59Z")
Thanks, M’Radio- I had read the cached file, sorry that I wasn’t clearer about that. What I want to know is- what’s so darn scary about the very last part. The shabby girl with the peardrum & the piper & dogs & the fate of the real mother & the children are unnerving, to be sure, but the actual absolute end is just… there. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-story-you-ever-read/223446/107 "2004-01-18T06:37:14Z")
> [@Moody Bastard](#): > > Wow. Hadn’t heard that either, **Superdude.** John Turturro kicks ass as a crazy. Well, check out Monk next week (I think)… He’ll be playing Adrian Monk’s older brother. Apparently, he’s (almost) as smart and (apparently) agoraphobic, not having left his house in 32 years… ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-story-you-ever-read/223446/108 "2004-01-18T11:53:51Z")
The most scared I’ve ever been while reading was while reading one of the Jan Harold Brunvand urban legends books. I’m not sure why I thought it would be okay for me to be reading these alone in bed at 2 in the morning; after reading it, I wasn’t able to fall asleep until it was light out. The worst was the story about the girl whose parents go out and leave her with the dog as her bodyguard, with the punchline Humans can lick, too. Many of the other stories in the book I’d heard before, but that was the first time I’d seen that one. Yikes! I always get a little creeped out at urban legends horror stories – especially the stuff about the Mothman. Both the encounters themselves, and the description of “men in black holding scythes, who give an ominous warning of the future.” > [@MrVisible](#): > > And then there was Stephen King’s _Gramma_, a short story from Skeleton Crew. Would you mind posting a synopsis of that story (in a spoiler box)? I read that book in high school, but I’ve long since lost my copy and I can’t remember that story by its title. (Now, _The Raft_ and _The Jaunt_, I definitely remember.) ---
**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:** [January 20, 2004, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-story-you-ever-read/223446/109 "2004-01-20T14:36:24Z")
_Gramma_ is a story about a young boy who is left in charge of his elderly grandmother. Alone in the house with her on a dark and stormy night, he begins to remember and piece together some things, and comes to the realization that she is a…well, I don’t know how to do spoiler boxes. 🙂 Hope that helps. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-story-you-ever-read/223446/110 "2004-01-20T17:23:41Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Dung Beetle_ > well, I don’t know how to do spoiler boxes. It’s easy; so easy, even _I_ can do it, and I’m a total Koding Klutz™. Here’s what you do: [spoiler]Blah, blah, blah, blah[/spoiler] But without the spaces. What you end up with is: Blah, blah, blah, blah ---
**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:** [January 20, 2004, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-story-you-ever-read/223446/111 "2004-01-20T18:16:34Z")
…a witch! Thanks, **norinew**! ---
**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:** [January 20, 2004, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-story-you-ever-read/223446/112 "2004-01-20T22:29:02Z")
I’ve been a horror-fiction fan since I was a little kid, and the scarier and more icky the story, the better I like it. Still, I can remember two books that scared me back then (I think I was about 10 or 11 at the time): the first was _The Amityville Horror,_ already referred to further up the thread. The other one was _83 Hours Till Dawn_, based on the true story of an heiress (I think her name was Karen Mackle) who was kidnapped and buried alive by her captor while he awaited a ransom from her father. The kidnapper supplied her box with air, food, and even reading material, but it wasn’t much larger than a coffin. The book was the account of her experience in this box for 83 hours until she was found by authorities (I can’t remember if the guy eventually relented and revealed her location or if they found her on their own). I had nightmares for a long time afterward about being buried alive. A lot of Graham Masterton’s horror novels are pretty scary (and extremely gory) as well, but nothing beats reality. ---
**Author:** ![Winterwren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Winterwren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winterwren)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-story-you-ever-read/223446/113 "2004-01-23T00:17:17Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Story that I read when I was in the 6th grade, but I don’t remember who wrote it, or the name. > > It was about two older ladies (or they seemed older to me, when I was in the 6th grade) who were walking home from a gathering of some sort. At some point they parted ways. As “Vicky” was walking home (I’m assigning this name for the purposes of this summary), she got the feeling of someone following her. She started getting more and more paranoid, hearing footsteps behind her. She finally gets to her house on a dead run, and manages to get the door locked. > > The last line _still_ sticks in my head: “And, in the darkness, she heard someone clear their throat.” > > _Shivers_ > > Still gets me. If anyone knows what story this is, I’d love to know, so that I can re-read it. It’s a Ray Bradbury story, and I think it’s in _Dandelion Wine_; I want to say it’s called “The Ravine,” but I’m not sure. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-story-you-ever-read/223446/114 "2004-01-23T07:17:18Z")
> [@MidnightRadio](#): > > I’d also like to mention a short story called “Sticks”, but I can’t remember who the author was or even where I read it. I do believe that one’s by Karl Edward Wagner. Creepy it is, way before the whole “Blair Witch” thing. One of my favorites which hasn’t been mentioned (although most of them have by now): _Caterpillars_ by E. F. Benson. When the huge pile of caterpillars all turn as one and look towards the door where the protagonist is watching through the keyhole, and then start plopping off the bed and crawling toward him…YEESH!!! ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-story-you-ever-read/223446/115 "2004-01-23T13:28:12Z")
I think I’ve mentioned it here before, but I felt the need to crow again about what, for me, is the coolest short horror anthology out there, _The Dark Descent,_ edited by David Hartwell. (A few of the stories mentioned in this thread are included, Lucy Clifford’s “The New Mother” being one of them. ) There are so many great anthologies out there, but this one just has it all. Mostly older “classic” stuff, but also more recent (and comparitively obscurer) stories by Thomas Disch, Phillip K. Dick, Tanith Lee, et al. Okay, commercial over. No, I’m not related to David Hartwell. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-story-you-ever-read/223446/116 "2004-01-23T14:28:01Z")
there’s a delightful little horror tale (I think it’s on the Net) by Bram Stoker called THE DUELLISTS (perhaps THE DUALLISTS) OR THE DEATH-DOOM OF THE DOUBLE-BORN… God, it would make a great Tales from the Crypt episode! Stoker apparently was in a mood to pile one awful horror on top of another while I am sure laughing hysterically. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-story-you-ever-read/223446/117 "2004-01-23T14:42:26Z")
here’s the link! [http://www.geocities.com/psmcalduff/1dual.txt](http://www.geocities.com/psmcalduff/1dual.txt) and the actual main title is THE DUALITISTS Enjoy!!! ---
**Author:** ![skot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@skot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skot)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-story-you-ever-read/223446/118 "2004-01-23T15:17:35Z")
When I was a kid, the scariest thing I ever read was _The Amityville Horror_…probably because, in my pre-adolescent mind, I actually believed that it was true. For months I’d freak out if I saw more than one fly in a room and was petrified to open the curtain at night, fearing that demonic red-eyed floating pig hovering out there! Later, I’d have to say Stephen King’s _The Shining_ is probably still the book that freaked me out the most since. Also, during my high school years, I was traumatized by an in class documentary on the perils of living in a world bent on nuclear devastation, called _“If you Love this Planet”_. Nevil Shute’s _On the Beach_, which we read in English class, got me thinking way too much on this topic, because it seemed so plausible. The headlines in the morning paper every day still scare the crap out of me… ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-story-you-ever-read/223446/119 "2004-01-23T15:34:12Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > Stephen King. The Exorcist. Pooh. > > Lucy Clifford’s “[The New Mother](http://www.ualberta.ca/~woollard/.index.html).” > > Read it and weep, you sissies. That’s not coming up. If you can find it, let us know. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-story-you-ever-read/223446/120 "2004-01-23T15:38:51Z")
I’ll put in a vote for **It** by Theodore Sturgeon (it’s a short story, and has nothing to do with the Stephen King novel). It’s scary because the monster is not evil. Because of that, you don’t know what it’s going to do. That makes things a lot scarier. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-story-you-ever-read/223446.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-story-you-ever-read/223446.md?page=7)