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.
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?
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.
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…
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.”
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.)
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.
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:
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.
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!!!
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.
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.
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…
Hope that helps.