Spooky reads?

Ms. Pingui

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone could recommend some good ghost stories? I really enjoy this genre but I am finding it hard to find anything good.
I enjoyed a few of Susan Hills including "The Woman in Black" and "The small hand".
Lately all I could find is "The Birthing House" by Christopher Ransom and "The Dark Water" by Helen Moorhouse and I thought they were both awful!

Any recommendations appreciated.

Denerick

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. Absolute classic and must read. Some people honestly think Dracula is frightening, but its good also.

Its rather fashionable these days to indulge in Graphic Novels, so I'll suggest 'The Walking Dead' as well. Zombie apocalypse + rounded character development = compelling story.

For a more modern take on the poltergeist type novel, I'd also recommend 'The Little Stranger' by Sarah Waters. Read it a few years ago as part of this forum's book club and I thought it was excellent.

Lorrs33

Ms. Pingui wrote: »

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone could recommend some good ghost stories? I really enjoy this genre but I am finding it hard to find anything good.
I enjoyed a few of Susan Hills including "The Woman in Black" and "The small hand".
Lately all I could find is "The Birthing House" by Christopher Ransom and "The Dark Water" by Helen Moorhouse and I thought they were both awful!

Any recommendations appreciated.

I agree The Birthing House was terrible. His other books aren't great either, the ones I've read anyway.

You may have already read it, but I found The Exorcist to be quite chilling.

Paddy Samurai

You could try this. ,by James Herbert
I have an unread copy of this on my shelf.Friends tell me its good ,and well worth reading.I hope to get around to reading it soon.

The Caleighs have had a terrible year... They need time and space, while they await the news they dread. Gabe has brought his wife, Eve, and daughters, Loren and Cally, down to Devon, to the peaceful seaside village of Hollow Bay. He can work and Eve and the kids can have some peace and quiet and perhaps they can try, as a family, to come to terms with what’s happened to them... Crickley Hall is an unusually large house on the outskirts of the village at the bottom of Devil's Cleave, a massive tree-lined gorge - the stuff of local legend. A river flows past the front garden. It's perfect for them... if a bit gloomy. And Chester, their dog, seems really spooked at being away from home. And old houses do make sounds. And it's constantly cold. And even though they shut the cellar door every night, it’s always open again in morning… The Secret of Crickley Hall is James Herbert’s finest novel to date. It explores the darker, more obtuse territories of evil and the supernatural. With brooding menace and rising tension, he masterfully and relentlessly draws the reader through to the ultimate revelation – one that will stay to chill the mind long after the book has been laid aside.

Honey-ec

Oh Lord, the Birthing House was truly awful, alright.

"Bag of Bones" by Stephen King is a ghost story in the truest sense and it certainly gave me the willies on several occasions.

Shirley Jackon's "The Haunting" is a classic for good reason. I've yet to read "The Turn of the Screw" but it's consistently voted one of the best ghost stories of all time.

ThirdMan

Denerick wrote: »

Its rather fashionable these days to indulge in Graphic Novels

You mean comics, right? The only thing that is fashionable is the term 'graphic novel'.

But yeah, The Walking Dead is great.

Denerick

ThirdMan wrote: »

You mean comics, right? The only thing that is fashionable is the term 'graphic novel'.

But yeah, The Walking Dead is great.

I know its petty, sad, and rather pathetic, but I just can't bring myself to say that I enjoy the comic book series 'The Walking Dead'...

ThirdMan

Denerick wrote: »

I know its petty, sad, and rather pathetic, but I just can't bring myself to say that I enjoy the comic book series 'The Walking Dead'...

A journalist once told Neil Gaiman he wrote graphic novels, not comics. Gaiman later said he felt like a prostitute that just found out she was a 'lady of the night.'

It's bad enough that people look down their nose at them. We don't need people that actually read them doing the same.

toomevara

For classic, old school ghost stories of the kind they just don't write any more, try a collected works of MR James. Hugely influential and brilliantly written.

Mindfulness

Not sure it's suitable for this thread but when I was a kid I read a book called 'Black Harvest'. It was a children's book set in the 20th century where some children on holiday experience strange events and end up seeing ghosts from the famine time (1840s Ireland).

As a kid I found it thoroughly engrossing and very scary I haven't read it since I was about 9 so I'm not sure how it would stand up to and adult mindset

ChewChew

I thought I was the only one who hated The Birthing House! What a load of dirt that was!

I read The Woman In Black and thoroughly enjoyed that one!

I recently bought The Woman In Silk by RJ Gadney but haven't read it yet. Sounds pretty good though.

damselnat

You could do worse than try Nocturnes by John Connolly. It's a book of short stories, and some of them are very creepy. Highly enjoyable book I thought.

Oh, and another vote for The Turn of the Screw. I've just heard it's being staged in the west end at the moment, or fairly soon. That's a play I *must* see!

AngryHippie

"The Devil Rides Out" by Denis Wheatley.

I don't know why, but this one got inside my head and I really had a good dose of the Heebie Jeebies after it. Did'nt sleep well at night at all at all.
Even had a few nasty old demonic nightmares.

Very hard book to put down. Read it in daylight:pac:

Da Shins Kelly

Another vote for Turn of the Screw, although I have met a couple of people who hated that book.

Dracula is a good read. You might not be jumping out of your skin, since it's a story that has seeped into popular culture in such a way that everyone knows it by now, but it's exciting enough to read, I think.

As far as Stephen King goes, my favourite of his is Pet Sematary. I think it's one of his best.

mickmackey1

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

Dracula is a good read.

I can't get over how bad the ending to Dracula actually is. The suspense is effectively built up throughout but the conclusion is so dreadfully anti-climactic its untrue.

According to one of the Bram Stoker Society people, whom I contacted to complain (!), their excuse was 'he must have finished it in a hurry' :P

Da Shins Kelly

mickmackey1 wrote: »

I can't get over how bad the ending to Dracula actually is. The suspense is effectively built up throughout but the conclusion is so dreadfully anti-climactic its untrue.

According to one of the Bram Stoker Society people, whom I contacted to complain (!), their excuse was 'he must have finished it in a hurry' :P

The ending is probably the biggest pitfall, but throughout it does have some genuinely creepy moments. Part of the anti-climactic feeling may have something to do with how well known the story is too.

Ormus

mickmackey1 wrote: »

I can't get over how bad the ending to Dracula actually is. The suspense is effectively built up throughout but the conclusion is so dreadfully anti-climactic its untrue.

According to one of the Bram Stoker Society people, whom I contacted to complain (!), their excuse was 'he must have finished it in a hurry' :P

I find that most horrors have limp endings.

Stephen King is the, eh, king of bad endings.

Honey-ec

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

Dracula is a good read. You might not be jumping out of your skin, since it's a story that has seeped into popular culture in such a way that everyone knows it by now, but it's exciting enough to read, I think.

I do love Dracula, but for me, any spookiness was overridden by the (completely unintended) hilarity of some of the casually sexist passages in it. I know it was a product of its time, but I literally howled laughing at some of the lines in it. Still an absolutely cracking read, though.

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

As far as Stephen King goes, my favourite of his is Pet Sematary. I think it's one of his best.

Ooh, yes, another genuinely scary book. I slept with the lights on a few times during that one, I can tell you.

Da Shins Kelly

Honey-ec wrote: »

I do love Dracula, but for me, any spookiness was overridden by the (completely unintended) hilarity of some of the casually sexist passages in it. I know it was a product of its time, but I literally howled laughing at some of the lines in it. Still an absolutely cracking read, though.

Of course, it is pretty sexist, but with certain books from a certain time, it's just something you have to accept.

DazMarz

I would be genuinely interested in finding disturbing/unsettling/scary books. I've read a lot of Stephen King. While excellent reads, I was not unsettled or anything by them. There was suspense and some disturbing passages, but nothing genuinely unnerving.

Ditto with Dracula; possibly because you already knew the story, it wasn't as suspenseful or "scary" as it could have been and isn't what I'd be searching for.

I've ordered The Devil's Advocate off eBay (for €3 incl p&p, you can't go wrong!!!), so hoping that will be halfway decent.

I'd be interested in any kind of horror, but would particularly be drawn to satanism, survival-horror/zombies or something like that.

Keep the recommendations coming!