The Vine: October 14, 2011
So, it’s getting toward Halloween-time, and I’ve had a sudden nostalgic craving for ghost stories. When I was in school, I was hooked on those creepy ghost/scary story books you could snag through the Scholastic catalog, but I’m looking for something with a little more nuanced adult creepyness.
Specifically, I’m dying to have a campfire/candlelight ghost story gathering and I’m looking for great sources. Books, online, podcasts — I’ll take ghost stories or creepy stories however they come. As an example, I recently fell in love with the highly creepy This American Life “The House at Loon Lake” — not a ghost story, but it has ability to give goosebumps.
Tomato Nation’s recommendations are always the best, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Thanks!
Mell P.
Dear Mell,
I can’t wait to see what the readers come up with, but I have a handful for you to get started with.
1. Stephen King’s “The Road Virus Heads North.” A goofy concept in theory whose execution has you faint from holding your breath by the end. It’ll stay with you, too. Mr. S, at a yard sale years after I’d read the story: “Hey, that painting’s pretty coo–” Sarah: “ABSOLUTELY NOT LOOK AWAY.”
2. Rosemary Guiley’s Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits. It has every possible faerie and fright listed, and the crisp writing is, for some reason, quite creepy at times.
3. Hans Holzer’s Haunted America. Often moistly cheesy; occasionally incredibly scary.
And an honorable mention to any account of ghost calls, which put my hairs on end without fail.
Readers, hit us with your favorite creepy culture. Three (3) entries per comment, please! Thank you.
Tags: Ask The Readers ghost stories Hans Holzer popcult Rosemary Guiley Stephen King
The latest TAL has a short story read by Dave Eggers that made me gasp very loudly a few times. It’s still sitting with me.
And here is a link to five creeperoo stories on the Awl, two of which REALLY BOTHERED ME for a while: http://www.theawl.com/2011/06/i-met-a-ghost-five-chilling-real-life-tales
I love love love hate ghost stories.
I’m looking forward to the suggestions (while providing none, since most of my knowledge of the genre is from back in the 70s reading Alfred Hitchcock collections — some of which are still with me hellooooo “Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper” — Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine).
However, I felt I had to say something about “moistly cheesy.” A squicky turn of phrase to be sure (moist! cheese!), but I daresay I understand exactly what you describe. Mission accomplished?
As a kid, I loved Roald Dahl’s Book of Ghost Stories. The collection is a series of 14 stories chosen, not written, by Dahl. I remember finding it remarkably creepy, and given some of the authors, I can only assume this was aimed at kids because at the time this was published, Dahl was best known as a children’s author. I’m curious to reread it, both because I enjoyed it, but also because a few people reviewing it on Amazon say that Dahl’s introduction is incredibly pompous and sexist — which my twelve-year-old brain apparently glossed over.
Just read Marianna Baer’s novel FROST, which was super creepy. Also remember being creeped out by THE THIRTEENTH TALE, though that one’s a bit more literary. Both great ghost stories!
THE THIRTEENTH TALE is by Diane Setterfield.
Whoops, just re-read the question and realize that novels are not going to fit the bill. My apologies! Read those books anyway!
The podcast “Stuff You Missed in History Class” is doing real-life creepy stories this month, and they had one a couple weeks ago that I was listening to while falling asleep and it really creeped me out! It was called “Mistress of Murder Hill,” and obviously, it is quite gruesome. http://bit.ly/9hqQNj
OK, it’s a novel so it doesn’t really fit, but for the love of dog I’ve got to tell someone about this creepy book I read. It’s called The Red Tree by Caitlyn Kiernan, AND IT SCARED THE BEJESUS OUT OF ME.
Don’t pay attention to the cover, it makes it look like a trashy urban fantasy/romance thing, which it’s not: http://www.amazon.com/Red-Tree-Caitlin-R-Kiernan/dp/0451462769
Robert Westall (whose The Stones of Muncaster Cathedral is one of the great spooky novels) has several collections of ghostly short stories. His “The Call” is a wonderfully heartbreaking ghost-call story.
Oh, and there’s also M. R. James, whose short story “The Mezzotint” you might like, Sars, as it’ll further reinforce your aversion to strange art.
If you want to try a more skeptical tack, there’s plenty of Saki that’s relevant. “The Open Window,” for instance.
Yeah, any of Stephen King’s short story collections should do the trick.
And this is sort of off-topic, but has anyone been watching American Horror Story on FX? It has the delish Dylan McDermott & the fab Connie Britton. It is so bizarre & over the top – love it!
I’d give a vote for Sars’ own “Famous Ghost Monologues”. Not so much scary-BOO!-creepy as sad-creepy, but still pretty chilling in their way.
Also, my all-time favorite is any variation on the Vanishing Hitchhiker. I’ve read many variants, but the best, i.m.o., is in The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings by Jan Harold Brunvand.
Followed by Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and its movie adaptations (the Disney cartoon version, and the live version with Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci).
These are awesome! Thanks so much everyone–I can’t wait to creep myself/friends out! And for those who suggested super creepy novels–love those too, so thanks!
Joe Hill’s works are pretty scary (“Heart-Shaped Box” is my favorite) and he knows how to spin his suspense to good effect. I would also recommend his graphic novel series, “Locke and Key”, which is a great story of mundane horror contrasted with the supernatural.
I haven’t read it yet (though I’ve read his novels, which are excellent), but Joe Hill’s 20th Century Ghosts is supposed to be good.
I wrote a collection of fake ghost stories about Nashville that are up at my blog.
http://tinycatpants.wordpress.com/category/oooo-spooky/we-are-our-own-ghosts/
and
http://tinycatpants.wordpress.com/category/oooo-spooky/all-the-same-old-haunts/
Some are, hopefully, scary.
Check out Come Closer by Sara Gran: http://tinyurl.com/62f2ght
It reads ridiculously quickly, and I found it super unsettling the first time I read it.
If you don’t mind CDs, although these might also be available via mp3, try the Radio Spirits catalog. I’m specifically thinking of two radio shows from the late 40s and early 50s. The first is The Whistler, and the second is Suspense. Some of the episodes are really creepy (The Burning Court), and some are not, but the actors voices are so darned creepy…
I’d like to second the recommendation for M. R. James’s ghost stories. The scariest I can think of is ‘O, whistle and I’ll come to thee’. Well, I say recommend…I read a book of them when I was a teenager and had to sit in a room with the rest of my family for the remainder of the day. I was too scared to be on my own! Eek, my flesh is creeping just thinking of his stories. And the weird thing is nothing much actually happens in them, but they’re still absolutely terrifying.
“Roald Dahl’s Book of Ghost Stories.”
Sadly, these are not stories written BY Roald Dahl, but it’s a collection he put together. Some of them are kind of obvious (woman meets a young hitchhiker while traveling and at some point later sees his picture in a 60-year-old newspaper clipping about how he got killed). But they’re pretty creepy and I enjoyed them.
@Jane: For reals, my friend. Both M.R. James and Saki were masters of the genre. But so were Henry James, Edith Wharton, H.P. Lovecraft, and the redoubtable E.F. Benson. Amazon has Benton’s Collected Horror Stories; I particularly like “The Outcast.” I’d also recommend the anthologies “999” and “Poe’s Children.” Hot chocolate and scary stories-good times…
Totally second the rec for Road Virus. Creepy as all fuck-out.Steven King’s short fiction in general delivers the scares when he’s on.
Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House is almost a cliche at this point, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t scary. Rather then big ARRRGH!BRAINS! moments, it’s incredibly pyschologically sophisticated and creates an air of dread that is not easily shaken. I can recommend her lesser known but masterful We Have Always Lived In The Castle for the same reasons.
M. R. James was a victorian horror/ghost story writer whose “Oh, Whistle And I’ll Come To You, My Lad” not only has the best title in the universe, it’s been made into two highly rated short films by the BBC. I don’t know how easy they are to get a hold of but in this Internet age it can’t be impossible.
For lighter fare, Ray Bradbury’s The Halloween Tree and To The Dust Return’d are both wonderful, and his Something Wicked This Way Comes horrifying but uplifting at the end.
And you can’t go wrong with Dracula. I reread it every year, and it gets better and better. Bram Stoker’s writing gifts are sometimes ignored because his Dracula is so iconic, but the novel is great. It inspired Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot, but is far superior in my humble opinion.
(quick nonfic rec–King’s Danse Macabre. It’s a slightly dated but marvelous overview of horror and its Jungian archtypes.)
The best ghost story I ever read, hands down, was Stonewords by Pam Conrad. It’s actually a kids’ book – and a short one – but it is every bit as spooky to me as an adult as it was when I first read it as a kid. Beautifully written, too.
There’s also Coraline by Neil Gaiman. Not a ghost story per se, but it scared the ever-living CRAP out of me, to the point where I couldn’t sleep for a couple hours after finishing it.
John Harwood’s The Ghost Writer. Super creepy, in all the best ways!
Ooooh, delicious Vine topic! I recommend Kelly Link, particularly her book Magic for Beginners and, in that, the story “Stone Animals.” It was in Best American Short Stories a couple years back, and I was totally caught off-guard by the beautifully written total creep factor. Not precisely a ghost story, but dude. I wanted to sleep with the lights on for a few days.
@Liz–I have a backlog of “American Horror Story” on the DVR; I am hoping it will play out like “Stone Animals,” though probably not. :)
3rd vote for “The Road Virus.” And another short story by Stephen King, “1408.” I’ve heard about the (crappy-sounding, John-Cusack-starring) movie and from what I understand it does no justice to the actual story itself.
*shudder* “All your friends are dead…”
If you want to do it campfire-style, then you absolutely CANNOT go wrong with any of Kathryn Tucker Windham’s “13 Ghosts” books. Ms. Windham, who died this past summer at 93, is an amazing storyteller. In fact, she was a great proponent and supporter of oral storytelling and her books are particularly effective when read-aloud. Her first (they all consist of 13 ghost stories from a particular southern state) is about Alabama ghost stories, but there are also books for Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi, plus a second Alabama book and one that’s ghost stories from around the south. All are purported to be true stories. I still find several of them TERRIFYING. (“The Face in the Courthouse Window” is one of the best stories EVER.)
If you need further convincing of how awesome she is: When she was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor a few years ago, the person who nominated her was Harper Lee.
Ooh, I just thought of another one! Caveat: I read this in like 4th or 5th grade, so it might not be nearly as creepy as I remember, but the first of Alfred Hitchcock & the 3 Investigators (I think it’s the Secret of Terror Castle) was fabulously creepy. I’m not sure I ever read any of the other ones (probably our tiny school library only had the one).
I would recommend Lex Wahl’s Anything Ghost podcast http://anythingghost.libsyn.com/. It features real life paranormal stories that people send in and, as such, there are both repeats in themes and a wide variation in the quality of the storytelling, but Lex has links to listener favorite shows on the right, and that’s a good place to start. I particularly recommend the one with “Laura’s Apartment”–brrr.
I’m collecting these recommendations for myself, since I don’t know any good ghost stories (although “Road Virus” I can second) (I almost just typed “Road Head”…oy, Friday). But this thread has instantly put me in the Halloween mood, so I just purchased “In the Mouth of Madness” on DVD, and then gave myself goosebumps trying to describe it to my coworker. (.Very. hokey in parts, but also scary.)
“The Woman in Black” by Susan Hill. I saw the British film when I was young and fell in love with it. A couple of summers ago, to my delight, I found the book and devoured it. It is the only story I’ve read that has given me the chills so badly that I had to put it down and read something frivolous. You may want a trashy gossip magazine near by to “cleanse the palate” while you read it.
‘Nocturnes’ by John Connolly. Particularly ‘Some Children Wander by Mistake’. “For clowns are not made. Clowns are born“. Meep.
I wasn’t going to post this since I don’t know how Sars feels about self-promotion, but since Aunt B. went ahead and linked to her own, then I’ll go ahead and tell you that my novella, Restless Spirits, about a ghost hunt gone awry, is free through Halloween on Smashwords with coupon code FU23M: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/66728
Feel free to delete this if it crosses the line, Sars. And, sorry.
Also, I know this is outside the written category box, and also, not exactly ghost stories, but my husband and I have been watching and enjoying Monster Quest on Netflix to get us into the Halloween spirit. Most of them are pretty anti-climactic, but some of them are quite chilling (the Mothman one really creeped me out, and some of the Sasquatch ones are a little freaky).
Here’s one I just got in the mail: “Haunted Legends,” edited by Ellen Datlow and Nick Mamatas. It’s a collection of urban-legend/regional-ghost stories retold by a bunch of great authors.
I’m mainly recommending it because Nick Mamatas is a pretty cool guy and I semi-know him online, and he was kind enough to send me a signed copy in exchange for a donation to a friend of his in financial trouble. So he deserves money. :)
If you’re a fan of Poe at all, there’s a great CD featuring actors and musicians (including Iggy Pop, Christopher Walken, Marianne Faithful, among others), reading his most famous stories: It’s a 2-CD set, called “Closed on Account of Rabies: Poems and Tales of Edgar Allan Poe.” Could be good campfire stuff.
I have a soft spot for books about local ghost stories, the kind of books that are usually in little gift shops. My favorite ones in my particular collection are Ghosts of Newport and Weird New England. Barbara Michaels is also pretty good, although her early works, such as Ammie Come Home are best.
Also, in terms of movies, “Let’s Scare Jessica to Death” was good, in a bittersweet way.
I love my two collections of stories from Hitchcock’s magazine, “Tales of Terror” and “The Best of Mystery.” Many of the stories feel dated, but that’s why I like them. Some of the endings are like being dropped off a cliff.
http://tinyurl.com/3ux65du
http://tinyurl.com/3odnsl7
I also vote for “Dracula.” I didn’t read it until a few years ago, but WOW. People who think they know it from the movie, like I did, will be really surprised.
It’s a children’s book, but Tales of Terror from the Black Ship by Chris Priestly is one that I remember as quite spooky, and I read it just a few years ago.
Might I suggest William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily? That is one highly creepy, shudder-inducing short story.
@Shonda, this was me reading your comment: “I don’t think I remember th– OH JESUS.” So, yes. Read that one. But not if you need a full eight tonight, because OH JESUS.
THANK you. So disturbing, that one.
MizShrew, I have that CD! Gaw, Christopher Walken reading The Raven is aMAZing!
And yes, Gah, A Rose for Emily. I read it in ninth grade, all unsuspecting, and I’m reading along and THAT ENDING OH JESUS.
Ohh, and I amost forgot, the Ray Bradbury collection The October Country. The short story “The Emissary” is one of the scariest and most heartbreaking zombie stories you will ever read.
And speaking of zombies, Stephen King’s The Return of Tommy Baterman captures the horror, the visceral wrongness, of a loved one taken from the dead and returned to the earthly plain better than just about any other story I’ve ever read. It’s all narration, which provides a distance that actually magnifies all that is terrifying about the tale.
Oh, Ami, Stonewords!
“Zoe Louise…”
The Bone Key by Sarah Monette- It’s a collection of interconnected ghost stories, inspired by MR James and Lovecraft. I picked it up because I’m a sucker for Lovecraft, then I read it… then I read it again, because it’s beautiful.
Thirding the rec for the Closed on Account of Rabies CD, plus I was going to recommend Poe in general. His short stories aren’t necessarily ghost stories, but some definitely fit your needs. “The Cask of Amontillado” is short has an escalating creepiness. Poe’s in the public domain, so you can easily find his short works online. http://www.poestories.com/ is a good place to start.
I just wanted to thank whoever recommended Joe Hill’s Horns. I got it from the library after reading about it in the comments and though I just started it today, I’m already love it.
Just thought of another story that has stayed with me: Ray Bradbury’s “The Whole Town’s Sleeping.” My 8th grade teacher read this out loud to the class, and by the end most of us were hiding under our desks.
http://tinyurl.com/3ba6vce
Jen M, that story was also a chapter in his book “Dandelion Wine.”
3rd-ing (4th-ing?) the recommendations for Joe Hill. My husband loved, loved, loved “Horns” & “Heart-Shaped Box”; I’ve only read and can fully endorse “20th Century Ghosts” & the first trade of “Locke & Key.” Not all the short stories in “…Ghosts” are horror, but those that are freaked me right the hell out. In broad daylight. There are definitely a few in there that should meet your criteria.