Halloween is tomorrow, and since most of my readers are located in the USA, where it is celebrated in a big way, I decided to recommend some spooky short stories to get into the Halloween mood. They are all fairly short and would, I think, be perfect for reading aloud to a group on Halloween. Much as I would have liked to include The Willows or The Wendigo by Algernon Blackwood, they are simply too long to be read aloud in one session.
I basically made a random choice of stories by Poe, James and King, because they have all written some really scary stuff.
I have tried to include some variety, so you will find a mixture of horror, suspense, scary and creepy stories, some paranormal or supernatural, some psychological, others fantastical. I make no claims as to their being the best of anything, merely that they would make good Halloween reading.
I basically made a random choice of stories by Poe, James and King, because they have all written some really scary stuff.
I have tried to include some variety, so you will find a mixture of horror, suspense, scary and creepy stories, some paranormal or supernatural, some psychological, others fantastical. I make no claims as to their being the best of anything, merely that they would make good Halloween reading.
- “Oh Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad” by M. R. James. Ghost story.
- The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs. Magic. A hoary old classic of the unexplained that still has the power to frighten.
- The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. Another classic, this one about the evil that lurks in the hearts and minds of man.
- Sometimes they come back by Stephen King. Ghosts/demons. Not the scariest of King’s stories, but scary enough.
- A Return to the Sabbath by Robert Bloch. I couldn't pass an opportunity to include one zombie story.
- The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. A terrifying account of a woman’s descent into madness.
- The Man and the Snake by Ambrose Bierce. A psychological suspense story.
- Berenice by Edgar Allan Poe. Horror. While not one of his best, I have always found this story very creepy.
- Being by Richard Matheson. Aliens. Evil ones.
- The Tall Woman by Pedro Antonio De Alarcón. Supernatural, ghost, demon or omen.
- Dracula’s Guest by Bram Stoker. Paranormal, spooky, werewolf.
- One Happy Family by John S. McFarland. Monsters. While this story is a prime example of prejudice against "hillbillies", it is also very creepy indeed.
- The Deacon of Dark River – Icelandic folk tale. Ghost story. I will be posting this one here at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning.
Comments
* "The Old Lady's Story"
* Algernon Blackwood, "The Empty House"
* Mary Elizabeth Braddon, "The Shadow in the Corner"
* Edward Bulwer-Lytton, "The Haunted and the Haunters; Or, the House and the Brain"
* Bernard Capes, "An Eddy on the Floor" (strictly speaking, a haunted jail story)
* Dinah Mulock Craik, "The Last House in C-- Street"
* Charles Dickens, Hesba Stretton, George Augustus Sala, Adelaide Anne Procter, Wilkie Collins, and Elizabeth Gaskell, The Haunted House (this group effort was All the Year Round's Christmas Number in 1859)
* Elizabeth Gaskell, "The Old Nurse's Story"
* Thomas Hood, "The Haunted House" (a poem)
* M. R. James, "Number Thirteen"
* Perceval Landon, "Thurnley Abbey"
* J. S. Le Fanu, "An Account of Some Disturbances in Aungier Street"
* J. Warren Newcomb, Jr., "Three Nights in a Haunted House"
* Fitz-James O'Brien, "The Lost Room"
* Margaret Oliphant, "The Secret Chamber"
* Sir Walter Scott, "The Tapestried Chamber"
* Bram Stoker, "The Judge's House" (plot very similar to "Aungier Street," above)
* H. G. Wells, "The Red Room"
* James Reynold Withers, "The Haunted House" (poem)