Are there any books out there that you have read that have actually frightened you? I'm talking actual terror and/or horror.
The first and last time I actually felt legitimately scared was reading The Shining by Stephen King, specifically the scene where Jack goes to investigate Room 237 and the thing inside is rattling the doorknob and he has to close his eyes to maintain the illusion that it's all in his head. That was back in middle-school, since then nothing.
I've read a few short stories that gave me a thrill and House of Leaves did leave me with a certain unease that's hard to describe. But nothing that I would equate with actual terror.
What about you? Anything out there you have read that's legitimately scary? If you feel that deep-seated revulsion is appropriate, by all means share, but for the most part I'm not thinking of gore or disgusting material for its own sake.
Not a book but the poem I Have A Special Plan For This World by Ligotti is the scariest work of fiction that I’ve experienced in my opinion.
Matthew Cook
The Fisherman by Langan is one of the better horror novels I've read, but short stories are usually better than books for horror. I found "October Film Haunt: Under the House" by Wehunt pretty spooky.
Jack Flores
>now take away that flesh he said >take away the teeth and the tongue that part always gets me
Jace Torres
The Great God Pan The Turn of the Screw
Henry Wood
The Other Side of the Mountain by Michel Bernanos
Aiden Ortiz
The Conspiracy Against the Human Race
William Allen
I read your mum
Henry Carter
I would recommend Thomas Ligotti as well.
Blake Powell
Robert Aickman, try The Hospice or The Same Dog
Wyatt Miller
If you really want to be shit-your-pants scared, then I recommend Climate Wars by Gwynne Dyer. Crazy weather is nothing compared to what we'll do to eachother when shit really starts hitting the fan.
Brandon Walker
chuckle worthy.
Nathan Wilson
Is it a spoken word thing too? Would you recommend I listen to it or read it (if read, any idea where I can find the og text online)?
i have none but this is now a spiderposting thread
Luke Wood
>Ligotti First I've heard of him, but I've heard of Ligeti, and his Requiem is the scariest piece of music I've ever heard. youtube.com/watch?v=wawSCvuGj4o Don't listen in alone in the dark.
Liam Brooks
Lol
Aaron Mitchell
Thanks for the link, I like it. Must be something about the name that makes them good at existential horror.
Owen Russell
If you liked House of Leaves try the novel Flicker by Theodore Roszak
Kevin Carter
>Flicker by Theodore Roszak
Interesting. Never heard of it before. How's it similar to House of Leaves?
Adrian Lopez
Steps by Jerzy Kosinski
Liam James
Not a book, but I always found The Masque of the Red Death scary as fuck.
Jeremiah Stewart
Misery is very disturbing if you have a fear of being tortured.
I'll tell you what is terrifying. Consciousness is the essence of existence. The real identity you share with anything or anyone is consciousness. Consciousness is actually your true identity. This means that all the torture and misery and suffering, animal or human, plant or alien, will eventually be yours to endure. Every horrific tale you've ever heard that was real is on your eternal itinerary to eventually be experienced and undergone.
Luis Robinson
I have this weird, niggling hypothesis in the back of my ADD brain that the American border wall is an early defence against the coming climate refugees. It's not Trump's idea at all but the companies (and people) that are behind him may deny climate change but they know it's coming. The military knows it's coming.
Connor Campbell
I hope you don't believe in man-made climate change. Of course there is climate change. It changes many times throughout history. It can have disastrous effects, but the idea of it being man-made through us driving cars etc is bullshit.
Elijah Lopez
It's exacerbated by man. Don't be a goofball. Of course climate changes but those things happen gradually and are affected by outside influences like animals, natural events, etc. We've really had a negative impact on the planet.
It's not terrifying enough that mortal sin will chain you to a never-ending hell to be continually devoured in Hades by fire if you do not repent at once and commit yourself to a consecrated life? Lent has already begun but it is never too late to move closer to God. In the less than forty days the day of Christ's crucifixion will be upon us, and you will either be one of those blessed ones who dies to themselves along with him, or part of the teeming mass cackling spitefully or reveling in self-pity, alike ignorant of the meaning of the spectacle, returning the next day into a sinking, stagnant life that tastes as bitter as before.
Jose Cox
It is a pretty terrifying thought, but I can only comprehend it in the abstract, only ever having been receiving small (admittedly painful) burns and having no clear conception of eternity. Seeing as how even my wildest imaginations can only do pitiful disservice to such a immeasurable, infinite thing as eternal damnation, the gravity of the matter is entirely lost upon me.
Wyatt Cooper
lovecraft
Justin Ross
He's not always on point, but I enjoy Lovecraft immensely.
The Outsider, The Terrible Old Man, The Temple and the Statement of Randolph Carter are some of my favorite works of horror fiction, while The White Ship, though not horror fiction by any means, is one of my favorite short stories period.
Isaiah Cruz
I sense a touch of sarcasm in your reply. You have not received the sting of your caustic wit since you direct it at others. See how it feels upon your own flesh and then consider whether it is conformable either to individuality or to brotherhood. If the matter is lost upon you it is only because you do not realize that each day is the acting out of eternity. The boon of life is that we receive respite from it each night--but it won't be this way for long.
Jeremiah Miller
The Mysteries of Udolpho
Jack Rogers
Why the reindeer though?
Aaron Gray
they put funny animals on all these books so comp sci autsists arent completely sheltered it's like when they show city kids a cow at the zoo so they know where the meat comes from
Tyler Wilson
Very interesting, thanks. Had never heard of this guy, only of his father. Several reviewers on Goodreads report getting nightmares after reading it. The descriptions sound very unnerving.
Easton Parker
What, you can't sleep in hell? Shit. What about heaven tho?
Elijah Ross
afaict the animals on the orly books are random as fuck
Ligotti said in an interview once that he tended to get anxiousness after an hour of writing, and I wonder what ungodly reaction he had to that story afterwards.
Landon Ross
Pretty sure that's a female moose.
Matthew Ross
Lmfao what wall? That faggot hasn't built shit and won't build shit by the end of his term. The wall will never be built. The right NEVER wins.
William Turner
You must be at least eighteen years old to post on Yea Forums.
what is the name of that sci fi horror novel about aliens shaping humans into other beings?
Caleb Gutierrez
my diary desu
Gavin Carter
Wehunt is a huge cuck
Dylan Russell
Ramsey Campbell especially his later works dealing with dementia/Alzheimer's. Fuck I dread getting old and always having the possibility of losing my memory without even realizing it
Honestly don't know people can get scared from WORDS. Like bro, what? I remember someone saying how after reading about Roko's Basilisk they couldn't sleep at night and i was like "damn that must be pretty epic" then i read about it and it was one of the most cringe shit ever. i probably thought about something gay like this when i was 7 years old. I realized that people who get scared by words are either autistic or children.
Easton Perez
>mfw i have the first edition of Fanged Noumena and missed the window to sell when it went for $600
Roko's Basilisk is so fucking cringy. It's literally a reddit tier cringe thought experiment, and I don't usually say things like that.
Austin Parker
What's the point of Roko's Basilisk again? Your life is a simulation by an AI to see if you invent the AI and if you don't you get tortured forever?
Tyler Ross
Something like that.
From what I remember, it assumes that in the distant future, it's inevitable that an all powerful and knowing AI will exist and that this AI will be a nice guy and work only for the well being of humanity from every point of view.
So it assumes that every human being to have ever existed before this AI was created is forced to work towards the creation of the AI, and everybody who doesn't is a monster. It says that then, logically, it is justified for that supreme AI to make a copy of you in simulation and torture the fuck out of you as long as you don't work on making this AI happen.
And it says that you're kind of ok if you don't know about the AI, but as soon as you know about it you're fucked and maybe you're being tortured in a simulation happening in the distant future or some shit.
Some people actually lose sleep over this cringy teenager shit, imagine that.
Joshua Hall
Well, it's not a really crazy idea, I don't follow you. Reading is just another form of escapism. It can make you feel all kinds of emotion and feel all kinds of things, including fear. It's just that in today's world reading can't really match the sensory input of other mediums, so what impact it has is dependent upon the reader's imagination and ability to suspend disbelief in conjunction with the skill of the writer.
Jayden Lewis
those who call it "cringy teenager shit" will be tortured the most.
