In honor of Friday the 13th, I am going to tell you about books and stories that have creeped me out. I do not read horror that often, so I try to choose well when I do.
Open closet doors at night are the scariest things on the planet. I blame this one entirely on Stephen King’s Night Shift which is a collection of creepiness. There is one story that confirmed all my childhood fears: The Boogeyman. I still can not sleep if there is an open closet door when I go to bed. Mr. Rochester laughs when I insist on closing closet doors, but my persistence has saved us from being snatched away or eaten. I am certain if it. The rest of the stories in the collection are classics, but this is the one that has stuck with me.
The Red Tree by Caitlin R. Kiernan – I bought this book because it had a blurb on the front from Neil Gaiman. The main character, Sarah, escapes the mess of her life by going to live in a ramshackle house in the country. I kept reading the book thinking it would not get any more disturbing and then it would. It is the perfect thing to read at night, under the covers, far, far away from big oak trees and the country.
I read The Ruins by Scott Smith about the same time I went on a vacation to Mexico. That was a mistake. This story is about a group of people who become trapped in an old temple ruin by supernatural forces. That whole trip to Mexico a gave every vine I saw the side-eye.
What book have you read that really stuck with you and made you look twice at dark corners, creepy dolls, or dusty attics?