The leaves are falling, the pumpkin spice is brewing, and there’s a faint whiff of witchcraft in the air. Autumn is here, and, more importantly, spooky season is upon us!
If I could live in a world that celebrated Halloween every single day, I would. Nothing makes me more tingly inside than being absolutely terrified at a haunted house or listening to morbid podcasts or thinking about casting spells on people. I mean, even my last Google search was how to make voodoo dolls of my enemies (for legal purposes, this is a joke).
Sadly, people frown upon pouring fake blood on yourself and asking strangers for candy every day. So for those of us who are huge Halloween buffs, that just means we have to take matters into our own hands and escape reality for a bit.
In walk horror books. Spooky stories are one of the easiest ways to give yourself the creeps as our imaginations tend to run rampant. And if your imagination is anything like mine, you’re in for a wild ride. So dim the lights, grab your pumpkin spiced latte, and settle down with one of these spooky stories.
1. Pet Sematary – Stephen King
There’s no spooky season without a bit of Stephen King, and Pet Sematary has a storyline so eerie that it for sure will have you wondering if sometimes dead is better.
When Dr. Louis Creed moves his family to beautiful rural Maine, it seems as if they finally have everything they could ask for. However, the nearby woods hide a graveyard that holds chilling secrets, and Dr. Creed is about to experience the graveyard’s ominous temptations first hand. This book will leave the reader wondering if it’s worth trying to cheat death.
2. Nothing But Blackened Teeth – Cassandra Khaw
A creepy Japanese Folklore, Nothing But Blackened Teeth is full of devastating twists and will definitely have you thinking twice about turning off the lights.
The loyalties of a group of friends are tested when they decide to celebrate a wedding at an abandoned Heian-era mansion that, unknowingly to them, rests on the bones of a bride who is hungry for company. Unfortunately, secrets aren’t the only things hiding inside the house, and the friends quickly realize that something truly sinister is going on there.
3. Home Before Dark – Riley Sager
Fancy a haunted house? Home Before Dark gives off total Haunting of Hill House vibes, and we’re totally here for it.
After Maggie’s father’s recent death, she inherits her childhood home — a home her family spent only three weeks in before fleeing in the middle of the night. Her father’s best selling-book, House of Horrors, outlines their ghostly encounters within the house, which Maggie doesn’t remember nor believe. When Maggie returns to the home to fix it up and sell it, she finds out first-hand whether her father’s book was a hoax or if there was truth behind his sinister tales.
4. Let The Right One In – John Ajvide Lindqvist
When the emptied-of-blood body of a teenage boy is found in a Sweden suburb, the townspeople believe it was part of a ritual killing.
However, when a young boy, Oskar, meets his new neighbor Eli, he notices something is off, such as that she only comes out at night. Was the murder part of a ritual killing? Or did it have something to do with Eli and her strange habits? Let The Right One In will induce anxiety, but it’s a read you won’t want to miss out on this spooky season.
5. The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe – Edgar Allan Poe
We all know Edgar Allen Poe for his hauntingly sinister writing — his name alone likely makes one’s mind wander to tales of murders and the living dead. Poe himself was seen as a bizarre, mysterious man always lurking in the shadows.
What’s more, The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe include several classics, such as The Raven, and his writing is bound to send chills down your spine this Halloween season.
Time to welcome the sleepless nights, because, after all, it’s not spooky season without a racing heart and a body covered in goosebumps. Happy haunting!
Featured image via Gaspar Uhas on Unsplash
