I like creepy stories, so when Casper asked if I could share any you should never, ever read before bed as part of a Halloween motif, I had to create a list. Some of the stories are the usual suspects, by the usual authors. Others are going to be a surprise, but I find that “creepy” is not a quality confined to sci fi, fantasy, and horror.
In no particular order, 21 stories you should never, ever read before bed:
- Neil Gaiman: Coraline is delightfully creepy story, ostensibly for kids. Parents who look like your parents but are slightly off and have button eyes? Oh, yes. Plus, there’s a talking, smart aleck black cat. Win! Gaiman’s short stories are by turns fantastic, creepy, and scary. You can’t go wrong with either collection of short stories or Coraline.
- Bram Stoker: Hello, Dracula. What I love about this book is that the vampire hardly ever makes an appearance. It’s more psychological thriller than outright horror.
- Richard Matheson: Matheson is best known for I Am Legend, but if you want to be truly frightened, read his short stories. “Mad House” is only one example. I promise you’ll never look at the razor in your medicine cabinet the same way again.
- Algernon Blackwood: Blackwood is about atmosphere and Nature—yes, with a capital “N”—that is malevolent and oppressive. All his stories are fine, but “The Man Whom the Trees Loved” is one that’s haunted me.
- Ray Bradbury: No, not Fahrenheit 451, although I love the book. For creepy tales (and also some lovely and beautiful ones), read his collection The Illustrated Man. It starts with the short story “The Veld.” Kids are creepy, you all. Another option? Something Wicked This Way Comes. Strangely enough, it also features kids.
- H.G. Wells: Again, short stories. “The New Accelerator” doesn’t seem all that scary until the closing lines. Wells depicts a world where people create technology and don’t care about the consequences.
- Flannery O’Connor: O’Connor’s characters are grotesque and often chilling. She’s concerned with grace and how man responds to it. Sometimes he changes for the good; sometimes he doesn’t. One of the stories that’s stuck with me from undergraduate days is “The Lame Shall Enter First.”
- Robert Louis Stevenson: I have to include Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It’s fantastic and will definitely keep you up at night.
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The Hound of the Baskervilles in the adaptation with Benedict Cumberbatch stands equal with the original story. Both are scary; neither are good choices if trying to fall asleep.
- Mary Shelley: Of course Frankenstein makes the list. It’s a little like Dracula in that the creature is hardly ever seen. The only things known about him are delivered through the good doctor, who is not the most reliable narrator.
- William Golding: Lord of the Flies is not a tale to be read before bed. It’s another one about creepy kids.
- Philip K. Dick: His short stories, like “Second Variety” (found in the collection The Minority Report), are wonderfully creepy. “War Game” is another one.
- C.S. Lewis: The Screwtape Letters. If you want to know how demons view mankind and their plots for destruction and devastation, this is the book to read.
- Tadeusz Borowski: If you prefer autobiography, investigate Borowski’s This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen. It shares Borowski’s experiences inside the concentration camps during WWII.
- Orson Scott Card: Ender’s Game is a chilling read. Also, it’s another one with kids. I’m sensing a theme here.
- Margaret Atwood: Anything by Atwood is brilliant, but for creepy I recommend The Handmaid’s Tale or The MaddAddam Trilogy.
- Peter Conners: Poetry doesn’t really fit in this list, but I have to include some. Conners’ collection The Crows Were Laughing in Their Trees is lovely and horrific all at the same time. If you’ve thought crows were a bit creepy, well, his book will prove you right.
- George Orwell: A creepy list of books not to read before bed is incomplete without 1984.
- Aldous Huxley: For that matter, the list has to include Huxley’s Brave New World.
- Bill Myers: I haven’t read Myers’ Forbidden Doors series since I was a kid, but let’s say they had an effect. Some doors really shouldn’t be opened.
- Frank Peretti: Another author I haven’t read in ages. One of my choices is The Prophet. Thinking about it now, I see a bit of Cassandra in the book. His series for kids (Cooper Kids) were memorable. They combine Indiana Jones with the supernatural. The scene with a komodo dragon is still stuck in my head.
Image: Peter Dedina (Creative Commons)