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Ahead was an intersection, and dozens of people walked by. A balding businessman walked quickly past, looking back at an old woman, hair covered with a scarf, carrying a large purse. A curvy woman in black pants that were too tight stared into a store window, and two women led a group of small children around a corner.
- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
- The Third Hotel by Laura Van Den Berg
- Hell House by Richard Matheson
- Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
- Scary Stories to Tell in The Dark by Alvin Schwartz
- Lincoln in The Bardo by George Saunders
- The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
- Beloved by Toni Morrison
- Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
- City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab
If you’re looking for ghost story books, you really should start with the master of the genre, Shirley Jackson. Her classic gothic horror novels and short stories will send chills up your spine like no other. The Haunting Of Hill House, first published in 1959, is still fascinating and terrifying readers for a reason. The story revolves around a ps...
Clare’s husband, Richard, was a horror movie buff – in fact, he was a horror movie scholar (what a cool job!). Widowed and grieving, Clare attends the annual Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana, with the tickets Richard purchased before his death. As she steps out of the movie he most wanted to see, Clare sees him, in a white linen suit...
The infamous Belasco House in Maine is widely regarded as the most haunted house in the world. In Hell House, millionaire William Reinhardt Deutsch hires a physicist, a spiritualist, and a medium to investigate the possibility of life after death, starting in the mansion where a supernatural presence works against them every step of the way. Mathes...
In Sing, Unburied, Sing, Jesmyn Ward’s third novel, stark Southern realismcollides with the gothic to make one of the best ghost books of recent years. The story begins on Jojo’s thirteenth birthday when he slaughters a goat in the hopes of proving to his grandfather that he is truly a man. Pop tells Jojo stories as the goat cooks, about his time i...
If your passion for ghost story books started young, surely you remember Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark. It’s well worth revisiting as an adult – if only to wonder what the heck the grown-ups were thinking, letting you read it after lights-out! Alvin Schwartz drew on popular urban legends and long-held folklore to craft spooky stories, and the s...
If you’re looking for ghost books outside the norm, you must try Lincoln In The Bardo. Saunders was inspired by a story his wife had heard about Abraham Lincoln visiting the crypt of his son, who died aged 11 while his father was still in the White House. Saunders’ story takes place in the “bardo,” a liminal space between life and death, and featur...
If you’re looking for cozy but spooky ghost story books, check out The Woman In Black. This 1983 gothic novel is set in the English countryside, which sounds like an idyllic escape… if it weren’t for the mysterious specter that haunts its residents. The narrator, Arthur Kipps, was just a junior solicitor when he was summoned to the small town to se...
Books about ghosts aren’t all spooks and silly scares: some of them hold a serious message in their pages. Belovedis one such novel, Toni Morrison’s story of a former slave haunted by the child she was forced to kill. The story is based on the real-life experience of Margaret Garner, an escaped slave who killed her own children rather than have the...
The classic novel Wuthering Heightsmight not be the first that comes to mind when you’re looking for ghost books, but this haunting story of love that persists across the divide is definitely one you need to read. Volatile, brooding Heathcliff was adopted into a world of privilege, but never quite belonged there. His heart is broken when his adopte...
This is Edinburgh like you’ve never seen it before! In City Of Ghosts, Cassidy Blake’s ghost-hunting parents are the stars of a new TV show that takes them to the haunted Scottish capital. She moves with them, and in her new city, she meets Lara, another In-Betweener who “helps” ghosts move permanently beyond the Veil. Working together, they tackle...
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- The ‘grandmas’ in the cemetery. Jeff, a resident of Dayton, Ohio, was driving with his 3-year-old son, Miles, in the back seat, when they passed by a cemetery.
- The ghost of The Stanley Hotel. The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, has been around for more than 100 years and was built as a posh getaway for the wealthy seeking solitude in the mountains.
- The ghost truck stop. On his way to get married, a military man and his best man set off on an 800-mile road trip from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina to Lafayette, Indiana.
- The hauntings at the Lizzie Borden House. On August 4, 1892, Andrew and his wife, Abby Borden, were found brutally murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts, home.
Oct 28, 2015 · Oscar Wilde, ‘ The Canterville Ghost ‘ (1887). Okay, so this one isn’t all that scary, but it’s nice to have a bit of variation. It was the first of Wilde’s short stories to be published. An American family move into Canterville Chase and soon become acquainted with Sir Simon, ghost of the old owner of the manor centuries ago.
- “The Tell-Tale Heart” by edgar allan poe. This ghost short story is kid-friendly, but I think it’s only child-approved because the language is simple enough for a developing mind.
- Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by alvin schwartz and stephen gammell. If these urban legends and scary ghost stories (meant for the ears of babes!)
- Beloved by toni morrison. If there’s one book of horror (which is ALSO a scary ghost story) that I recommend to anyone who will listen, it’s Beloved by Toni Morrison.
- The Bell Witch. In the early 19th century, the Bell family in Tennessee witnessed hauntings and murders by the invisible witch, Old Kate Batts. An Authenticated History of the Bell Witch by Martin Van Buren Ingram details all the poltergeist activity, but the video below is enough of an overview to give you chills.
Oct 28, 2021 · Partly because, if you read enough and regularly, it’s hard to avoid bumping into a ghost story. Nearly everything, read in the proper light, is a ghost story. In fact, “the best ghost stories ...
Oct 18, 2016 · The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco. Okiku is a lonely spirit, murdered 300 years ago by a man who threw her body into a well. She walks the earth freeing ghosts who were murdered like herself and taking terrifying revenge on their killers. Despite centuries of this vengeance, Okiku is still not at peace.
