Scary stories for those who lack adrenaline

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Anxiety, terror, or a sense of hopelessness will overwhelm you. But you still want to read to the end.

A respected doctor indulges a maniac. Science experiment turns ordinary villains into invulnerable monsters. Unknown epidemics cause blindness and spontaneous combustion. These and other stories will help you distract from everyday worries and understand that you are really doing well.

1. "Ligeia" by Edgar Allan Poe

This is one of the best stories of the master of mystical nightmare. Edgar Allan Poe speaks in it on his favorite topics: the sudden death of a young woman, ominous ghosts, transmigration of souls.

The main character praises the magical beauty of his wife, the dark-eyed brunette Ligeia. Alas, their marriage does not last long: an unknown illness brings the girl to the grave. A month later, the inconsolable widower meets a blonde named Rowena and marries her without feeling love. Two more months pass - and now the second wife has felt a strange discomfort.

2. "Lokis", Prosper Merimee

The novel, atypical for the eminent French writer, was published a year before his death. The story is told on behalf of a linguistics professor who is visiting a secluded castle in the Lithuanian countryside.

The owner of the estate, Count Mikhail Shemet, is a pleasant and educated young man. He is in love and is going to marry the chosen one. But there are some oddities behind the aristocrat. Pets are afraid of him, and the count himself climbs a tree during a walk. In fact, this story is a fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" turned inside out. And the wedding clearly does not bode well.

3. The Strange Story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Stevenson

This gothic horror movie from the author of Treasure Island has survived over 60 film adaptations. But reading is still scarier than watching.

A villain named Edward Hyde is rampaging in London. In some inexplicable way, the disgusting subject is associated with the esteemed Dr. Henry Jekyll. The doctor not only accepts him at home, but also bequeaths his fortune to the villain. The truth is revealed in Henry Jekyll's posthumous letter. And she's a nightmare.

4. "Doll" by Robert Bloch

“Monstrous deformities, vile perversions, in which the mind refuses to believe - all this exists, lives next to us,” warns the master of thriller and horror Robert Bloch. He wrote the short story "Doll" at the dawn of his career. Bloch later became famous as the author of the novel "Psycho", which was filmed by Alfred Hitchcock.

The protagonist of "Doll" is a college student Simon with a small hump on his back. When he returns to his hometown, the hump begins to grow, and then move …

5. "Trouble Is Coming," Ray Bradbury

On a dark October night, an amusement park is brought to a small American town. It would seem, what can be wrong with rides, carousels and other entertainments? But something strange is happening to the visitors. And this is noticed by two inquisitive teenagers - Jimmy and Willie.

There are no seas of blood and mountains of corpses in the book. Only the eerie atmosphere of the oncoming darkness, which is hidden under the mask of fun. “Listen to me guys. If I say that your business is bad, then it is so,”warns the lightning rod merchant at the beginning of the novel. And he is, of course, right.

6. "Losing Weight", Stephen King

Overweight attorney Billy Halleck knocks down a gypsy woman to death. The connections allow him to avoid legal punishment. Then the father of the deceased puts a curse on Billy - and he begins to rapidly lose weight.

Stephen King came up with the idea for the book during a scheduled visit to the doctor. Along with the popularity and high fees, the writer also gained extra weight. The doctor noticed that more than a hundred kilograms is too much even for such a size as King, and advised the writer to lose weight. King flew into a rage, and when he calmed down, went on a diet. And then he wondered: what if, having started to lose weight, he will not be able to stop?

A novel was born out of doubts, which was published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. “This is how Stephen King would write if he knew how to write,” said one of the literary critics. However, the deception was revealed very soon.

7. The Wasp Factory by Ian Banks

The Aspen Factory began the writing career of Ian Banks, who is called "Tarantino from Literature." 17-year-old Frank Coldheim lives in a secluded home with his father. One day a guy finds a huge dial in a junkyard and turns it into a real death factory for wasps. Frank places the victim in the center of the device, allowing her to choose exactly how to die. To be crushed, to drown in urine, to burn - it all depends on the number to which the wasp will head.

For the hero himself, the dial is a cruel and unfair world in miniature. Whichever way you go, a terrible end awaits you.

8. "Bad Place" by Dean Koontz

Julia and Bob Dakota are a married couple of detectives. One day they are approached by a mysterious client who has lost his memory. Every time he wakes up, he finds mysterious frightening objects next to him. The couple undertake to unravel this story, seduced by a high fee. And soon they realize that the matter is much more dangerous than it seemed to them at first.

9. "Blindness", Jose Saramago

"Blindness" is an eerie dystopia from the Portuguese Nobel laureate. The heroes of the novel live in an unnamed city in an unnamed country. One day they begin to lose their sight due to an unknown epidemic. To stop the disease, the authorities relocate the infected to a suburban hospital, which is guarded by the army. This is where the worst begins.

10. "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman

"Coraline" by Neil Gaiman is considered a thriller for teenagers, but this does not mean that adults will not be scared. Judge for yourself.

Coraline's family moves to her grandmother's old three-story house. The girl's parents are constantly busy, it's raining outside - you can't walk, and the school hasn't started yet. Exploring the mansion out of boredom, the heroine finds a mysterious door. And behind her is exactly the same house, only with other parents. The new dad and mom treat Coraline better than the family, and they look almost like the real ones. But instead of eyes, they have buttons sewn on.

11. "Lullaby" by Chuck Palahniuk

“Killing those you love is not the worst thing. There are worse things. For example, to stand indifferently on the sidelines while the world is killing them,”says the mystical novel from the author of“Fight Club”.

In the book, an old African lullaby plays the role of the killer. Once it was sung in the years of hunger to babies who had nothing to feed to ensure an easy death for them. The hero of the novel, Karl Streeter, finds out that the creepy song has not lost its previous effect. Moreover, ancient magic is out of control.

12. "Missing Boy, Missing Girl" by Peter Straub

Famous writer Timothy Underhill returns to his hometown for the funeral of his brother's wife, who committed suicide. Shortly before the tragedy, dark visions began to haunt her. The 15-year-old son of the deceased, Frank, claims that a certain Black Man is constantly looming near the abandoned house in the neighborhood.

Meanwhile, children disappear in the city one by one, and soon Frank is among them. Then the first letter comes to Timothy's e-mail, marked "Missing boy, missing girl."

13. "Rebirth" by Justin Cronin

Scientists have created a new mutant virus that not only heals cancer, but also makes a person more resilient and faster. They decided to test the remedy first on criminals sentenced to death.

The experiment turns into a disaster: the grafted villains turn into invulnerable vampires who enslave humanity. And only a hundred years later, there is a fragile hope of salvation - in the person of the immortal girl Amy.

Rebirth is only the first part of a trilogy. How the struggle of the survivors with the ghouls developed can be found in the novels "The Twelve" and "The City of Mirrors".

14. The Five, Robert McCammon

The little-known rock band The Five is barely making ends meet. The musicians go on their last tour. It suddenly turns out that not only the career, but also the life of rockers is at stake. A veteran of the war in Iraq begins to pursue them, seeing in the creativity of the "five" something offensive to himself.

The book's anxious atmosphere is complemented by realistic descriptions of the lives of itinerant groups. Therefore, the novel will especially appeal to all fans of rock music.

15. "Fireman", Joe Hill

Joe Hill continues the work of his father, Stephen King. True, hiding under a pseudonym. In the book "Fireman" the son of the master of horror scares the readers with another epidemic. A person who picks up the Dragon Scale fungus becomes covered with black spots, and then flares up like a match and burns out. The infection spreads quickly, but there is no vaccine for it, so the spore carriers are simply killed.

But the land is filled with rumors of a mysterious Firefighter who can control the infection. He is humanity's last hope for salvation.