Kids aren’t the only ones who enjoy a good scare this time of year. For a creepifying October evening, pour yourself a pint of pumpkin ale and settle in with one of these classics.
Tales of H.P. Lovecraft – H.P. Lovecraft/Joyce Carol Oates
October is an excellent time of year to brush up on your knowledge of the Cthulhu mythos. This collection of stories, selected by Joyce Carol Oates, includes some of the most influential – and some of the creepiest – tales from the godfather of modern horror, whose distinctive style of storytelling has a way of coming back on you in the middle of the night.
The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson
An occult scholar hoping to find evidence of the paranormal invites several guests to spend the summer with him in an allegedly haunted mansion, including a psychologically fragile young woman named Eleanor. While at first glance it seems like a standard haunted house tale, Shirley Jackson managed to elevate this age-old trope to a terrifying art in her 1959 classic.
Dracula – Bram Stoker
The novel that elevated vampires from European folklore to the mainstream consciousness, Dracula tells of the havoc the mysterious Transylvanian count wreaks on Victorian England’s inhabitants and the quest to put a permanent end to his nefarious supernatural influence.
Pet Semetary – Stephen King
It’s hard to decide which of Stephen King’s novels is the scariest, but this remains the one book by the Master of Horror that this blogger was too scared to finish. A modern-day Monkey’s Paw, Pet Semetary is an unsettling story of unintended consequences and the price of cheating the grave.
