Horror Stories

[Deleted]

I went through a phase of reading Lovecraft years ago. I can't remember the title but my favorite was something about cats from another planet. I think the space cats show up in other stories as well.

The thing that drove me nuts about him, though, was his over-use, when a character is expressing horror, of the words, "It was... it was unspeakable!"

[Smilla]

Brew yourself a pot of coffee, Smilla. You're in for a long, bumpy, 25 MPH road trip. IMHO, of course.

Uh, yeah, not so much with the being done with it, yet. I'm only a quarter of the way through. I will post one thought, based on my impressions at this point: Best. Book. Ever. I probably shouldn't get into why. I love you all for reminding me this novel existed, however, 'cause reading it has been so delicious so far!!!

[underjoyed]

The thing that drove me nuts about him, though, was his over-use, when a character is expressing horror, of the words, "It was... it was unspeakable!"

Too true and typical of Lovecraft. His dialogue is almost always painful. Fortunately, there's not much of it to be found.

Along with a copy of The Call of the Cthulhu and Other Weird Tales, which I found moldering in a bin at the back of a used bookstore, I've just picked up a copy of The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, because it's one of those apparent classics of the genre that I somehow missed and, more to the point, I came across the very first paragraph and was immediately sucked in:

"No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone."

Tell me it's not all downhill from there.

[Deleted]

Oh, underjoyed, it is NOT all downhill from there. Excellent book. I'm so excited that you're reading it. When I first read it, I loved being able to discuss it on the other board. Smilla has read it, too, and is a good one to bounce thoughts off of.

[Deleted]

I agree with Bag of Bones. The Haunting of Hill House is an excellent, excellent book, and though I wasn't all that frightened while reading it, I lay awake all night after completing it. It's creepy.

[Deleted]

Just avoid The Turn of the Screw. I had heard it was a great ghost story, and I LOVE ghost stories most of all, so I read it...and it completely sucked.

[Smilla]

Respectfully, Guinastasia, what?! "The Turn of the Screw" is one of the best scary stories ever!! Smilla is so sad that you did not likey.

Haunting of Hill House is awesome. Though, be prepared to be sincerely freaked afterward.

[underjoyed]

Just avoid The Turn of the Screw. I had heard it was a great ghost story, and I LOVE ghost stories most of all, so I read it...and it completely sucked.

Yeah, Turn of the Screw manifested (pardon the pun) on the reading list of a fourth-year English Lit course a few years (okay, a decade) back. I actually liked it, although have never been sure how to categorize it. Were the ghosts real? Or was it all in her head? Actually, the second possibility was, to me, even creepier.

One of the things that already makes me well-disposed towards The Haunting of Hill House (although admittedly I'm only fifty pages in) is the premise that some places are just...wrong. Why? We don't know. In fact, we don't need to. Personally, I don't need long, tortured explanations involving ancient Indian burial grounds, gypsy curses or serving wenches walled up in attics wreaking revenge from beyond the grave, and so on. Call it the shit-happens branch of the genre. All I know is that, done well, it's far more likely to keep me from sleeping.

[Deleted]

The scariest part of the "Shit Happens genre" is that means any place could be bad. Even a newly built house, or a kid's park, or a hospital. There doesn't need to be a history, or something you can research to find answers. It just is. And, guess what? What if your own house is bad? There's no real reason why it can't be, right?

[Deleted]

Has anyone here read We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson? There's nothing (that I remember) supernatural about it, but it's scary! The idea is:

TEXT

There's much more to it, but there's a good horror story that is strictly psychological. No Stephen King type possessed cars or creepy cats coming back from the dead. Just pure mental weirdness.

(Sorry -- something's not working right for me today, re: the spoiler.)