Top 9 Scariest Books About Haunted Houses Ever

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This is a guest contribution from Nora Mork.

There are a lot of scary books. Horror writing is one of the most popular genres. Within the horror genre is the ‘haunted house’ story where innocents discover the hidden truth about the old house on the hill. But what are some of the scariest, best written of these? Let’s find out.

1. You Should Have Left By Daniel Kehlmann

This is an odd one to begin the list. When you think of a haunted house, you probably don’t think of an uber-modern chalet in the Swiss alps. But Kehlmann’s psychological thriller is as nefarious as any 19th century gothic novel, with a whole host of psychological trickery awaiting the reader.

2. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Now a hit Netflix series, Jackson’s contemporary haunted house plays on the idea of a family reflecting back on events in their childhood home. “Shirley Jackson introduces a parallel time frame which allows the audience to be drawn into the classic set-up of a paranormal researcher seeking out malignant forces in an old house. The difference here is that it’s not so much that there are evil ghosts, but that the house itself is evil”, writes James Clarkson, book editor at Academized and Revieweal.

3. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

House of Leaves is a wonderfully complete haunting novel, with the full arsenal used assault the reader and evoke the sense of insanity, causing you to doubt your own understanding of the novel altogether. Its simple premise is a house that is a bit bigger inside than it is outside, but it’s all downhill from there….

4. The Fall Of The House Of Usher By Edgar Allen Poe

Certainly one of the more antiquated entries on the list, Poe’s terrifying short story is a classic example of Victorian gothic writing. The Fall of the House Of Usher creeps up on the reader as the truth behind the narrator’s bizarre friend, Roderick Usher, and his giant mansion with the crack running across the roof is made clear, to terrifying and mystifying effect.

5. The Shining By Stephen King

The Shining is now more famous for the incredibly scary film adaptation by Stanley Kubrick, but the source material is mighty scary stuff in of itself. “King didn’t take to Kubrick’s film, which may be because it wasn’t scary enough! The book is absolutely terrifying, as The Overlook Hotel reveals its horrors to the reader methodically, one by one”, writes Eleanor Joplin, novel writer at TopCanadianWriters and StudentWritingServices.

6. White Is For Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

There is a bizarre premise to this one. A woman who lives in a house, our narrator, has pica, a mental disorder which encourages her to eat things which aren’t food, like chalk or plastic. She is alone in the house and can’t leave, trapped by the ghosts of generations of her family. Sounds creepy right?

7. The Stopped Heart by Julie Myerson

A couple escaping terrible tragedy, a rural house in the English countryside, a history of horror: a classic set up with an unforgettable woven parallel timeline. This is a must read for any classic haunted house fan.

8. The Turn Of The Screw By Henry James

Another older one, this is an iconic novel by James, mired in uncertainty as to whether it is a ghost story or not, with a whole host of psychological intrigue introducing elements of insanity. Are there ghosts? That’s for you to decide.

9. Kill Creek By Scott Thomas

Four horror writers are invited to spend the night in a haunted house, the infamous Finch House, for a Halloween festival. They agree, incidentally awakening the spirits. But when they leave the next morning the spirits go with them and haunt them all through their lives.

Conclusion

There are a lot out there to choose from, contemporary and antiquated classics alike. With such a staple genre, there’s always room for experimentation so each you read will be completely unlike the previous.

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About the Contributor

Nora Mork is a lifestyle writer and editor at Australian Reviewer. She enjoys traveling, doing yoda, and writing columns for blogs, such as Australian help and Boom essays.