The Scariest Books of All Time Prey on Your Insecurities

One of Stephen King's most enduring works, this horror novel turns a winter caretaker job into a descent into madness.

The Overlook Hotel is the perfect haunted house: isolated, alive, and deeply wrong. The supernatural elements feed off Jack Torrance’s unraveling mind, creating some of the most terrifying scenes ever written.

This novel blends indigenous identity, guilt, and supernatural revenge into a chilling tale. After a hunting trip involving the unethical killing of elk, four friends are hunted by a vengeful spirit.

The horror lies in what happened and what continues to happen and how the past stalks the present like a shadow. It’s a masterclass in modern horror.

Another King classic, this tale of grief and resurrection is brutal in its execution. When a family’s child dies, the father uses a cursed burial ground to bring him back—with horrifying consequences.

Pet Sematary explores death, denial, and the unbearable price of hope through the lens of the horror genre.

In a dystopian world where animal meat is deemed poisonous, society turns to eating humans. The novel doesn’t flinch from its premise, forcing readers to confront uncomfortable truths about consumption, ethics, and identity.

It’s one of the most disturbing books ever written, and every chapter feels like a punch to the gut.

A scout leader and a small group of boys head into the Canadian wilderness, where they meet a man infected with an engineered, hunger-inducing parasite.

What follows is body horror, psychological collapse, and gore that’s hard to forget. The Troop is survival horror at its most raw, written to shock and scar.

This quiet tale from the queen of psychological horror unfolds in a small town full of fear and suspicion. Sisters Merricat and Constance live in isolation after a family tragedy, surrounded by townspeople who want answers.

Shirley Jackson crafts a slow, haunting narrative full of tension and terror rooted in everyday life.

Not always labeled horror, this novel is pure existential terror. It follows a nameless teenager—"the Kid"—through a landscape soaked in blood and brutality. The villain, Judge Holden, may be one of the most horrifying characters in literature. It's a violent meditation on nature, fate, and humanity.

Mother Suzette is convinced something is wrong with her daughter, Hanna. Hanna won’t talk, behaves violently, and seems intent on replacing her mother. This psychological horror novel explores a family battle that feels both surreal and disturbingly plausible.

It’s a chilling story of love, fear, and the thin line between protection and paranoia.

No list of best horror books is complete without this ghost story. A small group gathers in Hill House to study paranormal activity, but the house has other plans. Jackson’s prose blurs reality and madness, building terror through suggestion rather than spectacle. It’s haunting in every sense of the word.

These short stories are legendary for a reason. Originally aimed at kids, they manage to terrify adults with their eerie simplicity and grotesque illustrations. The collection covers everything from ghosts to death to the monster under your bed. If you read them at night, you might regret it.

We created this article in conjunction with AI technology, then made sure it was fact-checked and edited by a HowStuffWorks editor.