Every year before Halloween, we find ourselves in sweet anticipation of some chilling horror. Wether you are a thrill-seeker planning a midnight stroll through the graveyard or a stay-at-home reader who enjoys one hair-raising tale before bed, we have got you covered.
Our selection of the most mind-boggling horror stories, brimming with witches, vampires and evil spirits will help you embrace the fear during this spooky season.
To Be Read At Dusk by Charles Dickens
Looking for some ghost stories that will keep you up all night? Then you are in for a treat! In this spooky collection of paranormal accounts, the master of human psychology tugs at different strings of fear you never knew existed unnerving the reader with each supernatural stroke.
A trip to the Swiss Alps goes horribly wrong when narrator finds himself in the company of five couriers who decide to entertain the newcomer with some horror folklore. From a young bride stalked by a cadaverous creature to a sinistrous brotherly promise to visit each other from the grave, these ghoulish yarns are best enjoyed after dark.
Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
“Hex also has one of the cleverest and most original premises of any horror novel you will ever read in a long time. Back in the 1600s, the townspeople of Black Spring tortured and executed a woman they believed to be a witch, forcing her to murder one of her own children and then killing the other themselves. Such was the cruelty of their actions that Katherine van Wyler, the wronged woman, cursed the town for eternity and continues to haunt it, her eyes and mouth stitched closed and her arms pinned to her body with chains. If her eyes are allowed to open, or her voice heard, horrific things will befall the town and its people. Moreover, once people move to Black Spring and become aware of the witch’s curse, they can never leave the town for more than a few days without suffering terrible consequences. This in itself is not, in fact, particularly original; there are many legends and folktales like it. What makes Hex different is the way the townspeople deal with their predicament.”- J. Sheppard
The Legend of Sleepy Hallow by Washington Irving
Renowned for its ghosts, the secluded glen Sleepy Hollow is allegedly bewitched during the early days of the Dutch Settlement. The dark forces of evil terrorise the settling, haunting imaginations of its inhabitants and visitors alike. But the most infamous spectre in the Hollow is the Headless Horseman- the ghost of a Hessian trooper whose head was shot off during American Revolutionary War, and who ‘rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head’. Whimsical and unique in its own right, the novel inspired a myriad of film adaptations.
Read it Free Here Buy it on AmazonHallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie
“You are a truly annoying little girl. A busybody, a liar. Who can trust you? For the good of the community, a-bobbin’ for apples you must go – like permanently. But death is not the end! From on high you witness the actions of a strange mustached man and his flighty authoress sidekick. Together they vow to avenge your murder and lay your lovely bones to rest. They believe in your tale of dastardly deeds and murder, the tale that brought you to such an untimely end; their quest for vengeance will lead them to all who once stood in judgment of you.”-Mark Monday
Buy it on AmazonWhite Is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi
In a vast, mysterious house on the cliffs near Dover, the Silver family is reeling from the hole punched into its heart. Lily is gone and her twins, Miranda and Eliot, and her husband, the gentle Luc, mourn her absence with unspoken intensity. All is not well with the house, either, which creaks and grumbles and malignly confuses visitors in its mazy rooms, forcing winter apples in the garden when the branches should be bare. Generations of women inhabit its walls. And Miranda, with her new appetite for chalk and her keen sense for spirits, is more attuned to them than she is to her brother and father.
This is a spine-tingling tale that has Gothic roots but an utterly modern sensibility. Told by a quartet of crystalline voices, it is electrifying in its expression of myth and memory, loss and magic, fear and love.
Buy it on AmazonPine by Francine Toon
Lauren and her father Niall live alone in the Highlands, in a small village surrounded by pine forest. When a woman stumbles out onto the road one Halloween night, Niall drives her back to their house in his pickup. In the morning, she’s gone.
Lauren looks for answers in her tarot cards, hoping she might one day be able to read her father’s turbulent mind. Neighbours know more than they let on, but when local teenager Ann-Marie goes missing it’s no longer clear who she can trust.
In spare, haunting prose, Francine Toon creates an unshakeable atmosphere of desolation and dread. In a place that feels like the end of the world, she unites the gloom of the modern gothic with the pulse of a thriller. It is the perfect novel for our haunted times.
Buy it on AmazonWe Have Always Lived in The Castle by Shirley Jackson
“The Blackwood family are all dead, poisoned by arsenic in the sugar bowl. All except for 18-year-old Mary Katherine “Merricat” Blackwood, the novel’s narrator, her 28-year-old agoraphobic sister Constance, and their wheelchair-bound/dementia-ridden Uncle Julian. Constance was blamed for the deaths but was found not guilty at her trial. However the stigma of the incident and the Blackwood’s wealth and isolation has made them a symbol of fear and hate by the villagers. And the hatred is growing…
Shirley Jackson’s final completed novel, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, is a very creepy read. Not because of the plot – very little actually happens in the book which is more of a character portrait – but for our first person narrator, Merricat, who is quite possibly insane.
Castle is a novel that could be several things all at once: a clever look at how myths about witches begin, a murder mystery, a surface-level horror story and a character study of a sociopath.”- Sam Quixote
Buy it on AmazonThe Duchess at Prayer by Edith Wharton
The devout catholic Duchess Violante, spends a long winter praying in solitude. When her prodigal husband pays her a sudden visit, The Duchess is horrified to learn about the plans to block an entrance to the crypt with a statue of her by Bernini. Unable to dissuade the Duke, she dies after a dreadful night. The spine-chilling account of events in the chapel witnessed by the maid adds a horrifying new dimension to the story.
Read it Free Here Buy it on AmazonThe Mortal Immortal by Mary Shelley
From Bram Stoker’s Dracula to Twilight saga, the vampire myth has been explored in many novels fuelling the reader’s fascination with bloodthirsty creatures for centuries. However, in this beautifully-written story, the creator of Frankenstein offers a different perspective on the subject of immortality. Having taken a love-curing potion in secret from his master alchemist, Winzy learns the shattering truth about the nature of the elixir. The shocking revelation exposes his deep-rooted fears of death, eroding every facet of his life. Three hundred years later, Winzy paints immortality as a soul-killing curse, condemning the human shadows to perdition.
Buy it on AmazonThe Year of The Witching by Alexis Henderson
Born on the fringes of Bethel, Immanuelle does her best to obey the Church and follow Holy Protocol. For it was in Bethel that the first Prophet pursued and killed four powerful witches, and so cleansed the land. And then a chance encounter lures her into the Darkwood that surrounds Bethel.
It is a forbidden place, haunted by the spirits of the witches who bestow an extraordinary gift on Immanuelle. The diary of her dead mother . . .
Fascinated by and fearful of the secrets the diary reveals, Immanuelle begins to understand why her mother once consorted with witches.
Pet Sematary by Stephen King
For Dr Creed and his family, relocation to an idyllic town of Ludlow opens a new chapter of their lives. Soon their dreams of peaceful existence are shuttered by a tragedy, claiming the life of the youngest member of the family. However, the serendipitous discovery of supernatural burial grounds gives inconsolable father a glimpse of hope to raise his son from the dead. Chilling and mind-bending, this tale unapologetically pulls at your heartstrings exploiting the fear of death and loss of the child, haunting you long after you have turned the last page.
Buy it on AmazonThe Blood of The Vampire by Florence Marryat
She is stunning. She is gorgeous. But if her looks could kill, they would be digging a grave for any poor man who has ever come in contact with her. Fresh off the boat, Harriet Brandt becomes the talk of the town thanks to the dubious source of her fortune and unbridled zest for life. Determined to carve out her own place in high society, Jamaican orphan is not shy to put her animal magnetism to good use. Yet the further she gets, the more dying friends she leaves in her wake. Will she ever be able to break the shackles of her heritage and banish the curse of vampirism for good?
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Stella
Stella is a Marketing Consultant and has been writing content for Full Text Archive since 2015. When she is not writing, she is meticulously planning our social and e-mail campaigns. Stella holds a bachelor’s degree in English and Russian Literature, which has provided a broad foundation from which she continues to explore the written world.
She spends her free time reading, visiting old castles and discovering new coffee shops. She can be reached at stella