10 Spooky Stories for Spooky Season

1. The Midnight Club by Christopher Pike

I’ve loved Christopher Pike since I was a kid (probably my first favorite author) so in compiling a list of spooky stories I had to include at least one of his. My job was made even easier by that fact that Netflix is releasing a series based on the book this year (and apparently the stories they tell will include some of Pike’s other works). The story revolves around 5 sickly teens living at a hospice in Washington state. They meet each night at midnight to tell each other scary stories and end up making a pact that whoever dies first must try to contact the rest of the group from the other side.

2. The Stand by Stephen King

What list of spooky stories is complete without something from Stephen King? This mammoth book (the unabridged version is over 1,000 pages) is long but so worth it. The story starts in a world that is being decimated by the flu (which might be a bit much for some given our current circumstances) and those left behind begin flocking to two leaders, one good (Mother Abigail) and one evil (Randall Flagg). This book is full of amazing characters and weaves a suspenseful tale about those who have truly been left behind.

3. The Blood Countess by Andrei Codrescu

This book is a weird one, but it would be hard for it not to be given its subject, Elizabeth Bathory, the infamous blood countess. The novel alternates between two story lines: that of the life of the countess herself and that of her modern-day descendant, Drake, a US journalist returning to his native Hungary. As Drake travels his homeland, he learns that the legend of his infamous ancestress is still alive and well, sometimes with horrific consequences. Warning: this book is a lot so if you’re not already familiar with Bathory’s story, I would do a quick Google search before diving into this book.

4. Sunglasses After Dark by Nancy A. Collins

Before there was Edward and Bella, even before there was Buffy, there was Sonja Blue, Collins’ bad-ass vampire/vampire slayer. Sonja is a former heiress named Denise Thorne who is left for dead by a vampire, but is saved through modern medicine. She is a living vampire who still possesses a soul, constantly fighting the demon that lives inside her, all the while trying to track down the monster who created her. This is considered one of the first urban fantasy novels (published in 1989) and is early nineties as all hell (if you’re into that kind of thing).

5. The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw

I love ghosts, witches, and curses and this book has all three. Set in the fictional coastal town of Sparrow, Oregon, Penny Talbot knows what happens every summer: three sisters who were sentenced to death as witches two centuries ago return, steal the bodies of three girls and use them to drown boys. She doesn’t really believe it but when a new guy comes to town and draws Penny’s interest, she starts to worry that the curse might indeed be very real.

6. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

I have loved Leigh Bardugo ever since I read Shadow and Bone years ago, so it was not a surprise that I also fell in love with her adult debut. The main character, Alex Stern is a hot mess, but wouldn’t we all be if we could see the dead? Her talent draws the attentions of the head of one of Yale’s secret societies and she finds herself with a full ride to Yale all the while monitoring the occult activities of the other campus secret societies.

7. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

In a world where vampires exist and are confined to places to called Coldtowns, Tana wakes up after a party to find herself surrounded by the corpses of her fellow party goers. The only other survivors are her ex-boyfriend who may or may not be becoming a vampire and a mysterious stranger (because it’s YA so of course). In order to save themselves, they must journey to the nearest Coldtown and all the horror that awaits them there. If you’ve never read Holly Black, I highly recommend this book because it is just so damn well written.

8. The Ghost Hunters by Neil Spring

If you’re into stories of haunted houses, you may have heard the story of Borley Rectory, once known as the most haunted house in England. If you’re really into ghosts, you may also know the name Harry Price, a famous paranormal researcher, who investigated the rectory in the 1920’s. The Ghost Hunters is the story of Price’s investigation of the Rectory, told from the perspective of his skeptical assistant, Sarah Grey.

9. The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule

If you like some true crime in your spookiness this one is for you. This book tells the story of infamous serial killer Ted Bundy who confessed to killing at least 36 women across the US. It also tells the story of Rule’s relationship with Bundy, who she worked with at a crisis hotline and who she corresponded with for many years after. The best example of the “you don’t always know people the way you think you do” story.

10. The Angry Angel by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

The Brides of Dracula are seen very briefly in Bram Stoker’s classic but in Yarbro’s Sisters of the Night series, they take center stage. A planned trilogy (more on that in a second), each book focuses on the story of how each woman became a bride of Dracula. The Angry Angel is the first book in the series and tells the story of Kelene, a young Greek girl in the 1500’s who is gifted by visions from the Militant Angels who help her guide her family away from the danger of the invading Ottomans. It is a great book for fans of both horror and historical fiction, as if the second book The Soul of an Angel, but due to issues with the publisher the third book (titled Angel of Death) was written but never released.