Short horror stories?

AskWazzup

AskWazzup

Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!
So i was thinking of taking this girl for a walk by the seaside, when it's dark.... As it happens, the path to the seaside goes through a forest. Well, since simply walking is pretty uninteresting, i thought, why not spice things up a bit and put a theme on it? I got myself a lantern, some tea mixed with brandy and now all i lack is a few good, short horror stories for some added excitement, so if anyone has any suggestions, i would be very interested in hearing them!

I know the whole thing sounds ultra corny, but i'm planning to execute it nonetheless :P
 
AskWazzup said:
So i was thinking of taking this girl for a walk by the seaside, when it's dark.... As it happens, the path to the seaside goes through a forest. Well, since simply walking is pretty uninteresting, i thought, why not spice things up a bit and put a theme on it? I got myself a lantern, some tea mixed with brandy and now all i lack is a few good, short horror stories for some added excitement, so if anyone has any suggestions, i would be very interested in hearing them!

I know the whole thing sounds ultra corny, but i'm planning to execute it nonetheless :P
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Definitely H.P. Lovecraft. I have the "Necronomicon", which is more or less a collection of most (if not all) of his stories. Or atleast the ones worth reading (and a couple that aren't). Though some of his stories might be more novella length, he has quite a few that are perfect.

Some of the best being "The Colour out of Space" and "The Dreams in the Witch House". Though shorter ones like "The Rats in the Walls" and whatnot are great.

I'm also partial to the Stephen King collections in "Night Shift" and "Skeleton Crew", since I grew up on that guy.
 
You can also read all Lovecraft stories online (legally), if you don't want to spend money for the books.
 
alec said:
roald dahl
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More thriller than horror usually, but they're good.

The Mezzotint by MR James is one of the scariest classics in history, but sadly our hardened, cynical modern minds shrug this kind of horror off too easily.
 
Professor Danger! said:
AskWazzup said:
So i was thinking of taking this girl for a walk by the seaside, when it's dark.... As it happens, the path to the seaside goes through a forest. Well, since simply walking is pretty uninteresting, i thought, why not spice things up a bit and put a theme on it? I got myself a lantern, some tea mixed with brandy and now all i lack is a few good, short horror stories for some added excitement, so if anyone has any suggestions, i would be very interested in hearing them!

I know the whole thing sounds ultra corny, but i'm planning to execute it nonetheless :P
Click to expand...

Definitely H.P. Lovecraft. I have the "Necronomicon", which is more or less a collection of most (if not all) of his stories. Or atleast the ones worth reading (and a couple that aren't). Though some of his stories might be more novella length, he has quite a few that are perfect.

Some of the best being "The Colour out of Space" and "The Dreams in the Witch House". Though shorter ones like "The Rats in the Walls" and whatnot are great.

I'm also partial to the Stephen King collections in "Night Shift" and "Skeleton Crew", since I grew up on that guy.
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Great advice. The Rats in the Walls or The Dreams in the Witch House would be excellent.

Sincerely,
The Vault Dweller
 
No one recommended Edgar Poe? Old, not really in the vein of modern horror but still awesome macabre short stories.
 
If you happen to be driving through a forest on a dark road tell her the one about the escaped lunatic. Its hard to mess up and you make up your own details as you go along. Here is the bases:

A young couple are driving along a dark road. They've been seeing each other for almost two weeks and the guy thought it was about time for them to start having sex. So he pulls over the car and tells the girl that they are out of gas. The girl sees right threw him but she wanted some dick and played along. After they were done messing around, the guy turns the car on but it does not start. The tank is empty. They look at each other worried and the guy says I saw a gas station a mile away I'll go get gas, listen to the radio and whatever you do don't leave the car or open it for anybody else. The girl is setting in the car waiting for what it seems like hours but the guy has yet to return. She starts to get worried and start to hear strange sounds in the woods. She hears a noise like someone is gentle banging on metal she is too scared to look so she turns the radio up. The banging sound gets louder and louder. Then she sees a bright light and hears a cop telling her to exit the car and walk toward him without looking back. As she is getting in the cop car she looks back to see an escaped lunatic banging on the car with the guy's severed head.

You should probably mention that it was a time before everyone had cell phones or w/e.
 
I also have this encyclopedia of urban legends. It pretty much tells the story of all, or at least a lot, of urban legends and then goes into where they came from and what they're based on. Good scary story source. I forget the name of it (I'm not near it right now), but it's somewhere along the lines of "Encyclopedia of Urban Legends". Mine looks similar to a hardcover textbook.
 
I just finished a book of Nathaniel Hawthorne short stories, and I think there are a few that qualify as scary. In particular I'm thinking of The Birthmark, Rappaccini's Daughter, and Ethan Brand. If I had to pick one of these, it would be The Birthmark. You can easily find it on-line.

Note that these aren't horror in the sense of ghosts and vampires and that sort of thing. They're more like dark gothic romances where supernatural forces destroy human beings for their sins of pride. I really enjoyed them.
 
o i was thinking of taking this girl for a walk by the seaside, when it's dark.... As it happens, the path to the seaside goes through a forest. Well, since simply walking is pretty uninteresting, i thought, why not spice things up a bit and put a theme on it? I got myself a lantern, some tea mixed with brandy and now all i lack is a few good, short horror stories for some added excitement, so if anyone has any suggestions, i would be very interested in hearing them!
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Just tell her you're a cannibal or that you have weird murderous dreams. If she sais she's scared, tell her: You're scared? I'm the one who has to go back through this forest all alone... Remember to pack a saw and some plastic bags for that extra horrific effect.
 
AskWazzup said:
Thanks for all the suggestions guys, browsing through your suggested authors i stumbled upon a shortened version of H. R. Giger's Necronomicon ritual. Now, the girl is not a devoted christian and pretty cool with such things, so i might just use that :twisted:, though i will still probably pick one of those horror stories for back up.
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Oh man, I hope she's into nerds! :mrgreen:

Seriously, I hope this works out for you, but if it's a huge flame-out I want to hear about it even more!

I suppose it's too much to ask for you to get video... :mrgreen:
 
UniversalWolf said:
AskWazzup said:
Thanks for all the suggestions guys, browsing through your suggested authors i stumbled upon a shortened version of H. R. Giger's Necronomicon ritual. Now, the girl is not a devoted christian and pretty cool with such things, so i might just use that :twisted:, though i will still probably pick one of those horror stories for back up.
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Oh man, I hope she's into nerds! :mrgreen:

Seriously, I hope this works out for you, but if it's a huge flame-out I want to hear about it even more!

I suppose it's too much to ask for you to get video... :mrgreen:
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Can't a guy get horrible rejected by a chick with dignity anymore?

Stupid Youtube generation.

Also, when you shoot the video, can you narrate it like Bob Saget's awful naration in American's Funniest Home Videos?
 
In the 1980's there was a book of scary short stories that was all the rage among 8-11 year olds - Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark collected from Folklore and retold by Alvin Schwartz and illustrated by Steve Gammell.

There are three of these books. Some of the stories are the typical ones that young kids and teenagers tell on sleepovers, others you probably haven't heard. I don't know how well it would hold up to the more discerning tastes of an older audience, but it had Christian groups up in arms so that has to count for something. As a kid, these were some of the most frightening and disturbing stories that I could wrap my head around.
 
iridium_ionizer said:
In the 1980's there was a book of scary short stories that was all the rage among 8-11 year olds - Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark collected from Folklore and retold by Alvin Schwartz and illustrated by Steve Gammell.

There are three of these books. Some of the stories are the typical ones that young kids and teenagers tell on sleepovers, others you probably haven't heard. I don't know how well it would hold up to the more discerning tastes of an older audience, but it had Christian groups up in arms so that has to count for something. As a kid, these were some of the most frightening and disturbing stories that I could wrap my head around.
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I remember those. I remember they had some really creepy drawings in the books that scared the crap out of me.

Good call. I forgot all about those.
 
Stephen King's novels tend to be a bit long winded but his short stories are usually quite good. The older collections tend to be better- Night Shift, Skeleton Crew. Plus they work for a rather popular audience.

I would go with Poe. If you want to memorize some of his poems, perhap that might work.

Lovecraft is better for reading than retelling. I am a fan, but the language is kind of awkward and heavy. THe modern Cthulhu stories have generally not ba been impressive, with a few exceptions.
(oh, if you are interested in some fan fiction- check out this-
http://www.callofcthulhu.org.uk/viewforum.php?f=142 )

Richard Matheson is pretty good too.

For one of the best collections of short horror- at least through the 1980s, check out The Dark Descent. Some classics in there- Faulkner, Hawthorne, Lovecraft, and some more modern stuff as well. One story, I think it was Basil Cooper's Shaft Number 247 in Cthulhu 2000 was really quite good.

You might want to check out Clive Barker's Book of Blood, although I was generally unimpressed. I have liked some of his long stuff, but this didn't work.

One of the problems with horror has been that its a fringe genre. Because its often considered "low brow" it also attracts writers who are interested in "alternative" issues. I got no problems with that usually, but sometimes it goes a little over the rails. The line between vampire horror and vampire romance, for instance, has screwed up the
genre.

I have recently pickup up THomas Ligotti, based on a recommendation from a friend. Anyone read his stuff and care to comment?
 
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