January 2022 ScaredyKit-Haunted Houses

Happy New Year! Ready to get creepy?

Haunted houses are a cornerstone of the horror genre, and my own favorite. Lots of us first heard scary haunted house stories as kids, and maybe you had a house in the neighborhood that was reputed to be haunted. There's really no end to the ways this trope can be re-imagined, whether set in a mansion, a funeral home, an apartment building or a business. And it doesn't have to be haunted by scary spirits either.


Just a few suggestions:
The Shining
Horrorstor
Slade House
The Woman in Black
Twelve Nights At Rotter House


Hell House
The Little Stranger
House of Leaves
The Turn of the Screw
The Haunting of Hill House
Black House
The Amityville Horror



Here's a listing of the scariest haunted house books to get more ideas: https://the-line-up.com/5-haunted-house-books-that-will-make-you-think-twice-abo...

Tell us what you'll be reading these dark January nights.

I'm in! Let me see what I can find on the shelves...

I am planning on reading Kill Creek by Scott Thomas.

I'm going to start with a reread of Horrorstor. I read it about five years ago and it scared the beejezus out of me, so I've been meaning to reread it.

This is ghost stories, generally, but it's a bunch of short stories and from the description I can see that at least one is a building (likely more than that!).

I'll plan on Ghost Stories of Saskatchewan 3 / Jo-Anne Christensen

I have another one I really want to read, but haven't been able to get my hands on it (I think it's moire than I want to spend to buy it...)

I found The Good House in a bookstore. I've been wanting to read it forever but thought it was out of print, so I was super excited. That's what I will be reading. Since this is my favorite topic, I may read one or two more after that. Winter is the perfect time for ghost stories. :-)

I've got Dreamhouse and that's what I'm read. I don't know how good it is...

For some reason touchstone links don't work when I post on my phone.

Oh oh and now they do but it's the wrong book.

Did you mean this Dreamhouse?

Yes! LT says I got rid of it in 2018 but I'm pretty sure I saw it on the shelves earlier this week.

I will plan on either The Haunting of Hill House or The Grip of It, or I could try finishing House of Leaves

I meant to get to The Grip of It this year and didn't, so that's going to be my goal for the month :)

I think I'm going to read The Woman in Black as it is about the only one on my shelf that will fit this kit.

>11 Kristelh: >12 whitewavedarling: The Grip Of It is a perfect choice.
>13 Tess_W: Get ready, that's a really scary one. Enjoy!

Although I won't read it, I do nominate the cabin at the end of the world. It's genuinely creepy And maybe the catalyst for the salvation or destruction of the whole planet and all the people there in. It also has the only defense of gay love that I feel works. It's a good book. Terrible things happen.

>15 SomeGuyInVirginia: Loved that one as well. That one would also work for the month I'm hosting in summer: Into the Wild, since it takes place at an isolated vacation cabin.

>15 SomeGuyInVirginia: >16 sturlington: I loved his Headful of Ghosts but couldn't get past two chapters of Cabin at the End of the World. I had no idea that home invasion scenarios freaked me out until I started that one. I need to grow up and try it again some time because it was supposed to be scary.

>17 mstrust: If it makes you feel better, I absolutely can't watch home invasion movies. I'm better able to distance myself from it in books, but the scenario is terrifying.

Thanks, Shannon. I don't think I've ever watched a home invasion movie, and I guess this is why.
I remember noting the claustrophobic situations in Horrorstor, a good chunk of the horrific atmosphere, but I ended up really liking the story.

>19 mstrust: LOL, I stayed at a rental over Thanksgiving that was completely furnished with IKEA furniture, and all I could think about was Horrorstör!

I put home invasion fiction right up there with zombie fiction, both genuinely terrify me and I read both. I read one really great home invasion novel - The Seige of Trencher's Farm, aka Straw Dogs.

Ok, I stopped reading Dreamhouse on page 56. Really boring. I'm going to try The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters.

>20 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Ha! Creepy!
>21 SomeGuyInVirginia: "Really great home invasion novel" is an unexpected phrase. I guess I can't stand the suspense of waiting for the homeowners
to shove the criminal into the oven and setting it on broil.
Sorry your first pick didn't work out, but The Little Stranger gets great reviews.

>23 SomeGuyInVirginia: LOL!

>23 SomeGuyInVirginia: I have faith that you would prevail and have yourself a sweet new van.

>23 SomeGuyInVirginia: Put a cat in there and I am a goner.

>25 mstrust: Only if hyperventilating and assuming the fetal position is a superpower.

Everyone has a ninja inside them!

I pity the fool.

Happy New Year, my fellow creeps!
I'm more than halfway through my reading of Horrorstor and enjoying it just as much as the first time.

>30 mstrust: Happy new year!

I finished Horrostor and liked it as much as I did when it first came out. It's a clever, modern haunted house story, taking place in a warehouse store that the characters recognize is an IKEA knock-off. It gets pretty dark and the characters are tortured using store products, but because it's all taking place in a store full of faux Swedish named products, there's a lot of humor.

Er.mah.gerd. Okay, so I was reading Dreamhouse by some forgotten author and I'm not going to go to look up who wrote it because I stopped reading it, because it was another '70s horror book about a sympathetic family who moves into an odd house and terrible things happen. I've been there like, too many times. What about a squabbling family who moves into an okay house and then s*** happens? I set it aside.

You know, I'm finding that good haunted house novels are kind of hard to find. Or is it just me? The only really good haunted house book I've read in the past several years has been The House Next Door by Ann somebody whoosit. THAT kicked behind! Never read Horrorstor. My copy is Kindle. Still on to read?

Or is it just me?
Yeah, it's just you. Read Horrorstor, it's great. Or Slade House. Or The Woman in Black, which will scare the beejezus out of you. Twelve Nights At Rotter House, which is a more recent publication and full of the haunted house tropes we love, yet with a twist at the end. Do put down your 45 year-old mass market horror for a while, or at least try to read it while one eye takes off and wanders all over the place, in honor of Karen Black.

>33 SomeGuyInVirginia: The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons, a longtime favorite of mine by an author who's more well-known for her Southern-flavored romance-adjacent epic fiction aimed at women.

I have a list going of ghost stories because it's my favorite subgenre, and it's now up to 91 books, since I added the suggestion in >34 mstrust: that I have not read, Twelve Nights at Rotter House. I've only read about half of this list myself. It's here: https://www.librarything.com/list/20318/all/Haunted-Places-and-Ghost-Stories-Rea...

I read Slade House - loved it. I also have Horrorstor here to read, as I love the concept.

>35 sturlington: Very handy listing for the ScaredyKits, thanks for posting.
I haven't read that one from Siddons yet, that's a good rec. I could have sworn that Hell House was included in my big volume of Matheson on my shelf, but I went to pull it yesterday, and nope. My library doesn't have it either but I entered "haunted house" into the search bar and have two requests. I'll see if either is a good fit.

>36 JayneCM: I thought Slade House was so well done, both creepy and a little trippy. Do let us know what you think of Horrorstor. Hendrix's next book is already listed on Amazon though it doesn't come out for several months.

>37 mstrust: I haven't read any Grady Hendrix yet, so looking forward to it.
Slade House was exactly that! I now have The Bone Clocks - someone told me to read Slade House first as some of the same world building is in The Bone Clocks, but much more detailed.

>38 JayneCM: I read them in the opposite order, but I think it would have been more fun to have read Slade House first. If I recall correctly, The Bone Clocks was published first. It's very different--I hope you enjoy.

>38 JayneCM: I haven't read The Bone Clocks, so I'll note that. Thanks!

I have both The Good House and Horrorstor. Let's see which one I stick with.

Well, I completed Kill Creek and although I had high hopes for this one, it failed to engage me and left me disappointed.

>42 DeltaQueen50: Agree, I was pretty let down by that one too.

ETA I hope you got your worse read of 2022 out of the way already as well!

I finished The Good House by Tananarive Due, and I ended up having very mixed feelings about. I wrote a long review, which is on my thread and the work page, if you're interested in why. Also, although the house figures very prominently and there are several good scenes inside it, this was more of a demon possession book than a haunted house book.

I also have The Last House on Needless Street on my shelves, so I think I'll read that one for this month too.

I'm going to give Nothing But Blackened Teeth a try. The cover is pretty dang scary.

And I've been meaning to mention that I have this calendar for 2022:


Happy images of jack o'lanterns for January, Feb is a pile of Halloween candy, June is a decorated porch...

>46 mstrust: Haha! I know a few people who would like that calendar!

Looks like they had another version last year too, same name. I found it on Amazon but I see that Walmart online has it too.
It's kinda perfect for me.

I read The Woman in Black. I would like to say more than meh, but can't. The only interesting/entertaining bit was the last 2 pages. 141 pages 2.5 stars

I read The Woman in Black by Susan Hill. I rate it 3 stars. It was a quick read.

I thought The Woman in Black was a good creepy Gothic, though a slow start. But I see the reviews from LT are pretty evenly divided.

Finished The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward. This was the second book in a row set in a spooky house in Washington state. I liked this one much better than the last. It's not a conventional ghost story either, but since it has a spooky house and there are occasionally visions of dead people, I'm counting it.

PS I hope I'm not giving anything away, so I'll put this under a spoiler tag, but you can count this book for next month's challenge of Snakes, Spiders, and Other Creepy Crawlers as well.

I am reading Black Creek Crossing by John Saul

I finished Nothing But Blackened Teeth. Sorry, I don't recommend it. Though the plot is interesting and promising, the writing is so bogged down with detail and the characters are one-dimensional, even the narrator.

February thread is up
https://www.librarything.com/topic/338807

I finished The Sentence by Louise Erdrich, which has a ghost haunting a bookstore. This isn't really a scary story, but I did like it very much, as it had wonderful characters (including the ghost).

Finished The Grip of It this morning, and absolutely loved it--incredibly haunting and gorgeously written!

>57 whitewavedarling:, oh, I have to get to that one of these days, its been on my tbr for several years now.

>57 whitewavedarling: I read it a few years ago and was impressed with how chilling it was.

Ghost Stories of Saskatchewan 3 / Jo-Anne Christensen
4 stars

This is the third book of Saskatchewan ghost stories written by this author. This one had a few chapters that were a bit different, though. In addition to the ghost stories from around the province, she interviewed a few groups of ghost hunters based in Saskatchewan.

This had me scared enough – when reading by myself at night – to not head down to the basement after reading, before bed, to scoop the cat’s litter box down there! The chapters on the ghost hunters was unexpected, but surprisingly interesting. Although (sadly), none of the ghost stories were really near where I grew up, I quite liked this one.

I read The Haunting of Alma Fielding: A True Ghost Story - Kate Summerscale. I chose it because the description led me to believe it was a haunted house. Unfortunately it soon shifted to a haunted individual rather than the home, so it really didn't fit. I will see if I can fit in a true haunted house story.

I found this book very interesting. Fodor tries to investigate in a scientific way to find definitive proof. He comes up with three explanations for the things that are happening to Alma: it could truly be that she is haunted by spirits, it could be that she has psychological issues that manifest themselves in supernatural ways, or she could be a fake. I like how the author doesn't try to tell you the answer either, she simply presents all of the evidence that Fodor collected and lets you decide. I also like how the book puts the case in historical context. England had just finished one world war and was on the brink of getting into another one. Spiritualism had taken hold with seances and mediums being plentiful. Overall I recommend this to anyone interested in the subject, just don't pick it up expecting any real answers or a scary ghost story.

Looks like we're done!

Thanks to everyone who participated.