February ScaredyKit- Haunted Houses & Haunted Locations

Welcome to a whole month of haunted houses and other haunted locations.
Pick a book that has creaking doors and floors, where characters "have a bad feeling about this place". It doesn't have to be a home, it could be a haunted workplace, hotel, motel, forest...anyplace can have a ghostly infestation.

A list of possibilities:
Horrorstor
Twelve Nights At Rotter House
Hell House
The Amityville Horror
The Grip Of It
Mapping the Interior
The Shining
The Spite House
The Whistling
The Turn Of The Screw
A Good House for Children
A Theory of Haunting
A House with Good Bones
Ghost Mother
The Haunting of Hill House
A Haunting on the Hill
Haunt Sweet Home
The Small Hand

Let us know what you've chosen, and give us a little review of what you thought. Was it spooky or dooky?

This is my favorite trope, so I'm excited to hear about the books everyone discovers! My plan is for The Militia House, which I've been meaning to read ever since it came out...

>2 whitewavedarling: I've heard good things about that one but haven't gotten around to buying a copy yet, so I'll be interested to hear what you think.

I jumped the gun and read my selection for February already, which was The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons, a reread and a 5-star book for me. I do have Incidents Around the House on my shelf as well, so I may read that too.

I'm in! Not sure what I'm reading yet, but I do have Horrorstor in the stacks, and The House Next Door, which Shannon recently hit me with.

I am planning on reading The Haunting of Ashburn House by Darcy Coates.

>2 whitewavedarling: Sounds like a good one!
>3 sturlington: You're enthusiastic about haunted houses-love it! I'd like to read Incidents Around the House too. I believe Malerman wrote one of the stories for the Creepshow tv series.
>4 Crazymamie: I think Horrorstor is pretty great and very scary. I've read it a couple of times, but I haven't read THND yet.

I'm going with The Dead Children's Playground, which is quite a title.

>6 mstrust: Haunted houses are my fave, gotta say!

Me too! February should be a lively month.

So. Many. Choices. The Grip of It by Jac Jemc is on the top of my list, but there’s also The Spite House by Johnny Compton, Kill Creek by ‪Scott Thomas, The Elementals by ‪Michael McDowell‬, or The Little Stranger by ‪Sarah Waters‬

I've read and enjoyed the first two but not the last three. It's tough to choose just one in this fun category. I've got a second already chosen, The Haunted Forest Tour. Picture me gleeful!

So far, I am thinking I will finish the Lockwood & Co series with The Empty Grave, which features a haunted fairground. But there are so many options!

Oooh, haunted fairground, great location!

This is one of my favourites, as well!

Like someone else, I see I have The Haunting of Ashburn House so I might got with it.

That sounds like a good one!

I am going to read 'Salem's Lot for this challenge

A classic!
Okay, it's officially haunted house and haunted locations month. Fill your water pistol with holy water.

I finished Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman. Super creepy, I advise making sure the closet doors are well shut before reading this one. 4*

... I advise making sure the closet doors are well shut before reading this one.
Sounds like a thumbs up!

Just startet I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurdardottir.

Only just now starting into my February reading, planning to read Haunting of Hill House! I loved the recent adaptation on Netflix, and I've seen the play, but haven't ever read the book.

>18 mstrust: Yes, it is!

>20 GraceCollection: Ooh, I hope you like it. That's one of my favorites!

I will read The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins

I finished listening to The Wrong One by Dervla McTiernan, which unexpectedly fits this prompt.

If anyone is looking for the wiki, it is here: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2025_ScaredyKIT#February:_Haunted_Houses...

Finished reading Militia House last night, and it was fantastic! I basically read it in two sittings, it was so compulsive. Full review written!

>24 MissBrangwen: Oh, thanks for the link! I haven't read my chosen book yet, but I'll get there.

Just about to start Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix. I have been looking forward to this one!

I completed The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins It is a gothic mystery, but unfortunately, the hotel itself only makes an appearance in the last 4-5 short chapters. I didn’t feel that Collins captured the eerie atmosphere typical of the genre in this novel. Compared to his other works, this one didn’t quite hit the mark for me. It’s my third Collins novel, and I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as The Woman in White or The Black Robe. 142 pages 3- stars

Just finished I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurdardottir, a ghost story from Iceland.
Exciting and well written.

>20 GraceCollection: I second >21 sturlington:, that's a great one!
>24 MissBrangwen: Thanks! I've never learned to make wikis because I don't see the need for them, but thank you for doing it.
>25 whitewavedarling: That's one for my WL!
>27 LaNS: I've read that one twice and liked it even more the second time.
>28 Tess_W: Too bad. The title would have called to me too. I loved The Woman in White.
>29 SirThomas: Thanks for the rec!

I'm 3/4 through The Dead Children's Playground, which does have quite a few dead children in it.

>30 mstrust: I didn't create it (I don't know how to do that either), I just linked it.

>29 SirThomas: I had no idea that Yrsa Sigurdardottir wrote ghost stories! I have only read her crime novels so far.

Nine year-old cancer survivor Kylie, her nineteen year old sister Kayla, and their parents, have just arrived at their new home in Huntsville when a friendly little girl invites Kylie to play. And that's all it takes for the two sisters to be thrown into a paranormal mystery. Who is the girl, and why is she so insistent on Kylie playing in the abandoned playground next to the old cemetery?
Can you guess?
This is a good one; lots of ghosts, family dysfunction, and hoodoo. And the ghosts don't play by the established rules of having to stay inside their perimeters.

>32 mstrust: Oh, I do like the cover!

>31 MissBrangwen: I don't before either, but that's the great thing here, you broaden your horizons - and I am grateful that I can also make a contribution🙂.

>33 LibraryCin: It really captures the creepiness!

Not re-reading this year, but just chiming in that Matheson's Hell House is probably my favorite Matheson bookA

I just finished The Grip of It by Jac Jemc and found it rather disappointing.

>36 jdavidhacker: >37 Charon07: For me, it was the reverse, ha!
I really didn't like Hell House, but I found The Grip Of It to have a creepy atmosphere. But then, I have a little claustrophobia so scenes in tight spaces, like a closet, creep me out.

>38 mstrust: I thought the first part of The Grip of It did great at creating a very creepy atmosphere. But after that build-up, I think a good horror story either gives you a cathartic dénouement or leaves you with a lingering sense of dread that continues to haunt you, and this one did neither. It just sort of dissipated.

I am hosting march. Had hoped to finish and post today, but heading to er for eye issues. Possibly torn or detached retina. I hope to be ok to use pc and to read, but well see later today.

>40 LibraryCin:, Oh gosh! Good luck--I hope you get good news and feel better shortly!

>40 LibraryCin: I’m wishing a good outcome with your eyes.

>40 LibraryCin: Oh no, I hope you feel better soon!

>40 LibraryCin: Oh, no! My husband has detached his retina before and I know it really hurts. I hope it goes well at the er.

Thanks everyone. The retina is not detached (currently), but there is a vitreal detachment. The vitreous humor (the gel behind your eye) has dried up and pulled away. It can still cause a tear or retinal detachment, so I have an appointment with my ophthalmologist tomorrow morning, first thing.

If it gets worse today, I go back and they can schedule a surgery for tomorrow. As it is, I am told nothing I do (or don't do) will change things, so to go on with my regular life, at least for tonight (unless it gets worse).

Next order of business. I might still keep it bare bones-ish, but I will get the March ScaredyKit posted.

ETA: I have had (in the other eye) both a torn, then detached retina, as well. I don't want to have to go through those again, but it might happen.

>45 LibraryCin:, Oh gosh. I'll be thinking of you and hoping for the best!!!

Thank you! :-)

And March is now posted:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/368527

>47 LibraryCin: Take care, and I hope your eye is better soon.

>45 LibraryCin: I had a vitreal detachment. I hope all goes smoothly for you with no complications.

>49 Charon07: Thank you. I assume everything was ok with you, nothing more major came out of it? Hopefully so. Or, at least I hope all is currently well with your eyes.

>50 LibraryCin: Nothing major! Myopia is still my worst eye problem!

>45 LibraryCin: Hope everything is OK with your eye.

I've just finished Ghost Summer: Stories by Tananarive Due. This is a collection of short stories and one novella, the titular Ghost Summer. That was the only haunting related story and it was a haunted forest, not house. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Overall, I enjoyed the whole collection even though there wasn't as many ghosts as I was hoping.

Take care. Prayers sent.

Wishing the best for you.

I have completed my read of The Haunting of Ashburn House.

What did you think, Judy?

I'm halfway through my second haunted book, The Haunted Forest Tour. It's both scary and action-packed.

>55 DeltaQueen50: I don't read a lot of haunted house stories but I think this one was well done. It scared me!

Then it did its job. Thanks for the rec!

This was a good one! There are ghosts, but also ogres, giant spiders, a giant severed head, dragons, and lots of horrifying forest creatures trying to make a meal of the tourists stuck in the forest. Horror with some humor. Big thumbs up!

34. 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King ★★★½

'Salem's Lot is a small New England town with white clapboard houses, tree-lined streets, and solid church steeples. That summer in 'Salem's Lot was a summer of homecoming and return, spring burned out and the land lying dry, crackling underfoot. Late that summer, Ben Mears returned to 'Salem's Lot hoping to cast out his own devils and found instead a new unspeakable horror. A stranger had also come to the Lot, a stranger with a secret as old as evil, a secret that would wreak irreparable harm on those he touched and in turn on those they loved. All would be changed forever - Susan, whose love for Ben could not protect her; Father Callahan, the bad priest who put his eroded faith to one last test and Mark, a young boy who sees his fantasy world become reality and ironically proves the best equipped to handle the relentless nightmare of 'Salem's Lot. (description from back of the book)

While I enjoyed this book, I did not find it very scary. Perhaps if I had read it when it was first released and before I had read several other Stephen King and/or vampire novels it would have been better. I had seen the original miniseries starring David Soul and knew most of the story before finally reading the book.

Haunting of Hill House

I have to disclose something: while I love horror as a genre, it doesn't scare me. Since I was maybe 12 or so, I have been unable to turn off that voice in my head that tells me, 'This isn't real; it's only a book/film/video game; it's all fictional and you're not in any danger.' While I certainly would enjoy being scared, this doesn't stop me from enjoying horror, although I cannot use as a factor in rating horror whether or not it scared me, as the answer is always, 'no'. So, no, Haunting of Hill House did not frighten me.

But, oh! the characters! I loved Eleanor and Theodora most of all, but how compelling I found the characters in general! The shifting dynamics and witty dialogue, in turns affectionate and pointed, really endeared me to this story. Poor Eleanor, such a lonely thing, so self-critical and insecure. In a way, the house giving her a sense of belonging was almost a relief instead of a tragedy. The slow, subtle march towards the inevitable conclusion had me on the edge of my seat to the end of the book.

I have seen the stage play adaptation of the book, which did not do the story justice but which I might appreciate more now, having known the source material. I have also seen the Netflix adaptation; there are elements of the series which reference the book, and echoes of the story within, (I may revisit it now, having read the book,) but it isn't truly an adaptation of the story. That isn't bad, necessarily, as from what I hear the films which did adapt the story ended up terribly, but it really is more of an original work that pays homage to Hill House rather than an adaptation of Jackson's book.

I can see why this book is a classic, but don't let that put you off — it is a very approachable work for a modern audience. I may have to reread this one.

>60 lowelibrary: I saw the David Soul miniseries when I was a kid and it scared me so bad! But I haven't read this one yet. Thanks for the review!

>61 LibraryCin: I was too scared to head to the basement to scoop the cat’s litter!
If that isn't a ringing endorsement, I don't know what is. Take note everybody.

>62 GraceCollection: Glad you enjoyed it even if it didn't scare you. I know I've said it before, but The Haunting of Hill House gave me a terrifying moment years ago when I was reading it on my couch, which at the time was near the front door. When I got to the creepiest climax of the book, there was a tremendous bang on my front door and I jumped. Like heart attack jump. The people who delivered the White Pages had thrown that ten pound book at the door.

>63 mstrust: >61 LibraryCin: LibraryCin: I was too scared to head to the basement to scoop the cat’s litter!
If that isn't a ringing endorsement, I don't know what is. Take note everybody.

I know, right!? That's what a horror novel is supposed to do!

>64 LibraryCin: The Category Challenge Cat Poop Horror Index™, ranging from 0 - Tidy Cat–approved to 10 - kitty is wailing in the corner with her legs crossed.

>65 Charon07: LOL!

It was a really fun month; thanks to everyone who participated!

>63 mstrust: Oh no! What a book to be reading when you get that kind of a knock. If that had happened to me, I admit it would have scared even me! Lucky for me, no white pages... I don't think I could lug one of those into the house these days.

I don't think they print them anymore, which saves me from future horror-related heart attacks.

Hm, I don't think so, but you never know... World Book is still publishing physical encyclopaedias!