Most popular articles for January 2024:
The Haunting of Hill House. The Exorcist. House of Leaves. It. According to popular opinion, these are some of the scariest horror novels of all time. Read on to learn how I came to this conclusion…
A couple of weeks ago, I set out to determine the scariest horror novels of all time based on popular opinion. To accomplish this, I reviewed more than two-dozen individual articles, lists and rankings.
I looked at lists created by Barnes & Noble, Book Riot, Bustle, Buzzfeed, Esquire, Goodreads, Penguin Random House, Publishers Weekly and Reader’s Digest — to name but a few.
Next, I placed a checkmark by each novel for every time it appeared on a list. So, if a particular book showed up on six different lists, it received six checkmarks.
The end result is a “master list” of the scariest horror novels of all time.
Scariest Horror Novels of All Time: A Master List
As it turns out, a lot of people feel that Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House is the scariest horror book ever written. It appeared in more top-ten list than any other novel. That puts it among the scariest books of all time (based on my quasi-scientific analysis).
Jackson’s novel was joined by The Exorcist, House of Leaves, and It, all of which made a strong showing across multiple rankings. Let’s take a look at the top contenders.
The following novels appeared on six or more individual lists:
- The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson — 14 lists
- The Exorcist, by William Peter Blatty — 11 lists
- House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski — 11 lists
- It, by Stephen King — 9 lists
- Dracula, by Bram Stoker — 7 lists
- The Shining, by Stephen King — 7 lists
- ‘Salem’s Lot, by Stephen King — 7 lists
- Pet Sematary, by Stephen King — 6 lists
The Haunting of Hill House struck me as being more “spooky” and “creepy,” as opposed to downright scary. But this isn’t my list. It’s based on more than two-dozen individual rankings. And clearly, a lot of folks feel that Shirley Jackson’s seminal work is one of the scariest horror novels of all time. So there it stands, upon its pedestal.
The Exorcist is a frightening novel based on its premise alone. A hateful demon named Pazuzu possesses an innocent twelve-year-old girl, seemingly just for the fun of it. That novel (and its movie adaptation) featured some truly shocking moments, even by modern standards. So it clearly deserves a spot among the scariest horror novels of all time.
House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewsk, also appeared on many lists of scariest books. I downloaded a sample of this one several months back, but put it aside after reading the first two chapters. I don’t remember why, exactly. But now, after seeing it on so many lists of the scariest horror novels of all time, I feel it deserves a second look. The New York Times called House of Leaves a “novelistic mosaic that simultaneously reads like a thriller and like a strange, dreamlike excursion into the subconscious.”
It, by Stephen King, is not only one of the scariest horror novels of all time. It’s also one of the longest (weighing in at well over 1,000 pages) and most influential (having spawned three movies). This book takes the “creepy clown” concept to a whole new level.
Three more books by Stephen King (The Shining, ‘Salem’s Lot and Pet Sematary) were also ranked among the scariest horror novels of all time. Each of those books appeared on six or seven different lists, and for good reason. They’re chock full of creepy scenes — especially ‘Salem’s Lot.
I don’t know if Dracula could be considered “scary” by modern standards. But it probably scared the hell out readers back in the late 1800s, when it was first published. So maybe that’s why it appears on so many contemporary lists of the scariest horror novels of all time — nobody wants to ignore a classic.
P.S. There’s a YA version of this list, if you happen to like young adult books.
Bonus Round: More Scary Books Worth a Look
The eight works listed above appeared within the most articles, lists and rankings for scariest horror novels. But my research produced a number of other books that showed up on multiple (but fewer) lists. I’ve included them below, in case you want to beef up your horror reading list.
The following novels appeared on 5 lists:
- Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
- Ghost Story, by Peter Straub
- Hell House, by Richard Matheson
- Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
- Ring, by Koi Suzuki
- The Ruins, by Scott Smith
The following novels appeared on 4 lists:
- The Amityville Horror, by Jay Anson
- Beloved, by Toni Morrison
- Carrion Comfort, by Dan Simmons
- Dawn, by Octavia Butler
- A Head Full of Ghosts, Paul Tremblay
- Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
The following novels appeared on 3 lists:
- Bird Box, by Josh Malerman
- The Changeling, by Victor LaValle
- Coraline, by Neil Gaiman
- Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
- Interview With the Vampire, by Anne Rice
- Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
- My Soul to Keep, by Tananarive Due
- NOS4A2, by Joe Hill
- The Only Good Indians, by Stephen Graham Jones
- The Other, by Thomas Tryon
- Penpal, by Dathan Auerbach
- Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier
- Rosemary’s Baby, by Ira Levin
- We Need to Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver
So there you have it, a master list including 34 of the scariest horror novels of all time. That’s enough reading material to cover you for a good long while. And who knows … somewhere on this page, you might find your next favorite book.