Scary moments in books

[Becklebear]

Do you remember reading a book as a child that managed to scare the bejeezus out of you? When I was a kid (about 9) I read the 4th Harry Potter book. The scene where Peter Pettigrew cuts off his hand really got to me. It gave me nightmares for days!

When i got a few years older i read the Scary Stories collection since my sister dared me too. I'll tell you, they were lot for someone who thought R. L. Stine's Goosebumps were spooky!

 

[Nick]

I don't know if I have honestly been scared by horror in writing before. Instead, I will have moments where I will look at something and nod approvingly when I think it is done well.

For instance, in Brandon Sanderson's Elantrian book, he describes an environment where the person never heals. The character stubs his toe, and that pain just stays there. Every scratch, every scrape or bruise, it all doubles-down.

In Clive Barker's The Hellbound Heart (so, Hellraiser), characters are tortured, not only through hooks and acts of violence, but by overloading their senses. I thought that was neat.

 

[Tramuson]

Do you remember reading a book as a child that managed to scare the bejeezus out of you? When I was a kid (about 9) I read the 4th Harry Potter book. The scene where Peter Pettigrew cuts off his hand really got to me. It gave me nightmares for days!

When i got a few years older i read the Scary Stories collection since my sister dared me too. I'll tell you, they were lot for someone who thought R. L. Stine's Goosebumps were spooky!

More than the stories in Scary Stories, I remember the images stuck with me.

 

[Becklebear]

More than the stories in Scary Stories, I remember the images stuck with me.

I know! As an adult I can appreciate the skill in the artwork. As a kid they were nightmare fuel!

 

[Plagueis]

More than the stories in Scary Stories, I remember the images stuck with me.

I remember always being taken aback by how haunting some of the images were. You'd expect children stories to be more like Goosebumps, where they are more or less a throwback to classic Monster movies we now no longer see as frightening, instead you have this! Courage the Cowardly Dog (if anyone remembers that) is a children's animated series I remember that had a lot of moments that stuck with me. Again, they don't actually hold nowadays, but as a kid, they really stuck!

 

[Brandon]

More than the stories in Scary Stories, I remember the images stuck with me.

The stuff of nightmares, always surprised they had this in a kid's book. Hats off to them.