Scary & Freaky stories: The Paranormal World

*BONUS EPISODE* TOP 10 GHOST STORIES TO TELL ON LONG NIGHTS

5. Ghost Story by Peter Straub (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1979). Everyone has been afraid, sometime. Everyone has felt fear close a cold hand around the heart, tug at the scalp and send the blood racing wildly. Everyone has been afraid. But none so afraid as the terror-stricken men and women of Milburn. Called by a supernatural force to answer for a supernatural sin. Sentenced in the evil heart of darkness... to live out a ghost story. This is the first book by Peter Straub that I've read, and - to be perfectly honest - I had a very hard time getting through it. The beginning, the first 150 pages or so, are extraordinarily tough to plod through. They are dense and seem to take the reader nowhere in particular. It seemed to me that Straub was saying, "I've got a story to tell, and I'm going to tell it at my pace and I'm not going to give you the good stuff, I'm not going to scare you until I'mgood and ready!" And scare us he does! Once I got over that hump, and started on the back nine of the book, it raced on, and had some of the scariest scenes I have ever read. Be sure not to miss the scene with George Scales standing watch over his barn in the dead of night. Or the confrontation scene in the Rialto movie theater (The Night of the Living Dead was never before used so effectively as a backdrop). All-in-all, I was somewhat disappointed with Ghost Story to begin with, but by the time I was done, I was thoroughly impressed.

6. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving (The Sketch Book. New York: Signet Classics, 1981. 329-360). If you haven't read this story yet, you need to drop everything you are currently doing, and run to your local library or bookstore and find this classic (for convenience, it has been separately published as a "stand-alone-story" outside of Irving's The Sketchbook. I will tell you, that you have not read a better told, a better crafted, and a more exciting and adventurous ghost-and-goblin story than "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," I know I haven't. I was completely under the story's spell and utterly caught up in the tale of Ichabod Crane, Brom Bones, their rivalry for the fair Katrina Van Tassel, and the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow. Fun, fun, fun. Pick this one up, pop some corn, uncork the apple cider, and cuddle up in front of a warm fire on Halloween night, gather the whole family, and read this one together. I guarantee you that it will be an instant family favorite and a long-standing family ritual for years to come.

7. The Shining by Stephen King (New York: Signet Books, 1977).REDRUM! REDRUM!"... [E]very big hotel has got a ghost" (22), and The Overlook Hotel is no exception. Jack Torrence is an out-of-work, ex-alcoholic writer, who has taken a dying grasp at a last straw offered: the caretakership of the Overlook in the Rockies of Colorado. Jack, his wife Wendy, and their son Danny will be spending the off-season (in the dead of winter) sequestered in the isolated resort. Danny soon discovers that there is more to the Overlook than meets the eye. For you see, Danny has "the shining." That special ability that some call second sight, and will soon be working overtime at the Overlook. Because, the Overlook has more than one ghost... and the "manager" is out to get Danny. Preying on Jack's insecurities and fears, the Overlook soon convinces Jack that he is needed by the hotel's "management" and his initiation is the murder of both Wendy and Danny. Stephen King's The Shining is the ultimate in haunted house stories, and... for me is the scariest of all his works. Claustrophobic and intense, King pulls no punches in dealing with such themes as alcoholism, spousal and child abuse, and - of course - a good old fashioned ghost story. It is an engrossing story that takes the reader on a roller coaster ride of emotions. King's writing in this novel is superb and the book is structured as a five-part tragedy (it was originally conceptualized as a play), "Prefatory Matters," "Closing Day," "The Wasps' Nest," "Snowbound," and "Matters of Life and Death." The dichotomy of Jack's character is especially fascinating... the unfeigned love that he feels for both his wife and son, and yet the uncontrollable descent into madness and murder that the Overlook plunges him into. My first exposure to The Shining was a MAD Magazine parody of the Stanley Kubrick film. From there, I purchased the book when I was in the seventh grade, and read it for the first time that summer while my family was vacationing at Lake Tahoe. It scared me then... it has scared me each time I have read it since... and it scared me when I read it this time around. Usually, I read late into the night... but withThe Shining, I couldn't bring myself to read it much past midnight. It truly is the scariest book I have ever read, and is definitely the most terrifying of King's works. Just remember, when travelling... stay away from Room #217.

8. "The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James (The Turn of the Screw and Other Short Fiction. New York: Bantam Books, 1981. 1-104). "The story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as on Christmas Eve in an old house a strange tale should essentially be, I remember no comment uttered till somebody happened to note it as the only case he had met in which such a visitation had fallen on a child" (3). "The Turn of the Screw" is not only an incredible ghost story, but also a first-rate psychological thriller and a truly masterful ghost story. I don't want to give away too much about the story so as not to spoil the "fun" for future readers. So, all I'll say is save "Screw" for a cold and dark autumn or winter night (as is appropriate time for such stories).

9. "The Wendigo" by Algernon Blackwood (Best Ghost Stories of Algernon Blackwood. New York: Dover, 1973. 158-207). My first introduction to Algernon Blackwood came from a passing reference to him in Stephen King's Danse Macabre, where he mentions the short story "The Wendigo." I will admit that I became a bit obsessed with finding a copy of Blackwood's short stories after that, and finally did come upon this particular tome in the $1.00 Clearance section at Half Price Books. I scooped it up instantly and, now, after having finally read it almost a year after finding it, I feel that it is one of the best $1.09 that I have spent in my literary miseducation. I have to say, that although I found it difficult to start this book, once I got into it, I couldn't pull myself out. These are some of the best and most suspenseful scary stories that I have ever read. "The Wendigo" is an absolutely amazing story of terror and the supernatural. It is also the story that is credited with propelling the mythology of the wendigo into mainstream consciousness and around campfires throughout North America. This is a stellar collection of the œuvre of Algernon Blackwood, and the payoff at reading is worth the effort it takes to find copies of his stories.

10. "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Writings. New York: Bantam Books, 1989. 1-20). A desperate woman traps herself in a bizarre room - where she ... the demons creeping from every wall. Is it too late to fight the madness?In 1892 an unnamed woman passes the slow days of summer writing down her innermost thoughts while convalescing. Her observations focus on the strange effects of the peeling, fading, yellow wallpaper in her bedroom. I first read this short story a number of years ago - in high school, if I remember correctly, and didn't think much of it, other than the fact that this was one weird and wild story. Now, coming back to it at a later date, I find that Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a genius. In "The Yellow Wallpaper," there is a theme of escape. Yellow for many years was the color that stood for insanity. The narrator is going insane while warning women of the pressures society puts on them. Her feelings were quite clear. She was not going to be kept from being successful, or strong, simply because she was a woman. The concept of whether or not she is insane, however, is a different story all together. She could be interpreting things much different than the actual fact, but ... then ... maybe she isn't. There are so many facets to this story that to go into all of them in depth would take pages. This could be a story of feminism. It could be a story of the suppression of the medical society, or of the suppression of artistic creativity (as the narrator's husband does not like her to write). It is also a story of the taboos, misunderstandings, and stigmas that society has foisted on those with mental illnesses. This story will give any Reader goose bumps on their goose bumps. I highly recommend it; you'll not be disappointed.