5 Chilling Stories to Read This Halloween

What's better than a warm cup of apple cider, a fire going, and a good old horror book sitting in your hands? Nothing. To figure out your next horrific read this Halloween, take a peek at these five horror novels. 

The Only Good Indians (Stephen Graham Jones)

The Only Good Indians, written in 2020, is a book that goes back to folklore. The body horror and constant unease you feel throughout reading the book is perfect. But something that is perhaps even better is the realization the antagonist isn’t human at all, making The Only Good Indians one of the best gut churning stories of the past six years. 

Stephen Graham Jones is known for testing lines and reintroducing old folklore cryptids and painting them in a different light. The Only Good Indians is a perfect introduction to Steven Graham Jones and his way of writing; it's followed by a sequel Off The Reservation. He has plenty of other books you could choose from if you enjoy this one.

The Strange Case Of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde (Robert Louis Stevenson)

Now for a Gothic classic, The Strange Case Of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde. Written in 1886, the story is definitely rather dated but is still a classic horror novella. The Strange Case Of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde will have you questioning so many things, but more specifically what the heck is actually going on. The Strange Case Of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde is only around 70 pages long and is a quick read for anyone looking for a fast thrill.

Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark (Alvin Schwartz)

If you know anyone who is into horror, they likely started here with Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark. I know it's where I started. Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark is an anthology written in 1981 that has a bunch of different stories within multiple books. Each tale is a classic story that almost everyone knows. Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark will leave you wondering where that big toe came from, where did Harold go, and what caused the red spot?

Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)

Interview with the Vampire is the first book in The Vampire Chronicles series by Anne Rice. It was written in 1976 and follows two very old vampires and how they became vampires. It’s quite possibly one of the first vampire books that romanticized vampires in a way that is not as mainstream as Twilight. 

Out of The Vampire Chronicles series, Queen of the Damned is the scariest, but each entry has its own unsettling atmosphere about it and I find Interview with the Vampire to be the perfect introduction to a series.

The Shining (Stephen King)

Where would this list be without the king of horror himself being on it? Stephen King wrote The Shining in 1977. It was his third book ever, following Carrie and Salem's Lot. I easily could have put most of his books on this list because they all are horrifically unsettling. 

The Shining is one of King's classic novels and the one that a lot of people source as their favorite by him, myself included. The Shining not only was scary, but was also a book that had me thinking about stuff much much deeper than the horror. Suddenly the haunted hotel and axe murderer on the loose wasn’t the scariest part of the story, but the real life horrors incorporated like alcoholism and domestic abuse.

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This chilly spooky season, curl up on your couch in a blanket and read one of these five chilling stories.

Happy Halloween!