Scariest Haunted House Novel

Honorable Mention:

With The Turn of the Screw, Henry James gives us a haunted house story that exemplifies the psychological scare. A we can't see the monster that is chasing us scare(1). And that's my favorite kind of scare. The narrator of the story is a Governess who has been hired to take care of an orphaned brother and sister at an absentee Uncle's country estate. As the story progresses, the Governess begins to encounter the ghosts of the previous governess and her lover. At first I took the Governess' story at face value but as I read the possibility slowly began to arise that perhaps the Governess is completely off her rocker and the ghosts are only in her head. This uncertainty as well as the tragic ending makes this novel the perfect introduction to James and a great way to kick off 31 Days of Fright.

Honorable Mention:

Shirley Jackson's masterpiece almost perfectly follows in James' footsteps. Where there is some doubt about the Governess' involvement in The Turn of the Screw, there is much less doubt about Eleanor Vance's role. Sure Hill House is a spooky old house, but it really only wakes up once Eleanor arrives. And once again Jackson keeps the suspense up by leaving much of the horror to the reader's imagination (and personally, my imagination is almost always scarier than any written description). Lines like “I am like a small creature swallowed whole by a monster, she thought, and the monster feels my tiny little movements inside.” and "Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.” still give me goosebumps. Hill House is a great read that gave me the desired amount of trepidation as I walked around my house in the wee hours of the morning.

Winner:

I've read a lot of horror stories. But never one like this. At one point I had to grab a pen and some paper to start breaking the codes within. I mean you really had to work hard sometimes. But it was all worth it. To hopefully elaborate, how one usually scrutinizes expositions is somehow barely appropriate due to Danielewski's structure. I mean how can you convey to your fellow readers how the structure of the book completely mirrors the events taking place within the book without spoiling the awesomeness of encountering that place for the first time? When the characters are trapped inside a claustrophobic space the text is designed to trap the reader within the same space. When the characters are hopelessly lost in a maze you as a reader also find yourself lost in a maze of text. You almost feel like you are getting sucked into the story just like that poor bastard Johnny Truant. It's relentless, unique, and amazing. If you like to be scared and you don't mind getting lost in the dark (and footnotes and appendices and indexes) then you should really check out this book.

Footnote
(1) The opposite of Hostel, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Scream, Scream 2, Scream 3, Scream 4, Halloween II, Halloween III, Halloween IV, Freddy's Revenge, Dream Warriors, Wishmaster, Freddy vs. Jason, The Final Nightmare, The New Nightmare, Hostel II, Hostel III, Saw, Saw 3D, Halloween H20, Halloween Rob Zombie, Jason Goes to Hell, Jason Takes Manhattan, Jason Lives, Saw II, Saw III, Saw IV, Saw V, Saw VI, Candyman, Candyman II, Candyman III, Feast, Feast 2: Sloppy Seconds, and Feast 3: The Happy Finish.