I think I may have gone to school with him…
Halloween is one of those traditions that it seems anything goes. Some celebrate it, some don’t. Some see it as a religious holiday, and others think of it as just a time to have fun and eat lots of candy.
For Hollywood and retailers alike, it’s become a barn-burner of raking in the dough.
The one thing we can all agree on, though, is that it has some scary overtones.
So–let’s share some scary with each other.
What, in your opinion, is the scariest story ever? Can be movie, novel, short story, or maybe even a poem.
For me, it’s this one:
Never have liked clowns since watching IT, written by Stephen King…
Okay, TKZers, scare us with your scariest story ever…
For me, it’s the stories and villains that are too close to reality. Folktales and children’s rhymes made flesh via CGI don’t frighten me. Neither do unexplained things that go bump in the dark (I live with cats; most noises and freaky happenings can be blamed squarely on them! Ha!)
But the “could have beens,” now those disturb me.
I love Rob Zombies’ movies: House of a Thousand Corpses, Devil’s Rejects, 31, Three from Hell.
They’re a lurid, mostly ridiculous throwback to the gore genre.
But there were parts of Devil’s Rejects that twanged a deeply-buried fear in me, because Bill Moseley, playing Patriarch Otis of the demented Firefly clan, did far too good a job portraying a very realistic serial killer.
I live in rural Texas (not quite by choice.) This is already a dangerous state, and I’ve traveled internationally, walked crowded foreign cities. I’m far more unnerved by the stranger eyeing me from his truck in the nearby gas station than I am of the shadows beneath the trees across the dusty, sun-baked parking lot.
I’m far more unnerved by the stranger eyeing me from his truck in the nearby gas station than I am of the shadows beneath the trees across the dusty, sun-baked parking lot.
Cyn, it scared me just reading that! I totally agree with you. We live in a medium-size town in WA state, but about 10 miles out of town in the sticks. I can absolutely relate. I remember once when I was in the 9-5 crowd, coming out of the building I worked in downtown and seeing a car in the far corner of the lot. And a person, barely visible in the dark, sitting in the driver’s seat. Then the person shone a flashlight on me. I beat feet to my vehicle, locked myself in, and took off. It was probably nothing, but it scared the bejeebers outta me!
Thanks for stopping by and have a good weekend.
There are several that I enjoy. The Shining. The Exorcist. The real story of the Exorcist.
The scariest stories are the ones that are real life. My favorite, the story of Bryan Smith. You probably don’t know his name. I had to look it up. Smith died of a heart attack at 43 in September 2000.
What is scary about a young man dying of a heart attack in his sleep? It is what had happened about a year prior.
Smith was trying to restrain his dog in his van while driving down a road in Maine. He hit and severely injured a pedestrian walking down the road. The county allowed him to plead out and not lose his license which was something the pedestrian had wanted.
How is this scary? The pedestrian was Steven King. No stranger to strange deaths.
Boo.
Hadn’t heard that about King, Alan.
Thanks for sharing that tidbit with us. I wonder if the emotion/fear of that experience is woven into any of his stories since it happened.
Have a great day!
The real story of the Exorcist?
In 1979 for social studies the class took a “field trip” to see the Exorcist on Halloween night. In those days you had to wait for a theater to show an older movie, there were no VHS or DVDs. Webster College (now University) was showing the Exorcist. Webster was built on the grounds of an old convent. The theater was once a chapel. The perfect setting for one of the scariest movies ever made.
The next day in class the teacher told us the story about the Exorcism in St. Louis in 1949. The story Peter Benchley based his book on. The one I have linked below.
https://www.slu.edu/universitas/archive/2014/exorcism.php
William Peter Blatty penned The Exorcist. Peter Benchley wrote Jaws, scary in its own right!
Yes, Jaws!
🙂
Thanks for the link, Alan!
Scariest novel: The Shining.
Scariest non fiction: Helter Skelter (the only book that gave me nightmares three nights in a row).
Yep, Jim, agree with both.
The scariest part about The Shining was that Hot Wheels scene. Again, somehow the pairing of something as fun as a child on a Hot Wheels with Jack Nicholson’s face smiling through the broken door adds something to the scare factor.
And Helter Skelter? Monstrous because it was true. It’s scary what humans do to each other. Doesn’t bear thinking about…
Have a good day.
Fun question, Deb. I don’t scare easily while reading. Scary movies strike home because of the visual aspects, especially ones based in reality. Or at least, the scenario could happen. Amityville Horror, Exorcist, and Friday the 13th — not because Freddy Kruger is at all realistic, but those razor-sharp knife fingers freaked me out. LOL
Hi Sue!
I’d forgotten about those 3 movies. Scary for sure.
But for me, the clown wins hands down. I think it’s because clowns are supposed to be fun, and to see an evil one somehow makes it more evilish. (I think I see something philosophical in those words…) 🙂
Have a great unscary day!
Once, there was a man who was nothing but punctual. He showed up to his work as an accountant and quietly did what he needed to do. He was polite but not chatty. His evening meal with at a local diner, and he had a specific meal on specific days. The waitresses didn’t even need to ask him for his order so there was almost no chatting. He’d then go home to his neat, empty apartment. On weekends, he’d clean his neat apartment, wash his clothes, maybe read a book or sit in the park. On Sunday, he’d get the New York Times. His life was as orderly as the columns of numbers in his job. One day, he died quietly in his sleep, but he got up the next day and followed his routine, blissfully unaware that he was a ghost. He’d had so little interaction with the living in life that he had no clue that he was dead. He remained trapped in this cycle until he faded away into non-existence because the afterlife and Heaven weren’t in his routine.
Okay, Marilyn…did you just write this on the fly? If so, I am blown away for sure.
So, please, please, please tell us where this came from, because I’ve searched my memory banks (such as they are these days 🙂 ) and I came up with squat.
And thanks for sharing it…
Has a touch of Twilight Zone in it.
Agreed, Alan!
🙂
It’s a local ghost story from the Salem part of Winston-Salem. I modernized the setting. The idea of living so little that you don’t know when you are dead really terrifies me.
Thanks for filling us in Marilyn!
The idea of living so little that you don’t know when you are dead really terrifies me.
Well said. It should terrify all of us, I think…
Scariest nonfiction — “In Cold Blood.” I read that while I was babysitting at a neighbor’s house and the front door blew open. For half an hour, I was too scared to close the door.
Movie? The Shining or Blair Witch Project.
Elaine, never read In Cold Blood, but what a frightening experience for you!
Thanks for joining the Scare Party today… 😵💫😵💫
Avoid the genre in all formats.
That might be best, Terry…