In honor of Disney's 13 Days of Halloween, here is my annual run down of the best horror stories.
13. "The Gentleman's Hotel" by Joe R. Lansdale. Two summers ago, I bought the anthology, Curse of the Full Moon at the Georgia Tech bookstore in Atlanta. However, it wasn't until this fall that I finally read this story from the collection. I have not read anything by Lansdale since his phenomenal The Nightrunners when I was 16. That novel has stood out as one of the most violent and brilliant horror books of my youth (right up there with the work of Thomas Harris (The Silence of the Lambs) and Clive Barker (The Books of Blood). This is actually one of the better werewolf stories I've come across. And the main character, Reverend Jebediah Mercer, who is one of the most interesting protagonists I've come across in some time. This both made me think twice about going down stairs in the middle of the night and made me laugh out loud.
12. “Stephen” by Elizabeth Massie. I have heard rumors of this story for years. Finally, I bit the bullet and ordered a copy for Amazon. It arrived yesterday. I didn’t realize that it was published as a stand alone book. I actually bought a signed copy (there were only 1,000 copies printed). I have copy #243. I read it in about 20 minutes yesterday evening. I’m still in awe. It is the story of a psychologist who volunteers to work at a rehab facility for physically disabled people. The first patient she meets is Michael, who has his lower body beneath his navel and both arms, except for one stump of his left arm. He is a medical miracle. But the real focus on the short story is Michael’s roommate, Stephen. Stephen, who is in a coma, makes Michael look like an Olympic athlete. As the story unfolds, we learn that Stephen isn’t really in a coma, though he fades in and out of consciousness. And we learn that the real horror of the story is what happened to our main character when she was a young girl. Like many of the greatest horror stories, this only hints at the major terrors. For example: we don’t ever learn what happened to Stephen to put him in such a horrific condition, and we only get a few scenes of the terrors the main character
11. (TIE) I have to list two H.P. Lovercraft stories here.
"The Shadow Over Innsmouth." How could we not have some Lovecraft on the list? I usually include "Herbert West: Re-animator," but I've read that with my sci fi class so many times that it's losing its impact on me. Then I thought about "The Rats in the Walls," but the climax has always mystified me. Then there is "The Colour out of Space," and while it's excellent, it is too predictable for me. That leaves his "Innsmouth" tale. While it's a clunker at times, when he finally gets rolling in this tale, it's horrific. The escape scene from the hotel is great fun. As is the scene where our narrator peaks down an alley and sees the Innsmouth residents coming up from the sea. And the resolution? It's pure Lovecraft.
"Re-Animator" by HP Lovecraft. Probably not Lovecraft's best story. That likely would go to "The Rats in the Walls" or "The Color out of Space." But this, for my money, is his most horrifying. And if you get a chance to see the campy B grade movie, see it. It's that great. I saw it on KBRR when I was still in junior high and it freaked the hell out of me. I'll never forget it. And the story is even better. This is a staple of my Sci Fi class.
10. "Young Goodman Brown." Nathaniel Hawthorne. How can I not include the greatest American short story ever written? Brilliant. Haunting. Chilling. And as relevant today as when it was first written back in 1835. Once you read it, you, like Brown himself, will never be the same. Besides, it's so much fun. I found this essay on line and just couldn't help but read it. Now, you tell me. How many horror stories on this list will still have essays being written about them 176 years after they have been published?
9. "Cell" - David Case. From the quite excellent (and likely now out of print) The Mammoth Book of Werewolves. I'm realizing as I comprise this list that each of these stories has a moment or two where we just glimpse the true terror or horror of the characters and their situations. I think that is ten times more powerful than if you just throw open the door and try to show us the true monster lurking there. And just hinting always works better - because that technique is like steroids for our imagination. And what we can imagine is always worse than what someone else can devise. Well, except for my top five. In those cases, the authors throw open the door and invite us right into the room where we not only see the monster and try to flee but end losing traction on something slippery on the floor . . . and then we look at what is splattered on the walls around us . . . then the stench hits us . . . then we hear the monster start after us. That's how good those top two choices are.
“Cell” is the story of a man who inherits a house. It had belonged to a distant relative who died. She was crazy, and he never met her and since all of his other relatives were dead, he inherited the house. So you’re thinking it’s a haunted house story, but that is only partially true. In a drawer upstairs he finds a journal from the husband on his distant relative. Well, it is the slow chronicle of his own descent into madness . . . or maybe something worse, like lycanthropy. Everntually, he has a cement cell constructed in the basement to house him during his monthly transformations. The only trouble is that the wolf is starting to exert more control over him. He notes how often times he won’t be fully transformed back to a man again, and he will find himself trying to call to his wife so she can free him from the cell . . . to be devoured by the beast, but she always waits extra long before letting him out.
As he becomes more and more psychotic and paranoid, he believes he sees a truck leaving the house one day. He accuses his wife of having an affair. That’s not true, though. What he finds out, as he is locked in the cell, is that the man was a carpenter and he installed a peep-hole into the cell. His wife wants to see him transform. Obviously, she wants to ensure that he is actually her husband when she lets him out.
This infuriates the man. He transforms more quickly than ever and he savagely attacks the cell. But the cement walls and heavy steel door prevent him from escaping. He wakes to find his journal and pen safely hidden inside the cell but that’s it. His wife has seen enough and doesn’t come to unlock him. His journal ends with him so hungry that he bites his arm and must write in blood.
8. "The Yellow Wallpaper." Charlotte Perkins Gillman. You'll never look at wallpaper the same. Guaranteed. In fact, my College Comp I students are currently reading this. I can't wait to see their reactions. Truth be told, I had tried several times to read this in the past, but I could never get into it. Then one day some English colleagues and I were standing around and I raised this question: "What is the greatest short story ever written?" Loiell Dyrud, of course, countered with Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants." I chimed in with "Young Goodman Brown." Larry Barton added "The Yellow Wallpaper." It was at that moment that I vowed to read it, and I did. And it scared the hell out of me. In College Comp I we always listen to it a second time and the story gets creepier for the students. Then I have a student creep around the room as the narrator is doing at the climax of the story to illustrate the horrific imagery in the story. It's unforgettable.
7. "N." Stephen King. This story in King's After Sunset collection, is great. It's a retelling of Machen's "The Great God Pan" (you'll see that one later on in the list) with a healthy dose (okay, that's a poor play on words) of OCD thrown in. But it's scary as hell. Plus, there is a serialized adaptation of the story available on iTunes. Here are the first five episodes merged.
6. "The Lottery." Shirley Jackson. If it's not "Young Goodman Brown," then it's got to be "The Lottery" for the greatest American short story. On first reading, 99% of it is plain and kind of boring. But that 1% packs such a wallop that once you read it, you'll never forget it nor will you ever be the same. I first read this as a freshman. Well, I didn’t read it. Everything up until this moment in school had been boring. But when I came to class and everyone was talking about this story and its madman of an ending, I knew I had to read it. I went home and read it and was amazed. That last page is the most effective writing I’ve ever come across. It rushes you to the horrific conclusion just like the residents of the village rush toward poor Tessie Hutchinson. I envy anyone who is about to read it. Your world will never be that same.
5. "Crouch End." Stephen King. This one is written as a tribute to HP Lovecraft (whose eternal - no pun intended - "Herbert West: Re-Animator" is usually included on this list but got bumped off this year). King's prose is so effective whenever I read it, the room I'm in just fades away and I'm right next to Mr. and Mrs. Freeman try to find their way out of Crouch End. Sadly, only one makes it. Well, one makes it out alive . . . though they never really are able to make it back completely. But I've already said too much about this one!
4. The Great God Pan. Arthur Machen. Okay. I cheated a little here. This is not a story but more of a novella. The opening scene, with the quintessential mad scientist, is horrific. And the story never lets up from there. The story is so far ahead of its time in term of its postmodern approach. I think now that it's just getting the recognition it deserves. And best of all, you can find it on line. I also found an audio version. I listened to it in October on my riding lawn mower as I was bagging leaves. Of course, it had to be during dusk of course. I was so unnerved by the story that I didn’t notice Kenzie running up beside me on our driveway. She was innocently asking what I wanted from Dairy Queen, but I screamed a little when I finally saw her! It was all because of the creepy atmosphere and tone of The Great God Pan.
3. "The Pattern." Ramsey Cambell. He is the master of the snap ending. Sometimes I just love to read the final line or paragraph of all the stories in one of his anthologies for their effect. You never see them coming, and they always hit you upside the head. This story builds slowly, but the last five pages rush at you and before you know, they've got you. And the final two pages are the most horrific I have ever read. It is like a nightmare that you can’t wake up from.
2. "Pig Blood Blues." Clive Barker. It's like a fable from hell. Barker's strength - at least in his infamous Books of Blood - is to take us on a journey that begins firmly in reality but ends in total terror . . . and we don't even realize that we've left reality far, far behind. He's very much like Ray Bradbury when it comes to that. And that makes this story all the more horrifying because you don't know that something really terrible is happening . . . until it's happened and, by then, it's far too late. Read this one on Halloween. I dare you.
1. "Skin Trade" by George R. R. Martin. I read this a few months ago after seeing it mentioned in one of my favorite werewolf anthologies. I Googled it, and, sure enough, I found a free on-line version. It didn't disappoint. It might be the best werewolf story (or novella) I have ever read. It has everything - humor, horror, and great details. I've read it three times now, and it gets better each time. I now teach this in my summer school class. So I’ve read it another half dozen times, and it gets creepier with each reading. The detective story angle of the novella hooks you, but it is the gore that will make every horror fan fall in love with it. Martin uses the gore sparingly, but when he does hit us with it, he doesn’t hold back. I just learned that - thanks to the popularity of Martin’s Game of Thrones - there is talk of turning “The Skin Trade” into a series too. I think Paul Giamatti would make an excellent Willie. Who (or what) is Willie? Well, you’ll have to read the novella. You’ve been warned.
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