Classics That Will Set the Mood for Spooky Season
As the leaves begin to fall and the air turns crisp, there's no better time to embrace the eerie and the unsettling. To celebrate the arrival of the spooky season, we've curated a list of 10 classic books that are steeped in the disturbing, featuring tales of horror, the paranormal, the supernatural, and the gothic. These timeless literary masterpieces promise to transport you to worlds where the shadows grow longer, and the mysterious forces lurking in the dark come to life. So, get ready to embark on a journey through the perfect fall reads that will send shivers down your spine and set the mood for the season of spookiness.
Dracula
by Bram Stoker
In 1897, Bram Stoker published what has now become one of the most revered horror stories of its time. Dracula has inspired the gothic genre for generations, continuing to this day to frighten and delight its readers for anyone brave enough to face the world of blood thirsty vampires in search of their next mortal victim.
In a gripping and sensational work of classic Gothic fiction we discover the infamous Count Dracula. When English lawyer Jonathan Harker travels to an obscure town called Transylvania, the goal of his visit was most certainly not to do business with a vampire. As he makes his way through the village square, Harker is overcome with an eerie sensation that the Count is not who he says he is. Strewn with various charms and trinkets thrown at him from the local village people, Harker comes to find that the weird looks, whispers, and pointed fingers directed at him are not done so in jest at him being a tourist. Rather, they are a clear warning that the Count is perhaps more dangerous than he imagined. Brimming with observations on the eventual paradigmatic shifts of society, Stoker's intent with Dracula extends much further than the plot of quarreling vampires.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
by Washington Irving
When Ichabod Crane, an awkward and superstitious schoolteacher, moves to the town of Sleepy Hollow for work, he at first earns attention only from the housewives, who are amused by his large appetite and tall, lanky body. But once Ichabod decides to try for the attention of Katrina Van Tressel, the town's most eligible bachelorette and only child of a wealthy farmer, he finds himself in competition with the most popular man in town. Abraham Van Brunt, better known as Brom Bones, is a rowdy local hero who already had intentions to marry Katrina. Usually able to settle disputes with a physical display of brute force, Bones is stumped when he is unable to goad Ichabod into a fight. Since Ichabod is mostly clueless to social cues and customs, Bones resorts to a series of pranks in order to deliver retribution. When the final chance to win Katrina's hand in marriage arrives at a local party, Ichabod must overcome the pranks and trials to defeat Bones and win Katrina's love.
Carmilla
by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
Carmilla (1872) is a novella by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. Published twenty-six years before Bram Stoker's Dracula, Le Fanu's work of Gothic horror and mystery is considered an important early entry in the genre of vampire fiction.
Recorded in the casebook of Dr. Hesselius, a medical professional with a detective's sensibility, is the story of Laura, a teenager bearing a strange secret. Raised in a castle by her father, a widower who recently concluded his career in service to the Austrian Empire, Laura has been haunted since her youth, when she was visited at night by a beautiful, spectral woman. Now eighteen, she awaits the visit of Bertha Rheinfelt, a niece of her father's friend. When Bertha dies mysteriously, however, and when a girl named Carmilla is brought to the castle under strange circumstances, Laura fears that the past has come full circle. But she soon overcomes her mournful state, growing close with Carmilla. But the girl's behavior soon proves unsettling. Carmilla is prone to sleepwalking, sleeps through the day, declines to participate in prayers, and makes romantic overtures to Laura.
The House of the Seven Gables
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
A brother and sister occupy their family home, which has been linked to a series of unfortune events including the death of its original owner. They attempt to avoid their ancestor's fate and escape their looming legacy.
Hepzibah and Clifford Pyncheon live in a historic manor that has been in their family for generations. The property was built in the seventeenth century on stolen land that originally belonged to Matthew Maule. He was targeted, detained and eventually executed after being suspected of witchcraft. The legend claims Maule cursed the Pyncheon family, leading to a string of unexplained events starting with the death of the home's new owner. In the present, Hepzibah and Clifford are struggling with their financial, mental and emotional burdens.
The Vampyre
by John William Polidori
When Aubrey, a young Englishman, meets a mysterious man from London high society, Lord Ruthven, they become unlikely friends. Shortly after, Aubrey decides to accompany the noble on a trip to Rome. However, when a moral disagreement arises between the two, Aubrey decides to leave Ruthven in Rome, and goes off on his own. Arriving in Greece, Aubrey meets Ianthe, and the two share an immediate connection. After sharing stories and an evening together, Aubrey and Ianthe part ways for the night. However, after a devastating turn of events, Aubrey and Ruthven reunite, and Aubrey, ready to leave Greece behind, is happy to travel with the older man once again.
But as they continue their travels, Aubrey slowly begins to notice Ruthven's odd behavior. After even more consideration, Aubrey realizes a shocking pattern-nearly everyone that Ruthven comes in close contact to meets an untimely end. Afraid of his newly acquired knowledge, Aubrey attempts to distance himself from the suspicious man, though he is forced to reconsider his efforts when Ruthven expresses intent to marry Aubrey's sister.
The Castle of Otranto
by Horace Walpole
When tragedy strikes on his son's wedding day, Lord Manfred believes it is a foreboding omen, and will do whatever it takes to stop it-no matter how immoral.
Tales of Terror and Mystery
by Sir Doyle
One of the stand-out works in the entire collection is "The Horror of the Heights"; in a story that straddles both the science fiction and horror genres, the journals of a missing pilot reveal the existence of terrifying creatures that lurk in the upper atmosphere. "The New Catacomb", in Doyle's tribute to Edgar Allan Poe, tells the revenge story of two rival archeologists as they sink deeper into an endless Roman catacomb. In the evocative story "The Lost Special", a train has mysteriously disappeared without trace between two stations. When the only evidence of the enigma is the dead body of the locomotive driver, the local newspaper becomes a platform to solve the mystery. The intrigue of speculation and reasoning is on par with the best of the Sherlock Holmes adventures.
The Night Land
by William Hope Hodgson
When a widower dreams of Earth in a far-off future, what he sees is nearly unrecognizable. The sun has been extinguished, and all human life has been forced to gather within the Last Redoubt, a metal pyramid looming miles above the darkened planet. Outside, monstrous forces gather, waiting for the mysterious energy source powering humanity's last refuge to die out. When the narrator unexpectedly connects with a young woman telepathically, he makes the horrifying choice to leave the safety of the pyramid in order to search for her at the rumored Lesser Redoubt, long thought lost to the dark. The Night Land journeys to the outer reaches of space and time to see how far humanity will go to keep love, and itself, alive.
Invaders from the Dark
by Greye La Spina
In May 1921, Miss Sophie Delorme beings a series of communications with a publishing house in search of a genuine student of the occult. Coming upon the supernatural author, Ms. Greye La Spinda, Miss Delorme implores her to take possession of a mysterious manuscript and see that it is published by any means necessary; and-after transferring ownership-is pulled away by invisible hands; her house immediately destroyed by explosion. The manuscript, now in the hands of Ms. Greye Spina, is soon published-but not without incident-and details the extremely strange matter that occurred in the neighborhood of Meadowlawn, Lynbrook and changed the life of Miss Sophie Delorme's niece, Portia.
Tales of Men and Ghosts
by Edith Wharton
Featuring life-like and compelling characters, Edith Wharton's Tales of Men and Ghosts is a collection comprised of ten eerie and heart-wrenching narratives. The first story, The Bolted Door, follows Hubert Granice, a failed playwright. Distraught and disappointed in himself, he considers suicide, but is unable to go through with it. Instead, Granice finds another way to punish himself; after calling over a lawyer friend, Granice confesses the dirty details of a murder he claims to have committed years before. Full Circle also depicts a writer, but in an opposite position of success. After recently rising to fame, a new author reflects on how his life has changed since earning acclaim and wealth, surprised when he realizes that he is unsatisfied. Examining class struggles and a difficult relationship between a father and son, His Father's Son follows a widowed, working-class father who tries to live vicariously through his son's love life, though his son does not seem to appreciate it.