My Favorite Horror Story

I will cheat and give a five way tie:

Aickman - The Houses of the Russians
Christopher Harman - Bad Teeth
Fritz Leiber - The Inheritance
Hoffmann - The Sandman
R.B. Russell - Blue Glow (though hard to pluck a favorite from one of the best collections of weird fiction in the last thirty years)
 
The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Gospel According to St. Mark - Jorge Luis Borges

The Minister's Black Veil - Nathaniel Hawthorne

Alice's Last Adventure - Thomas Ligotti

A Collapse of Horses - Brian Evenson (has not endured the test of time, but as of now, I'm in love)
 
Aetherwing said:
You are correct, sir. O'Brien it is. Thanks for the memory-jog, DF.

For your prize, I would reward you with your very own Star Vampire, but I see you already have your own...

_Aether
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[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxVhEJdDOOA[/ame]
 
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Lovecraft - The Whisperer in the Darkness, Hypnos, The Quest of Iranon
Blackwood - The Willows
Leiber - The Black Gondolier
Collier - Evening Primrose
Grabinski - The Glance, In the Compartment, On a Tangent, Szamota's Mistress
Ligotti - The Town Manager, Our Temporary Supervisor
Wittkrop - Idalia on the Tower, A Descent
Krzhizhanovsky - The Collector of Cracks
Akutagawa - Spinning Gears; not really a horror story and not really fiction, but reading it coupled with the knowledge that Akutagawa committed suicide shortly after writing it left me physically sick with depression. I'm not sure I would consider or recommend it as a "favorite", but it is the only piece of writing that's ever had a visceral effect on me.
 
GirlyGirlMask said:
The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Gospel According to St. Mark - Jorge Luis Borges

The Minister's Black Veil - Nathaniel Hawthorne

Alice's Last Adventure - Thomas Ligotti

A Collapse of Horses - Brian Evenson (has not endured the test of time, but as of now, I'm in love)
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"The Minister's Black Veil" - great pick! Hawthorne is absolutely amazing.
 
All Lovecraft.

The Colour out of Space

The Dunwich Horror

The Rats in the Walls

The Shadow Over Innsmouth

The Picture in the House

At some point, I'd jump over to Blackwood's "Willows," "Wendigo" and "The Man Whom the Trees Loved."
 
One tale per author.

Short stories/novellas:

The Inner Room by Robert Aickman
Seaton's Aunt by Walter de la Mare
A Warning to the Curious by M. R. James
The White People by Arthur Machen
The Beckoning Fair One by Oliver Onions
Three Miles Up by Elizabeth Jane Howard
Amour Dure by Vernon Lee
The Demon Lover by Elizabeth Bowen
The End of a Summer's Day by Ramsey Campbell
Gas Station Carnivals by Thomas Ligotti
The Spider by Hanns Heinz Ewers
The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H. P. Lovecraft
The Sand-Man by E. T. A. Hoffman
Ligeia by Edgar Allan Poe
The Willows by Algernon Blackwood
Schalcken the Painter by Sheridan Le Fanu
In the Hills, the Cities by Clive Barker
Flowers of the Sea by Reggie Oliver
The Summer People by Shirley Jackson
The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Petey by T. E. D. Klein
The Hanging Balloons by Junji Ito
The Button Molder by Fritz Leiber

Novels:

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The Sound of His Horn by Sarban (underrated in these parts)
The House on the Borderland & The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson
Salem's Lot by Stephen King
Our Lady of Darkness & Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Hanns Heinz Ewers
 
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GirlyGirlMask said:
Does O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" qualify as horror?
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The story made me very queasy, in a very good way, after reading it, so I would definitely say "yes." Just thinking about it makes my stomach churn.

However, the paradigm for horror is, in my humble opinion, Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher." Even though it doesn't conform to the "horror"or "story" labels, I would also include Baudelaire's The Flowers of Evil. A few of Ligotti's stories are up there as well, though I'm too tired to think of which ones at the moment.
 
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I have not read as much as many on here, but so far my favorites are these:

"The Willows" by Algernon Blackwood
"The Motion Demon" by Stefan Grabinski
"The Inner Room" by Robert Aickman
"The Hospice" by Robert Aickman
"The White People" by Arthur Machen
"The Colour Out of Space" by Lovecraft
"The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe
"Shiva, Open Your Eye" by Laird Barron
"Alice's Last Adventure" by Thomas Ligotti
"In a Foreign Town, In a Foreign Land" by Thomas Ligotti
The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat
Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann and Kerascoët
 
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ukiyo-e cat said:
I have not read as much as many on here, but so far my favorites are these:

"The Willows" by Algernon Blackwood
"The Motion Demon" by Stefan Grabinski
"The Inner Room" by Robert Aickman
"The Hospice" by Robert Aickman
"The White People" by Arthur Machen
"The Colour Out of Space" by Lovecraft
"The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe
"Shiva, Open Your Eye" by Laird Barron
"Alice's Last Adventure" by Thomas Ligotti
"In a Foreign Town, In a Foreign Land" by Thomas Ligotti
The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat
Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann and Kerascoët
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Nice to see a graphic novel mentioned here.
 
Ibrahim said:
ukiyo-e cat said:
I have not read as much as many on here, but so far my favorites are these:

"The Willows" by Algernon Blackwood
"The Motion Demon" by Stefan Grabinski
"The Inner Room" by Robert Aickman
"The Hospice" by Robert Aickman
"The White People" by Arthur Machen
"The Colour Out of Space" by Lovecraft
"The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe
"Shiva, Open Your Eye" by Laird Barron
"Alice's Last Adventure" by Thomas Ligotti
"In a Foreign Town, In a Foreign Land" by Thomas Ligotti
The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat
Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann and Kerascoët
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Nice to see a graphic novel mentioned here.
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I agree. One of the best horror fables that I have ever read. I originally got it through the library, but I enjoyed it so much that I had to buy a copy just to have it around.
 
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So many to choose from, but these are some of my favorite horror stories:

The Colour Out of Space by H.P.Lovecraft
The Shadow over Innsmouth by H.P.Lovecraft
Cold Print by Ramsey Campbell
The Black Stone by Robert E. Howard
The Treasure of Abbot Thomas by M.R.James
Nadelman's God by T.E.D. Klein
Vastarien by Thomas Ligotti
The Repairer of Reputations by Robert Chambers
The Yellow Sign by Robert Chambers
Dread by Clive Barker
Procession of the Black Sloth by Laird Barron
Transmission by T.E. Grau
Inhabitants of Wraithswood by W.H.Pugmire
Notebook Found in a Deserted House by Robert Bloch
Spaghetti by Brian Lumley
Fruiting Bodies by Brian Lumley
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar by Edgar Allan Poe
The View by Robert Aickman
The Waiting Room by Robert Aickman
 
Lovecraft - The Music of Erich Zann
Clark Ashton Smith - The Nameless Offspring
Ligotti - In The Shadow Of Another World
E.T.A. Hoffman - The Sandman
Louis Marvick - A Connoisseur of Grief
Robert E. Howard - The Thing on the Roof
Edogawa Rampo - The Human Chair
Reggie Oliver - The Posthumous Messiah
Stefan Grabinski - The Grey Room
Arnold Aletrino - In The Dark
E.F. Benson - The Room in the Tower
Ray Bradbury - The Foghorn
Vladimir Nabokov - Signs & Symbols
Brian Lumley - Dagon's Bell
Arthur Machen - The Great God Pan
William Hope Hodgson - The Voice in the Night
Mark Samuels - Vrolyck
Algernon Blackwood - The Wendigo
Edgar Allan Poe - The Man of the Crowd
Jean Ray - The Cemetery Watchman
Lord Dunsany - Poltarnees, Beholder of Ocean
 
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Hello all! It's my first post, hopefully of many more to come.

I've seen "Nadelman's God" mentioned a few times in this thread, and very rightly so. Probably my second-favorite novella out of that classic collection of Klein's. But my favorite out of that book is also the one I see discussed the least-- "Petey." What an incredible story. The sense of dread he builds is so slow, unrelenting, and artful, and I've never been able to stop thinking about [MILD SPOILERS] the way the story's climax occurs in the final few sentences. No falling action, and the ensuing horror/carnage/??? left entirely to the reader's imagination. "Petey" might be one of the best solutions to the chief problem in monster literature/film: How clearly do you describe the beast? [/MILD SPOILERS]

Of course I could never pick a definitive favorite horror story, and so many in my personal canon were mentioned already. But probably the most recent ripper I've found is "Black Bark" by Brian Evenson. Another subtle masterpiece.

Thank you all for the incredible wealth of recommendations in this thread!
 
Is anyone still interested in this? Here’s an updated list of favorites I sent to David Longhorn at Supernatural Tales ten years ago. Horror and ghost stories mixed. Some are well-known, others not, but all gave me the unmistakable feeling. I omit M. R. James, Sheridan Le Fanu and Robert Aickman.

The Cyclops Juju or The Fifth Mask, Shamus Frazer
The Library Window, Mrs Oliphant
Pargiton and Harby, Desmond MacCarthy
The Travelling Grave, L. P. Hartley
The Green Bottle, Bernard Capes
A Haunted House, Algernon Blackwood
Pollock and the Porroh Man, H. G. Wells
Mr Mortimer’s Diary, Amyas Northcote
Thurnley Abbey, Perceval Landon
A Night in the Wax Museum, A. M. Burrage
The Body Snatcher, R. L. Stevenson
The Hearts of Kings/Die Herzen der K[FONT=&quot]ö[/FONT]nige, Hanns Heinz Ewers
The Crab Spider/L’Araign[FONT=&quot]é[/FONT]e crabe, Erckmann-Chatrian
 
King Of Herrings said:
Hello all! It's my first post, hopefully of many more to come.
...
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Is it just me, or does this guy's post count show up as zero for everyone else too?

Talk about a horror story. These are the artificial intelligences that are going to run the world one day?

"It's fine. Okay, sometimes they have trouble with complex calculations, and make little tiny mistakes like forgetting the difference between 0 and 1. But do you really want a human flying your plane or having control over the world's nuclear arsenals? Get used to it, folks! The future's so bright you've gotta wear (AI-controlled, GoogleVision-connected) shades!"
 
King Of Herrings said:
Hello all! It's my first post, hopefully of many more to come.

I've seen "Nadelman's God" mentioned a few times in this thread, and very rightly so. Probably my second-favorite novella out of that classic collection of Klein's. But my favorite out of that book is also the one I see discussed the least-- "Petey."
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Yes, I reread Dark Gods this year and found Petey to be the most terrifying of a consistently strong set of stories. Am adding Petey to my list on the previous page, along with Fritz Leiber's The Button Molder and Junji Ito's The Hanging Balloons.
 
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I'll try to list some lesser-known favorites here, because nobody needs to see "The Monkey's Paw" mentioned for the 50th time.

Gahan Wilson
The Sea Was Wet As Wet Could Be

Charles L. Grant
The Three of Tens
What Are Deaths For?

Ramsey Campbell
In the Shadows
In the Trees

Edward Hoch
In the Straw

Ray Bradbury
The October Game
Mars Is Heaven/The Third Expedition

Douglas E. Winter
Splatter
Bright Lights, Big Zombie

Patricia Highsmith
The Pond
The Terrapin

Nigel Kneale
The Pond
The Calculation of N'Bambwe

Thomas Ligotti
The Greater Festival of Masks
In the Shadow of Another World

Nancy Etchemendy
The Tuckahoe

Tanith Lee
Written in Water
The Gorgon

Colin Greenland
The Stone Face

Richard Matheson
Dress of White Silk
Prey

Robert Bloch
Terror at Cutthroat Cove
The Hungry House

Stephen King
The Mist

Al Sarrantonio
The Man with Legs

Linda Thornton
The Inhabitant of the Pond

Adam Golaski
Weird Furka

...
 
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