Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

Original poster

Can anyone recommended a good ghost story that's not too scary?

42 replies

Kasterborous · 18/05/2014 21:10

I've read a couple of the Susan Hill ones a while ago and I just fancy reading a ghost story but don't know where to start.

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
somedizzywhore1804 · 22/05/2014 19:13

Marking my place. Love a ghost story.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 22/05/2014 19:06

'Anatomy of Ghosts' promises much more than it delivers, sadly.

Original poster
Kasterborous · 22/05/2014 12:44

Wow thanks for the recommendations everyone. There are quite a few on here I haven't read. I agree with those who suggested The Thirteenth Tale I really enjoyed it, even the TV adaptation was very good.

OP posts:
DuchessofMalfi · 22/05/2014 05:32

DH started reading Anatomy of Ghosts by Andrew Taylor last night. Too early to say much about it but it does sound like it's going to be a good one.

NaughtySpottyBengalCat · 22/05/2014 02:16

Lastly, the ghost hunters by Neil spring :)

NaughtySpottyBengalCat · 22/05/2014 02:09

Ahhh - you have already been recommended hill house and Florence and Giles. There was a good one on blackheath seance parlour. Also the matrix by Jonathon aytclife and song of Kali by Dan simmonds

NaughtySpottyBengalCat · 22/05/2014 02:03

The haunting of hill house is well written, and better than the films. I also enjoy ghost stories :)

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 21/05/2014 17:00

Susan Hill not v good. 'The Woman in Black' doesn't do much at all for me, and the others are even worse imvho.

DuchessofMalfi · 21/05/2014 14:34

Sarah - I agree with you about Susan Hill, although I did think The Woman in Black was scary. The Man in the Picture I thought a bit meh, not read The Small Hand yet. DH said he enjoyed them as good stories but not that scary. He prefers ones that really send shivers Grin

PaulinesPen · 21/05/2014 08:52

I didn't get on too well with Dark Matter. It reminded me of Ripping Yarns in the end. Making notes of other suggestions here though. I do like creepy stories.

SarahAndFuck · 21/05/2014 07:39

I've got This House Is Haunted on my wish list and Florence and Giles in the pile of unread books by my bed Grin

Glad to here that they are both recommended. But the Susan Hill ones, I've read them both and I don't know how she does it but IMO she's managed to suck out any hint of spookiness from what should have been two very good books. Did your DH like them as ghost stories? I've not spoken to anyone else who has read them to ask what they thought. I've started to think that with Susan Hill, I'm just missing something from all her books that everyone else seems to get.

Has anyone mentioned The Servants by MM Smith yet? I would have earlier only I couldn't remember the title Grin It is about a young boy living with his mother and step-father in a mostly converted house in Brighton who meets the elderly lady living in the flat in the basement below. She reveals a secret to him that soon becomes a spooky obsession.

DuchessofMalfi · 21/05/2014 05:49

Oh and another recommendation from DH - This House is Haunted by John Boyne. He said it was a good old-fashioned spooky Victorian house, children and governess type story (reminiscent of Turn of the Screw).

Has anyone mentioned Florence and Giles? Can't remember the author, but was another of DH's ghostly books. Also, The Small Hand, and The Man in the Picture both by Susan Hill.

SarahAndFuck · 20/05/2014 21:42

How about The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons?

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 20/05/2014 20:34

Lots of people like, 'The Haunting of Hill House' (one of King's favourites too, incidentally) but I thought it was dreadful!

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 20/05/2014 20:33

Has anybody said, 'The Telltale Heart' or, 'The Red Room' yet?

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 20/05/2014 20:32

Marking my place. It's not a ghost story but has elements of one - 'The Woman in White' by Wilkie Collins.

I didn't like, 'Dark Matter.' I thought it began well and then got sillier and sillier.

Yes to, 'Bag of Bones.' Also, 'The Shining' has a couple of very scary ghosts.

DuchessofMalfi · 20/05/2014 19:28

The Thirteenth Tale is brilliant. I loved it, but the tv adaptation altered a lot of the story and left so much out. Still good though.

Diane Setterfield has written another book Bellman & Black, which DH has read. He enjoyed it, but I haven't read it yet.

AgentDiNozzo · 20/05/2014 18:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AgentDiNozzo · 20/05/2014 18:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Clawdy · 20/05/2014 14:42

Love MR James but I do find them seriously scary! Even years later,can't forget tales like "Lost Hearts".

ThaneOfScunthorpe · 20/05/2014 14:06

OR Henry James, The Turn of the Screw.

ThaneOfScunthorpe · 20/05/2014 14:05

The Little Stranger is fantastic!

I like old stuff - MR James. Old fashioned ghost stories you'd read around the fire. Or

DuchessofMalfi · 20/05/2014 14:01

DH likes a good ghost story, but the scarier the better for him :o

He liked Dark Matter. I read it last year but didn't find it all that creepy.

One he did read, and said I shouldn't because it involves the deaths of children (can't handle stories with children dying), is The Orphan Choir by Sophie Hannah. He said it was good, and quite disturbing.

bunnybing · 20/05/2014 12:45

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver is brilliant as is The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian

Don't read Ghost Story by Toby Litt - it is pretentious and v dull.

SarahAndFuck · 20/05/2014 12:02

I've been thinking about this and have a re-read list a mile long now.

Have you given Graham Masterton a try? His Manitou series is good and have a bit of a twist on the ghostly side of things. In the first book a fake psychic actually has more powers than he believes and becomes involved in a case of a young woman possessed by the ghost of an ancient indian medicine man trying to return to earth and take revenge. It's much better than I have described and the series as a whole is one of my old favourites.

Swipe left for the next trending thread