Top 10 Scary Stories

Horror stories exist as a means of helping us explore our fears. They make us single out the fear, look it in the eye, and ask ourselves, “Why is this here and what are we going to do about it?” Here are my Top 10 current favorite scary stories; what are yours?

#10 – Scream

Why: Slick dialogue, famous twist ending played with panache, tropes and anti-tropes galore. It was meta before meta was cool.

Favorite quote: Don’t you know the rules?!…

#9 – “The Boogieman” (Quantum Leap S3 E5)

Why: In 1990, I was a teenage church girl who also happened to be an absolute nerd for all things space, time, and physics. While I was always trying to find ways for my faith community to reach out and make friends with science, this was the first time I witnessed science nerds tip their hats to people of faith. Bonus: Stephen King Easter eggs everywhere!

Favorite quote:
Dr. Sam Beckett: Come on Al, tell me he’s not real.
Admiral Al Calavicci: Uh… I… you… ah… he-he’s real. Oh Sam, he’s very real.

#8 – Antebellum

Why: Because the scariest horrors are the real ones, and to me, this one’s the scariest of them all.

Favorite quote:
Victoria: You know, my nana used to say, “Our ancestors haunt our dreams to see themselves forward.”
Sarah: The unresolved past can certainly wreak havoc on the present.

#7 – It’s a Good Life
(The Twilight Zone S3 E8, and the short story of the same name by Jerome Bixby)

Why: What if someone had the power to literally change the world with just their thoughts? What if that someone was a six-year-old psychopath with no empathy who couldn’t tolerate any negative words or vibes? What if he didn’t like you?

Favorite quote:
Everything had to be good. Had to be fine just as it was, even if it wasn’t. Always. Because any changes might be worse. So terribly much worse.

#6 – The Crow

Why: Brandon. Lee.
Also, it’s an incredibly violent revenge fantasy I took a chance on at my neighborhood Blockbuster, and I LOVED it. The music, the costuming, the ever-present rain…this was the movie that welcomed Goth culture into the mainstream, and it was just what this repressed soul needed.

Favorite quote:
Suddenly I heard a tapping, as of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door…You heard me rapping, right?

#5 – Lights Out

Why: This movie is a pitch-perfect depiction of my depression…and it sobers me to see where she could take me (and my loved ones) if I ever gave up and turned the reins over to her.

Favorite quote:
Doctor: You’re getting too attached to Sophie.
Ava: She’s my friend.
Doctor: Well, if that’s true, why did you hurt her?
Ava: She was getting better.

#4 – Midnight Mass

Why: Imagine being so entrenched in tradition, so led by the nose, so rote in your beliefs that you could no longer tell the difference between life-giving faith and a blood-sucking monster.

Favorite quote:
The word was unearthed by his fear like the tomb was unearthed by the storm. And the word was “angel.”

Runner-up:
We have five minutes.

#3 – Dracula by Bram Stoker
(props to the 1931 film as well)

Why: Come for the immersive, chilling, gothic noir; stay for the climactic coach chase scene. This book’s nigh-flawlessness makes it my favorite of the classics (with Frankenstein as an oh-so-close second).

Favorite quote:
I want you to believe…to believe in things that you cannot.

#2 – The Shining
(Stephen King’s book, NOT Kubrick’s willfully unfaithful vanity project)

Why: Besides my deep affection for the characters and the gloriously vibrant storytelling, this is the only book I’ve ever read that seeped out of its pages to ACTUALLY haunt me in waking (and occasional sleeping) real life. I had to have a light on in every room of whatever space I was in for weeks.

Favorite quote:
Run, Danny!

#1 – The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
(Disney’s 1949 short film adaptation)

Why: Washington Irving ‘s short story taught us that dark horrors reside within the hearts of men, springing forth to commit and justify unspeakable acts against one another within the guise of polite society. Disney added infectious show tunes, perfectly paced comic relief, and an actual supernatural spectre only slightly less evil than the humans it haunts.

Favorite quote: You can’t reason with a headless man.