Shaking in my boots

It’s that time of year. What is the scariest short story or novel you read? The scariest that you wrote and why?

by Dietrich

Horror is not one of my go-to genres, so I don’t write scary stories. I realized when I was a kid after watching a TV movie called Crowhaven Farm — through the sleepless night that followed — this just wasn’t for me. At that early age, I decided I didn’t like being scared stiff.

As I got older, I did enjoy reading Edgar Allan Poe: The Cask of Amontillado, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit and the Pendulum, no longer scared to the point of checking under the bed. And I liked classics like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Bram Stroker’s Dracula, and some of Anne Rice’s vampire stories too.

Over the years I was drawn in, and I’ve read many novels from the king of horror. Stephen King brought us the clowns, the freaky twins in the hallway, the ‘Here’s Johnny’ moment, Annie Wilkes with her sledgehammer, the buried pets, pig blood, and countless more images that just won’t wash away. But, he’s just such a good writer, I keep reading his stories regardless of genre. And there have been some great film adaptations of his books too (fifty-two in total): The Shining, The Green Mile, Misery, Carrie, Stand by Me, Delores Cairborne, The Shawshank Redemption, are among my favorites.

And Hitchcock, the master of  suspense, dished up some pretty scary moments in Psycho, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Rear Window, and The Birds. Who could ever forget the shower scene? I think every slasher film that was ever made after tried, but failed, to hit viewers half as hard.

After seeing Jaws in 75, I thought twice before sitting on the side of a kiddie pool. I went to Jamaica after seeing it for the first time, and I made the mistake of going snorkeling along a reef. Through the air bubbles, I could almost hear that John Williams music start up as I swam. I sure wasn’t looking at the reef and all the pretty fish. I couldn’t take my eyes off my flippers, making sure they were still there.

And let’s add Ridley Scott’s Alien to the scary list, because in space no-one can hear you scream, right? And The Eyes of Laura Mars freaked me out when it came out in ’78. The Silence of the Lambs came out in ’91, and Anthony Hopkins sure cranked up the creepy. As did Stanley Tucci in 2009s The Lovely Bones. So, these days while I don’t check under the bed anymore, it’s still not my thing to write stories that will scare readers.