Strictly real horror discussion

It is so terrifying. It made me scared of clowns as a young child and that fear has never ever gone away!

Recent books that really shook me up were Aaron Dries' THE FALLEN BOYS (god, so intense and real) and Jack Ketchum's THE WOMAN. Have you read either author?

I'm also a big Stephen King fan. I read UNDER THE DOME not that long ago and really enjoyed it.Aaron Dries

Man, as much as I hate to admit it, THE AMITYVILLE HORROR scared the crap out of me. First, when I was a kid and then again, as an adult when my girlfriend and I read it out loud. Jay Anson is a terrible writer, his prose is absolutely pathetic, but that book got me -- twice.

The Bad Place by Dean Koontz. Very high on my list.

The Willows by Algernon Blackwood is one of the creepiest I have ever read. I would also guess that the Blair Witch Project was an idea taken from the book. It is free now on Kindle (public domain).

Probably The Exorcist, many years ago. The Amityville Horror scared me too. Anything with the devil and possession keys into my childhood fears. The legacy of a Catholic upbringing. I always wonder what percentage of horror fans were brought up Catholic. I loved all that fire and brimstone imagery as a kid. Still do. More recently The Ritual by Adam Nevill made me feel very nervous when I had to get up for a glass of water in the night.

Tony wrote: "The Bad Place by Dean Koontz. Very high on my list."

This is probably my favorite Dean Koontz book, along with Phantoms. And now that I mention it, Phantoms scared the ___ out of me. I was in my early 20's, alone at home and I remember having to get up and walk around the house with the lights on a few times to take a break from the read. Jeez, I don't think I have read a book that did that to me since. But I do tend to like Gory stuff which is not really scary.

Would love some recommendations on Scare the ___ out of you books! I do like ghost stories and demon stories too.