40 Scariest Books of the Last 200 Years
Because a truly scary story is timeless.
Creepy stories are as old as mankind, and the really good ones will continue to frighten generations to come. We're looking back through the scariest books of the past two centuries – from chilling Gothic classics to post-apocalyptic tales of caution. These terrifying tomes leave readers restless, never quite sure where fiction ends and reality begins. Scroll through the master list below, and you're guaranteed to stumble across a new nightmare in no time at all.
1800 - 1849
Grimms' Fairy Tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (1812)
Also known as "Where Disney Gets Their Story Ideas," these original fairy tales are far darker than their animated counterparts.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)
One of the most popular and horrifying tales of all time, Frankenstein was the product of a competition amongst other greats (including Lord Byron and Percy Shelley) of who could write the best horror story.
Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock (1818)
Creepy mansion, suspicious characters with even weirder names, and ghosts—this book has everything you could ever want in a Gothic horror novel.
The Vampyre by John William Polidori (1819)
Often viewed as the original vampire romance novel, this book follows the destruction and death Lord Ruthven — a charming vampire — causes everywhere he goes.
The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe (1839)
All of Poe's poems are scary, but this short story in particular — about a crumbling house whose inhabitants are riddled with anxiety — will give you chills.
1850-1899
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)
This impactful book is the definition of a split personality disorder. Dr. Jerkyll is good, and Mr. Hyde is bad — who will prevail?
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1890)
Narcissistic Dorian Gray wants to stay youthful forever, and instead of aging himself, he has a painting in the attic do it for him. But everything comes with a price.
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892)
A haunting book about women's mental and physical health, the novel follows the narrator's decent in psychosis as she is forced to "recover" after the birth of her child in a room covered in tattered yellow wallpaper.
Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897)
One of the most widely recognized epistolary novels, Dracula tells the story of a vampire who moves from Transylvania to London in search of new blood.
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (1898)
There are many schools of thought on what this gothic ghost story novella truly means, but regardless, it's a frightening tale of a governess who sees the ghosts of two people she knows to be dead.
