Haunted Tales from Perpich Library

October 24, 2023

Haunted Tales! The Perpich Library has been gearing up for spooky season by creating some scary good lists of nightmare novels and short stories with ghosts and haunted houses.

All items on this list are available at the Perpich library. Click on titles for more information.

1. Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his true gender, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free. However, the ghost he summons is actually Julian Diaz, the school’s resident bad boy, and Julian is not about to go quietly into death. He’s determined to find out what happened and tie off some loose ends before he leaves. Left with no choice, Yadriel agrees to help Julian, so that they can both get what they want. But the longer Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he wants to let him leave.

2. Collected Ghost Stories by M.R. James
M.R. James is the king of ghost story writers and this collection contains thirty of his masterpieces of understated horror and chilling terror. The stories are classics of their genre. They are all designed to instill that satisfying sense of unease in the heart of the reader.

3. The Girl From the Well by Rin Chupeco
Okiku is a lonely soul. She has wandered the world for centuries, freeing the spirits of the murdered-dead. Once a victim herself, she now takes the lives of killers with the vengeance they’re due. But releasing innocent ghosts from their ethereal tethers does not bring Okiku peace. Still she drifts on. Such is her existence, until she meets Tark. Evil writhes beneath the moody teen’s skin, trapped by a series of intricate tattoos. While his neighbors fear him, Okiku knows the boy is not a monster. Tark needs to be freed from the malevolence that clings to him. There’s just one problem: if the demon dies, so does its host.

4. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a “haunting”; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers — and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

5. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
A young family moves into a small home on Ash Tree Lane, where they discover something is terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Of course, neither Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson nor his companion Karen Green was prepared to face the consequences of that impossibility – until the day their two little children wandered off and their voices eerily began to return another story: one of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams. This book was influenced, and was influenced by, the music of POE, the author’s sister. Her album Haunted includes many songs inspired by this book.

6. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state—called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo—a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie’s soul.

7. The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
The day that Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London to start a new life at boarding school is also the day a series of brutal murders breaks out over the city, killings mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper spree of more than a century ago. Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him–the only one who can see him. And now Rory has become his next target. In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.

8. Roald Dahl’s Book of Ghost Stories Compiled by Roald Dahl
A collection of fourteen ghost stories by a variety of authors, selected from hundreds read by writer Roald Dahl for a proposed television series that was never produced.

9. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark: Three Books to Chill Your Bones by Alvin Schwartz, illustrated by Stephen Gammell 
These stories are some of the most terrifying tales of horror, revenge, and supernatural events of all time, collected and retold by Alvin Schwartz and featuring the classic artwork by Stephen Gammell. This edition includes the complete original books in the series in one volume: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, & Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones

10. The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell
When Elsie married handsome young heir Rupert Bainbridge, she believed she was destined for a life of luxury. But pregnant and widowed just weeks after their wedding, with her new servants resentful and the local villagers actively hostile, Elsie has only her late husband’s awkward cousin for company. Or so she thinks. Inside her new home lies a locked door, beyond which is a painted wooden figure—a silent companion—that bears a striking resemblance to Elsie herself. The residents of the estate are terrified of the figure, but Elsie tries to shrug this off as simple superstition—that is, until she notices the figure’s eyes following her.

All items on this list are available at the Perpich Library.