I’m looking for fiction and non-fiction that involves ghosts, hauntings, or anything morbid or macabre.
For fiction, something adult, with zero to limited romance. Creepy, but not necessarily horror/thriller.
For non-fiction, I am _not_ looking for those “27 real ghost stories” or “haunted [state]” books. I’m looking for something that delves deeper than just repeated stories. Something maybe anthropological.
by ameliaglitter
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Episode 13 by Craig DiLouie, is a (fictional) spin on those “27 real ghost stories” type TV shows
I’d recommend Sleep Pale Sister or The Evil Seed by Joanne Harris, and Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. There is romance as a part of the plot, but definitely of the creepy, gothic, this-won’t-end-well variety.
If you don’t mind classics, maybe M R James’ ghost stories would work for you—the horror is less in-your-face and more creeps up on you the longer you sit with it.
Professor Dowell’s Head by Alexander Belyaev, a classic Russian horror novel about an insane surgeon and his experiments on captive psychiatric patients.
Hell House by Richard Matheson, 1971, is dressed as a haunted house story but is just bigger as a book than the category leads you to think. Memorable.
*From Below* by Darcy Coates is fab – a group of cave divers go to explore a ship that sunk under mysterious circumstances. Needless to say, it’s a claustrophobe’s nightmare. The crew and passengers might be dead, but they’re certainly not gone.
If you are okay with memoirs, The Man Who Could Move Clouds, is about a family of indigenous healers in Colombia and ghosts figure repeatedly.
For macabre but not horror, maybe try Poor Things by Alasdair Gray. It’s the basis for the recent movie, which I have not seen but from a friend’s description is very different.