June 1st, 2010 | 
Author: I just finished reading “Uncle Silas” and now I’m raring to get at another mid-1800′s horror or ghost thriller. Really anything written before the 20th century is fine, I’m in an old-fashioned book mood right now. I want something really scary and suspenseful! Does anyone know of anything good?
Alright people, thanks for the answers, but I’m pretty sure Stephen King didn’t write before the twentieth century, an neither did Anne Rice. Considering they’re both still alive and writing today and all, I mean.
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The Historian
Any thing by Steven King. He’s awesome. His books will keep up at night!
the classic of course is Dracula by B. Stoker. It really is quite fabulous.
Interview With a Vampire by Anne Rice.
Also Stephen King’s The Shining is good too.
House of Leaves. Trust me on this one.
Edgar Allan Poe: The Raven
i know you asked for older books, but please check out stePHen king……The Shining, Needful Things, and Misery………Misery is whacked out, as well as the other two……
That’s a good question I love HORROR books and I always read them! You should read Intensity by:Dean Koontz!This is my favorite Book and I love it!Dean Koontz is my favorite Author.
I would read anything by Poe, try “The Pit and the Pendulum” or “the Cask of Amontillado”. or “The Masque of the ed Death’” Poe is a bit challenging but worth the read. He’s not exactly horror but very suspenseful.
MeOw!
I think that “The Turn of the Screw” by Henry James would be great. Also, anything by H.P. Lovecraft would be of your interest. If you like the following website has many good stories by authors from many eras. I surely enjoy myself there.
http://www.gutenberg.com/Black_Mask/gothic.htm
Enjoy your reading!
lair of the white wyrm
by Bram Stoker
You can probably download it from the Gutenberg Project
(www.gutenberg.org)
Try Mary Shelly or Bram Stoker. That’s a good start. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote some suspenseful Sherlock Holmes stories. If you want a more modern “scary” try Dean Koontz.
I know this may sound stupid, and Im sorry for not directly answering the question because I hate it when people dont answer them but if you get not “childerens” but young adult horro books that are filled with short stories you will get much more frightened. I have read tons of adult horror books and nothing compares to the collective ones. They are short so they leave you with much more to mull over.
Edgar Allen Poe has some great ones. The “tell tale heart” was good but not scary but the “pit and the pendellum” and a few others are great.
If you love the mysteries of the Egyptian pyramids and their rituals you will love this book “The Jewel of Seven Stars” by Bram Stocker
May I heartily recommend the Ghost Stories of M R James, they’re public domain now so you can get them from Guttenberg, or they are freely available (at least in the UK) from bookshops and libraries.
Just don’t try reading them in the house on your own.
Try William Beckford’s “Vathek.”