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October 2025: Scary Stories

The leaves are changing. A chill in the air lets us know we’ve passed the autumnal equinox. Winter is coming. This is the time of year when some of us embrace our inner love of ghastly horror, chilling spookiness, and dreadfully macabre tales. To that end, WTBBL staff offer up some of our favorite scary stories for your reading pleasure. Enjoy—if you dare!

A collage of book covers for the recommended reads list

At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels by H. P. Lovecraft, 1985. (DB062005)
Collection of three novels and five short stories spanning the years 1919 to 1933. The title piece chronicles a university expedition to Antarctica, where strange fossils and extremely old ruins are found. The Case of Charles Dexter Ward is Lovecraft's masterpiece of demonic horror. Introduction includes author biographical information. 1943. - Description from the library catalog.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, 2008. (DB068027)
Somewhere in contemporary Britain, a toddler enters a cemetery pursued by the knife-wielding stranger who just murdered his family. Resident ghosts Mr. and Mrs. Owens protect and adopt the child, naming him Nobody "Bod" Owens. Bod's graveyard upbringing serves him well, but why was his family targeted? For grades 5-8 and older readers. Hugo Award. - Description from the library catalog.

Home is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose, 2024. (DB121569)
After their mother passes, three estranged siblings reunite to sort out her estate. Beth, the oldest, never left home. She stayed with her mom, caring for her until the very end. Nicole, the middle child, has been kept at arm's length due to her ongoing battle with a serious drug addiction. Michael, the youngest, lives out of state and hasn't been back to their small Wisconsin town since their father ran out on them seven years before. While going through their parents' belongings, the siblings stumble upon a collection of home videos and decide to revisit those happier memories. However, the nostalgia is cut short when one of the VHS tapes reveals a night back in 1999 that none of them have any recollection of... - Description from the publisher.

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix, 2014. (DB080227)
Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland, Ohio. Every morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjerring bookshelves, shattered Glans water goblets, and smashed Liripip wardrobes. Sales are down, security cameras reveal nothing, and store managers are panicking. To unravel the mystery, three employees volunteer to work a nine-hour dusk-till-dawn shift. In the dead of the night, they’ll patrol the empty showroom floor, investigate strange sights and sounds, and encounter horrors that defy the imagination. - Description from the publisher.

I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Ian Reid, 2016. (DB085405)
Jake and a woman known only as The Girlfriend are taking a long drive to meet his parents at their secluded farm. But when Jake takes a sudden detour, leaving The Girlfriend stranded at a deserted high school, the story transforms into a twisted combination of the darkest unease, psychological frailty, and a look into the limitations of solitude. - Description from the library catalog.

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant, 2017. (DB089730)
Seven years ago, the Atargatis set off on a voyage to the Mariana Trench to film a “mockumentary” bringing to life ancient sea creatures of legend. It was lost at sea with all hands. Some have called it a hoax; others have called it a maritime tragedy. Now, a new crew has been assembled. But this time they’re not out to entertain. Some seek to validate their life’s work. Some seek the greatest hunt of all. Some seek the truth. But for the ambitious young scientist Victoria Stewart this is a voyage to uncover the fate of the sister she lost. Whatever the truth may be, it will only be found below the waves. But the secrets of the deep come with a price. - Description from the author’s website.

Man Made Monsters by Andrea L. Rogers, 2022. (DB111658, LP026462)
Horror fans will get their thrills in this collection: from werewolves to vampires to zombies to predators of a distinctly human variety – the horrors of empire, of intimate partner violence, and dispossession. And so too are there monsters that draw upon long-told Cherokee stories and one family's experience over centuries. - Description from the publisher.

One of Us Knows by Alyssa Cole, 2022. (DB131066)
Years after a breakdown and a diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder derailed her historical preservationist career, Kenetria Nash and her alters have been given a second chance they can't refuse: a position as resident caretaker of a historic home. Having been dormant for years, Ken has no idea what led them to this isolated Hudson River island, but she's determined not to ruin their opportunity. Then a surprise visit from the home's conservation trust just as a Nor'easter bears down on the island disrupts her newfound life, leaving Ken trapped with a group of possibly dangerous strangers -- including the man who brought her life tumbling down years earlier. When he turns up dead, Ken is the prime suspect. Caught in a web of secrets and in a race against time, Ken and her alters must band together to prove their innocence and discover the truth of Kavanaugh Island? And their own past? Or they risk losing not only their future, but their life. - Description from the publisher.

Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror edited by Jordan Peele and John Joseph Adams, 2023. (BR025293, DB116396)
A cop begins seeing huge, blinking eyes where the headlights of cars should be that tell him who to pull over. Two freedom riders take a bus ride that leaves them stranded on a lonely road in Alabama where several unsettling somethings await them. A young girl dives into the depths of the Earth in search of the demon that killed her parents. These are just a few of the worlds of Out There Screaming, Jordan Peele's anthology of all-new horror stories by Black writers. Featuring an introduction by Peele and an all-star roster of beloved writers and new voices, Out There Screaming is a master class in horror, and-like his spine-chilling films-its stories prey on everything we think we know about our world...and redefine what it means to be afraid.  - Description from NLS.

The Spirit Collection of Thorne Hall by J. Ann Thomas, 2025. (DB128285)
At Thorne Hall, a grand estate nestled in the Berkshires, fifteen restless spirits roam, bound within the mansion's walls since the Gilded Age. Elegy Thorne bears the weight of her family's curse to preserve the mansion as it was in the 1890s, using ancient folk songs to keep the spirits secret and silent in order to avoid deadly consequences. When a mischievous child spirit wreaks havoc on the manor, the Thorne family calls upon their trusted preservationist to restore the mansion. He brings along his son, Atticus--a vibrant man full of life and ideas of modernization--and Elegy is captivated by him, igniting a longing for freedom she's never dared to embrace. Torn between her desire to follow her heart and her duty to her family and its legacy, Elegy begins searching for a way to release the spirit collection back to the afterlife and set both herself and the ghosts free. With century-old secrets, peculiar magic, and spirits both whimsical and deadly, Thorne Hall will haunt and enrapture readers--and you might just not want to leave. - Description from the publisher.

The Troop by Nick Cutter, 2014. (DB078409, BRG03496)
Boy Scouts live by the motto "Be Prepared." However, nothing can prepare this group of young boys and their scoutmaster for what they encounter on a small, deserted island, as they settle down for a weekend of campfires, merit badges, and survival lessons. Everything changes when a haggard stranger in tattered clothing appears out of nowhere and collapses on the campers' doorstep. Before the night is through, this stranger will end up infecting one of the troop's own with a bioengineered horror that's straight out of their worst nightmares. Bestseller. Winner of the 2016 White Pine Fiction Honour Book Award. - Description from the library catalog.

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