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Scariest book I have ever read.

@NataliePatalie

December 18, 1970
3:17 p.m.
It had been raining hard since five o'clock that morning.

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

#StorySettings #HauntedHouse
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

#HauntedHouse
#StorySettings

@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

This was okay. A fair amount of social attitudes didn‘t age great, but the main thing that annoyed me was the constant insistence on this being the MOST TERRIFYING AND MESSED UP SITUATION EVER TO EXIST when it just wasn‘t ever all that shocking. I felt like the author was always congratulating himself for really disturbing me and it was a haunted house story that was less disturbing than other ones from the same time in a lot of ways 🤷‍♀️

1. The tagged
2. The Ritual
3. Psychological horror vs. gore
#TerrifyingTuesday @WildAlaskaBibliophile

Y‘all. Hell House is a perfect example of why you should dnf a book if it‘s not working for you. It took me three weeks to read this barely 300 page book.

I had high hopes for it but it definitely let me down. The characters were so one dimensional that by the time the haunting started I didn‘t care if anything happened to them. It just didn‘t work for me.

https://wildwoodreads.com/2023/08/23/hell-house-review/

My Halloween night viewing: Hell House LLC

Fun found footage ghost horror!

#Scarathlon2022 #TeamMonsterMash

What is the scariest ghost story you have ever read (watched)? I'm always looking for a new one.

Hell House is still the scariest for me. It is not perfect, but some of the descriptions of the early encounters with the ghosts really creep me out. I even liked the movie. I love me some gothic horror.

I felt the same watching The Invisible Man, the Grudge, & the short movie The Host. I jumped. A lot.

#scarathlon @StayCurious #teammonstermash

I have physically thrown one book across the room to hear the thud as it hits the wall. If I wasn't at work, this would be the second book I chuck across the room.

Dear sweet Bloody Mary, what the world did I just read?? This was the biggest pile of steaming manure I've forced myself to read in a long time.

I know I'm in the minority with my opinion of this book. I just found a book that isn't my cup of tea.

I need brain bleach now.

My book cozy and my current read are hilariously different from each other.

This 1971 novel might be the mean-spirited granddaddy of all modern haunted house tales. A paranormal scientist, his wife, and two psychics accept a job to uncover the secrets of a legendary mansion - the site of evils committed by a uniquely depraved (and interesting) commune decades earlier. There‘s a strong mystery intertwined with frightening and genuinely shocking moments. Be warned: Matheson does not pull punches, and he knows his craft.

I was a bit disappointed - it may be that reading this after Jacksons “We Have Always Lived in the Castle“ was not a good move - her story was sooo good. Hell House was good in the beginning and end - the middle part was very slow moving for me -

Now I am going to read the rest of the books in line for a #BookSpinBingo 🙂

Make a great day everyone -

Here is my September #BookSpinBingo list - thanks for hosting @TheAromaofBooks

I'm starting some of my “spooky“ reads as it is fall in my mind and it is time 😂

I say it every month - I love this game - it just makes reading and interacting on Litsy even more fun!

Make a great day everyone 🙂

1. Illuminae Files
2. Horror, especially ghost stories
3. Hell House or House of Leaves
@Eggs #WondrousWednesday

Classic haunted house story. Excellent read.

Really enjoyed this. Not read a horror graphic novel before and the black and white illustrations really emphasised and amped up the creepy factor.

My favorite #hauntedhouse book. #SavvySettings
@Eggs @alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I‘ve enjoyed other works by Matheson, but this one not so much. You definitely get the haunted house vibe, especially in the beginning where a sense of dread clearly hangs in the air. But then it devolves into some kind of male sexual fantasy involving rape & other sexual abuse. So, trigger warning for that. One‘s sexual orientation is also depicted as something one should be ashamed & punished for. This book is definitely a product of its time.

This is my favorite haunted house book. It's written by one of the masters of horror and has plenty of scare factor and suspense. It's probably my most re-read book.
#horror #hauntedhouse

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ https://suspensebookreviews.home.blog/2022/01/11/hell-house-by-richard-matheson/
Podcast: https://anchor.fm/alisbooknookcorner/episodes/Hell-House-by-Richard-Matheson-e1c...

#Movie2BookRecs @Klou
Prompt: Drag Me To Hell

Thank you @MsRadioSilence
You went above and beyond for #AllHallowsReadSwap!
🖤💜🖤💜🖤💜 everything in this package.
I plan on having my coffee (or tea) today in this fabulous moon phase mug.
You can never be too witchy and those socks are the best, I‘m thrilled to have a copy of my favorite ghost story Hell House.
🖤 the pop up haunted houses, bookmarks, and cat magnets. The little hand in the mini palmistry kit is so cool.

Thank you so much.

“If only I could sleep, she thought. Her smile was barren. The human mind, she thought.This afternoon she‘d wanted to stay awake until their stay in Hell House was ended. Now she wanted nothing more than to drift into unconsciousness, eliminating eight or nine hours of their remaining time here.”

Books for Halloween
#reading #halloweencountdown

So... I built a fort for my cat. Books - so multipurpose 😉

1. Hell House
2. The chapter with the bed sheet. 😱 Enough said.
3. I hate the #bodyhorror #tortureporn genres. I just can‘t do it.
4. Any science gone wrong made creature. Or Bigfoot. Or Nessie. Oh hell I 🖤 them all! Except bugs and worms. Never worms.
5. Bookmarks and magnets.
#creepychristmas

Hauntings are usually the sub-genre of horror that spooks me the most (at least on screen), so I gave this a go as a seasonal read. I mostly enjoyed it, but I won‘t be having any trouble sleeping at night.

I‘d like to start by issuing a warning that there is a lot of crude sexual content and sexual violence in this one. That is often anticipated in horror, but it is used heavily in this book. That being said, I was able to appreciate it as a cult classic in the horror genre, and I was flying through it by the end.

+16 for #teamharkness

#scarathlon2020 #screamathon #outstandingoctober #bookspinbingo #thrilloween (Haunted House) #cocoturns50

My apologies for the lack of #scarathlon2020 updates this week. I began reading this, and I made it about halfway through before receiving some horrible news about my grandma. Not only am I having a hard time staying focused, but this particular book might be a little too intense for me right now. I think I‘ll try to move on and return to it later.

#TeamHarkness @StayCurious

What is your #HalloweenAesthetic?
Share your scary style and favorite books- help your matches “get to know you”.
I'm all about the misunderstood villains (I can see their side of things).
My obsession with haunted books started at 11 with The Amittyville Horror (which terrified me) and has kept going since. The scariest book EVER is Hell House, even the movie scared me.
#hauntedhallowswap #allhallowsreadswap @wanderinglynn

4 people take on the task of staying a week at the haunted Belasco House in search of answers and money. At first, I didn‘t care for the characters. But as the house starts to use their inner fears against them, it got better having a better sense of who they were. There is a lot more violence than I thought there would be. There‘s also a lot of frustration with choices made by people. Just get out!!! But that doesn‘t make a horror novel. Pick!

I thought this was really good. I read a lot of reviews that think that it tried to hard to be super scary, or that it was homophobic (which IT kinda IS), or that there is too much sexual violence, and I‘m not saying that these things are handled in the best way always, but this was written in 1971. And it‘s a horror novel.

I'm a big Richard Matheson fan & thought I'd share this deal for today!! It's one of my favorites of his and the movie isn't so shabby either! 😁👻
#quarantinereads

My hold for this one is about to expire, and I‘ve been meaning to read it for years. I love a good haunted house story.

😨 this....had a lot more sexual content than I was expecting haha. glad I read it, so I don‘t ever have to read it again. Definitely not one of my favorites, but HUGE TW for sexual assault if you decide to pick it up.!! //// #horrorbooks #horror #hellhouse #richardmatheson

I could not resist this swap. Signs up end tonight. Check out @teebe 's page.
#CreepyChristmas

This was written in 1971 and is definitely of its time, but it‘s still scarier than the slew of paranormal investigator shows and movies that have been released in the past few years.
#teamstoker #24b4monday #scarathlon

Happy Birthday to me 🎂 I bought my own present!
#teamstoker #scarathlon

Stephen King says this “is the scariest #Haunted house novel ever written” (which is probably why it‘s still languishing on my TBR 😆😆).

To those of you who have read it: is it really that scary?

#ScreamathonPhotoChallenge
#Screamathon

This ghost story did scare me (like a lot...I might need a nightlight tonight) I just didn‘t love it. #teamstoker #scarathon @TheReadingMermaid

I enjoyed reading this book for its lack of depth and the general fun ride. I can see why Richard Matheson has inspired so many other horror writers over the years, as the imagery and descriptions are interesting for the time it was written. Short, enjoyable, and easy to read.

⭐⭐⭐✨
Your classic haunted house novel. I liked the overall story but hated the women characters. They were basically liabilities. Hell House is fairly, sexually graphic so if you have problems with that, I probably wouldn't recommend it. Also, a little disappointed in the ending. It fell flat to me.

I wanted to like this much more than I did. Some good scares moments but fell flat and just fair for me.

Karen thank you so much for sending me this book and the thoughtful card and bookmark. You are so kind. I do love a good haunted house book! You made my day ❤️❤️❤️
#jb

Not sure that this book holds up that well. The main ghost story holds up, but the characters are terrible. Dr. Lionel Barrett was so condescending. His wife was so weak and ineffectual. It‘s hard to care what happens to them.

Finished this a while ago but forgot to post 🙈 Overall I really enjoyed this one! Easy to read and the story was interesting. That being said the heavy sexual nature wasn‘t something I was expecting and felt a bit let down by it. In the sense that it was all the author could do to make it creepy was the feeling I got from it. Not a fan of what happened to a certain character and the ultimate resolution was a bit anticlimactic ⬇️

#TUESDAYTIDBITS
@JenlovesJT47
1. Neither
2. Both
3. Both, but I have a tradition of watching Halloween on Halloween night. This year I'm going to the movies to see the new one instead.
4. @TheReadingMermaid
Bonus: Helll House by Richard Matheson. Legit scary.

Not sure that this is the best thing to read while sitting in the ER but it‘s all I got. Should be able to finish this today with how things are going.

Next up! Not very far into it but enjoying the story so far.

I couldn't finish this one. I've enjoyed the other Matheson I've read, but this was just too vulgar and graphic for me.