Horror does not have to be gory

Apr 22, 2026 7:18 PM

Part of King's collection, "The Skeleton Crew." Terrifying to contemplate, written almost as homage to a part of "The Stars My Destination" by Alfred Bester, which it referenced.

Long pre-dating "The Hunger Games," this story is utterly chilling in its implications for humanity.

I remember reading this story in grade school. It did very bad things to my mind.

All three of these tales still make me cringe when I re-visit them. They are absolute masters of psychological horror.

One individual suggested creating an even shorter and possibly more horrifying version by substituting "there was a lock on the door."

Recommendations for other mindfucks?

fiction

horror

stories

https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-1739

SCP-1739 : The obsolete laptop.
A short, brilliant tale of cosmic horror.
Enjoy.

3 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

The Jaunt sticks with me. Most of King's short stories are like, good but ultimately not that mind blowing, but that one occupies a permanent residence in my brain.

Also there's an episode of Star Trek Strange New Worlds that is pretty much The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas beat-for-beat.

3 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

It’s eternity in there

3 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

#4

3 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Long jaunt, dad!

3 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Longer than you think!

3 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer. It follows the story of Matt who is a clone of an opium lord called El Patron. YA science fiction but I still loved it.

3 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

3 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

The Long Walk is the most disturbing King novel I’ve ever read.

3 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

My wife agrees, and has told me so several times. She has no intention of seeing the movie for that reason.

3 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Me either. But I also don’t think they could ever capture the true horror of the story. A lot of it was internal.

3 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

#1 I'd love to see a good, faithful adaptation of The Jaunt

3 months ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 2

Can't be that hard since it's so short.

3 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

One that doesn’t use the awful picture above.

3 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 1

Horror is best to me when it is more physiological

3 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 1

Did you really mean to write that?

3 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I did but it was really early and I wasn’t awake. Oh well

3 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Totally agree - I hate gore and torture porn, love a good horror story. I mean, I'd recommend everything by King (I'm a huge fan). I'm going to rack my brain and see if I can remember anything else.

3 months ago | Likes 11 Dislikes 0

I mean, it doesn't have to have gore, but sometimes it's nice to have... as a treat.

3 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Including Desperation, Regulators, Tommyknockers, and Colorado Kid? (I won't judge you for Colorado Kid, just curious)

3 months ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

Okay, perhaps not everything by King.

(Don't tell anyone, but Tommyknockers is one of my favourite stories.)

3 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

It took me years to finish Tommyknockers. I started, gave up, then came back to it. Definitely better than the previous two.

3 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Late last night and the night before,
Tommyknockers, Tommyknockers, knocking at the door

3 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0