My Favorite Horror Short Stories.

The title says it, these are some of the best short stories I have read. Before I start, I want to point out that despite reading a lot last year, I had a long time gap where I didn't read. I still have a lot more authors to read up on, hence the fact that there are no Lovecraft or Barker stories on here, however, that doesn't mean that these stories don't deserve their merit.

In The Tall Grass by Stephen King and Joe Hill

What do you get when Stephen King and his son Joe Hill collaborate together on a story? A fistful of awesome, that's what. This story starts off with a definite Jeepers Creepers vibe, and you'll see why. A brother and sister stop at an abandoned rest stop to take a break from a long drive. There is a field across the highway with very tall grass. They hear a boy screaming for help in the grass. They  enter the field to find and help the boy, which ends up being a more difficult task than they thought. In the field they get disoriented and things seem to keep changing. From this point on the story gets weirder and weirder until reaching a messed up climax.  As far as I know this story isn't available in paper form yet, just as an EBook download. 

States Of Glass by Jeremy Robert Johnson:

This story is in the collection 'We Live Inside You'. This whole book is amazing, but States Of Glass stood out more for me than any of the other stories. While most of JRJ's stories involve parasitic or body horror, this story works on a much deeper level. A woman's husband has died while on a business trip and she has to travel to where he was to identify his body. What you experience is the thoughts and emotions she goes through in the whole process, denial, guilt, sexuality, etc. It may sound simple, but it's a very haunting story that will stick with you.

Voluntary Commital by Joe hill

This story is from Joe Hill's short story collection '20th Century Ghosts'. This whole collection is great, and proves that Joe Hill is not just living off of his father's success. Hill is also a very talented writer. While there are many good stories in this collection, Voluntary Committal definitely holds the #1 place for me. The narrator in the story reflects on his younger years and discusses his little brother.  For lack of a better term, the younger brother is an idiot savant... in a manner of speaking. He is mentally challenged, but has a knack for building things. He ends up building a series of tunnels out of cardboard boxes in his basement. These tunnels lead to the disappearance of a neighborhood boy. The story gets kinda strange after that. It's not a very climactic story, it's not filled with a bunch of action, it's just a haunting tale that leaves you a little disturbed.

Maybe You Will Remember by Alvin Schwartz

There's no way I could have done this list without adding a story from the 'Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark' series.  This story was in 'Scary Stories 3 : More Tales To Chill Your Bones'. This story centers on a mother and daughter travelling on vacation. The mother falls ill and they end up staying in a hotel. The daughter is sent all over the place to find medicine for her mother. Upon returning to the hotel, nobody there remembers her and her mother is nowhere to be found. While this story may not be in your face horror, the story just leaves you with a dark feeling wondering what the hell happened. If you flip to the back of the book, it does tell you what happened, but just picturing yourself in the daughter's position, left wondering, is enough to give you the shivers.

The Breathing Method by Stephen King

Stephen King has a long list of short stories and novellas, probably too many to chose from, however, this novella is definitely one of the more haunting ones. This is the 4th novella in the novel 'Different Seasons', and funny enough, this is the only one that hasn't been made into a movie.  Our narrator, David, is a lawyer who is invited by his senior partner to join a strange men's club. This club mostly consists of men reading, drinking, playing pool, etc. However, one tradition of the club is that the men will gather and tell strange stories. One of the members, Dr. McCarron, tells a story about an incident early in his medical career involving a young woman bearing an illegitimate child. This was in the days where that was very taboo, however the woman was persistent and headstrong on going through with the pregnancy. This story ends in a terrible accident, but the events of this accident are so strange that this story will definitely stick with you.

Sticks by Karl Edward Wagner

While walking through the woods one day, an artist stumbles upon a series of stick formations hanging from trees. These formations lead him to an abandoned house where the artists encounters something terrible. That's all I'm going to say without giving anything away, but this is definitely a creepy little story.

The Slaughter House by Richard Matheson

A very cool haunted house tale in which two brothers buy a house together, only to find out it is inhabited by a seductive ghost. Again, not going into more detail because I don't want to give too much away.