Creepy season is in full swing, and it’s time to get those horror novel TBR piles ready. Of course, there are plenty of kinds of horror novels you could pick up to celebrate the best time of the year. You could go for vampires, zombies, monsters… but you know what kind of horror stories really give off fall vibes? Ghost stories. Specifically, haunted house books. Yeah, there’s something about stepping foot into a haunted house that really gives off Halloween season.
If you’re a fan of haunted house stories, you’ve probably read some of the classics, like The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, and/or The Shining by Stephen King. But where do you go from there? If you’re feeling haunted house-y this season and you’re looking for what to read next, here’s an idea. Why don’t you build your own ideal haunted house, and based on that, you can read the haunted house novel that best suits your style.
Are you in? Then take this quiz, and get your next haunted house book recommendation. And if you want to read all of the haunted house books, you’re in luck. Because haunted house stories are truly terrifying all year round. And we’ve got the full list of potential results at the end of this quiz.
Looking to know what other results you could have gotten? Here they are!
Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey
Vera hasn’t been back to her childhood home in years, but with her mother on death’s door, Vera decides to return. Now, she will be forced to confront the horrible things that happened there. She’ll have to face her strained relationship with her mother, the haunting memory of her serial killer father, and then there are all the bodies that were buried in the basement.
The Good House by Tananarive Due
After her son dies by suicide, Angela Toussant is looking to rebuild her law practice and her life. So she journeys to the family home where her son’s suicide took place, looking for answers. What she finds instead is an invisible, evil force that is driving people to acts of violence.
Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand
When a British acid-folk band decides to stay at ancient country house Wylding Hall, they end up recording the album of their career — but at a high cost: the group’s lead singer disappears. Years later, the rest of the band returns with a documentary filmmaker to tell their story. But what really happened at Wydling Hall?
White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson
When teenager Marigold moves with her family from California to the Midwestern city of Cedarville, everyone thinks it’s a chance for them to start over. But as soon as Marigold and her family move in, things seem off. The neighborhood is practically deserted, and they keep hearing weird sounds (and smelling weird smells) throughout the house. Is it just Marigold’s mind playing tricks on her, or does the house really want them out?
The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas
In the aftermath of the Mexican War of Independence, Beatriz has accepted a proposal from the strikingly handsome and wealthy Don Rodolfo Solórzano. But her new home in Hacienda San Isidro is not the place of luxury and comfort she’d anticipated. When her new husband tends to work at the capital, she’s left alone in the house. That’s when she starts seeing visions and hearing voices in her head. Is the house haunted by the spirits of Rodolfo’s past? And what really happened to his first wife?
And if five haunted house book recommendations aren’t enough, here are some more! Check out these 30 haunted house books that will give you the creeps.