Historical Horror

Horror books that are written about and around historical events (i.e. wars, time periods, trends). Prepare to be scared while learning some history.

Updated December 19, 2023
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This house is haunted
Boyne, John
Paper Book
A Dickensian ghost story from the bestselling author of The Heart's Invisible Furies and A Ladder to the Sky "A wonderfully creepy novel...magnificently eerie." --The Observer This House Is Haunted is a striking homage to the classic...
Between two fires
Buehlman, Christopher.
Audiobook
Vampires of El Norte
Cañas, Isabel
Paper Book
As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters - her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead....
The ghost bride
Choo, Yangsze.
Ebook
Now a Netflix Mandarin original drama! From the New York Times bestselling author of The Night Tiger, a Reese's Book Club pick Yangsze Choo's stunning debut, The Ghost Bride, is a startlingly original novel infused with Chinese folklore, romantic intrigue, and...
Ring shout
Clark, P. Dj©·l©?
Paper Book
Nebula, Locus, and Alex Award-winner P. Djèlí Clark returns with Ring Shout, a dark fantasy historical novella that gives a supernatural twist to the Ku Klux Klan's reign of terror "A fantastical, brutal and thrilling triumph of the imagination...Clark's combination of...
The reformatory : a novel
Due, Tananarive
Paper Book
*Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner * New York Times Notable Book * Locus Award Finalist * Winner of the Bram Stoker Award and the Shirley Jackson Award * "You're in for a treat...one of those books you can't put down...Due hit it out of the park." --Stephen King ...
Our share of night : a novel
Enriquez, Mariana
Paper Book
"A masterpiece of supernatural horror."--The Washington Post "An enchanting, shattering, once-in-a-lifetime reading experience."--The New York Times (Editors' Choice) ONE OF TIME AND THE ATLANTIC'S TEN BEST NOVELS OF THE YEAR * ONE OF THE NEW...
The hunger
Katsu, Alma
Ebook
"Supernatural suspense at its finest...The best thing about The Hunger is that it will scare the pants off you."--The New York Times Book Review "Deeply, deeply disturbing, hard to put down, not recommended reading after dark."--Stephen King A tense and...
The historian : a novel
Kostova, Elizabeth.
Audiobook
Late one night, exploring her father's library, a young woman finds an ancient book and a cache of yellowing letters. The letters are all addressed to "My dear and unfortunate successor," and they plunge her into a world she never dreamed of--a labyrinth where the secrets of her father's past and...
Lone women : a novel
LaValle, Victor
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * Blue skies, empty land--and enough wide-open space to hide a horrifying secret. A woman with a past, a mysterious trunk, a town on the edge of nowhere, and an "absorbing, powerful" (BuzzFeed) new vision of the American West, from the award-winning author of...
The daughter of Doctor Moreau : a novel
Moreno-Garcia, Silvia
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the bestselling author of Mexican Gothic and Velvet Was the Night comes a lavish historical drama reimagining of The Island of Doctor Moreau set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century Mexico. "This is...
Mexican Gothic
Moreno-Garcia, Silvia
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "It's Lovecraft meets the Brontës in Latin America, and after a slow-burn start Mexican Gothic gets seriously weird."--The Guardian   ONE OF TIME'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME * WINNER OF THE LOCUS...
Lovecraft country : a novel
Ruff, Matt
Audiobook
Now an HBO® series from J.J. Abrams (executive producer of Westworld), Misha Green (creator of Underground), and Jordan Peele (director of Get Out and Us), this brilliant and imaginative novel by critically acclaimed author Matt Ruff makes visceral the terrors of Jim Crow America, melding...
The terror : a novel
Simmons, Dan.
Paper Book
The men on board HMS Terror have every expectation of triumph. As part of the 1845 Franklin Expedition, the first steam-powered vessels ever to search for the legendary Northwest Passage, they are as scientifically supported an enterprise as has ever set forth. As they enter a second summer in...
The death of Jane Lawrence
Starling, Caitlin
Audiobook

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