Haunted House - Short Stories and Novels

Short Stories and Novels

Legends about haunted houses have long appeared in literature. Haunting is used as a plot device in gothic or horror fiction or, more lately, paranormal-based fiction. Roman-era authors Plautus, Pliny the Younger and Lucian wrote stories about haunted houses, as did the Arabian Nights (such as the tale of "Ali the Cairene and the Haunted House in Baghdad"), and more modern authors from Henry James to Stephen King have featured them in their writings. Haunted castles and mansions are common in gothic literature such as Dracula. Notable works of fiction featuring haunted houses include:

  • The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole
  • The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) by Ann Radcliffe
  • The Fall of the House of Usher (1845) by Edgar Allan Poe
  • The House of the Seven Gables (1851) by Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • The Turn of the Screw (1898) by Henry James
  • The House on the Borderland (1908) by William Hope Hodgson
  • "The Rats in the Walls" (1924) by H. P. Lovecraft
  • The Haunting of Hill House (1959) by Shirley Jackson
  • Hell House (1971) by Richard Matheson
  • The House with a Clock in Its Walls (1973) by John Bellairs
  • 'Salem's Lot (1975) by Stephen King
  • The Shining (1977) by Stephen King
  • The Amityville Horror (1977) by Jay Anson
  • The Woman in Black (1983) by Susan Hill
  • House of Leaves (2000) by Mark Z. Danielewski
  • The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red (2001) by Ridley Pearson

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