Name a short story you read as a kid that still haunts you.

[nolabear]

I started following a thread on this on Twitter and was astounded how many brought up stories that are definitely on my list. Some of mine:

Ray Bradbury's All Summer in a Day

Conrad Aiken's Silent Snow, Secret Snow

Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

There are others, but I want to hear all y'all's.

[ironflange]

1. The Lottery

[nolabear]

2. Yep. High on lots of lists!

[applegrove]

12. Yup. That one hurt it ended so scarry.

[madaboutharry]

13. I had nightmares over that story all through 9th grade.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

24. That's mine, too.

[yellowdogintexas]

53. yes, that one. It was in our literature books in 9th grade

I already knew Shirley Jackson was a scary writer because my mother loved her books and talked about them a lot.

I prefer her novels about her family - drop dead hilarious

[smirkymonkey]

55. Yes! Totally

That story haunted me for years. Shirley Jackson was brilliant.

[Dagstead Bumwood]

79. Also the first one that came to mind.

I remember us reading it aloud in class and the audible gasp when we came to the ending. Perfect short story.

[5X]

3. I read Poe's The Raven at 8 years old

That stayed with me a while.

[FM123]

4. The Yellow Wallpaper

[nolabear]

5. Absolutely.

[Lars39]

6. There's one I don't know the name of, or who wrote it...

Guy was going mad. He kept seeing some kind of creature out of the corner of his eye.

[FirstLight]

7. I dont know about haunting...

but I STILL can't read The Velveteen Rabbitt withput bawling..

(Used to do the reading program for elementary school and when I read this the kids were so amazed I was crying...lol )

[DeminPennswoods]

8. The Most Dangerous Game

by Richard Connell

The Blue Serge Suit by John Langdon

The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry

and every Sherlock Holmes story by AC Doyle

[nolabear]

10. You got me! I only know The Ransom of Red Chief.

Great story.

[DeminPennswoods]

16. The Most Dangerous Game

can actually be found in its entirety online here: https://americanliterature.com/author/richard-connell/short-story/the-most-dangerous-game

That and The Blue Serge Suit were short stories in my 7th grade English literature book. I've never forgotten either.

I'm sure you've read at least some of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories.

[nolabear]

40. Oh yes. I loved Holmes. Thanks for the link.

[Phoenix61]

9. The Snow Queen, Han Christian Anderson

“and he cried and the tears washed the shards of mirror from his eyes and he could see.”

[yellowdogintexas]

54. Anderson was definitely a mental case

his tales were so depressing! The Little Match Girl is a real bawler.
Did he write anything that wasn't depressing?

At least the Grimms stories were not depressing

[Phoenix61]

63. I don't see his stories as depressing at all.

The Snow Queen is about good winning over evil. The Emperor’s New Clothes is about the innocence of a child being able to see truth.

[Midnight Writer]

11. Bianca's Hands by Theodore Sturgeon

[LSFL]

14. The Sound of Thunder..

Was it Ray Bradbury?

It got me thinking, what if this has already happened? What if it happens all the time?

[Mister Ed]

84. It was Ray Bradbury. I remember it well.

Set in the near future, when time travel technology has been perfected. But beware! Travelers to the past can inadvertently alter the present...

[Paladin]

15. That's easy: "The Destructors" by Graham Greene.

First read it when I was 12 or so. To this day, almost 60 years later, I think it's the best short story ever written.

[nolabear]

92. I don't know it though I love him.

I’ll add it to my list!

[Paladin]

93. I once read that Greene considered it his best work. Enjoy. (nt)

[MLAA]

17. Mr. Know-All by Somerset Maugham

[uppityperson]

18. Hiroshima. It was the first "adult" book I checked out of our library.

[electric_blue68]

65. Woah - talk about throwing yourself into the deep end of the pool!

[happybird]

19. Can't remember the title, we read it in Junior Great Books

A young girl survived a plane crash in the jungle and the cuts on her arms get infested with maggots, which she removes every day with a splinter of wood. I think it was, or was based on, a true story. I’m terrified of the jungle to this day.

I read Stephen King’s Night Shift and Skeleton Crew short story collections at a young age (10 or 11), so just pick one, lol! The Jaunt, The Monkey, Strawberry Spring... yikes.

[tymorial]

27. I just posted about Skeleton Crew as well

Survivor Type... not scary really but the imagery messed with my dreams.

[smirkymonkey]

58. Yes, that was about the plane crash survivor Juliane Koepcke

Amazing story. Not only did she survive the crash, but she survived eleven days alone after that in the Amazon rainforest. The part about the maggots was the most horrifying thing about it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliane_Koepcke#:~:text=As%20a%20teenager%20in%201971,still%20strapped%20to%20her%20seat

[happybird]

95. Thank you!

I’ve wondered for years who she is, what the title of her story was. It’s incredible she survived not only the crash, but the following days.

[Chipper Chat]

20. The Island Stallion by Walter Farley.

It taught my brain to conjure up visions. And I found myself IN the story.

[Chipper Chat]

22. Oops . Not a short story.

Ok
The Pearl then.
By Steinbeck

[Aristus]

21. "Carmilla" by Sheridan Le Fanu.

It's longer than a short story, but not long enough to be a novel.

It haunted me in a rather good, pleasant way. I suppose for the 19th Century, it counted as a horror story. But when I read it as a kid, the measured, dreamlike prose, like "Brideshead Revisited" with vampires, made it more of a supernatural romance instead.

[tymorial]

26. That is an amazing work.

Nice choice.

[NNadir]

23. O Henry's "The Gift of the Magi."

It haunted me with the kind of world in which I wanted to live, and in some sense, do.

[tymorial]

25. Oh so many

Shirley Jackson - The Lottery, Conrad Aiken – Mr Arcularis, Pomegranate Seed - Edith Wharton. I remember reading Stephen King's Skeleton Crew when I was in middle school (89 -91) The Mist and Survivor Type (that one in particular) gave me nightmares. It wasn't particularly scary but the imagery of the man eating his limbs really messed with my dreams for a few days.

[happybird]

28. Ha! I forgot about the Survivor Type!

That was such a crazy story.
The Lawnmower Man got me, too. When the movie came out, I was thinking, “Whaaaa?? They are making *that* into a movie?” Thankfully, they didn’t.

[tymorial]

30. That story was hard-core.

I always read a ton, still do. It's funny how some stories stick with you while other fall away. That one, The Lottery. I remember when Hollywood turned The Lottery into a TV movie. Dan Cortez was the main character. They changed it a bit to flesh our the plot and character development. There was another short story from a anthology book that I read in 6th grade. It was kind of like the blob if I recall or like a creeping crud kind of thing. It infuriates me that I can't remember it lol. Hell, I can even remember the cover of the book somewhat. It was red and black with minimal writing.

Oh and I just realized that I replied to your post while you replied to mine lol!

[happybird]

94. The blob one might be Stephen King, also

Grey Matter? A man drinks a “bad” beer and slowly becomes a fungus/blob thing.
Man, I love King’s short stories.

[LunaSea]

29. Bradburys " The Crowd"

Norman Spinrads "Carcinoma Angels" and "A Thing of Beauty"
Henry Hasse "He Who Shrank" (okay, actually a novella, but the details remain vivid 50 years later.)

[Walleye]

31. "The Call of the Wild", Jack London

[panader0]

70. 'To Build a Fire' as well.

[Walleye]

71. Yes. Remember it well, I think I was too young for that ending

[sweetloukillbot]

32. Lots of Bradbury

The Veldt
Kaleidoscope
There Will Come Soft Rains
all stand out...
Oh and Ellison’s I Have No Mouth But I Must Scream traumatized me in 3rd grade.

[nolabear]

36. Yes to all! Bradbury understands short stories so well.

The Ambassador and The Small Assassin both got to me. I’ve taught Dandelion Wine in various forms over the years. Though it’s a novel its parts make discreet stories.

[electric_blue68]

66. 3rd grade! Holy crackers!

I'd actually had forgotten about that one. It did creep me out for some years!

[sweetloukillbot]

68. Fucked up gifted program

Totally inappropriate for the class. Even the kid who just played with the Star Wars blueprints was scarred.

[captain queeg]

33. Dwellers Under the Tomb

Someone pretty famous in that genre, but cant remember the name now. Painted the mental picture of humans (I think maybe pirates?) that had fled and hide out in caves below a tomb, lived and reproduced for generations. Some guy stumbled onto a hole under a marker and what he found. Terrifying when I was young and hadn't yet been exposed to years of FX monsters; just my imagination.

I zeroed in on "haunted" but see now it could be interpreted many ways.

[nolabear]

39. I'll look for it. I love ambiguity.

[captain queeg]

48. I keep thinking of Robert E Howard, but that doesn't seem like the genre he usually does.

It was a short story in some kind of anthology

[Onlyserious]

34. "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge."

Vonnegut considered this to be flawless... Still haunts me.

[nolabear]

37. I JUST read it in response to a suggestion. It's astounding.

I’m shocked I hadn’t read it before. I can see Vonnegut’s point. It’s quite the journey.

[ironflange]

46. Oh God, yes!

[Paladin]

77. The "Twilight Zone" episode of it is worthwhile.

Not as good as the brilliant, haunting short story, but nonetheless worthwhile.

[LeftishBrit]

35. 'The Red Shoes' by Hans Andersen. One of the creepiest stories I've ever read, to this day!

[nolabear]

38. True dat. He's an underrated horror writer.

I always wondered if he had a foot thing. The Little Mermaid was sanitized terribly by Disney and others.

[TristanIsolde]

41. "The Artist of the Beautiful" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

When the mechanical butterfly was crushed at the end I felt genuine grief.

[yellowdogintexas]

56. I was in college when I read it but Hawthorne's "Rappacini's Daughter" was

really creepy.

I loved everything I read of his and was all set to take a seminar except the prof teamed him up with Melville and I said "Nope" I hate Melville

[XanaDUer2]

42. The lottery; the Scarlet Ibis nt

.

[nolabear]

49. I have to reread The Scarlet Ibis. It gets lots of mentions.

I know I’ve read it but can’t recall it.

[XanaDUer2]

83. It's usually included in high school English textbooks

that's where I. First read it

[First Speaker]

43. Theodore Sturgeon's "It"

[dhill926]

44. oh man, something about army ants rampaging thru a forest....

can't remember where. Africa...South America. I've racked what's left of my brain after 4 years of trump, and can't remember any more specifics, except it scared the shit out of me...

[yellowdogintexas]

57. OMG how could I forget "Leiningen Versus the Ants" that was a real creeper

I think I read that in 9th grade too.

Charlton Heston was in the movie version. The Naked Jungle

It has been parodied (yep I had to go to WIKI to get the name of the movie) From National Lampoon:

The humor magazine National Lampoon parodied the story in a short story called "Leiningen and the Snails", in which the title character faces a swarm of "army snails", and has "merely three weeks" to think of a way to defend the plantation. He eventually brings in by air enough garlic and butter to cook all the snails into escargot.[citation needed]

[rurallib]

45. "Paul's Case" by Willa Cather

I was @ 13 when I read it and it continues to pop into my mind ever since then, including just the other day.

[nolabear]

50. She's amazing.

[Ziggysmom]

80. Agree, I still think about Paul! It was in a Norton Anthology, required reading in school

Also The Rocking Horse Winner by DH Lawrence. Though written in the 1920s, it symbolizes the modern worlds greed and overt materialism.

[handmade34]

47. The Yellow Wallpaper

n/t

[Coventina]

51. "The Birds" seriously creeped me out. Never have been able to watch the movie.

Others have already mentioned "The Lottery."

Another one that seriously disturbed me was "A Good Man is Hard to Find" but I didn't read that one until college.

[LeftInTX]

52. Our Town by Thornton Wilder

Apparently it's a play, but we read it like a short story.

[yellowdogintexas]

59. Poe. Just about any of his work would qualify

He really knew how to use the short story format

[nolabear]

60. He did. Masque of the Red Death is really popular now.

His detective stories are really pretty cool too. I had a serious Poe thing as a young teen.

[RobinA]

61. The Damn Lottery

Also Silent Snow, Secret Snow, but I love that one.

[Maraya1969]

62. "The little Match Girl" I hate that story. Why do they always read that or

play act that when it is about a little girl freezing to death?????


So yea, she ends up with her grandmother. I can't get past the freezing part.

[cemaphonic]

64. "Miriam" by Truman Capote

[electric_blue68]

67. All Summer in a Day

... the cruelty and loss in that one!
Earlier this year I heard it done on "Short Stories" from public radio by accident

How about the one with the kid and the cornfield?
Surprised no one's mentioned that one!


The Veldt was pretty creepy, too.

And there was a ?Theodore S one about a planet who's ecological system that what ever species happen to land on it, and be stuck there - in this case humans each generation kept devolving back to ? maybe early mammalian form in human's case.

And for one whole book - Childhood's End.

It's interesting with the SF ones (which I'm most familiar with) you've got the literal story with it's internal world logic, and then the more metaphorical aspect in our real world.

I'm heading to sleep - I better look at some puppies & kitten videos first!

[Rhiannon12866]

69. "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase," my grandmother read it to us

Strange, I hadn't thought of this in years, but as soon as I read this, that's what immediately came to mind. And I found it on Wikipedia. I'm going to have to mention this to my cousin, she and I pretended to be Bonnie and Sylvia, the beleaguered two main characters.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wolves_of_Willoughby_Chase

[Trailrider1951]

72. The Monkey's Paw

I read this short story when I was nine or ten and it really creeped me out

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monkey%27s_Paw

[DFW]

74. Me too! N/t

[yardwork]

73. The Judge's House by Bram Stoker.

In addition many others mentioned here, especially Edgar Allen Poe.

There's a trilogy of short stories or novellas that kept me awake all night when I was a kid. I wish I knew the author. I found the book in a library. I think the writer was a British woman. The stories seem to have been set in mid-20th century. They were called ghost stories but were really about domestic violence and psychological abuse of children. I remember the plots of the stories. In the third one, a female teacher is psychologically abusive to one of her students, a lonely girl who seems to have a crush on the teacher. Humiliated by the teacher, the little girl runs into the street and is killed by a car. Later, the little girl's ghost encourages the teacher to jump out a window.

Does anyone recognize the writer or the stories?

[DFW]

75. Sredni Vashtar

By HH Munro, also known as « Saki »

That one was also one of my favorites.

[nolabear]

78. I just read that yesterday at someone's suggestion.

It was horrifically satisfying.

[DFW]

81. As a child who developed an early disrespect for authority

I remember being immensely satisfied by it, while dimly realizing that maybe I shouldn't find it TOO satisfying.

[Stuart G]

76. "Abu Ben Adam...awoke one night from a deep dream of peace.."

Here is the entire poem....I remember it from 5th grade...that was 60 years ago...


By Leigh Hunt



Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold:—


Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold
And to the presence in the room he said,
"What writest thou?"—The vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."
"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerly still; and said, "I pray thee, then
Write me as one that loves his fellow men."


The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blest,
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.

[nolabear]

87. Where did you learn that? I've never seen it.

[Glorfindel]

88. The minister read that poem at my father's funeral

He said that it perfectly captured my father's personality, and indeed it did. Thanks for posting it.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

82. The Bible.

Various passages.

[Niagara]

85. Enoch by Robert Bloch

The Summer People by Shirley Jackson

and


Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates.

[liberaltrucker]

86. Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum"

[Glorfindel]

89. "One Alaska Night'' by Barrett Willoughby

"The Wendigo" by Algernon Blackwood. To this day, I can't sleep with my feet uncovered.

[nolabear]

91. LOL--I love/hate those kinds of stories!

[friendly_iconoclast]

90. "The Father-Thing" by Philip K. Dick