What Scares Me?

As a horror author, it is my job to try and scare you as best I can with my words. One of the questions I am most frequently asked by readers is, "What scares you?" It may come as a surprise to learn that I have a laundry list of things that freak me out to various degrees. I have fears that many of us do, such as death or something happening to my family, but I also have irrational fears, such as moths. Rather than getting into my madness, I thought it might be more fun to talk about the movies and books that scare me, so let's do that.

As much as I am in a constants state of thumb-sucking fear in my regular life, I find that it's difficult to shake me in the entertainment world. It can be done, though. The Shining is a movie that has always given me the straight up heebie jeebies. Sometimes it's scenes that get me, such as the opening 10-15 minutes of Darkness Falls or the birthday party scene in Signs. The common denominator in those two is that it is the things that remain unseen and which trigger the imagination that plant the seed of fear in my mind. I am my own worst enemy in that regard, as I tend to imagine the worse in those scenes. That is a level of fear, though, that I actually embrace.

As far as books go, I have a couple that immediately spring to mind. A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay is a novel about demonic possession that left me genuinely unsettled from start to finish. I was equal parts sad and relieved to finish that one. The Elementals by Michael McDowell is the only book I have ever had to put aside for a minute because I was so freaked out. Home alone and ready for bed, I once again got inside my own head reading it and knew that I would be in for a nightmare evening if I didn't cleanse the visuals of The Elementals from my mind before going to sleep.

I'd love to hear about the things that freak you guys out, so don't be afraid to share.

JW