Appalachia stretches far and wide, 205,000 square miles across 13 states. Covering the whole of West Virginia, it also includes parts of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Despite the breadth of its reach, Appalachia has its own rich and vivid culture that is often misunderstood by outsiders. Two of the most important cornerstones of that culture are family and nature.
But interwoven through those vital bonds are folklore and superstition that could make the bravest skin crawl. And in some stories, maybe it's not the paranormal you need to be wary of.
Step into this eerie subgenre if you dare. Here are eight Appalachian horror books to give you a good scare.
Revelator
Stella was nine years old in 1933 when she is taken into the care of her grandmother, Motty, in the mountainous backwoods of Tennessee. But there are dark secrets hanging over head here, and not long after Stella settles in she wanders into a cavern where she meets her family's personal god, Ghostdaddy.
Years later, in the wake of a horrific accident that forces her to runaway, Stella makes ends meet as a bootlegger. But she returns home for Motty's funeral—and to keep an eye on the 10-year-old girl, Sunny, that Motty had adopted.
Though Sunny seems innocent on the surface, she has more power than Stella can comprehend. And she stands as a direct link to Stella's hidden history and her family's corrosive faith.
Jackal
Liz Rocher hesitantly returns to her childhood home in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. But as a Black woman, there are few fond memories of this predominantly white stomping ground.
But for her best friend's wedding, she has prepared herself for a weekend of uncomfortable reunions. And after all of her personal growth, she knows she can handle anything.
That is, until the newlywed's daughter, Caroline, disappears during the reception. All that's left behind in her wake is a bloodied piece of white fabric.
As the police methodically search the woods, Liz starts to put the pieces together. A summer night, a missing girl, a party in the woods—this has all unfolded exactly like this before.
The only other Black girl at Liz's high school, Keisha Woodson, wandered into the woods with a mysterious man, only to be found later with her heart ripped out of her chest cavity. Liz doesn't believe the similarities are a coincidence.
As she sifts through the town's history, she discovers a terrible secret: children have been vanishing in these woods for years. And all of them were Black girls.
As the darkness of the forest encroaches, Liz knows she must find Caroline—and fast.
Brother
A crooked farmhouse stands isolated in the heart of Appalachia. Here the Morrows live, happily keeping to themselves.
When girls disappear off the side of the highway, the cops never go out of their way to ask them any questions. Which is convenient, considering the secrets buried in their backyard.
However, 19-year-old Michael is the black sheep of his family. He finds no joy in the screams that bounce off the trees, and he just wants a slice of normalcy and the chance to experience life outside of West Virginia.
After meeting Alice, the cute girl who who works at the record store in the nearby town, he can't help but fall for her. In fact, he's so infatuated that he forgets, just for a moment, that he's a monster.
Luckily, he has his brother, Rebel, to give him a horrific reminder of his place.
Smothermoss
Sheila and Angie are two sisters living in Appalachia in the 1980s. And though they share a bloodline, they couldn't be more different.
As their mother clocks in long shifts at the asylum, Sheila is a quiet girl who takes care of the house and keeps her head down in the face of endless bullying. Meanwhile, the younger Angie is fearless, fighting off imaginary zombies and creating tarot-like cards that seem to do as they please…
After two female hikers are brutally slain on the Appalachian Trail, their small community is paralyzed by fear. And Sheila and Angie find themselves in a deadly cat-and-mouse game.
While Angie discovers a bloody and torn shirt, Sheila discovers that the money she's tucked away has gone missing. All the while, a peculiar man tries to buy goods at a local store by bartering with a woman's watch…
With the threat of violence closing in, the old, mysterious mountain they live on may be the key to these sisters saving their home from darkness.
Memorials
It's 1983, and a trio of college students set out on a weeklong road trip through Appalachia to film a documentary on roadside memorials. At first, their class project is a fun adventure, but before long, the atmosphere of the backwoods darkens.
More and more of the memorials they encounter seem to feature unusual and eerie symbols. And paranoia takes hold when they get the sense they're being followed.
It seems their vehicle has been sabotaged overnight, and the locals are far from welcoming. The students can't help but think the roadside deaths were anything but random accidents.
The Woods All Black
Set in 1920 Appalachia, this historical horror novella explores reproductive justice, bodily autonomy, small-town dogmatism, and identity.
The Frontier Nursing Service has assigned Leslie Bruin to the backwoods town of Spar Creek. He is to carry out the usual mandate, vaccinating the masses, delivering babies, and standing strong in the face of the judgment of the religious locals who see him as nothing more than a failed woman.
Having weathered the fires of the Western Front and reinvented himself in cafes of Paris, Leslie thinks he can take on anything. But there is a darkness he could have never imagined awaiting him in Spar Creek.
Something malevolent and vile festers within the local congregation, and hatred has funneled down into a young person they insist is a rebellious tomboy that must learn their place. The town is teetering on the brink of violence when Leslie arrives, and he must be quick if he wants to stop it.
But the hills surrounding the town have plans of their own, and the woods are haunted in ways Leslie could never prepare for.
The Bog Wife
For as long as anyone can remember, the cranberry bog has been tended to by the Haddesley family. And in exchange, the cranberry bog sustains them.
Each generation, their fierce covenant is renewed with the ritual sacrifice of their patriarch. In return, the family is given a “bog wife,” a woman brought to life from vegetation, meant to carry on the family line.
But one year, the bog doesn't honor the bargain, and the five Haddesley siblings—still in the grip of grieving their mother, who disappeared years prior—are unsure of what the future holds.
Wenna, the middle child, returns to the rundown family manor as her marriage falls apart. She believes it's time for the family to abandon their land and the duties of the bog, but the rest of her siblings aren't so sure.
Eda, the eldest daughter and de facto head of the household, tries to revitalize the compact by desecrating it. Percy, a younger son, slinks into the wilderness to try to summon his own bog wife.
Nora, the youngest daughter, goes to desperate lengths to keep her clashing siblings together. Meanwhile, fledgling patriarch Charlie unearths a dark secret that casts a pall over everything the family has ever believed.
The River Has Teeth
Girls have been going missing in the woods, and when Natasha's sister vanishes, she's willing to do anything. Even turn to Della, the local, rumored to be a witch.
But Della is hiding something. She believes the beast behind the disappearances is her own mother, turned into a monster by misused magic.
Natasha with her anger and Della with so little of anything are all the hope that the other has. Together, they must push back against the violence the world has wrought upon them.
Featured image: František G./Unsplash
