Each year, our social media feeds are filled with news of the latest books in horror, true crime, and paranormal.
So many chilling new books come out each year—and our TBRs are often stacked with delectable spooky books by the latest emerging authors. We truly are in a golden age of horror fiction.
But sometimes we're in the mood for something older—books that have stood the test of time.
These are the classics that are the most disturbing. They’re strange and unnerving in uncanny ways—often calling us back to something old and ancient and unsettling.
Every month, we’re bringing you a selection of free ebooks to read that are perfect for lovers of all things spooky, mysterious, gruesome, strange, and macabre.
The Monk
Shocking, erotic and violent, The Monk is the story of Ambrosio, torn between his spiritual vows and the temptations of physical pleasure.
His internal battle leads to sexual obsession, rape and murder, yet this book also contains knowing parody of its own excesses as well as social comedy.
Written by Matthew Lewis when he was only nineteen, it was a ground-breaking novel in the Gothic Horror genre and spawned hundreds of imitators, drawn in by its mixture of bloodshed, sex and scandal.
The Temple
During the height of World War I, an arrogant German U-boat commander documents his crew's descent into madness after they find a mysterious ivory talisman on a dead sailor.
As the submarine becomes crippled and sinks to the depths of the ocean, the crew is plagued by supernatural visions, forcing the commander to confront an uncharted, submerged city. Faced with the end of his air supply and his own sanity, the commander feels drawn toward an ancient, illuminated temple on the sea floor.
This found-manuscript tale chronicles his final, willing descent into a maddening, supernatural abyss.
The House of the Dead
Sentenced to years of brutal hard labor in a Siberian prison camp, a Russian nobleman grapples with the horrors of incarceration and the depths of the human soul in this haunting, semi-autobiographical masterpiece.
Amidst relentless suffering and the company of condemned criminals, he struggles to maintain his faith in humanity and the inherent goodness of man.
Based on Dostoevsky’s own experiences, The House of the Dead offers a profound, unflinching look at endurance, redemption, and the resilience of the human spirit.
The Fall of the House of Usher
An unnamed narrator arrives at a decaying mansion to visit his childhood friend, Roderick Usher, only to find himself trapped in a stifling atmosphere of madness, isolation, and dread.
As Roderick and his twin sister succumb to a mysterious, wasting illness, the sentient, crumbling house mirrors their mental and physical decline.
Blurring the lines between reality and terror, this gothic masterpiece culminates in a terrifying, inevitable collapse of both the family line and their ancestral home.
