‘It’s insanely sinister’: horror writers on the scariest stories they’ve ever read

Sat, 25 Oct 2025

Bloodthirsty ghosts, sadistic supercomputers, creepy childhood games ... Mariana Enríquez, Paul Tremblay, Daisy Johnson and others on the tales that kept them up at night

The Summer People by Shirley Jackson
I read this years ago and it’s a story that’s truly haunted me ever since. The titular “summer people” are the Allisons from New York, who rent the same off-grid country cottage each year. This time, instead of heading back to the city, they decide to extend their holiday for a month longer – something that seems to unsettle everyone in the nearby town. All pass on the same veiled caution that nobody has ever stayed at the lake beyond Labor Day. Nonetheless, the Allisons are determined to remain, and that’s when things start to get increasingly weird. The man who delivers the kerosene won’t sell to them. No one will deliver groceries to the cottage, and when the Allisons attempt to drive into town, the car won’t start. A storm gathers, the batteries in the radio fade, and as darkness falls, “the two old people huddled together in their summer cottage and waited”. What are the Allisons waiting for? What do the locals know? Every time I read Jackson’s unnerving and inspiring story, I’m reminded that the best horror comes from what’s left undisclosed.
Saltwash by Andrew Michael Hurley is published by John Murray.