iVillagers reveal the most hair-raising and spine-tingling stories they've ever read...

Intensity by Dean Koontz
'Intensity lives up to its name! I found it to be both gripping and terrifying.'

Pet Sematary by Stephen King
'Stephen King's Pet Sematary freaked me out. It incorporated all of my fantasies of how great it would be if my childhood dog could live forever... but then something went terribly wrong!'

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
'The only book of fiction that has ever terrified me more than Stephen King's was Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, which I read when I was about twelve, and living in an old house that creaked and popped at night. The nightmares I got from those two books were only eclipsed by the terror I felt for a week after seeing The Exorcist at the theatre on a very foggy night.'

The Amityville Horror by John G Jones
'When my husband and I married in July 1978, one of my first purchases was a paperback of The Amityville Horror. It scared me so badly that I could hardly stand to be alone in our apartment even in broad daylight. Just looking at the cover of the book scared me. I finally hid it under a cushion. I have always loved a good ghost story, but this one was truly terrifying. Nothing of Stephen King's has ever scared me that badly. What was really stupid was that a few years later, I read it again - and it still scared me! Is that sadistic or what?'

The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
'The scariest story has got to be Edgar Allan Poe's The Telltale Heart.'

The Monkey's Paw by WW Jacobs
'The creepiest story I've ever read was The Monkey's Paw. I've read it a couple of times, but the last time I was asked to read it for a class, I flat-out refused.'

Out of the Shadows by Kay Hooper
'This book scared the bejeezus out of me. It kept me up while finishing it, then it just kept me up from sheer terror. I finally decided it was perfectly okay for me to leave the lights on all night since I pay the light bill. Psychics, ghostly phenomena and brutal murders will do that to you.'

Skull Session by Daniel Hecht
'This book is not for the faint of heart.'

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
'I read this at a vulnerable age and did not see the movie, but it still terrified me!'

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
'I couldn't go bed without the lights on for two months after finishing it!'

The Shining by Stephen King
'I threw the book across the room and dove under the covers halfway through the book!'