Ghost Story is the one that changed the most for me upon re-reading. I admit I didn't really care for it at first (relative to the rest of the series). I thought it was somewhat boring and was frustrated by seeing Harry so powerless after watching him kick ass and take names for the first 12 books.

​

After re-reading the series a couple times, it's now in my top 5. It sets up so much (Murphy's character change being a big one), and I loved seeing how Mort listened to Harry in Grave Peril (and his subsequent career "revival"). Meeting Michael's guardian angels, learning about the angels of death escorting souls, Sir Stuart, the introduction of the Fomor, Butters coming into his own, Daniel following in his father's footsteps (sort of, we'll see what else happens with him)....There's so many slower moments and small details that build the world.

​

And the scene with Uriel and Harry seeing Maggie and Mouse is probably my favorite single chapter in the entire series.

As I've said sometimes here in this very sub: Ghost Story's biggest flaw is that it came after Changes.

It's not a perfect book by any means, I still don't like any of the kids or Fitz, for example. Or how some characters reacted to the big news of Harry's return. But we get so many great moments in that book that it's hard to deny its importance.

I really like the scene with Lea, and for some weird reason I really like when Harry is on good terms with her even though she's just cold and ruthless many times (mostly with others).

I'd add that it also shows how important he was to Chicago's stability, and how, whether he realized it or not, he was doing the job of a Warden long before being given the title and being damn effective at it.

My favorite scene in Ghost Story is when Harry encounters the Angel of Death near Father Forthill.

When I first read the series, I hated Ghost Story. I am a continuity guy, and I don't LIKE changes. (Although I DID gut-wrenchingly enjoy Changes.) Like Harry, I order the same thing at the same restaurants when I manage to go out to eat. It's not that I don't like trying new things. (I LOVE trying new beers.) But I like continuity. It's comfortable. I'm sure you could psychoanalyze me and figure out how my childhood had a lot to do with it, but that's ok. I'm comfortable with my boringness.

But dude, I did NOT like seeing Butters with Bob. I know, it's important to both their characters. I know, (spoilers for Skin Game) >!Harry is going to have Bonnie to deal with.!< But yeah, it was rough for me. Made me dislike the book, with all the other things that are just...different now.

And then, my best friend died in a motorcycle accident. One day, I was making plans to share some epic beers with him when I got back from a vacation on the coast, and then he was gone. My dudes, what I wouldn't have given to have had his shade come back and talk to me. Even just for a moment. Even just to laugh with me one more time. Even just to make fun of me. Even just to...ANYTHING. I missed my friend.

And then, I read Ghost Story again. It frigging WRECKED me. Every time someone new got to talk to Harry again...When Bob's eyelights revealed Harry. I. Couldn't. Take. It. I wanted so much to believe that if I just got the right spiritual flashlight, I could reveal my friend's face. I OWNED the experience of every single character who got to interact with their friend, their mentor, their beloved again, when they thought it wasn't possible. When they thought he was gone. OR...when they'd managed to convince themselves that he was still alive, couldn't possibly be dead. That scene hit me harder than I thought it would. I had somehow half-entertained a fantasy that Gabe had faked his death. That even though I was at the viewing with the family and saw him on that table, he somehow managed the ultimate con. Too much fiction, I suppose. But yeah...that book rocked me.

Ghost Story is not only a good story, it is a POWERFUL story. It sounded very much to me as though it were written by someone who had looked into my heart and read my story. Someone who knew my pain and was able to convert it to prose. It certainly WAS written by someone who was able to draw tears from a well that I thought was surely dry by now.

Thank you, Mr. Butcher.

I feel the same way about “my dead girlfriend keeps messaging me, it’s such a good story but it’s in between borrasca penpal and lrg, like ouch 

Yes! It was really well written. It's not often you get a story that does two different POVs of the same event well

When it comes to this format, stories like this are my favorite. They're shorter as to not overstay their welcome and they're just fucking weird with no real resolution. Like what was the thing? Why, after everything, did it still try to hand divorce papers? What did the other people like little girl, and the delivery guy, RIP, see? It's like a spooky hors d'oeuvre. Bite sized but you can think about how it was finger lickin good for a while. Shout out to Peaking Wife, and Number of Stairs for being along the same lines.

I see the complete opposite of that is like Stolen Tongue, which I still liked, it's fun story, but I kind of hate the "hey reddit" parts which drag it out, there was a concrete resolution which takes away that mystique, and while unrelated to the above point, really not a fan of normal person fist fights supernatural being and wins. They don't ruin the story for me, like I said I still really enjoyed Stolen Tongues, but it's just the best example of a story they covered to convey my idea.

The scene with the guy getting pulled through the slats in the porch steps was terrifying

Its a shame tbh And the episode contains the first instance of hunter's bear trap activating even if unacknoledged OOOOOO

Have you tried Gray Matter? I’m generally pretty okay about horror, but Just Between Us scared the hell out of me, and I was pretty freaked for a couple of days after. Same with their rendition of Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar… fantastic production but yeesh, so much more terrifying than the original Poe.

The only time I actually screamed was during season one of the white vault. Forgot exactly why lmao but that was the night I discovered it was possible to be jumpscared by an audio drama.

The Silt Verses was the first audio drama that gave me actual goose bumps during one of the scenes. But if you liked that one, I’d recommend giving I Am In Eskew a try, as it was the precursor project to TSV from the same creator. It might not be truly as terrifying as you’re looking for, but I find the narrator’s sort of monotone style to be quite unsettling when juxtaposed again the horrid things he’s describing.

You've already listed the scariest ones. If episodes like "Lost John's Cave" (TMA) or "staircase" (KPH) don't do it for you, you're not going to find one that does.

The Left Right Game. It's so good it's currently being made into a movie. The only podcast audiodrama I found scary out of almost all of them, and I've listened to almost everything recommended by others in this thread. VERY scary/creepy.

Welcome to Hotel Transylvania!

be dead then be ghost for free flights?

tourist traps are pure horror though in all fairness

well, travelling the world for cheap can be a horror

He's an introvert

I keep forgetting about that cameo. I remember getting super excited when I saw Ray Stantz in Casper when I was a kid. Spengler probably ditched them at that point

Makes the >!Egon disappearing at the end make sense because he no longer had any unfinished business.!<

“Casper is a Ghostbusters movie” is a fun version of the “Die Hard is a Christmas movie” hot take.

The real tier list!

Casper is such a 90s gem. Beautiful music. Bill Pullman is just wonderful.

Super Paper Mario has a story I think about at least once every 2 months and I haven’t played it in years

SPM is definitely the right choice for this one. Even tho it’s like my first paper Mario game I’ve ever played (the remake of TTYD being my second technically). I know that the story of the game was really good

Everyone universally has to say Super Paper Mario since it’s the truth. The ending can make almost anyone cry or tear up with how bittersweet it is…

Super Paper Mario 100%

Super Paper Mario

I don't remember it, but when I was a young child my parents built a house out in the woods. Specifically, they built the house over 2 wells and on the land of a now deceased man knowm for being weird and grumpy. We loved there for almost 2 years only. I would never stay in my own bedroom and would always tell my parents that there was an old man standing in the corner of my room. What I do remember is constantly seeing someone walk into my room out of the corner of my eye.

Not seen. One night I was awaken up by loud noises. And when I fully got up it sounded like there was a party going on in my bathroom. When I went to go check the noise stopped. Months and months later that bathroom door opened a little. And as I saw it happening I just said to it whatever. Another night some entity shouted in my ear. I was like wtttt***.turned the other way and fell back asleep lol

I live on 30 acres in rural NC. I’ve always been comfortable here, take walks at night with my dogs, perfect. Been here 15 years. Even though our 30 acre property is rural, we are surrounded by other properties, farmland, etc. we are NOT backed up to a national forest or mountains, HOWEVER, about a month ago, I was outside with my dogs, German Shepherd, and he started barking and acting like a lunatic, then whining, and got in front of me like he was trying to back me up.

We were about 200 feet from my home in the woods. I started shining my flashlight around through the trees and suddenly……. caught eyeshine. When I looked closer, there was this THING, up about 20 feet in a tree, looking at us, dog backing me up, I could barely focus the flashlight. What I saw…… I can’t even hardly believe it… I cant describe it as anything other than….. a dog man. It was STANDING on a limb- upright. Looked to be about 8 feet tall. I couldn’t believe what I was looking at!! This “thing” actually “grinned” at me- no other way to say it. It was grey and had some white on its chest.

Just stood there with this grin on its… face…. I turned and ran towards the house, dog in tow. I’m absolutely mortified, ok, not mortified, scared out of my mind…. I watch this crap on TV, and I know these things are out there. I just didn’t think I’d have one basically IN MY BACK YARD!!!! I breathlessly babbled it out to my husband, who was skeptical to say the least….. when he went out there, it was, of course, NOT THERE!!!

I have photographed orbs, thousands of them in my yard and property. I even have an amber looking “light being “ (what it looks like to me) a head, slimming down to just a point, with amber wings, all good feeling stuff. The feeling I had with the dog man, was total and complete DREAD!!!! NOW, I am afraid to walk at night. Even though I’ve only SEEN this thing once, WHO KNOWS where it lurks around?!?!? I am totally traumatized having seen this. It was quite the nightmare. This is my first time sharing such a terrifying experience.

Lol my dad never believed at first there was something paranormal going on. he always had a rational explanation and thought we were just exaggerating.

Good documentary about similar phenomena

https://letterboxd.com/film/australien-skies-3-search-for-the-min-min/

Well at that time the only thing he mentioned was that their were entities that look terrifying. one of these nights when we woke up to him screaming he was pointing to multiple locations saying they are probably around 7 or 8. Ofc now he remembers nothing.

I mean, I’m physically unharmed, but mentally, I’m having a hard time. Now I’m scared for the curtains to be open at night. I also haven’t shared it with anyone but my husband, who didn’t see it, of course, and here, because I feel like they’ll think I’ve lost my mind! And nah, no more after dark walks for this chick- idk if I’ll ever get over it. There’s a big difference watching this stuff on TV, and actually have one 40 feet away grinning at you.

This was in 2001 and we had just moved to a new appartement. I was 11 at that time and this place was pretty old and the area was pretty sketchy. looks like the ghetto areas you have in America but worse. months after settling in, my mom started complaining to my dad about this apartment and that she keeps hearing weird noises and footsteps at night. We have never had any experiences with paranormal stuff so it wasn't something we thought about. From there VERY BIZZARE THINGS started to happen to all of us in this appartement.

My youngest brother who was around 8 starting having these terrifying experiences EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. At that time I was sharing a room with him. The whole house would be woken up every night at 3AM with him running forth and backwards through the narrow hallway towards the living room SCREAMING in terror. My mom would rush at him and he would hug her tightly closing his eyes and shouting THEY WANT TO HURT ME. My mom thought he probably just has fever and he was like DONT YOU SEE THEM, THEY ARE SITTING RIGHT THERE NEXT TO THE DOOR. This went on for a week and one night we woke up and he was just sitting there at the living room corner in the dark crying.

My Youngest sister who was just 2 years younger than me started having these sleep walks. One night I woke up around 1AM and was heading to the bathroom and I just see a blanket just walking though the whole. I almost shat my pants. It was my sister sleep walking and cuz she would sometimes sleep with the thing girls put on top of their head for their hair so the blanket got stock there and it just looked like a floating blanket walking lol.

Now here comes the incident that happened to me. It was summer of 2004 and my family went back to my original country for vacation but I stayed with my dad who was working. so from early morning till 4pm am all by myself at home and my dad is at work. so am sitting in the living room watching TV and it was around 12pm and I hear this weird voice coming from my parents room at the end of the hall. I thought its probably the TV and am just imagining things. then i hear it again and i get up and turn off the TV and go stand at the hall and it was this long narrow hall and i see my parents room door closed. At this point am absolutely terrified and shaking. Then I heard this crystal clear voice calling me with my moms voice. It was calling me by my name to come, something like "My name, come here for a sec I want to show you something" and I see the door knob moving up and down. I immediately start running and I opened the door and just kept running. I waited down at the building entrance till 4pm until my dad came back. he saw me terrified and thought I was just making things up after telling him what happened.

My dad is the type of person that is very rational. The next summer my dad stayed by himself and we went for vacation. When we came back he said something is not right about this place. within a year we moved out and later the whole building was demolished.

Shoutout to Mother Horse Eyes though. It wouldn't be my pick but I'll always remember reading about the girl in the 80s simulation, figuring out where that was in the timeline, and feeling my stomach drop like a rock

For me it was My Wife is peeking at me from around corners just because I can absolutely imagine something like that happening.

It’s funny to see people still ask this when we(yes WE, even YOU) all know that PenPal is the most scary story. The sense of dread and fear that fills inside when you hear the story is unlike any other they have read

for me it was penpal. there was moments i had where my feet went cold and i had to keep looking around my room for anything unusual😭

If we’re talking about scary in the sense that it could realistically happen, Penpal. Scary in general, the first 90% of Stolen Tongues. I don’t even care that the ending fell off the majority of the story had me legit scared

Everybody knows Henry James wrote Turn of the Screw, but he also wrote a bunch of other excellent ghost stories. Check out The Ghostly Rental, it’s an excellent story that deserves to be better known, and also has all the elements you are asking for.

M.R. James universally recognized as the master of the old timey ghost story. I’d point you to Room 13 and Count Magnus as two stories which have many elements you are looking for. Casting the Runes, “Whistle and I will come to you my lad”, and The Ash Tree are three more worth trying.

Others have mentioned The Women in Black and I also endorse that pick.

Edit: Three more classic tales!

“The Upper Berth” by F. Marion Crawford

“Bewitched” by Edith Wharton

“The Signalman” by Charles Dickens

Also Ellen Datlow’s recent anthology Echoes looks like an excellent mix of old and new ghost stories, based on a look at the table of contents.

The Woman in Black fits that list quite neatly. And Bag of Bones hits at least two of those notes, though I haven't read it in years.

Jane Eyre also checks every item on that list, though the ghosts are more metaphorical. The Castle of Otranto is almost the prototype for those stories.

You'll also find that several are thematically or atmospherically what you're looking for. Interview with the Vampire has most of those items. The Elementals is like that but with heat haze, rather than fog. Hamlet has nearly all those elements, though Elsinore isn't a creepy old house, but a creepy old castle.

Edit: I posted before finishing the comment.

I cannot say this loud enough: Dark Matter by Michelle Paver. It’s a slow build of isolation and terror curated by a ghostly presence, or “echo.”

Does Haunting of Hill House count? Classic spooky stuff If you haven’t read it!

Try Susan Hill. Contemporary author, old fashioned ghost stories.