What is it about dark attics and steep staircases that makes you hold your breath with anticipation? The creepy house is the one of the best elements of scary stories. I’ve compiled this list of my favorite:
Uncle Jonathan’s mansion in John Bellairs’s The House With a Clock in Its Walls. Not only did it have secret passages and hidden rooms, its walls also held a clock ticking down to Doomsday. That is my kind of story!
The Holiday House from Clive Barker’s The Thief of Always. This would be the perfect vacation house–Spring every morning and Christmastime every night. Except for the rather monstrous fish bobbing in the pond outside…
12 Grimmauld Place from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, etc. Tended to by a demented elf with dreams of having his head mounted on the wall, and guarded by a screaming portrait, this filthy house actually held a very important secret treasure.
And my new favorite: The Pink Palace from Neil Gaiman’s Coraline. A dreary, boring old house, it has one very creepy element: a tiny door that leads into a mirror world. Yes, a portal!
Have I left any out?
Parker Peevyhouse has toured the houses of many, many authors–and some of those houses were seriously creepy.
Parker Peevyhouse
P. J. Hoover
Jo Whittemore
lindajoysingleton
Joni Sensel
kaholt
8 Comments
February 26, 2009 at 7:02 am
Ooooh, I loved that Pink Palace! Awesome!
I loved every old house in the Nancy Drew books. Especially the ones with the secret tunnels and rooms.
February 26, 2009 at 7:59 am
Sadly, I never read Nancy Drew.
February 26, 2009 at 8:05 am
OMGOMGOMGOMG
Is this the whole younger generation thing?
Parker, you missed an important part of childhood. You know, it’s never too late.
February 26, 2009 at 10:07 am
Okay! I’ll go hit the library, I promise.
Actually, ever time I see those Nancy Drew computer games in the store, it makes me wish I’d read the books.
And it always makes me laugh that my mom claims she got the recipe for one of her favorite dishes from a Nancy Drew book.
February 26, 2009 at 9:30 pm
I don’t know if this counts or not but the Spence Academy dorm in The Sweet Far Thing, the third book in the Gemma Doyle Trilogy, when statues came alive and attacked. Great scene very creepy.
February 26, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Good one, Doret! I think it counts!
March 29, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Hello!
Very Interesting post! Thank you for such interesting resource!
PS: Sorry for my bad english, I’v just started to learn this language
See you!
Your, Raiul Baztepo
September 18, 2009 at 1:58 am
12 Grimmauld Place is definitely the creepiest!!