Haunted houses are more than creaky floorboards and cold drafts — they are characters with secrets, shadows, and a hunger of their own. For readers who love their thrills laced with dread, here are five paranormal and haunted house books that will keep you glancing at your own walls after dark.
5 Haunted House Books to Read This Spooky Season:
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
A gothic retelling of The Fall of the House of Usher with creeping fungi, grotesque secrets, and a dread that seeps into your bones.
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The quintessential haunted house tale. Psychological terror, unreliable narration, and a house that wants you to stay forever.
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
A glamorous socialite confronts rot, mold, and terrifying family secrets in a mansion that breathes.
House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland
Sisters touched by something otherworldly discover their horrific past in this eerie, surreal, and chillingly beautiful YA horror.
The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell
Victorian gothic horror where lifelike wooden figures appear — and move — inside a crumbling estate.
Why We Love Haunted House Books and Paranormal Tales
Haunted house books and paranormal stories resonate with something ancient within us. The thrill of stepping into a place where the walls creak with memory and every shadow might be alive. These tales remind us that homes are never just brick and wood; they are keepers of secrets, grief, and restless echoes.
Paranormal fiction lets us brush shoulders with ghosts, curses, and whispers from the other side. For cozy-goth readers, the magic lies in balancing fear with fascination, turning dread into a kind of intimacy. To read a haunted house novel is to invite the uncanny into your armchair and wonder if the draft by the window is only the wind.
Whether gothic mansions, abandoned asylums, or quiet suburban homes gone strange, haunted house books and paranormal tales keep us coming back because they make the ordinary uncanny and the terrifying oddly familiar. They let us believe that love, grief, and mystery don’t fade when the lights go out, they linger, waiting for us to listen.
Looking for more Haunted House Books? Books-a-million has a great selection
Want more stories to haunt your shelves? Visit Books & Bookish for curated reads worth a candlelit night. Or visit the Library for more books I’ve read.