Halloween is almost here—it’s officially Prime Spooky Time™. For me, part of the draw of the season is testing the limits of my fear. I’m the kind of person who is fascinated by horror as a genre, but isn’t as keen on horror movies or haunted houses due to the unexpected jump-scares. Creepy novels, however, fall right within my scare threshold, since there’s no chance that a person in a mask will jump out from nowhere and scream at me.
We’ve all read a scary book and slept with the light on as a result, but if you want to switch it up and experience your spooks in a different way, I highly recommend trying a scary audiobook. Audiobooks give you the full-body emotional experience that only comes from hearing a great story-teller read a chilling story aloud much like telling ghost stories around a fire (but without the bugs). Many audiobook narrators are trained actors, so they know how to read the prose and dialogue in a way that will keep you up all night. To wrap up the Halloween season, here are a collection of recent audiobooks to chill and thrill you. Some are scary, some are witchy, but they all will give you those good spooky vibes.