Thread: Most disturbing thing(s) you've read

Probably the most disturbing thing I've read recently was Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk. I'm generally pretty tolerant about disturbing things, but that was just too much. I finished reading that book and I actually felt nauseous.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention two short stories:

Edgar Allen Poe's "The Telltale Heart" was a story that imbued me with an unhealthy dose of paranoia that lasted for days.

"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins also deeply disturbed me.

It's about a woman in the 19th century being "treated" for her psychosis (which was actually just post-partum depression).. but the treatment (confined isolation in an attic room) becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.. driving her more insane.

You live in the mind of the woman as she spirals into lunacy, but the beautifully disturbing part about it is, the more crazy she gets, the more she believes she's getting better. Her hallucinations are absolutely, deliciously disturbing. Give it a read!

The novelized Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I couldn't make it past the first chapter even though I loved the short version.

I've recently read the Turn of the Screw and must I say it is a very disturbing and ambiguous novel in nature, however I also want to read The woman in black due to the new movie coming out with Radcliffe however the story line interests me a lot.

Guts.

It's a short story available online for free here written by Chuck Palahniuk. Don't read it though. It's disgusting. I'm surprised I managed to get as far as I could. I think the author was just trying to write the most disturbing story possible.

I once read a book in Lit class that had incest, rape, graphical descriptions of minors having sex, and etc. My Lit teacher had something wrong up in his noggin.

Jeff Lindsay's Dearly Devoted Dexter is the first thing that comes to mind. It's part of the series the Dexter TV show is based on. There's a surgeon who likes to play a real life version of hangman with his victims. He leaves them alive when he's done. The phrase "yodeling potato" was used to describe what the victims look and sound like after he's finished.

Originally Posted by Bossk

I think the author was just trying to write the most disturbing story possible.

If I ever wanted to do that, I'd just write down all the things Christians used to do to infidels (makes the Romans appear civilised in comparison).

Thanks to following Stephen Fry on Twitter, I have been introduced to the horrific work of grotesque that is The Human Centipede. I honestly can't imagine how Tom Six sat down in front of his cast and crew members and said, "You're just going to love this!". I honestly can't imagine how anyone would agree to take part- and yet they all did!.... oh and there's a sequel. Gah....

When Rabbit Howls by Truddi Chase. An autobiography of a woman with dissociative personality disorder. The terror and abuse this woman suffered fragmented her into 92 distinct personalities. The title refers to a voiceless personality which can only scream. I read this book many years ago and the thought of Rabbit still sends shivers.