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

After reading something very, VERY disturbing last night, I though it'd be interesting to see what other people have read that had disturbed them in any way.

For me it's:

Eric the Pie by Graham Masterton
Victims by Shaun Hutson (certain scenes in this book really made my toes curl)
Slug Bait (lyrics) by Throbbing Gristle
Totally Sexy French Girl by Kevin 'Earfetish' (Short story/contains sexual scenes throughout)

Please note that to read any of these stories you need to be in possession of a very strong stomach and not be easily offended.

To admin: If this thread is not suitable for the forum, deletion is welcome.

there's a scene in toward the end of the novel Memnoch The Devil where where The devil and Lestat travel back in time to watch the crucifiction of Christ. And as they are standing in the crowd watching him carry his cross time slows down and the crowd freezes and the only ones moving are the devil and Lestat and then Christ turns to look over at Lestat whose vampire senses are tingling at the sight and the smell of the blood falling from Christ's body to the ground and Christ says something like 'Go ahead, taste the blood of God - you know you want to'. (it was something like that). And I closed the book and never opened it again.

I've read some pretty disturbing stuff in the wake of the riots in the UK these past few days; people excusing and justifying the rioting and looting and the like.

Apart from that I gave up on American Psycho about halfway through. Not that I couldn't stomach it, more that I thought "what's the point?" Just not good literature at all.

Graham Masterton is a pretty good hand at "disturbing". So are guys like Skipp and Spector, or Clive Barker. That's what they do. But then I find certain behavioral aspects of RL far more disturbing than fiction.

RL has more horror than any author can cram into a book. That said, I think the most disturbing things I've read have been:

The Wasp Factory by Ian Banks - from start to finish it was just.... upsetting. But very well written.

Exodus from Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk- again, a generally disturbing book, but that story in particular forced me to go watch Scrubs reruns for hours just to feel better.

And recently there have been parts of Shantaram (the bit with the mouse) that have left me unable to sleep.

Looking at that list, I'd say it's always realistic violence against animals or children that really leaves me unsettled.

I've got a pretty solid stomach when it comes to other run of the mill horror fiction or movies and usually end up cheering for the zombies/ non-twilight vampires/ masked killers of promiscuous teenagers.

Originally Posted by sir_vile_minds

For me it's:

Eric the Pie by Graham Masterton...

Just read it at work.

It's now also on my list.

I think the name of the book is called Hot Zone and it's one I read while on a kick about wanting to learn about deadly viruses like the ebola virus, etc. I stopped reading it because of the graphic and very detailed descriptions of what a patient went through while suffering from the viruses.

Originally Posted by BabaYaga

Just read it at work.

It's now also on my list.

Nasty, isn't it?

One plot hole I noticed though: First it says that he played with friends in the school yard, then it goes on to say that he has no friends (or the other way round).

Hmmm, yeah, I think I was too busy throwing up inside my mind to notice at the time I have to admit, I started at the beginning, read the first bit and thought it was kind of lame so I skipped to the end- and then of course I had to see how it got from the unassuming start to the gory finale. I guess curiosity (as well as Eric) killed the cat. Realised today I haven't eaten any meat since I read it...Despite the fact that I should know better by now, I'm also going to go and try to find 'Victims'.

Originally Posted by Offeiriad

I think the name of the book is called Hot Zone and it's one I read while on a kick about wanting to learn about deadly viruses like the ebola virus, etc. I stopped reading it because of the graphic and very detailed descriptions of what a patient went through while suffering from the viruses.

I love that book! read it at least 3 or 4 times!
I've never found Cliver barker to be that horrifying, though I havn't read much of his work, I'm currently reading Coldheart Canyon and stopped about halfway through books of blood, mainly because I found it slightly boring. I don't really think I've come across something that was too horrible for me to continue reading.
I just bought the wasp factory and also have American Psycho on my to read list, but I'm not sure when I'll get around to them. Once I do I'll report back.

Just remebered, Cujo, the book was hard to read at points and the ending was a really horrible downer, I also felt so horrible for the dog because he didn't really know what he was doing at all.

Originally Posted by ProcrastinationStation

Just remebered, Cujo, the book was hard to read at points and the ending was a really horrible downer, I also felt so horrible for the dog because he didn't really know what he was doing at all.

I always feel bad for the animals... will check out Hot Zone as well now. Hopefully no dogs or cats.

There's monkeys and animal dissection.

My bank statement...

Originally Posted by BabaYaga

Hmmm, yeah, I think I was too busy throwing up inside my mind to notice at the time I have to admit, I started at the beginning, read the first bit and thought it was kind of lame so I skipped to the end- and then of course I had to see how it got from the unassuming start to the gory finale. I guess curiosity (as well as Eric) killed the cat. Realised today I haven't eaten any meat since I read it...Despite the fact that I should know better by now, I'm also going to go and try to find 'Victims'.

It did start slow but I knew it'd get interesting after he ate the woodlouse.

Not sure if I said it but you'll only be able to find Victims on eBay and/or Amazon: Hutson's works are only available in the UK and in charity shops at that.

Stephen King's books don't bother me anymore, but I read two when I was a kid that, at the time, seemed really disturbing.

One of them was in the book Needful Things. I was about 10 when I read it, and one of the main characters in the story is a 10-year-old boy named Brian Rusk. As I read, naturally I started to identify with the kid, and read in fascination as he encountered Leland Gaunt and obtained a Sandy Koufax baseball card from Mr. Gaunt's little Castle Rock shop. However, later in the story, Brian is really upset about some things that Mr. Gaunt made him do as a return-favor for the baseball card. At one point, there is a scene where Brian's younger brother, Sean, who is about 6 or so, comes out to the garage to find Brian with a shotgun pointed to his head, intending to kill himself because of the bad things Brian's done. Sean begs and pleads for Brian to stop, even saying that he'll let Brian watch whatever channel he wants to on TV, etc., but Brian pulls the trigger.

I had already read many other acts of violence in that story, but that scene just disturbed the crap out of me! I guess it was just the connection I felt with the kid because he was my age... it just seemed really horrible and unbelievable that he would blow his brains out with a shotgun. It sounds silly now, but I was kind of bummed out for probably about a solid week or two because of that scene. It just gave me a really dark, sad feeling.

The other scene that kind of disturbed me was the scene with the children in the sewers in IT. (Again, SPOILERS.) Beverly has sex with all of them, and they're like, 12 years old! I remember reading it and feeling very awkward because I'd never really read anything to do with sex in books before... especially sex between kids!

Now, as an adult, I kind of wonder about Stephen King's purpose of including that scene... his rationale was that they were all scared and confused from having recently fought the monster, and Beverly doing that with them kind of made their heads clear and let them regain their direction and resolve. I don't consider him to be a pervert or anything, but it does seem really odd to me. I guess you can't really imagine what people would do in a situation like that. I don't quite know what to think of that scene to this day.

There's not too much in books that bothers me as an adult. I guess the disturbing nature of both of the things I've mentioned is more due to the fact that I read them as a kid than anything else.