Horror books are great all year round, but there’s nothing like reading a scary book in October. 

There’s no end of spooky fiction to give you autumn chills, from Bram Stoker’s Dracula to the endless backlist of Stephen King. But, as the saying goes, truth is stranger than fiction. And when it comes to nonfiction, the truth can be scarier, too. 

Whether you want to feel some goosebumps during your reading time on the lead-up to Halloween, or you want to explore how nonfiction and fiction can fit together in the same genre, there are many types of nonfiction horror writing to sample when the leaves turn. 

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote 

In Cold Blood is the original true crime novel. 

On the morning of November 15, 1959, Perry Smith and Richard Hickock murdered all four members of the Clutter family, who were living in their rural home in Kansas. Their plan was to steal money from a safe they thought the Clutters had in the house and use it to start a new life in Mexico. 

When Truman Capote read about and became fascinated by the Clutter murders, it was actually before Smith and Hickock were apprehended. He convinced his friend, fellow famed author Harper Lee, to come with him to Kansas so he could talk to the Clutters’ neighbors, the detectives, and conduct his own investigation. When the murderers were caught, Capote interviewed them himself. 

Capote’s deep, detailed research led to one of the greatest works of nonfiction. His book is based on the factual evidence he gathered in Kansas but uses stylistic techniques that were, at the time, not normally used by journalists. His use of a subjective lens, literary imagery, and allowing himself and his immersion in his research to be a notable part of the writing are all trademarks of New Journalism. In Cold Blood is considered a classic of New Journalism, a style that is very popular now, with true crime books like Michelle McNamara’s I’ll Be Gone in the Dark. 

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado 

In the Dream House is Carmen Maria Machado’s second published work after Her Body and Other Parties, her collection of short stories. In the Dream House is a memoir that Machado wrote in the style of a horror novel, using the second person and a choose your own adventure style that allows her to examine her memories through different lenses. 

The idea of a haunted house is one of the many literary tropes Machado plays with, but the real terror here comes from the main focus of her memoir: an abusive relationship. Readers who are triggered by accounts of domestic violence, especially in the context of nonfiction, may want to approach with caution. But Machado is one of the smartest writers working today, and if you’re able to engage with the subject matter, In the Dream House is also a fascinating look at how to expand the limits of any one form of writing. 

As if navigating through a dream, Machado’s book isn’t a strictly page by page account of her traumatic relationship. She explores criticisms of pop culture, takes a broader look at the narratives we have around queer relationships and how that colored her view of her abuser, and approaches everything with the sharp sense of humor that made her first title such a big hit. 

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman 

There are heaps of true crime books, nonfiction accounts of hauntings, and collections of weird history. But The World Without Us—written largely as a thought experiment expanding on an article Weisman wrote in 2005—is possibly more unsettling than a biography of a serial killer. 

The book is exactly what it sounds like: what would happen to the world around us if the human race disappeared into thin air? What would happen to our houses, our cities? How long would it take for forests to regrow where there once was civilization? What would happen to dense cities like New York? And what kind of remains would be the longest lasting evidence that the human race used to exist? 

To gather answers to these questions, Weisman interviewed scientists and academics from a wide variety of studies, using their answers to piece together a wider picture of how the built environment would degrade without us around to keep it up. 

At first glance it’s a pretty interesting question. But Weisman goes deeper into this question than most people are comfortable going, looking hundreds and thousands of years into the future. At that scale, you’re reminded of just how big the Earth is and just how small the human race is in comparison. 

It’s one thing to be scared of the idea of a sea monster eating you in one bite, but it’s a whole different level to think about the eventual erasure of your entire race. 

What Are You Afraid of?

Even die-hard horror fans have some kind of specific trope they can’t deal with reading. Some people will put down a book if something bad happens to a child; others are more comfortable reading about a fantastical monster than they are a serial killer, which is, unfortunately, all too real. But then everyone also has their enduring favorites, like haunted houses or historical cold cases. 

When you branch out your idea of horror to nonfiction, there’s even more variety to choose from—from the unsettling to the bloody to the personal. 

Chelsea Ennen is a writer living in Brooklyn with her husband and her dog. When not writing or reading, she is a fiber and textile artist who sews, knits, crochets, weaves, and spins.