The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

0M4ll3y — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 05:03:55 -0500

The idea of this thread is to post, well, the most disturbing thing you've ever read. Who knows what sort of inspiration you could find amongst such things? Now I'm going to warn you straight away that this thread will contain very disturbing material. I PM'd a mod before actually making this thread to make sure it would be alright. If you have something 'scary' or 'mysterious' I suggest posting it in this slightly tamer thread. But if you're writing a book on serial killers, or cults or the like, this thread will hopefully contain useful material. I'm going to start of slow and (relatively) low-key Tranquility Bay- where rebellious teenagers can be sent, for a price, to be more or less tortured. Mother Injects Baby with Human Feces for one of the most depraved way to kill someone Island of Rape for the most horrific setting a book could have. Baby Theft for a horrific crime novel? I'm going to stop there for now, and see how people respond before posting more. What is the most disturbing thing you have read? And good luck sleeping tonight. Moderator Note: While it's okay to link disturbing/graphic content with an appropriate warning, please don't post graphic excerpts here on the forum

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Scribal Goddess — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 09:51:49 -0500

For more horror, check out the wiki page of the organisation that runs (ran?) Tranquility Bay and the facilities still operating today: Wwasp I am now officially freaked out and terrified. I cannot believe this kind of thing actually happens!

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Huushiita — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:20:36 -0500

lol. I don't remember reading anything but I can tell you what I WROTE!!!! ha ha. Though... I think the Mockingbird series is disturbing as a whole. That make my guts tighten up and some of the scenes are just ... creepy. O.o

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Digital_Skitty — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:06:25 -0500

Guts by Chuck Palahniuk. That's actually just a short chapter in a larger book, but it can stand alone as a short story. Even better? Based on a true story. Still, the story itself is fictional otherwise, but I've gotten varying opinions on how medically accurate it could be. I suggest using the bathroom before reading that. Not because it'll make you wet or crap yourself, but you will NOT want to have anything to do with your bowels and lower intestines after that... The worst part is that the actual full story sounds really awesome. I just can't bring myself to ever read it.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Rhys927 — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:22:32 -0500

Ever? That's a tough call. However, here's something I read recently that was rather disturbing: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2049647/BBC-documentary-exposes-50-year-scandal-baby-trafficking-Catholic-church-Spain.html

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Honeybadger12345 — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:34:19 -0500

It's just an urban legend, but I read it a couple years ago when I was home alone at night, and it terrified me. I had to jump to into my bed for months after this (should I mention I was 13. Not 6 or 7. 13) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Licked_Hand

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

doomented — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 01:37:44 -0500

http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Serial-Killers-Their-Chilling/dp/1616141638/ref=cm_rdp_product It was really only one section of this book, the chapter on the child-killer Westley Allan Dodd, that disturbed me as it was a reproduction of his "diary of death", going into excrutiating detail about the murderous acts he performed on children. There is another book that deals extensively with Dodd's confessions. http://www.amazon.com/Sex-Crimes-History-Lust-Murder-Necrophilia-/dp/B00005XVKI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318918808&sr=8-1 This is an amazing book full of many facts relating to sex and murder that I'm certain many death metal lyricists have used for inspiration. It is surprisingly graphic and visceral for being written in 1965 I think. The novel "Cows" by Matthew Stokoe is usually listed as a disturbing book, with many repulsive details. It's depressing too but a beautiful piece of art. The two "Apocalypse Culture" books from the 90s should be mentioned too, as they feature many essays that are bound to offend, disturb, depress or possibly entertain someone, with topics ranging from modern-day lycanthropy, necrophilia, child abuse, extreme art, scatological methods of magic, and why there is no reason for people to exist. Also, Paul Mannix's "History of Torture" goes into exact detail the means various peoples over the world have dehumanized and slowly, carefully destroyed their fellow person.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

J.E.Blackworth — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 03:57:26 -0500

Anything about the trenches of World War I, especially the battle of Passchendaele.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

0M4ll3y — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 05:19:04 -0500

Seeing that you people took that a lot better than I thought you would: Albert Fish- Serial killer, cannibal and child rapist. Actual quote: [Removed by Moderator for graphic violence] Hi-Fi Murders- Let's just say drain cleaner and a pen were used in ways that will get prisoners on death row to hate you. I'm not sure how to write this down... Man. Rape. 6 week old victim. I'll stop there for now, but I still have worse :/

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

0M4ll3y — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 05:21:08 -0500

Maybe I'm desensitised, but Guts never had a very bad affect on me, knowing it's fiction. I'd dispute the 'Based on a True Story', but perhaps you have evidence otherwise? Maybe it's because 120 Days of Sodom is a far more disturbing work of literature. It was made into a movie, and the director got assassinated.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

0M4ll3y — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 05:24:53 -0500

On a similar note to that, Baby Farms

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

0M4ll3y — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 05:28:07 -0500

I have to admit "scatological methods of magic" has really piked my curiosity. Though I'd be more interested in "why there is no reason for people to exist". I could probably do without the necrophilia and child abuse.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Uwasa_Waya — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 11:05:05 -0500

The comic The Enigma of Amigara Fault. Claustrophobia, body horror, fear of the dark... worth a read, and very short. http://brasscockroach.com/h4ll0w33n2007/manga/Amigara-Full/Amigara.html Bonus: I told my girlfriend it had 30 pages or so. She assumed literally, so the last few pages were a complete surprise to her after she thought it was over.

Moderator Note

Dragonchilde — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 13:35:17 -0500

Folks, may I please remind you that we DO have guidelines here for content; while we're pretty liberal with our content policy in non-all-ages forums, graphically violent/sexually explicit content is not allowed. It's okay to link it, with appropriate warnings, but please, please DO NOT post graphic content directly on this thread. It will be removed.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Uwasa_Waya — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:48:21 -0500

Hey Mod, any chance of us getting an 'edit' button on the forums?

Mod post

Huushiita — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 19:05:47 -0500

Please be patient with regards to the edit hutton, the team is working overtime, and it is on the list. Thank you :)

Re: Moderator Note

0M4ll3y — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 01:36:36 -0500

Eek! Sorry, my bad!

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

doomented — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 04:19:54 -0500

I would also suggest reading "The Trial of Gilles de Rais", about the infamous French companion-in-arms to Joan of Arc who inexplicably turned to evil after her execution. Some claim he was innocent; maybe, but what he was accused of is sheer horror and outrage. Also, the case history of Peter Kurten, the 1930s Vampire of Dusseldorf is quite disturbing, as the man was quite intelligent, had an excellent memory, but was a brutal, true sadist. Old works of witchcraft, such as the "Malleus Maleficarum" and the "Examen of Witches", are very disturbing when you realise that all of the "witches" described in these works were methodically tortured and executed for practically no reason at all. The works of Pierre Guyotat are quite disturbing, direct and visceral, dealing with the horrors of war.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

ReapingDesires — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:48:26 -0500

I read that when I was a lot younger and now I'm 24 and it still totally keeps me out!

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Uwasa_Waya — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 08:03:34 -0500

Was asking nicely. :) Also, while I've got your oh-so-sexy attention, is there any way to track which threads we've posted in?

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Loriba — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 10:25:45 -0500

[quote]... is there any way to track which threads we've posted in?[/quote] At the top right of each thread is a RSS icon which you can use to subscribe to the thread. As far as I'm aware there isn't a central area where you can see a list of which threads you've posted in so this is probably the best way to follow replies. :-) HTH Lottie

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

WELTY69 — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:25:43 -0500

J. A. konrath's whiskey sour. he decsribed how the bad guy would shove pins and fish hooks into fun size candy bars, and melt more chocolate to cover the holes, as well as how he puts them back into the bag and seals it. He leaves a few normal ones so that you might grab those and think it is ok I was horrified!!! to this day I still slowly squich my candy bar before I place it in my mouth.... try reading it and not cringe............

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Swyved — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:01:59 -0500

For fiction I'd have to say Clive Barker's Coldheart Canyon. The way the final redemption plays out is...uugh. In terms of non-fiction, as a Canadian I was pretty horrified by the Greyhound beheading three years ago. It was right out of a horror film. Still freaks me out to this day. *Warning: Graphic Content*

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Normana — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:49:57 -0500

I think the Russian Sleep Experiment creepypasta is up there on my list.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Normana — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:59:50 -0500

And just as a warning, even though this is obviously a post full of disturbing things -- this story is extremely graphic.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Huushiita — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:36:02 -0500

I know!!! I was trying to not make it sound like I was happily informing you. Hope I did okay. Writing tone can go either way, don't you think? :) Um. WHERE did you get your icon. It is fascinating! :)

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

angeliclizard — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:34:48 -0500

Okay, lets put that at the top of the list. I couldn't finish it and I've read some messed up stuff.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Webgoji — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 21:01:36 -0500

I haven't read that much that was really disturbing. To tell the truth I've written the worst thing I ever read. Let's just say the carnival for monsters were the second worst scene.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Swyved — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 21:14:13 -0500

Not sure why my post disappeared. Yes, that was definitely creepy, and intense!

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

imaginepageant — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 09:14:22 -0500

Yeah, Guts didn't really get to me, either. Probably because I went into it with very high expectations, having read about multiple people fainting during the story at Chuck's book readings. I listened to a recorded reading of it, and then read it, but laughed more than anything. It's more gross than disturbing, to me. However! Haunted is my favorite book of Chuck's, and there are other parts of it that did disturb me quite a bit - which is very, very hard to do. Specifically, when Comrade Snarky came downstairs to find the others having a little snack (cough), and the Hot Potting chapter. Another book that disturbed me was Cannibal by Lois Jones. It's the true story of a cannibal and his willing victim. I found it disturbing to get into the head of someone like that - not just to read about what he did, but what he thought and felt. Plus, the scenes of the post-production, so to speak, were very graphically detailed, and I could definitely see that freaking people out.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

apathid — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:29:47 -0500

"Midnight Meat Train" by Clive Barker. It made me sick to my stomach, just from reading. "Eaten: Scenes from a Screenplay" a poem in iambic pentameter by Neil Gaiman. Beautifully written, gross, and just thinking about it still disturbs me.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

imaginepageant — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 18:52:42 -0500

I... I kind of want to write a novel based on that idea now. Or for someone else to write one so I can read it. That stuff was messed up. That wasn't a true story, was it? (I've never heard of creepypasta before so I have no idea if it's all fiction or true stories or what.)

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

AtomicCafe — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 14:43:49 -0500

Creepypasta are short horror stories passed around the internet. The Russian Sleep Experiment is 100% false, but makes for a fun read. ;-) It never bothered me, personally, but every friend I've read it to has either fainted in the middle or had nightmares for weeks or months. But try Googling some Creepypasta. There are some REALLY good ones out there. Not many are that gorey, but a lot of them (especially the shorter ones) mess with your mind. The one that still haunts me (more than a year after reading it) is "Under the Bed" or "I Know You're Awake".

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

CharliGirl — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 15:23:24 -0500

Grr, I did a post with links and everything and its vanished. Can't be arsed to find the links again but basically the post revolved around Josef Mengele aka Angel of Death and his experiments in Nazi Concentration camps, with a mention of the Japanese and Chinese camps, specifically Unit 731. Google them. Anything relating to the concentration camps and the human experimentation that happened there just makes me sick, sad and horrified.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

voldyhobbit — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 15:31:35 -0500

"I Know You're Awake" still terrifies me now. There was also this one about a scarecrow told in the style of forum posts... I don't remember what it was called, though.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Swyved — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 00:14:55 -0500

Ooh, I love Midnight Meat Train. I wrote a paper on it last year in my Aesthetics and Politics class. Clive Barker is my hero (or he will be if he ever finishes the Books of the Art).

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

TheSmith — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 06:33:33 -0500

Most disturbing thing I've ever read would be this thread. And I didn't even click through to any links. Just reading what you guys have to say about the stuff is enough for me. The gross out of horror is an area I'm not that fond of, which is pretty weird.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Sthomas68 — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 06:38:50 -0500

Fiction: maternal instinct by jf Gonzalez Nonfiction: anything about the nazi occupation in WWII Film: hostel or similar movies

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

gazdemon — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 06:53:53 -0500

This is probably the most disturbing thing I have ever read about...it is the murder of a girl by her ex-boyfriend. These links will fill you in on it, and one of the links has some horrible detail which makes me shiver. http://www.imperfectparent.com/topics/2011/06/23/teen-kills-ex-girlfriend-to-get-free-breakfast/ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2006944/Killed-dare-Schoolboy-murdered-ex-girlfriend-free-breakfast.html

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Mysterious Shoe — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 18:03:35 -0500

This one terrifies me, and fiction doesn't normally. ... I'd actually love to read a full novel based on the concept.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Fyrephere — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 19:18:04 -0500

Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite, I only kept reading because it was well written and that was after taking about a three day break between starting and finishing.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

ScreechTheMighty — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 22:06:45 -0500

It's called Internet Fanfiction. And I say this as a writer of internet fanfiction. Some people are messed up. I know a lot of it might seem tame in comparison to the real-life stuff posted on here, but the fact that people can think some of this stuff up (and even find it APPEALING in some cases) is just...ugh. *shudder* People can be really depraved, man. Really, really depraved. Also, the High Octane Nightmare Fuel and Body Horror pages on TV Tropes.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

rblindberg — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 07:55:09 -0500

Oh. My. F*cking. God... how can a man bring himself to rape a 6 week old baby?? And how can a mother even consider to cover that up!?!? Give me 30 minutes in a room alone with him and her... Sorry, I'm just to chocked to focus now...

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Uwasa_Waya — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 08:33:26 -0500

Oh no, you were fine. Thanks for the help! As for the icon, it's a stylized Metroid. I have no earthly clue where I found it though. Feel free to steal it!

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Uwasa_Waya — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 08:52:16 -0500

Here's another one I'll provide. A fictional (well, duh) site devoted to the containment of unusual or alien artifacts and creatures. Some of them are absolutely horrifying. The worst in my opinion is SCP-231 (http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-231). An unidentified female being forced to go through... something. If the vague hints at what 110-Montauk is don't get to you, maybe the realization that first of the redacted boxes showing her age range is a single digit will. http://www.scp-wiki.net/ WARNING: Has the tendancy to be graphic.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Orphansunder — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 09:08:12 -0500

Most disturbing thing I have read? Probably JS Russell's short story "City of Angels"... Gross... Most disturbing non-fiction thing read? The whole of the case report for the murders committed by Dean "The Candy Man" Corll. Otherwise known as the main perpetrator in the "Houston Mass Murders" of the early-mid 70's. Still causes a shudder...

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Blithley Nosh — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 19:06:28 -0500

When I was in a psychology class, we read a lot about the Milgram experiment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment). Not particularly gory or sensational, but the idea that people (perfectly normal people) will willingly kill each other because a man in a lab coat tells them too gives me the willies. As for other disturbing psychology experiments, my teacher had a list of the ten most unethical experiments, but I'm not sure where she found it. I do think that the Zimbardo prison experiment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbardo_prison_experiment) was on there, though. This experiment was actually one of the main reasons the APA decided that they needed to implement ethical guidelines for researchers.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

raoulduke — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 01:21:28 -0500

That one got me too. Only read it once, more than a decade ago, but I still think about it sometimes.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

raoulduke — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 01:30:01 -0500

Serial by Jack Kilborn. My mom is an avid mystery reader, has literally hundreds of books in that genre. At one point she was reading real-life murder mysteries, and I remember one that was a booklet on Dennis Nielsen. I was probably ten or eleven when I read it. To this day I remember it vividly. For those who haven't heard of him, Nielsen is essentially the UK version of Jeffrey Dahmer. I've read a lot of stuff about serial killers since then, some of it creepy, but nothing really in the Nielsen arena. Maybe Dahmer and Gacy. This shouldn't count, as it's a movie, but I've found I have no tolerance for Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. I just can't sit through it. I'll watch horror movies all day and love every minute of it, but that one just gets under my skin.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

fantasychallange7 — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 09:40:58 -0500

I think the most horrifying thing I've ever read was the scene in the Wyrd Museum trilogy, (first book) where a bunch of people get pushed down a crowded stairwell and slowly crush themselves to death under the weight of all the bodies. I mean.... ack. DX

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

AccoSpoot — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 11:11:26 -0500

All this thread has done so far is made me feel I couldn't possibly go even near as graphic as some of these stories :\ My two bits: The House of Leaves is the most disturbing thing I've ever read, mostly because of Truants actions towards the end of the book, rape, murder, drugs, insanity... All presented over the course of one or two pages, brilliant!

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Ignis_Fatuus — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 01:29:43 -0500

Omg...I just read it and the ending gets to me in a bad way. O___O In the vein of creepypasta, the first bit I ever read was "Squidward's Suicide". The picture that usually accompanies it stuck with me. Don't know what it is about it. As for real world things, THIS is sickening, in a different way. Incomprehensible that humans like this exist. ***Please heed: Hyper-linked article is graphic and may be triggering.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Bevan Thomas — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 03:08:29 -0500

Chuck Palaniuk is the master of disturbing imagery, certainly. "Haunted" in particular has a lot of really grotesque scenes. Outside of pure prose, one of the most disturbing things I've read is Tezuka's horror manga "MW." The villain is a luciferian figure with angelic beauty who seduces various men and women and tortures them in various ways, including women who he injects with a drug during sex where they die of ecstasy. It is a terrifyingly hypnotic story.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

wintermuse — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 06:46:09 -0500

Recently I've been researching/getting a little obsessed by the Witch Trials, and I've had to hold back now from reading about the torture methods involved (a couple of which are mentioned here: http://weburbanist.com/2010/06/22/the-death-penalty-10-brutal-means-of-execution/) A book called 'The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness' has this theory that Hitler was a necrophile, and it brings up some cases of necrophilia, [removed by moderator]. The Papin Sisters have always fascinated me - they were maids (rumoured to be having an incestuous affair) who brutally murdered their master's wife and daughter. Police found them hid in their attic room, naked, and covered in blood. [Removed by moderator]. There's a film made of this 'Sister my sister' which you can get hold of on youtube.

Moderator Note

Loriba — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 08:52:54 -0500

Hi guys, Some parts of this thread are starting to get a little too graphic again, even for us. Even though this isn't an All-Ages forum, we still have to bear in mind that we get people as young as 13 on here so please can you try to keep the graphic imagery to a minimum and just post links with appropriate warnings? Thanks, Lottie Moderator: Horror & Supernatural

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Silver_Raven — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 11:53:59 -0500

The only piece of written "fiction" [and I use this term lightly in this instance] that really got to me would have to be "The Girl Next Door" by Jack Ketchum, which was based [loosely] on a real-life case. I literally never read that book again.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Rubylak — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 13:29:51 -0500

I've always found the real case really creepy and sad. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Likens WARNING: Graphic.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Alchemilla — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:12:50 -0500

As far as fiction goes. [url=http://www.surfturk.com/endoftheworld/ihavenomouth.html]I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream[/url] by Harlan Ellison made me feel a little ill physically, and that doesn't usually happen to me when I'm reading about something made-up. The entire premise is just profoundly disturbing. As a side note, the PC game based on it is really good as well.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Alchemilla — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:14:44 -0500

Aw heck, I was trying to see if BBC code worked on the forums, and hit submit instead of preview. And there's not even an edit button! I feel dumb now.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

sophia0021 — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:02:54 -0500

I think I'm going to like hanging out in here. I grew up listening to/reading some of the creepiest stories in the world. Clive Barker is good-some of Stephen King's earliest work is great for images that will stick with you a very long time (I STILL hate clowns b/c of him). Another old one is Rod Serling-not graphic by any means but very disturbing regardless. I have an utter fear of talking 'dummies' b/cause of him... Added bonus he and my dad were friends-I remember meeting him once when I was really little!

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Jack of None — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:10:12 -0500

There's at least one case of someone getting disemboweled by sitting on a pool drain: http://www.local10.com/news/15665068/detail.html John Edwards was representing the plaintiff when the family sued, I remember people talking about the case during the 2004 elections when he was up for VP.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Typing Chimp — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:17:32 -0500

The bible. It seriously creeped me out. I had to go read something by Ann Rice to sleep through a whole night again. Okay, joking aside. I read a series by Brian something... It was a series of books based on a necromancer, each book titled using a series of words that described some supernatural connection with the dead. It involved some vampires and eventually a whole world full of vampires. I can not for the life of me remember the guy's name or the first book in the series. It was really creepy. Apparently it was traumatic enough to make me want to forget about what I read! Especially how he described the sex scenes, made me decide that Zombies are way more awsome than vampires. TC

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

DRofocale — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 02:38:06 -0500

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gy%C3%B6rgy_D%C3%B3zsa#Downfall.2C_execution Probably that. Warning: Graphic.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

DRofocale — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 02:44:12 -0500

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Junko_Furuta Or this. Definitely this. Warning: Incredibly graphic. There is also a graphic novel based on the crime, but I was unable to read it. Humans seem to be more cruel than anything I could ever imagine writing...

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

schweasels — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:40:41 -0500

If any of you guys are interested in reading online short stories that are scary go to www.reddit.com and go to the "No Sleep" page. There are some really good stories people have written on there. My favorite is "Morningstar Road Murders".

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

DoctorZzoMD — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:14:22 -0500

Holy hell, that's in my plan! Except there are cannibals who eat the babies rather than sell them.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Juniper34 — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:14:49 -0500

[quote=Digital_Skitty] Guts by Chuck Palahniuk. That's actually just a short chapter in a larger book, but it can stand alone as a short story. Even better? Based on a true story. Still, the story itself is fictional otherwise, but I've gotten varying opinions on how medically accurate it could be. I suggest using the bathroom before reading that. Not because it'll make you wet or crap yourself, but you will NOT want to have anything to do with your bowels and lower intestines after that... The worst part is that the actual full story sounds really awesome. I just can't bring myself to ever read it. [/quote] I actually read this little gem while in the waiting room at the doctors while pregnant. Yup. I didn't actually finish that book until almost a year later!!!! That was absolutely, horrifically, disgusting!

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

sparklemaster — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:29:17 -0500

Definitely real life more than fiction. Because I've got my Nano idea as a serial killer then the thought of him being a cannibal came to me I was doing a lot of research into real cases. And well, some of the things I read were just unbelievable. I really felt sick after some of the things. :/

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Vaden28 — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 22:19:14 -0500

Dante Alighieri's "Inferno" was amazing, but also disturbing at times. For a long time after I read it I was thoroughly convinced that I was going to Hell. My detailed imagination kept supplying different punishments that I was destined to go through, and it kept me up for weeks! In retrospect its insane. I don't even believe in a Hell like that! But it was still very frightening. On a side note, the book "The Dante's Club" was also disturbing and extremely interesting. Obviously it is a book written to Dante's "Inferno"

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Insane Purin — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 23:06:25 -0500

Anything to do with attachment therapy, especially regarding a young girl named Candace Newmaker: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candace_Newmaker (Trigger warning for child abuse and graphic content) It is, hands down, the most horrific thing I have ever read in my entire life. As someone who has been through the foster care system, it gets under my skin that "professionals" would do this sort of thing to children. To make it worse? This happened in 2000, which is not that long ago. At all. Ugggh. :(

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

MsShel330 — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 23:18:12 -0500

I haven't read the whole thread (and I might not) but in real life, any atrocity. American slavery (I'm a slave descendant); the Holocaust and serial killers top the list. Also, anything involving hurting children or disabled people. Since I work for a state regulatory agency, the possibility of seeing that kind of thing is a little too close. Fiction: I read a story in an anthology that I can't remember the name of. I used to belong to a book club, the kind that sends you a selection every month unless you tell them not to. One month the selection was a book of short stories from a literary magazine that featured pulp fiction. I think it was called Black Lizard or something similar. Anyway, the story that upset me was about a man who found himself stranded in a small, rural town who was forced to fight in a to-the-death match where the winner lived and the loser was killed in the most horrible, graphic way. The "winner" then stayed on to fight other unfortunates who happened to get lost in this town until they lost and were killed in a horrible, graphic way. I had nightmares for weeks and, even though it's been at least 15 years since I read the story, the fear creeps up on me from time to time. I'm currently reading "Fragile Things" by Neil Gaiman and the story "Keepsakes and Treasures" is bothering me. I still love Gaiman though.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

SmRutledge13 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:29:21 -0500

Fiction: City Infernal- Edward Lee Survivor- JF Gonzalez Snuff- Erik Enck

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

SmRutledge13 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:32:30 -0500

Why not? And I'm being serious here. Hardcore horror has some of the best imagery and deepest themes in the genre in my opinion. Just read "Red" by Richard Christian Matheson or JAKES WAKE by John Skipp and Cody Goodfellow to see what I'm talking about. Both are graphic in different ways but very moving and disturbing in others.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

SmRutledge13 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:32:54 -0500

I love that book. Probably read it 10 times.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

SmRutledge13 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:33:39 -0500

Good choice on the non-fiction. Personally the case of Albert Fish got to me a bit more.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

SmRutledge13 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:34:47 -0500

Love that movie. I may also recommend trying to sit through MEN BEHIND THE SUN. Its even more disturbing because unlike other films, its actually a true account of medical experiments attempted by Japanese scientists during the last days of WW2.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

SmRutledge13 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:36:24 -0500

Another one I love. Though that is more for Ketchum's writing style than the imagery.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

SmRutledge13 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:38:08 -0500

Like what? Are we talking Ed Gien, Dahmer, and Fish? Or more along the lines of the Donner Party and Albert Packer?

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

SmRutledge13 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:43:01 -0500

Try out some Edward Lee (FLESH GOTHIC, THE MESSENGER), JF Gonzalez (SURVIVOR), Gord Rollo (THE JIGSAW MAN is a very good example), Jack Ketchum (OFF SEASON and THE GIRL NEXT DOOR), or maybe even some Wrath James White (LIKE PORNO FOR PSYCHOS, POPULATION ZERO, PURE HATE).

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

SmRutledge13 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:43:52 -0500

I havent read that one. Is it about that case in Germany? Where the dying man shared a meal made of himself with his killer?

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

SmRutledge13 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:45:27 -0500

WOW I totally forgot about Apocalypse Culture and History of Torture. Also check out A Macabre Miscellany for short nifty little facts.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

SmRutledge13 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:46:21 -0500

Awe I love Albert Fish quotes. No fair Mods.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

SmRutledge13 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:51:01 -0500

Wow I love it!

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

SmRutledge13 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:52:00 -0500

I really wish we could see more pure horror from him. I loved the Books of blood, Cabal, and the Hellbound Heart.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

SmRutledge13 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 02:01:03 -0500

The story you're talking about is "The Pit" by Joe R. Lansdale.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

SmRutledge13 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 02:04:54 -0500

Actually, let me correct myself a bit here. Those books didn't actually disturb me (with the exception of maybe Survivor)so much as show me how graphic work can get. I'll update later with something actually disturbing.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

brightshiner — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:15:32 -0500

American Psycho - specifically the Starving Rat/Nameless Girl scene - and the narrator's commentary: "I can already tell that it's going to be a characteristically useless, senseless death, but then I'm used to the horror. It seems distilled, even now it fails to upset or bother me." What happens to the girl is horrific enough, but Bateman's monologue, with his complete lack of humanity, is what makes the scene the most disturbing, haunt-you-forever thing I've ever read.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

David777 — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 14:00:06 -0500

I think I'd seperate fiction and non fiction. Guts was to me a comdey story and really funny in parts. Some of Clive Barkers stuff can be great. He does the fantastic with real skill. I've just read the non horror Black Delilah by James Ellory. There were a couple of paragraphs in there that were really unpleasent. They've stayed with me for a while, very effective.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

SpecialK29 — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:12:23 -0500

Would you believe The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison? We read it in school last year, and I was severely depressed pretty much that entire month.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

parisvam — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 16:11:33 -0500

I agree with CHARLGirl. WWII and Cold War Era "camps." Human experimentation, military stuff, war stuff.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

David777 — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 19:09:02 -0500

The serial killer stuff and the nazi stuff is the worst because it's real. As for the fiction. I'm going to start a reading list from this thread alone. Like I've not got about three hundred books on my backlist already.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

royalcarrot — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:04:22 -0500

A while back I looked up something that my mother told me about when I was a child 'The Pink Chimpanzee'. She always used it as a reminder that being too different, while something to revel in yourself, could make you a target for others. I thank her for, and hate the lesson. It's supposedly a real life study where some researchers dyed a chimpanzee pink and released it back into the wild where the 'normal' chimpanzees promptly tore it to pieces. Disturbing bit of psychology there.

JHRutledge — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 03:03:02 -0500

I'd agree a lot with Off Season. To me, it wasn't even really the violence in Off Season that bothered me as much as some of the character interactions and, most especially, the resolution.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

hafowler — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:51:07 -0500

Eeee. That's going to creep me out later.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

hogwartswitch — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:22:23 -0500

It was in the book Gone by Michael Grant. One of the characters is truly evil and to punish some of the boys who don't do what he wants, he encases their hands in cement, so they can't stand up straight or feed themselves or anything. *shudder* It totally stuck with me, even a few years after having read the book.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Tiapn — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 22:48:53 -0500

Nonfiction, but definitely the records of all the cosmonaut men and dogs Soviet Russia sent into space knowing well in advance that they wouldn't make it back. There's radio scripts of them talking to base even as their ship is failing in the friction of falling to earth...

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Allura_Darkelf — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 00:15:09 -0500

It's a tie between two short stories. One's called "The Pig Man" and it's about a little girl who keeps telling her mom she sees a man with a pig face in their living room. The other one is about a family that goes to a circus for the little boy's birth \day on Halloween and everyone there except the little boy is slaughtered. I can't remember what it's called though. +

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Katherine Pearl — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 15:52:13 -0500

I actually found Beloved more than a little disturbing.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

mydoctorisbetter — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 20:27:24 -0500

Everything from Creepy Pasta wiki. I copypasted two other stories onto my tumblr earlier: http://humancentiqueef.tumblr.com/post/12395428251/oh-fucking-hell-i-cannot-take-this-any-longer and http://humancentiqueef.tumblr.com/post/12395278094/a-man-went-to-a-hotel-and-walked-up-to-the-front-desk

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Nightmer — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 03:12:11 -0600

Everything I've read about Unit 731. Like Mengele but much more methodical and focused. Dreadful stuff. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

ChertotheZ — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 18:50:24 -0600

I thought I could handle anything on the printed page (fiction wise). I worked part-time at a bookstore and had read about "Guts" and how people throwing up or running out during readings. I thought 'oh that's just promotion b.s." Then one day on a whim at work, I read the first story. I didn't eat lunch that day.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Akasunification — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 21:01:11 -0600

I'm seconding this as many times as I can; that comic was terrifying. :'C

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Akasunification — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 21:08:52 -0600

Oh my god, SCP Foundation!!!! 8D I love that site. SCP-173 scared the hell out of me the first time I discovered that site. Some of the short stories (especially the ones involving Marshall, Carter, & Dark, LTD.) are chilling, too.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

DeCarabas — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 06:54:05 -0600

This thread is high octane nightmare fuel. I should check some of the stories, if I ever feel the need to not sleep for weeks. Thanks, guys! :D

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

MaskyPie — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 10:55:23 -0600

Cupcakes. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qTTzMqlRTHeHIarZZhwQhADc-1aff9fkHKWx-kn0wMk/mobilebasic?hl=en A My Little Pony fanfiction in which Pinkie Pie goes insane, or has always been insane, vivisects Rainbow Dash, and we find out exactly what is in her cupcakes. Good if you need inspiration for gore mixed with dark humor.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

zeromig — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:58:06 -0600

The girl encased in concrete: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Junko_Furuta Japanese teenage punks kidnap, rape, abuse, and eventually just kill a high school girl.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

mbarry — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:15:04 -0600

One of the most disturbing things I've ever read was a chapter in a book I found in the Yellowstone National Park gift shop. ("Death in Yellowstone": http://www.amazon.com/Death-Yellowstone-Accidents-Foolhardiness-National/dp/1570980217/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top) The chapter was about terrible things that have happened at Yellowstone (and why they no longer allow pets), and was about a man who jumped into one of the hot springs after his dog. It very graphically described him getting boiled; then he got pulled out by the people watching and his eyes were all white and boiled through, and his flesh was falling off his bones when they got him to the hospital. He was only very slightly conscious, and he died quickly. His dog just ended up as a puddle of hot oil and hair floating on top of the hot spring... Very true, and very upsetting.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

CaffeinatedTarantula — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 02:24:37 -0600

I don't think Albert Fish was a rapist. He is most known for the letter he wrote to a young girl's mother after he ate her daughter, telling her how she was eaten by him and how he DID NOT rape her. if I recall, there is a line in the letter that said "She died a virgin, even though I could have easily had her" or something (Yes, I have read the letter).

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

CaffeinatedTarantula — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 02:26:43 -0600

Candle Cove!

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

CaffeinatedTarantula — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 02:36:45 -0600

Scenes from the book "Let the Right One In" by John Ajvide Lindqvuist made me want to throw up, and still remains one of the most beautiful and morbid books I've ever read (also my inspiration for my writing style).

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

CaffeinatedTarantula — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 02:42:03 -0600

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

CaffeinatedTarantula — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 02:48:42 -0600

HOLY FRICK. That IS crazy. I hope that kid goes to the Tranquility Bay mentioned in the OP...but, like, for the rest of his life o_o

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Panoptikum — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 05:01:15 -0600

I second this. The scene with the screwdriver near the end made me cringe for weeks.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Panoptikum — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 05:13:17 -0600

The plot on Wikipedia for 'A Serbian Film'. That's all I needed to know to never ever go anywhere near this film.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

zeromig — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 06:39:02 -0600

Yeah.... do NOT watch this movie and expect your faith in humanity to stay the same. I regret watching it.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

KillerMeeko — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:04:47 -0600

That one scene in Stephen King's Gerald's Game-- the one where she looks in the rearview mirror and the Space Cowboy is RIGHT THERE BEHIND HER. Overall, not a terrifying book, but that one scene scared me so badly I threw the whole book in the freezer for two weeks. Eventually I pulled it back out and read the rest.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

CherryCoke — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 20:41:58 -0600

Perfume by Patrick Suskind. It is about a young man who murders women and scrapes the oils from their bodies to make a perfume. It gets pretty graphic.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Real Horrorshow — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 22:07:27 -0600

Oh damn, I'd almost forgotten about this one. Aaaaand to this day I have to read it in chunks.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

zenfrodo — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 23:01:37 -0600

Second. The High Octane Nightmare Fuel gave me nightmares for weeks.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

zenfrodo — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 23:08:56 -0600

I stumbled across the plot for "Human Centipede" on TV Tropes. Then found they'd actually consulted a real doctor on the realism of their idea. I had to call off work the next two days because I was so freaked. No, I didn't go see the movie.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

doomented — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 02:06:56 -0600

It certainly does put you in a grim state of mind, where after watching it you don't want to be around anyone else for a while.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

annablack — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 06:30:09 -0600

being a casual fan of tvtropes, I checked this page out. thanks, guys. thanks.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

WaxAngelWings — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:33:13 -0600

Disgusting to me doesn't equal disturbing. I have read in depth psychological studies of serial killers and sexual sadist. Yes it's unsettling but not all that disturbing because I have lost a lof of faith in humanity and nothing can really shock me. That being said every once in a while a story comes along in the news that makes me wanna barf. Can't find a link cause it was a while back but I did read about a mother putting her baby in a microwave to kill it. What I find FAR MORE disturbing is this site one site, I can't exactly find a link but maybe you guys have seen it. All it is, is a collection of texts about bizarre things, The Holders, Mel's Hole, Shadow People, but what disturbs me even more is the section called "Easter Eggs". It's just this strange collection of supposedly true but undetermined loctions and things all across the world that can bring great power with great consequence. I don't know who put this site up, or what their goal is, I actually found it through a link on Snopes, but every once in a while I read it and it's inexplicably been updated with new Easter Eggs. Now if you know about this site, don't ruin it's mystery by telling me anything more about it. I like the idea in my head that it's some sort of evil entity trying to warn or tempt people. I mean logically I know it's not, but thinking that way is far more disturbing! As for actual books, I would say a few by Stephen King. IT, Pet Sematary, The Long Walk, and a short story called The Jaunt come to mind. Ring by Koji Suzuki is effed up scary, it's the novel that inspired Ringu and in turn the American movie The Ring. I have never, EVER been more scared of ANYTHING in my life than the villianess from those books/movies. Samara/Sadako is just....she still haunts my worst nightmares. In close second is the subject of my nano novel, Slender Man.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Rhys927 — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 10:07:09 -0600

Not sure if anyone else mentioned this case or similar crimes, but this: http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2011/06/21/police-say-sacramento-mother-killed-baby-in-microwave/ A friend of mine was talking about how one of his professors used one such case as the basis for his statement that true evil does indeed exist in this world. And frankly, its hard to argue with that.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Feral — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 10:08:28 -0600

Lullaby, by Chuck Pallaniuk. And oddly enough... The Hunger Games trilogy traumatized me.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

tamiria — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 14:20:06 -0600

Twilight. I still carry the scars.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Bella_Portia — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 14:24:29 -0600

The science item on zombie ants. There is a tropical fungus that affects the brain of ants, causing individual ants to wander ("drunkenly," so the reports go) away from the colony and off to a particular leaf, where, under the control of the fungus, the ant grasps the veins of the leaf. Then the fungus sort of engulfs it. This seems a bit like Night of the Living Dead, as performed by insects and fungus.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Kid omega — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 08:18:32 -0600

[quote=zenfrodo] I stumbled across the plot for "Human Centipede" on TV Tropes. Then found they'd actually consulted a real doctor on the realism of their idea. I had to call off work the next two days because I was so freaked. No, I didn't go see the movie. [/quote] Seriously?

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

raoulduke — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 20:07:42 -0600

You know, someone else has brought up that subject before (the WWII experiments), and the few things they described were indeed horrifying. Thanks for reminding me. I'll check out the movie too.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

wildecross — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 22:00:25 -0600

That book got to me in a sense that I started to wonder what people taste like... The Prologue to PZB's "Drawing Blood" got to me more than "Exquisite Corpse" did. I know a horror story is well written when it makes me want to throw up.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

wildecross — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 22:36:01 -0600

I'm a historian who researched torture and prisons for a while...so it's a happy fun field of study. "Man is Wolf to Man" by Janusz Bardach --it's a memoir about his time in a Russian gulag- a rape scene in this book really messes with my head because he describes people being gang raped to death. "Tortured Confessions" by Ervand Abrahamian--about torture used in Iranian prisons, and how they would torture people and then force them to videotape their confessions or denouncements of their political views. After an attempted overthrow in the 1980's there was a mass of secret executions. This was done by a lottery where people were interviewed and asked about their religious views. If they were not religious they were taken out and executed right then. If they said they were religious, then they were forced to pray sufficiently until the guards were convinced--days at a time. There were trick questions throughout the interview which could also get the prisoner executed. The families of these people were not told about the execution until much later, and once they found out they were forbidden from publicly mourning their relative. The bodies of the executed had been buried randomly throughout several graveyards so that when the families visited they would not know how many had been executed. I believe it was in the tens of thousands range, but can't find my research paper right now. This is not writing, but there's a video called "Iran, a Revolution Betrayed" and at the end there was a prison interview with a man who had his teeth bashed out and was kept as a sex slave for several months by another man. The prison guards also interview the man who abused the first guy. After the interviews play the narrator says that right after this interrogation was filmed both men were executed for homosexual acts. It didn't matter that one of them had been raped and the other was the rapist. I think the Iranian prison system has impacted my use of arbitrary torment in my writing...

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

zenfrodo — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 21:02:06 -0600

Seriously. Yeah. I really am that easily freaked. Now why in the world I'm writing a supernatural horror novel this year is beyond me...

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Jurgan — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 08:43:33 -0600

The movie was actually pretty boring (my wife insisted we watch it- seriously). There were a few moments I had to turn my head from, but they were purely of the gross-out variety. Everything else was so slow and utterly conventional. Except maybe the villain's mad Tim Curry-esque performance, but that wasn't enough to make it worth watching.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Jurgan — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 08:47:07 -0600

Anyone ever read "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates? I think the scariest things for me are when you start with something innocent and slowly peel away the surface to show the horror underneath. Roald Dahl's "The Landlady" is similar in this regard. Neither are gory, but gore doesn't stay with me the way things like these do.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Lady Marvelous — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 20:45:52 -0600

People used children for food. IT CAN NEVER BE UNREAD.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

sweet pandamonium — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 18:03:36 -0600

Yeah nothing usually ever disturbs me but that is horrific.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Smackdreezy — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 18:20:31 -0600

I am currently reading The Serial Killer Files by Harold Schechter. It has tons of case studies of numerous serial killers from over the years. It also has (in somewhat graphic detail) the explanations for how they killed or tortured their victims. It's a great book, but pretty disturbing just to see what people are capable of. Especially, when you find that most of them have NO regard for human life what so ever and think nothing of their crimes aside from the fact that they got enjoyment out of it.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Fiona W — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 04:27:29 -0600

The most disturbing thing I've ever read was a true story about a man who was keeping a couple of adult male chimpanzees in captivity, and one day they got free. Adult chimpanzees are very strong and BIG and ferocious. They know exactly what they are doing when they turn violent. These chimps were enraged at this man for having imprisoned them in a small enclosure for their whole lives, and they were basically deranged, because they had not had the kind of life a chimp is supposed to have in order to be mentally stable. So the chimps took revenge on this man. They wreaked enormous havoc with their large teeth on the exposed parts of his body: his face and hands. But they did not kill him. They left him to live, as best he could, for the rest of his life, with the physical and emotional aftermath of having his face and hands shredded, chewed. mauled—right down to the bones. I think he had one eye left, maybe four fingers left, no facial muscles, no lips....=shudder=

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Queen NekoChan — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 05:10:04 -0600

Honestly, it didn't creep me out much. I'm 13, and it's not that bad to me. Though the "Guts" one was very disturbing...

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Serendipitist — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 10:59:46 -0600

I found this book of short stories called Thirteen in one of my science classes and read it expecting some cheesy horror (R. L. Stine was one of the authors). By the end of the book a girl boiled a dog while sleep walking, someone is described as horribly burning to death in her car, and a horribly creepy song has somehow wormed itself into my brain. And I'm terrified of deer now.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Serendipitist — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 11:04:31 -0600

Oh my god The Jaunt. That and Crouch End. *shudder* Lovecraft was nothing compared to that. His books weren't nearly as scary as his short stories. But that didn't stop The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordan from being seriously freaky.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Queen NekoChan — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 11:56:11 -0600

She claimed that the guy told her he scratched the kid when changing her diaper. He also pressured her into not taking the baby to the hospital. But i don't know if that's true, considering the fact that it's onlt claims, so I can't really say anything about it :/

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Queen NekoChan — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 12:02:15 -0600

That was kinda cheesy, honestly. Not too disturbing or creepy. Then again, I'm only on page 12. Might get creepier later on.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

robertsloan2 — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 19:20:48 -0600

Kafka's "Metamorphosis" hands down. That's the only one of Kafka's stories that actually scared me. I had a roach phobia and identified with Gregor Samsa because I was treated like that at school and at home. The symbolism didn't escape me. I think that drove it deep. Eventually I overcame it, but not without years of adult desensitization. When I write horror, the psychology of the situation has to be there, the underpinnings of the terrors in real world terrors. If it's just a monster romp, then it's more like adventure labeled horror. Which is a fine subgenre too, just not what I'm doing this year. I still won't do roaches though. That's been done, by the master.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Bella_Portia — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 11:31:35 -0600

Did the chimps have in mind retribution, or did they figure that such extreme measures were justified as a deterrent to other humans who might consider abusing chimps in such a manner? ("Seriously, Bonzo, you don't know what they're capable of. Trust me -- extreme violence is the only thing they understand.")

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Mackenzi. — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:03:58 -0600

I remember seeing a bit of video documentary on this, and it was one of the creepiest things I've seen. It was so disturbing, and when the voice over was describing how they would go to the highest place they can find and then they just start growing into fungus. Imagine if that fungus could affect other creatures in the same way. How disturbing.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Mackenzi. — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:12:58 -0600

Once I foolishly started reading this monster list of scariest film scenes: http://www.filmsite.org/scariestscenes1.html I got about halfway through before I felt so physically sick I had to stop. Note that, this isn't just "scary" like the movie Halloween, all suspense and thrills- "scary" to this website also includes gross-out, disturbing, and anything inducing fear. There are more than a hundred films listed, spanning the last hundred+ years, and films from many different countries and cultures. It's alphabetical. Have fun!

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

robertsloan2 — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:35:27 -0600

Feral, that's not surprising. I'm two thirds of the way through it and it gets rough in all the best ways, the personal conflicts and the simple deep brutality of the world. The truth of it rests in the way the atrocities are so real. Nothing is fantastical except the skin dyes and a few widgets, everything else is human nature. Rome and Panam have a lot in common.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

robertsloan2 — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:37:52 -0600

[quote=Bella_Portia] Did the chimps have in mind retribution, or did they figure that such extreme measures were justified as a deterrent to other humans who might consider abusing chimps in such a manner? ("Seriously, Bonzo, you don't know what they're capable of. Trust me -- extreme violence is the only thing they understand.") [/quote] I suspect they were vengeful. Animals nowhere near as closely related to humans can get vengeful.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

That Guy You Met Once — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:43:48 -0600

The last page is what gets most people.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

awesome-me94 — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 22:16:42 -0600

The Russian Sleep Experiment was actually a very intriguing story. It seemed very, very real. It didn't scare me as much as I thought it would...but oh well.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Chai Maya — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 19:16:00 -0600

None of the other things in this thread scared me, but this?? I don't think I will sleep tonight. Or ever. Which brings to mind the post about the Russian sleep experiment. Uuuhhhhhh ... D: Thanks for sharing, though, seriously. Very interesting tale. Might have to incorporate an aspect of it into one of my ruthlessly gruesome scenes.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Chai Maya — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 19:20:28 -0600

Thank you thank you thank you for clarifying that the Russian sleep experiment wasn't real!! I was about to say I will never go to bed late again - lol. Still might do that anyway. Ultimate creep-out, especially since my mom and I are health care practitioners, and she's always preaching the values of good sleep to me.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

Cokkii — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:28:38 -0600

JA Konwrath's Whiskey Sour The bad guy in this is one sick dude who calls himself the ginger bread man. Creepy but an amazing read.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

zanitas — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 10:11:24 -0600

Love the Candle Cove legend :D

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

grassteeth — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 12:36:41 -0600

There's an awesome movie adaptation of that book.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

coppertoe — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 07:23:21 -0600

The Japanese during WW2 make the Nazis look like a jolly bunch of kids pulling pranks. If you want insanity, read up on the Japanese tortures and "research" carried out during WW2.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

nishil — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:09:10 -0600

That was horrible moment of my life and when ever I just get to remember that every thing seems to me messy and it took really hard for me to come out from all of that.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

9thcloud — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 06:23:50 -0600

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstitious_(novel) R.L. Stines first adult novel. Rented it from the library, and I could -not sleep- afterwards; I didn't even read the whole book. Single handedly the most disturbing fiction I've ever read... It's not especially graphic(that I can remember), but insanely creepy. Nonfiction? What happened to Junko Furuta. Absolutely horrifying.

Re: The Most Disturbing Thing You've Ever Read

DoctorDan — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 08:23:21 -0600

My second, or third, (undecided), in the quintology series I am writing still horrifies me! In one certain chapter; Picture the bloody fresh impressions of childrens bodies in the plaster walls of an old dingy yellow kitchen where they were murdered by thier own father swining them like baseball bats as he foamed at the mouth and tore his way through the family, a sceen door, and then into the night while under the influence of a high prolonged dose of a chemical compound used in a widely distributed food presevative made where he has worked for several years and about to be made legal in the US!