Winter Themed Horror Reads to Chill Your Bones

Thoughts of joy and cheer often accompany winter and the holiday season. In the tradition of literary horror, however, that couldn’t be further from the truth. From the cold to the extended periods of darkness, winter has often provided an excellent backdrop for some fantastic horror novels and short stories. The Shining, and even A Christmas Carol from Charles Dickens, come to mind for many, but here are a few other suggestions for winter-themed horror reads to chill your bones in more ways than one.

There’s something of a genre in and of itself when it comes to classical ghost stories. Similar to A Christmas Carol, ghosts play a role in this short story’s ability to explore how our pasts and the things we try to hide rarely ever stay hidden. In A Strange Christmas Game, Brother and sister John and Clare Lester inherit an old house in this tale from Charlotte Riddell, who wrote under the pseudonym Mrs. J.H. Riddell from time to time. What follows is a tad predictable by 2025 standards but still thrilling nonetheless.

I wanted to start with this recommendation since it’s a short story and requires minimal buy-in. I think gothic horror and, in particular, horror written by women in the 19th and 20th centuries, is a really great sub-genre. Mix in a bit of holiday cheer, or not so much, and it makes for a fun winter read.

We’re sticking with gothic horror for the following recommendation, and even the same author. If you get a taste for scares in A Strange Christmas Game, I love following up that read with Fairy Waters. When our main character decides to attend a family wedding, he finds out his cousin is marrying a child. When his cousin dies shortly after, he works to try and free her from the house at Fairy Water, which begins to display some less than settling features.

Still under 150 pages, this story does a great job of infusing a bit of romance along with the idea of fate and fear. Sometimes, winter reminds us that we’re a bit helpless to certain things, such as extreme cold, snow, or even the elongated dark. Think of these first two recommendations as a great 1-2 punch of gothic horror with some holiday themes. If you’re not loving these, however, then I have one more worth a look.

In this historical mystery horror novel, Winter People by Jennifer McMahon, people can’t stop disappearing if they live in this creepy old farmhouse. Naturally, our main character lives in the house, and we see what it takes to break generational trauma and curses. I can’t give much more than that away, but I’m confident that if winter and horror are two things you’re itching for this year, you’ll enjoy this one. Any other winter horror classics you would have rather seen in this article? Let us know in the comments!