The most frightening story

[old man emu]

What is the most frightening story you have ever read? The story who premise has remained with you for years, although you can't remember all the details of the story?

[facthunter]

The OLD Testament. Nev

[Yenn]

A story about exploring Easter Island, not sure if it was by Thor Heyerdal or someone with a similar nordic name. The bit that scared me was when he explored a cave and on returning came to a dead end, It was man made as a trap so that on the first leg he dropped over a tunnel beneath the one he was in and on the eturn he went under the original tunnel. I don't go well in caves.

[old man emu]

2 hours ago, old man emu said:

What is the most frightening story you have ever read? The story whose premise has remained with you for years, although you can't remember all the details of the story?

I'm talking about works of fiction not non-Fiction or books that are the basis of religions.

[willedoo]

I'm not a fan of snakes, so I'd have to say it was about them. From memory, it was one of the Flashman books and they had Flashy in a pit with all these snakes. Can't remember the details but I didn't envy him.

 

Or maybe he was tied onto someone with a tug of war over a pit of snakes. Either way, I've always remembered it as a very, very bad thing.

Edited September 23, 2021 by willedoo

[Jerry_Atrick]

Haven't read a fictional book since about year 10. Even at HSC, never read them.. just went to class, got the idea of what I would have to write for the exams. I have picked up a few, but after a short way in, think "Nah, can't be bothered - it's made up."

 

Just started reading Daunted by John Brennan about his time at the CIA. The first chapter is probably the most scary - his initial meeting with Trump.

[willedoo]

33 minutes ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

Haven't read a fictional book since about year 10. Even at HSC, never read them.. just went to class, got the idea of what I would have to write for the exams. I have picked up a few, but after a short way in, think "Nah, can't be bothered - it's made up."

 

Just started reading Daunted by John Brennan about his time at the CIA. The first chapter is probably the most scary - his initial meeting with Trump.

That's probably why I can't recall a lot of detail about the Flashman book. It would be more than thirty years since reading a fiction book, and even before then, I never read many.

[nomadpete]

That's a curious trend for our forum. Likewise, I find it difficult to read much fiction. The closest I get is science fiction, but good sci-fi has a strong base of science fact which sends me off researching the factual side of the stories.

I think I read a frightening Stephen King story, but I really can't remember much of it. There is more than enough bizarre, frightening, factual things going on in the world without authors trying to create more.

[Marty_d]

There's a series of books about a serial killer who works for the police - "Dexter".  (Also a pretty good TV series).

 

There's a scene in one book that haunts with me - at an art exhibition he sees a video of a perfectly healthy woman cutting her own leg off, videotaping it... for "art".  Afterwards he meets the woman, getting around on crutches.

Just that image, of someone deliberately seriously mutilating themselves, has remained with me for years.  

 

3 hours ago, willedoo said:

I'm not a fan of snakes, so I'd have to say it was about them. From memory, it was one of the Flashman books and they had Flashy in a pit with all these snakes. Can't remember the details but I didn't envy him.

 

Or maybe he was tied onto someone with a tug of war over a pit of snakes. Either way, I've always remembered it as a very, very bad thing.

 

Flashman!  George MacDonald Fraser.  Great series.  Love the way the cowardly womanizing bugger always ends up being seen as a hero, through absolutely no doing of his own.

[pmccarthy]

The Pit and the Pendulum, a short story by Edgar Allan Poe.

[nomadpete]

There's too many dark twisted minds out there. I don't want to hear the rattling of the chains in their twisted heads.

[onetrack]

Like others, I have not read any fiction since I was about 10. I get fed enough fiction every day, disguised as fact, to ensure I don't need to read about it as well.

In addition, I would not read (or even watch) anything fictional that was perverted, depraved, or sickeningly disgusting. There are some pretty twisted minds out there, as nomadpete attests to.

I prefer to fill my mind with useful information and knowledge and watch and read humour. It's too easy to accept depraved or twisted behaviour as normal, if you continue to read about it.

I get sickened and angry at the disgusting behaviour of vicious criminals, and the dreadful things they do to other people.

Drug dealers would top the list, I don't know how people become so depraved that they treat others as garbage to be disposed of. Some of the drug-dealing murders make for appalling reading.

[old man emu]

Just to let you know my most frightening story.

 

It was about a young boy whose life seemed that of a perfectly normal  young boy. It might have been set in mid 1950's USA, so you can imagine the Leave it to Beaver sort of lifestyle. His paretns were a happy loving couple and all the local people were nice and went about their daily business with great satisfaction. 

 

The frightening thing was that one day he chanced upon his parents getting ready for bed, or something. Not only were they peeling off their clothes, they were peeling off their skin to reveal that they were robots. He learned that all those he thought were normal humans were robots and he was the only real human.

 

The frightening premise of the story is this: Do you know if all the people around you are living creatures, are are you the only living creature in a make believe world?

[onetrack]

I live in the real world, it's politicians who live in a make-believe world. They make it up, and then expect us to believe it!

 

Why would robots peel off their human skin when getting into bed? Why would robots get into bed, in the first place? I reckon the whole plot is a bit suss.

 

Edited September 23, 2021 by onetrack

[Marty_d]

15 minutes ago, old man emu said:

Just to let you know my most frightening story.

 

It was about a young boy whose life seemed that of a perfectly normal  young boy. It might have been set in mid 1950's USA, so you can imagine the Leave it to Beaver sort of lifestyle. His paretns were a happy loving couple and all the local people were nice and went about their daily business with great satisfaction. 

 

The frightening thing was that one day he chanced upon his parents getting ready for bed, or something. Not only were they peeling off their clothes, they were peeling off their skin to reveal that they were robots. He learned that all those he thought were normal humans were robots and he was the only real human.

 

The frightening premise of the story is this: Do you know if all the people around you are living creatures, are are you the only living creature in a make believe world?

Ah, the "brain in a jar" conundrum.  Or the Matrix.

 

I'll go against the flow here and freely admit I love reading (fiction, that is).  You can lose yourself in other worlds, experience other points of view, have adventures, let your imagination soar.  Humans have always been storytellers.  Good authors can draw you into their imagination.  The best ones can fire your own imagination and inspire you.

 

 

Edited September 23, 2021 by Marty_d

[old man emu]

11 minutes ago, onetrack said:

Why would robots peel off their human skin when getting into bed? Why would robots get into bed, in the first place? I reckon the whole plot is a bit suss.

 

It was a story. The story was written to draw the reader into a state of mind which was then attacked by the premise. 

 

The concept in philosophy is illustrated in this video

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

7 hours ago, old man emu said:

The frightening premise of the story is this: Do you know if all the people around you are living creatures, are are you the only living creature in a make believe world?

Yes, because robots are no where near as highly strung as humans...

 

 

[nomadpete]

Well it depends upon whether man is made after robots own image, or the other way around.

[old man emu]

1 hour ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

Yes, because robots are no where near as highly strung as humans...

 

 

That's simply a matter of individual programming of character features for each robot.

 

Can you honestly say that you know with complete certainty that the humanoid form next to you is biological or manufactured? 

[nomadpete]

OME that's deep.

 

I have enough trouble trying to work out whether the people around me are even real.

 

Is it possible that they are a figment of my imagined life?

 

And don't just answer that with

"I think. Therefore, I am."

Edited September 23, 2021 by nomadpete

[Jerry_Atrick]

13 minutes ago, old man emu said:

Can you honestly say that you know with complete certainty that the humanoid form next to you is biological or manufactured? 

Pretty well much, yes..

 

I think you have it mixed up.. It is our partners who think we are robots!

[facthunter]

Robots need to be programmed. A lot of people are like that. Scared to be different. get comfort with being like others. Heredity or training?  A Foal can walk minutes after it's born. Turtles head for the wild ocean as soon as they are out of the egg and return to the same spot to lay their eggs. Nev

[Marty_d]

4 hours ago, nomadpete said:

OME that's deep.

 

I have enough trouble trying to work out whether the people around me are even real.

 

Is it possible that they are a figment of my imagined life?

 

And don't just answer that with

"I think. Therefore, I am."

That's rich coming from you Peter, given that you and everyone else here are all figments of my imagination!

 

One of the blokes at work reckons that the whole universe is just a construct of his brain, so when he dies, everything else does too.  I've offered to help him prove the theory but for some reason he doesn't want to test it.

[nomadpete]

3 hours ago, facthunter said:

Robots need to be programmed. A lot of people are like that. Scared to be different. get comfort with being like others. Heredity or training?  A Foal can walk minutes after it's born. Turtles head for the wild ocean as soon as they are out of the egg and return to the same spot to lay their eggs. Nev

New, you forgot to mention humans do something similar to those turtles.

My dad always drank at the "Royal".

And as soon as I could, I did too.

[willedoo]

10 hours ago, old man emu said:

That's simply a matter of individual programming of character features for each robot.

 

Can you honestly say that you know with complete certainty that the humanoid form next to you is biological or manufactured? 

I think Scotty FM is manufactured. Mutton Head Dutton is for sure. I wonder if they have warranties so we can swap them for new ones?