Spooky Catholic Books for Halloween: Catholic Horror, Ghosts, and Exorcism Stories

Looking for a good, spooky read for the Halloween season that won't imperil your soul? Want to read about real heroes confronting real monsters? Too often these days, heroes are made from monsters and real heroes, like our priests, are made into monsters.     

It is high time that Catholics reclaim the horror genre. Catholics invented the horror novel. Take Dante's Inferno or the really scary Morality plays of the Middle Ages, for example. 

The world needs Catholics to identify the real monsters. 

Stephen King may have made clowns terrifying, but the world needs Catholics to identify the real terror: Satan. 

The Handmaid's Tale may have made reproduction and motherhood terrifying, but Catholics need to show the real horror: Abortion.   

Spooky Catholic Books Table of Contents

• The First Pro-Life Horror Novel - The Seventh Word
• The First Catholic Zombie Apocalypse Series - The Cajun Zombie Chronicles
• The Exorcist - William Peter Blatty
• Real Catholic Exorcisms - True Catholic Ghost Stories and Hauntings
• Dean Koontz - Odd Thomas Series
• Frank Peretti - This Present Darkness Series 

I'm such a big fan of Catholic horror that I have published quite a number of books in the genre, including the first pro-life horror novel AND the first Catholic zombie apocalypse series! 

 

The First Pro-Life Horror Novel - The Seventh Word

Abby Johnson, the pro-life leader and former Planned Parenthood abortion clinic director, described this book as “legit scary … I don’t like reading this as night! It was good, it was so good … it was terrifying, but good.”

LET SLEEPY TOWNS LIE ...​

A horror thriller about the residents of a small town chosen to confront the evil lurking beneath the starched white masks of an abortion facility.

The First Word came with Cain, who killed the first child of man. The Third Word was Pharaoh’s instruction to the midwives. The Fifth Word was carried from Herod to Bethlehem. One of the Lost Words dwelt among the Aztecs and feasted on their children.

Evil hides behind starched white masks. The ancient demon LaColt conducts his affairs in the sterile environment of corporate medical facilities. An insatiable hunger draws the demon to a sleepy Louisiana hamlet. There, it contracts the services of a young attorney, whose unborn child is the ultimate object of the demon’s designs. Monsignor, a mysterious priest of unknown age and origin, labors unseen to save the soul of a small town hidden deep within Louisiana’s plantation country, nearly forgotten in a bend of the Mississippi River.

With roots in Bram Stoker's Dracula, this is a horror novel which reads like Stephen King's classic stories of towns being slowly devoured by an unseen evil and the people who unite against it.  

The book is set in southern Louisiana, an area the author brings to life with compelling detail based on his local knowledge.

The First Catholic Zombie Series - The Cajun Zombie Chronicles

The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church! 

Follow a community surviving the zombie apocalypse as Catholics, sheltering in Catholic churches and building a monastic community to survive together. The Cajun Zombie Chronicles are a zombie apocalypse set in the bayous of Louisiana. Forget about the rapture - start reading about the Catholic Zombie Apocalypse! 

Now on the 4th volume with The Office Dead, all volumes have been made into audiobooks.

​​ 

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT b:23:10:36 

>> What were once thought to be riots … food shortages ... [GARBLED]

>> Beginning in urban areas [STATIC] reports of erratic behavior, cannibalism … 

>> Food somehow contaminated ... Monsanto spokesperson claims no connection … not liable for effects … [STATIC]

>> [STATIC] … Shelters compromised … [GARBLED]

>> Reports of the dead rising … 

>> … Containment failing … 

END TRANSMISSION

That was the last thing we heard before the emergency messages went on a loop. If anybody's reading this, we're in a little town in Louisiana called St. Maryville. It's just me, my family, and some more family down the street. And the dead. The river must be bringing them in. We can't stay where we are ... but we've got an idea. Pray we made it.

The Exorcist - William Peter Blatty

This book and movie is important for the impact it had on the American psyche. It is the single most familiar exorcism to the wider American public, whether or not people realize it was based on a true story. For the story behind the story, check out the next title ... 

The Exorcist left an indelible impression on the world’s imagination more so than any other case of possession ever has. This is because it was thrust upon the world after several decades of mounting disbelief in the existence of Satan.   

Although The Exeter Report showed that fear of Satan was already on the rise in England, exorcisms in America had declined precipitously. The United States had fallen into a deep sleep after its victory over evil during World War II. Even the Pentecostals had tried to dampen their more charismatic deliverances.

The launch of The Exorcist in movie theaters all over America released a flood of repressed fears. It had been simple enough for the Devil to recede into the background of a world faced with nuclear annihilation and extinction. Then came the The Exorcist, and an ancient history of satanic awareness surged to the foreground. Many people found themselves unable to cope with the sudden jolt of religious revival, or at least the reminder of supernatural realities.

This resurgence in satanic awareness resulted in thousands of people suddenly fearing that they or a loved one was possessed. Father Tom Bermingham, one of the film’s minor actors and a researcher for Blatty’s book, suddenly found himself swarmed by hundreds of requests from individuals seeking an exorcism.  Exorcism and possession suddenly became mainstream, and the devil who had benefitted from being ignored and forgotten, now was suddenly benefitting from being a celebrity

Want to know the real story behind The Exorcist, as well as The Exorcism of Emily Rose? See below ...

Real Catholic Exorcisms - True Ghost Stories & Hauntings

Truth is stranger than fiction … and scarier! This book contains accounts of real Catholic exorcisms. Many of these exorcism were made into movies, but even Hollywood with all its special effects and spinning heads couldn’t recreate the true horror experienced by these possessed children.

These true stories of exorcisms are meant to inoculate you against the tricks and traps of evil. It is highly recommended that you read the Prayer of St. Michael the Archangel (provided) before embarking on these accounts.

The real life accounts of possession that inspired The Exorcist movies and The Exorcism of Emily Rose are described in detail by the original eyewitnesses:

• The exorcism of Anneliese Michel, the heroic real-world Emily Rose
• Brandings and hideous faces appeared on the skin of “Roland Doe,” whose exorcism inspired The Exorcist novel and movies
• The exorcism of Emma Schmidt, whose ridiculous outpouring of sludge inspired the infamous vomiting of The Exorcist
• And more, including the original texts of “Begone, Satan!” and the historic exorcism of Vervins, France

Beware! A common thread runs through all these stories. The evil unleashed in these possessions resulted from encounters with witchcraft, curses, and Ouija boards. Avoid these like your life and soul depends on it, because they do!

The proof is overwhelming! Possession and exorcism, as well as the devil, are real. Become sober, vigilant, and informed by reading this book.

Dean Koontz - Odd Thomas Series

The Odd Thomas books aren't always distinctly Catholic, but the Catholic worldview is obvious. Odd Thomas is an amazing and understated character, at times tragic and heroic, and always self-deprecating.   

Here's part of the blurb from the first book in the series:

"The dead don’t talk. I don’t know why." 

But they do try to communicate, with a short-order cook in a small desert town serving as their reluctant confidant. Sometimes the silent souls who seek out Odd want justice. Occasionally their otherworldly tips help him prevent a crime. But this time it’s different.

Each book is written as a stand alone novel so you can pick up the story wherever you want. In Odd Hours, Odd befriends and protects a young pregnant girl who bears an uncanny resemblance to the Holy Mother.

Frank Peretti - This Present Darkness

This Present Darkness is among the classic novels of the Christian, if not Catholic, horror genre. It also serves as strong commentary against the hidden dangers of New Age-ism, which is as important now as it was in the 1980s, when the book was first published. Set in the deceptively peaceful small town of Ashton, the book's ingredients are solid: an intrepid Christian pastor, Hank Busche; the dogged editor of The Clarion, Marshall Hogan; and sinister figures slowly manipulating a town toward their own dark purposes. 

This Present Darkness is the first book of a two-part series, including Piercing the Darkness.

First published in 1986, Peretti's book set the standard for suspense for spiritual warfare story-telling. Nearly every page of the book describes sulfur-belching, ash-choking demons battling fierce angelic warriors. All of this occurs on a level of reality that is just beyond the senses. It is a helpful spiritual practice for Christians to read books such as these. They help us tinge our reality with the supernatural, even as the rest of the world focuses on the purely material.

This book also teaches us about the power of prayer in our own unseen spiritual battles. Christian believers and New Age demon-worshippers influence the unseen clashes between the angels and demons through prayer. This book is not for the faint of heart. The descriptions of exorcisms are especially vivid: "There were fifteen [demons], packed into Carmen's body like crawling, superimposed maggots, boiling, writhing, a tangle of hideous arms, legs, talons, and heads." 

What else should be added to this List of Catholic Books?

Comment below and tell me. 

Interested in more from the Christian and Catholic horror genre? Check out the page I made for this purpose: ChristianHorror.com.  

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