Folk Horror: It’s my favorite sub genre of horror, always has been and always will be.
Folk horror is a sub genre of horror that is similar to supernatural horror and can sometimes fall under this category as well. Folk horror includes aspects of folklore of course, but can also include aspects of superstition, pagan tradition and the darker side of nature. Think witches, think fairies in a dark wood, think ancient deities who still demand sacrifices.
As a kid and into adult-hood I could never get enough folklore, mythology, and urban legends. I was always looking for the next scare, conducting “ghost hunts” in my childhood home with the neighborhood kids, picking up any book of local ghost stories I could find in whatever New England town we visited and collecting every Scary Stories to Tell in The Dark I could get my hands on at the scholastic book fair. With such a rich history of ghost stories and folklore that made it’s way to New England, it’s no wonder I settled on folk horror as my favorite sub genre.
I present to you six folk horror novels I recommend adding to your TBR this fall:
Starve Acre by Andrew Michael Hurley
Starve Acre is a perfect example of folk horror. Not for those who require closure, as the ending is quite jarring. This chilling folk horror is superbly written. The story follows Richard and Juliette who are grieving the sudden death of their young son Ewan. We come to find out that Ewan was acting strangely leading up to his death and now Juliette is too, but can Richard chalk this up to a mother’s grief? Living on inherited land, which comes complete with a cursed field, Richard tries to distract himself by searching for the roots of an ancient tree once said to have existed in the field. He ends up unearthing something more disturbing than he had originally set out to find. The slow unraveling of this eerie, chilling tale, kept me enthralled in the story till the very end.
Cunning Folk and The Ritual by Adam Nevill
Adam Nevill is a great author for folk horror and his books are usually available on Kindle Unlimited. These are just two examples but Nevill has written several other novels, which fall under the folk horror sub genre as well. As always with this author, you can count on beautifully written horror. Cunning Folk follows Tom and his family as they become tied up financially in a fixer-upper in the English countryside. As Tom struggles to turn the former site of tragedy into a suitable home for his family, he is forced to face off with his malignant new neighbors in what seems to be a losing game. The Ritual, which has been adapted into a movie of the same name, follows a group of friends who embark on a hiking trip in Scandinavia. The men come across the site of chilling pagan rituals and soon find themselves hunted by an ancient pagan deity. These are just the two of Adam Nevill’s books that I’ve read so far, but I encourage you to check out his other books as well. I have only heard great things about them.
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
While I’m not sure if the story here directly draws from any Native American folklore or stories, The Only Good Indians follows Lewis, a member of the Blackfeet. Now disconnected from his past, he becomes a target for revenge by an entity he and three other men wronged during their youth. Breaking tribal rules and moral code in their past, these men have set themselves up for a future of horror and gruesome deaths at the hands of a vengeful spirit. While I do feel that this novel falls under folk horror, it is a versatile horror that can span over several sub genres, making it a great read for those who are new to folk horror.
Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom
One of my all time Favorite books, Slewfoot is more than just a beautiful folk horror, thanks to Brom’s gorgeously dark artwork. Brom is one of my favorite authors, and I would say most of his work sits somewhere between dark fantasy and horror. All of his novels are accompanied by his artwork and have several full sized and full color prints in the center of each book. While his cover of Slewfoot is what first drew me in, I was immediately swept away by Samson and Abitha’s darkly magical friendship as they work together to discover who they truly are.
Abitha is a new widow, trying to survive in the Connecticut puritan colony she was shipped off to by her English father. Samson is a recently reborn and very confused ancient spirit, who uses Abitha’s goat as a new home and accidentally kills her husband…oops. For the crime of daring to go on with her life and refusing to rely on another man, Abitha is setup by her greedy brother-in-law, and is subsequently tried as a witch. But Abitha and Samson have become friends and together they unleash a feminine rage on their pious captors. Truly, this book is a must read, and is perfect for the spooky season.
Damnable Tales: A Folk Horror Anthology selected and illustrated by Richard Wells
Perhaps this one should have been first on the list, as it is a wonderful introduction to folk horror. These stories, authored by those such as Shirley Jackson, Thomas Hardy, Robert Louis Stevenson and more, bring us way back to the sub genre’s folklore roots. Much of our folk horror and horror in general would not exist if it were not for these foundational tales. This is a great anthology filled with short stories that range from the late 1800s to the 1960s.
When it comes to horror, folk horror is the most likely to chill me to the bone, to prevent me from going outside alone at night and it will never allow me to take home any strange pagan artifacts found in the woods. Even though modern day reality can be a horror show in its own right, there’s just something about a horror that was first sparked centuries ago and has made it into our stories today. It almost feels more believable, and in a strange way is comforting to know that the tales my seventh-great-grandmother was telling her children to scare them away from wandering into the woods or falling down a well, may somehow have made their way into the books I’m reading today. As Benjamin Meyers said in the foreword to Damnable Tales:
“Fear Nourishes. Fear can comfort.”
Wishing you all the horror you deserve this spooky season. Thanks for reading!