Vintage Horror Book Covers

Horror books are a part of a genre that really stands out among the rest. These books are accompanied by movies, TV shows, art works, plays, and much more. As far as horror books go specifically, they can be traced back to as early as the mid-1760s. In 1765 Castle of Otranto was written by the author Horace Walpole in London England. (YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE FULL BOOK HERE TO READ IT FOR YOURSELF) Since the addition of the genre to these horror books there have been many thousands of published stories over the next couple hundred years. Some of the more vintage horror books come from the early 1900s. These are the books that we are going to focus on today in this article.

You will see a few covers for horror books from the early 1900s as well as some full books that you can download and read for yourself from the same time period. Let’s move forward into the article. Enjoy!

Horror Stories Magazine

While this is technically a magazine, it can still be considered a book in some ways. These horror stories range from 1935 to 1941 and were a popular publication of the macabre, mysterious, and scary during this time. In fact, it was published by “Popular Publications”. The production of these horror stories stopped because of the start to World War 2 and its effect on the availability for paper to print the stories onto. This short run of magazines had a great impact on the future of the genre as it sparked interest for many different publications after its end.

While not very many images have lasted through the test of time, we do have a few of the covers to look at here in this article.

Terror Tales Magazine

This magazine started in 1934 and ran until 1979. This was also published by “Popular Publications”, the same as the aforementioned Horror Stories Magazine. This was the first of the genre and paved the way for the famous “Horror Stories” magazine that we will also see more of in this article.

1940 – ‘The Death Dolls’ by Horror Stories

In 1940 a story entitled “The Death Dolls” was released with the imagery on the cover being a woman placed inside of a bronzed casket by two men. A man with a firearm and two police officers seems to have found the horror story antagonists and are seemingly there to thwart their evil progress. In the background of the cover image there are two other caskets similar to the one that the woman is currently being placed into. This gives you the feeling and idea that these two men may have actually already successfully completed this process with more than one woman previously.

1939 – ‘The Damned May Dance with Satan’ by Terror Tales

A cult of hooded men is holding a naked woman hostage on the cover of this scary story. Not only are they keeping the woman held against her will, but they also have her trapped and encased in a spikey metal contraption that is threatening physical harm to her if she moves to far. The evil and contorted faces of the cult members and the red cloak on the shady individuals adds a sense of dread to the entire cover.

It is crazy to think about the drastic effect that inflation and such has had on our nation and the prices of goods within. Being that this magazine was $0.15 back in 1939 and a similar magazine nowadays would easily be $5, it is interesting to think about the change over the course of the years.

1938 – ‘The Corpses’ Christmas Party’ by Horror Stories

Here are some more red cloaked hooded men in a cult threatening a partially dressed pretty woman. They really knew how to appeal to their audience apparently. Again, the man with the gun is entering the room with his pistol drawn and ready to protect the dame in danger. This time, the woman is being strapped down into a contraption complete with at least three long spikes pointing straight up into the chin and breasts of the woman. These spikes are forcing the lady to stand straight up or risk being impaled on them. All of this takes place while the woman is seemingly in a night gowned made of light fabric.

1937 – ‘The Marriage Made in Hell’ by Horror Stories

Whoops, this one get’s a little extra creepy. A man has a woman trapped inside of a glass coffin and she is completely naked. Not only this, but there are several other women in the background in similar set ups that are also fully nude. The women in the background seem to be… asleep… maybe. Never mind, they have been frozen in blocks of ice. The woman in the foreground, however, is wide awake and in terror. She is screaming and afraid for what is to come from this evil man. The man is some sort of evil scientist and is filling the glass coffin with water so he can then slowly freeze it in a similar fashion to the women in the background of the cover.

1940 – ‘Pray that She Stays with the Dead’ by Terror Tales

Some more red robes on the cover’s artwork here. Who would have guessed it? Some more naked women as well. There is a pattern starting to form, me thinks. An old man is holding the skeleton of a woman while he points towards a cage telling his henchman to put the new woman into it. This new woman is barely wearing a torn dress and will surely soon be made naked as well. There is already a woman in a cage in the background wearing a collar around her neck and nothing else. You can see where this one is going.

Convent Horror – The True Story of Barbara Ubryk. (1893)

This book was published in October of 1893. This book is centered around the Catholic Church and nuns, specifically the nun by the name of Barbara Ubryk. This book tells the true story of a nun that was held as prisoner in conditions that were non-human inside of the convent of the Discalced Carmelites on Wesola. She was found inside of a dark cell and was considered as mentally ill. She was also said to weigh only 75 pounds when she was found inside of the church. This true story follows the happenings within the monastery, and there was even an attack on the church with the entrance being broken down in the process. There were arrests made and tons of mystery surrounding the topic.

This is a great read if you are into old, dark, and mysterious books. (You can download the full book right here for free if you want to read it for yourself)

The Strand Magazine – The Elixir of Life (1898)

This was a magazine released in 1891 and ran up until 1950. It had over 700 issues and produced over a half million copies ever month for sale to the public. This publication was in the United Kingdom, based out of London on Burleigh St. In 1891 Sherlock Holmes was first written about in this publication and quickly became famous. If you want to read one of the monthly publications of this magazine for yourself, you can download it (HERE) as a PDF.

The Johnstown Horror – Valley of Death (1889)

This book is based on the true story of the well-known Johnstown Flood AKA “The Great Flood of 1889”. This flood happened in Johnstown Pennsylvania on May 31st, 1889, on a Friday. The South Fork Dam failed and released 15 million cubic feet of water on the land below killing over 2,200 people and causing almost $20 million dollars in damage. Comparatively that would be around $550 million today. This book tells the true story of this horrible account and is truly a vintage horror story for you to read and learn while you get scared. You can download the full book (HERE) to read it for yourself if you want to in PDF form.

Recap & Summary

You got to see some of the oldest horror stories made throughout history in the form of books and magazines. You saw some fancy scary artwork, and also got to read some full books from well over 100 years ago. Hopefully you have learned some interesting stuff about the weird world of horror stories and the mysteries that follow them from across the span of hundreds of years of humans being humans. This was fun, and we appreciate you coming along for the spooky ride.

Thank your for taking the time out of your day to read this article! : )