8 Best Horror Audiobooks to Listen To With The Lights On

Margot and Mama have always lived in the farmhouse, just the two of them. Margot is 11 years old and all she knows is what Mama has taught her, and she believes everything Mama says. Together, they take in “Strays”: people who pass through who need a place to stay for a while, or a warm meal. Most Strays, however, don't make it through the night before they are processed and prepared for Margot and Mama's next dinner.

One night during a snowstorm, Eden stops by; a new Stray for Mama and Margot to take care of. But there is something about this woman that changes the dynamic inside the farmhouse. Margot is quickly pushed to the side and forced to accept less time with Mama and more punishments from Eden. Margot is a young girl trying to find her place in the world while everything she knows is falling apart around her. The relationship between her and her mother is strained, and danger is hiding around every corner. 

Mina is a brand-new child psychologist working on her first case; Alice is a 13-year-old girl claiming to be possessed by a witch, and together they uncover a small town's dark secret.

While still dealing with the trauma of her brother's death, Mina moves into the home where Alice lives with her family to get firsthand experience of what is happening. She witnesses some pretty strange things, meets some weird people, and has many supernatural encounters she can’t explain.

Could it be an actual witch, or is it ghosts? Alice may need an exorcism, and Mina definitely isn’t trained in that. Mina may not be trained well enough to handle anything that’s going on. The townsfolk are unhelpful and full of old superstitions that just make things worse. Mina has her work cut out for her; she has grown attached to Alice and will do anything to save her from her torment. 

This book is centered around five friends in 1988, who witnessed the murder of one of their classmates. Melanie and her sister Poppy were attacked and only Poppy survived... barely. The boys were the last ones to see the girls alive, and as witnesses, they got the murderer convicted. The boys were seen as heroes despite their delinquent behavior.

Fast forward to the present day, when one of the friends dies suddenly. It’s been years since they were all together, and the funeral is a good excuse to see each other again. When reminiscing about old times, someone mentions Melanie, and they openly share their feelings of guilt, anger, and lust towards the dead girl.

More than one of the men dreams about the young girl, and these dreams soon turn to nightmares when a ghastly female figure starts following the men. She leaves behind trails of mud and grime and whispers to them about all the things they have done wrong. Is it a collective hallucination caused by grief, or is it a devilish entity coming to destroy them?

In the early 90s a bunch of young filmmakers got together to create a horror movie called Horror Movie. It was low budget, homemade, disturbing, and a bit of a mess. The movie was filmed and completed over the course of a month, but was never released. Only a couple of scenes were ever shared, and those few minutes have collected a cult following. So much so that in the present day, a big Hollywood studio wants to remake it with a real budget and the original cast.

The issue is that the only surviving member of the original film is the man who played “The Thin Kid.” Everyone else involved has died in some tragic way over the years. The Thin Kid agrees to reprise his role in the new version, although he has many reservations. Despite the tragedy and trauma attached to the filming of the original, he is determined to get through this with all his remaining fingers. 

Every homeowner's worst nightmare is the previous tenants coming back to visit where they grew up. That’s what happens to Eve one night, home alone in her beautiful new house. A man and his family knock on the door and ask to ‘take a look around’, claiming that he lived there as a child. Eve has anxiety and doesn't want them to be mad at her, so she lets them in. Unfortunately, that was the wrong decision, hijinks ensue, and this strange family won't leave.

One of the children goes missing inside the house, weird shadows start to appear, and Eve suddenly notices strange drawings on the walls that weren’t there when she and her partner moved in. The family quickly overstays their welcome and just can’t get the hint that it’s time to leave. Eve starts to go crazy. But what can she do when she’s trapped in her own home, and everything is out of her control?

Nick Morrow left his abusive childhood home as soon as he was able to and never looked back. His father, Carlyle, made his life a living hell, no matter how hard he tried to be the perfect son, it just wasn’t good enough.

So, when Carlyle requested his presence back at the old farmhouse, he hesitated. His brother and sister-in-law were also asked to come home, which was a shock to everyone, as Carlyle is a huge racist and hates everything about Emilia. Joshua was disowned after he married her, but things seem to have changed now since Carlyle thinks he’s dying.

It doesn’t take long for Joshua and Carlyle to fall back into old routines and become best friends again, leaving Nick and Emilia to their own devices. The pair uses this time to explore their feelings for each other and share secrets. Emilia, however, seems to know a lot about the wrongdoings of the Morrow family, and she's starting to make Nick uncomfortable. Something ancient was disturbed long ago, and now it's time for its revenge.

Ashley is in her thirties, still lives at home with her abusive father, and pretends to be psychic for money. Her life is pretty disastrous, and she has no way out because her father controls every aspect of her life.

To change things up a little, she volunteers her ‘talent’ to the local police to aid them in finding the body of a missing child. There has been a string of murders lately known as the Gingerbread House murders, all involving children. Each child has been found with a stomach full of candy and sweet treats reminiscent of Hansel and Gretel.

At first, this was a PR stunt to get free publicity for her psychic shows; she didn’t really have any clue where the missing boy was and was leading the investigators in circles. But dark figures from Ashley’s past make a sudden reappearance that leads her straight to the boy. These figures haunted her as a child, and she has been trying to ignore them for years.

Ashley may not be psychic, but she does have a connection to the spirit realm, and it’s going to get her in trouble... She might just get blamed for the children's murders.

Can't have a list of horror novels without a Stephen King book. Also, this audiobook is read by DEXTER. How cool?!

Set in a small town in Maine, we meet Louis and his family as they move into a new home. Set back from the highway in a picturesque forest, it's the perfect quiet and safe place to raise two young children.

Behind their new house is a makeshift pet cemetery where generations of children have buried their pets. It’s a morbid and unsettling place, but Louis can’t help but visit it often. Something seems to be drawing him to it.

Everything is great in their new home until one day a transport truck comes barreling down the highway right at the exact moment the family cat, Church, is relaxing in the middle of the road.

Church’s sudden untimely demise devastates the family, but Louis knows the perfect place to put him to rest. The Pet Sematary gains one more furry angel that day. Louis and his family take the time to grieve and come to terms with the loss of their pet. That’s until they see Church sitting in the kitchen like he wasn’t just hit by a truck the day before...