13 Wilderness Horror Books to Get Lost In
Getting away from it all sounds great, doesn’t it?
Peace and quiet, solitude, no responsibilities, no stress, somewhere where you can hear your own thoughts without straining to block out the noise. Just you, your survival skills, and maybe some close friends.
But what if you’re not as alone as you think you are?
A lot can happen in an isolated environment. Safety and help can be a long way away and once you start to feel threatened, you don’t know who you can trust. That’s a risk you take when you head out from civilization to get back to nature.
That’s what these horror authors turned their minds to. They imagine what could go wrong on hiking, camping, fishing, and rock-climbing trips.
These wilderness horror stories take place on mountains, in million-acre woods, in different parts of the world, in America, Canada, Russia, Scandinavia, and all the way to the Arctic.
Wilderness horror takes the fear of the unknown, the fear of isolation, and wonders about unexplainable disappearances and bizarre deaths, supernatural beasts and monsters, and what might be out there in the darkness that we don’t know about.
So, wander in, get lost, and, most of all, try to survive in these 13 wilderness horror books.
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Table of Contents
Mastodon – Steve Stred
Creature wilderness horror
17 years ago, Tyler Barton was born in the Rocky Mountains, while his parents were on a hike. On that day, his mother disappeared, never to be seen again.
Now, history repeats itself.
On the 17th anniversary of her disappearance, Tyler’s father is flying home when the plane he’s on disappears – in the same area where Tyler’s mother was last seen.
Undeterred by officials, Tyler decides to hike into the area in search of his father, hoping to find him alive and bring him back to safety.
But there’s a reason that area is prohibited to enter and even though Tyler doesn’t care, he’ll soon find out that the wilderness can hide some of the deepest, darkest fears known to man.
“The howling of wind accompanied by the sound of rain brought her back.”
The Ritual – Adam Nevill
Supernatural wilderness horror
When four old University friends set off into the Scandinavian wilderness of the Arctic Circle, they aim to briefly escape the problems of their lives and reconnect with one another.
When Luke, the only man still single and living a precarious existence, finds he has little left in common with his well-heeled friends, tensions rise. With limited experience between them, a shortcut meant to ease their hike turns into a nightmare scenario.
Lost, hungry, and surrounded by forest untouched for millennia, Luke figures things couldn’t possibly get any worse.
But then they stumble across an old habitation. Ancient artifacts decorate the walls and bones are scattered upon the dry floors. The residue of old rites and pagan sacrifice for something that still exists in the forest. Something responsible for the bestial presence that follows their every step.
As the four friends stagger in the direction of salvation, they learn that death doesn’t come easy among these ancient trees.
“And on the second day things did not get better.”
The Broken Places – Blaine Daigle
Supernatural wilderness horror
When Ryne Burdette inherits his family’s old hunting cabin deep in the Yukon wilderness, he wants to say no. Nothing much is left in that place except for unpleasant memories and the smoke of old burns.
But after a tragic year, he sees a weekend trip to the cabin with his best friends as a way to recuperate and begin again.
There is something strange about these woods. As a winter storm moves in, the animals begin acting strangely, and the natural laws of the wilderness seem to fall apart.
Then, the soft voices start whispering through the trees. Something is watching them.
As the storm gets worse and the woods get darker, the three friends must dive into the darkest waters of the Burdette family lineage.
Because the horrible truth is deep, resting in the shadowed places no one wants to look.
“Deep within the dark, ancient heart of the Yukon, a storm raged.”
The Troop – Nick Cutter
Psychological wilderness horror
Once every year, Scoutmaster Tim Riggs leads a troop of boys into the Canadian wilderness for a weekend camping trip – a tradition as comforting and reliable as a good ghost story around a roaring bonfire.
When an unexpected intruder stumbles upon their campsite, shockingly thin, disturbingly pale, and voraciously hungry, Tim and the boys are exposed to something far more frightening than any tale of terror.
The human carrier of a bioengineered nightmare. A horror that spreads faster than fear.
“The hunger pangs would stop, he reassured himself.”
This Wretched Valley – Jenny Kiefer
Survival wilderness horror
This trip is going to be Dylan’s big break. Her geologist friend Clay has discovered an untouched cliff face in the Kentucky wilderness, and she is going to be the first person to climb it.
Together with Clay, his research assistant Sylvia, and Dylan’s boyfriend Luke, Dylan is going to document her achievement on Instagram and finally cement her place as the next rising star in rock climbing.
Seven months later, three bodies are discovered in the trees just off the highway. All are in various states of decay: one a stark, white skeleton; the second emptied of its organs; and the third a mutilated corpse with the tongue, eyes, ears, and fingers removed.
But Dylan is still missing and no trace of her, dead or alive, has been discovered.
“Take only pictures. Leave only bones.”
Don't Move – James S. Murray and Darren Wearmouth
Spider wilderness horror
Megan Forrester has barely survived the unthinkable. Six months ago, she witnessed a horrific accident that killed her husband and son, and lives with the guilt of knowing she could have done more to save them.
Megan hopes to mend the pieces of her broken spirit by attending a local church group’s annual camping trip. But the church group members, riddled with dark secrets of their own, make a catastrophic navigational mistake, leaving them stranded in an untouched canyon in the West Virginian national forest.
Isolated from any chance of help or rescue, Megan and the others quickly realize why this side of the canyon has never been surveyed by humankind: it’s home to a terrifying prehistoric arachnid that patiently stalks its prey through even the slightest movement or vibration in the forest. And it’s desperate for a meal.
Grief-stricken and haunted by her tragic loss, Megan now faces her ultimate test of endurance. Can she outwit a bloodthirsty creature hellbent on ensuring that no one gets out alive? When a single wrong turn can mean death, she only has one option: DON’T MOVE.
“The early morning emptiness of the church reflected her feelings.”
The Night Will Find Us – Matthew Lyons
Supernatural wilderness horror
School’s out for summer and that means one thing to Parker, Chloe, and their four friends: a well-deserved camping trip in the Pine Barrens, a million-acre forest deep in the heart of New Jersey. But when old grudges erupt, an argument escalates into the unthinkable, leaving one of them dead and the killer missing. As darkness descends and those left alive try to determine a course of action, the forest around them begins to change.
In the morning, more of the group has vanished and the path that led them into the woods is gone, as if consumed by the forest itself. Lost and hungry, the remaining friends set out to find help, only to realize that the forest seems to have other plans – a darker, ancient horror lies dead and dreaming in a lake in the center of the woods. And it’s calling to them.
Meanwhile, deep in the trees, the killer is still at large, and one of the group’s own has started to transform and warp into something other. Something inhuman. Something that wants to feast.
“She should have known he would follow her. She should have known he’d never stop.”
Hunted Past Reason – Richard Matheson
Psychological wilderness horror
It was supposed to be just an ordinary camping trip, two old friends hiking through the woods of northern California.
But this self-enforced isolation exposes long-hidden rivalries and resentments between the men.
The deeper they get into the wilderness, far from civilization, the greater the tension becomes – until it erupts into a terrifying life-or-death battle for survival.
Two men enter the woods, but only one will emerge alive.
“How in God’s name are you going to carry that for four days?”
Return to Dyatlov Pass – J.H. Moncrieff
Creature wilderness horror
In 1959, nine Russian students set off on a skiing expedition in the Ural Mountains. Their mutilated bodies were discovered weeks later. Their bizarre and unexplained deaths are one of the most enduring true mysteries of our time.
Nearly sixty years later, podcast host Nat McPherson ventures into the same mountains with her team, determined to finally solve the mystery of the Dyatlov Pass incident. Her plans are thwarted on the first night, when two trackers from her group are brutally slaughtered.
The team’s guide, a superstitious man from a neighboring village, blames the killings on yetis, but no one believes him.
As members of Nat’s team die one by one, she must figure out if there’s a murderer in their midst – or something even worse – before history repeats itself and her group becomes another casualty of the infamous Dead Mountain.
“The moment before she died, Lyudmila wondered how it had gone so terribly wrong.”
Dark Mountain – Richard Laymon
Supernatural wilderness horror
It was supposed to be a peaceful escape for the two families camping high in the Californian mountains.
But they made the mistake of camping at Mesquite Lake, home to two of the wilderness’s most terrifying inhabitants: an aged hag with gruesome powers and her depraved son whose unnatural lusts even she cannot control.
“Cheryl heard it again – the soft, dry crunching sound that a foot might make in leaves. This time, it was very close.”
Master of the Forest – Artyom Dereschuk
Creature wilderness horror
A young man leaves his small Russian town and heads to Moscow, determined never to be poor again.
With each day, he grows more and more desperate until he meets an old geologist with an intriguing and surprisingly profitable offer: to join him on his trip to the depths of Siberia, the largest forest on the planet, and become a “black digger” – someone who finds and excavates mammoth tusks with the purpose of selling them as ivory to the highest bidder.
With nothing much to lose, the young man agrees, venturing to the edge of the Earth, beyond the borders of civilization and into the untouched wilderness.
Thousands of miles from home, in a race against the clock before the cold seals the ground, he faces nature, other diggers, his inner demons and, most importantly, the enigmatic “Master of the Forest” – a prehistoric creature and the origin of all local legends, who ferociously protects his domain.
“The fact that I didn’t know where it was both scared me and gave me the strength to move forward.”
Hunted – Darcy Coates
Psychological wilderness horror
22-year-old Eileen goes missing while hiking in the remote Ashlough Forest. Five days later, her camera is discovered washed downriver, containing bizarre photos taken after her disappearance.
Chris wants to believe Eileen is still alive. When the police search is abandoned, he and four of his friends create their own search party to scour the mountain range.
As they stray further into the dark forest and the unsettling discoveries mount, they begin to believe they’re not alone in the trees, and that Eileen’s disappearance wasn’t an accident.
By that point, it’s too late to escape.
“Her disappearance wasn’t an accident. Her rescue will be a mistake.”
Dark Matter – Michelle Paver
Ghost wilderness horror
![(Dark Matter: the gripping ghost story from the author of WAKENHYRST) [By: Paver, Michelle] [Sep, 2011]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41c2JYsb-aL._SL160_.jpg "(Dark Matter: the gripping ghost story from the author of WAKENHYRST) [By: Paver, Michelle] [Sep, 2011]")
It’s January 1937 and clouds of war are gathering over a fogbound London.
Twenty-eight year old Jack is poor, lonely, and desperate to change his life, so when he’s offered the chance to join an Arctic expedition, he jumps at it.
Spirits are high as the ship leaves Norway: five men and eight huskies, crossing the Barents Sea by the light of the midnight sun. At last they reach the remote, uninhabited bay where they will camp for the next year, Gruhuken, but the Arctic summer is brief.
As night returns to claim the land, Jack feels a creeping unease. One by one, his companions are forced to leave.
He faces a stark choice: stay or go. Soon he will see the last of the sun, as the polar night engulfs the camp in months of darkness. Soon he will reach the point of no return – when the sea will freeze, making escape impossible.
Gruhuken is not uninhabited. Jack is not alone. Something walks there in the dark.
“Fear of the dark. Until I came here, I thought that was for children; that you grew out of it. But it never really goes away. It’s always there underneath. The oldest fear of all.”
Published: 16 May 2024
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