Staff Picks
Teen Ghost Stories
- Alison B.
- Thursday, October 08, 2020
Collection
Add some chills to your fall with this selection of teen ghost stories that will have you reading throughout the night. Whether these spirits are seeking revenge, trying to send a message, or haunting a house, you'll want to leave the light on for these.
Check out this list of Teen Witches books for more paranormal reads.
Looking for more? Try our Personalized Recommendations form to find your next great read!
Shutter
Published in 2015
Seventeen-year-old Micheline Helsing is a tetrachromat, able to see ghosts in color and capture them on film, but when a routine hunt goes awry, Micheline's infected with a curse known as a soulchain and if she's unable to exorcise the entity in seven days, she'll be destroyed, body and soul.
Bad Girls Don't Die
Published in 2009
When fifteen-year-old Lexi's younger sister Kasey begins behaving strangely and their old Victorian house seems to take on a life of its own, Lexi investigates and discovers some frightening facts about previous occupants of the house, leading her to believe that many lives are in danger.
Anna Dressed in Blood
Published in 2011
For three years, seventeen-year-old Cas Lowood has carried on his father's work of dispatching the murderous dead, traveling with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat, but everything changes when he meets Anna, a girl unlike any ghost he has faced before.
Anna Dressed in Blood
Published in 2011
For three years, seventeen-year-old Cas Lowood has carried on his father's work of dispatching the murderous dead, traveling with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat, but everything changes when he meets Anna, a girl unlike any ghost he has faced before.
The Suffering
Published in 2015
Breathtaking and haunting, Rin Chupeco's second novel is a chilling companion to her debut, The Girl from the Well. The darkness will find you. Seventeen-year-old Tark knows what it is to be powerless. But Okiku changed that. A restless spirit who ended life as a victim and started death as an avenger, she's groomed Tark to destroy the wicked. But when darkness pulls them deep into Aokigahara, known as Japan's suicide forest, Okiku's justice becomes blurred, and Tark is the one who will pay the price...
The House of Dead Maids
Published in 2010
Eleven-year-old Tabby Aykroyd, who would later serve as housekeeper for thirty years to the Brönte sisters, is taken from an orphanage to a ghost-filled house, where she and a wild young boy are needed for a pagan ritual.
The Dark Between
Published in 2013
Three teenagers in Victorian era Cambridge spend the summer at a local college and soon discover that their hosts, the Metaphysical Society, may be conducting sinister experiments in an attempt to communicate with the dead.
The Name of the Star
Published in 2011
Rory, of Bénouville, Louisiana, is spending a year at a London boarding school when she witnesses a murder by a Jack the Ripper copycat and becomes involved with the very unusual investigation.
The Name of the Star
Published in 2011
Rory, of Boueuxlieu, Louisiana, is spending a year at a London boarding school when she witnesses a murder by a Jack the Ripper copycat and becomes involved with the very unusual investigation.
The Women in the Walls
Published in 2016
Do you hear them calling? Lucy Acosta's mother died when she was three. Growing up in a Victorian mansion in the middle of the woods with her cold, distant father, she explored the dark hallways of the estate with her cousin, Margaret. They're inseparable-a family. When her aunt Penelope, the only mother she's ever known, tragically disappears while walking in the woods surrounding their estate, Lucy finds herself devastated and alone. Margaret has been spending a lot of time in the attic. She claims she can hear her dead mother's voice whispering from the walls. Emotionally shut out by her father, Lucy watches helplessly as her cousin's sanity slowly unravels. But when she begins hearing voices herself, Lucy finds herself confronting an ancient and deadly legacy that has marked the women in her family for generations.
Tigers, Not Daughters
Published in 2020
"Three sisters in San Antonio are shadowed by guilt and grief over the loss of their oldest sister, who still haunts their house"-- Provided by publisher.
Rules for Vanishing
Published in 2019
"Once a year, a road appears in the forest. And at the end of it, the ghost of Lucy Gallows beckons. Lucy's game isn't for the faint of heart. If you win, you escape with your life. But if you lose.... Sara's sister disappeared one year ago--and only Sara knows where she is. Becca went to find the ghost of Lucy Gallows and is trapped on the road that leads to her. In the sleepy town of Briar Glen, Lucy's road is nothing more than local lore. But Sara knows it's real, and she's going to find it. When Sara and her skeptical friends meet in the forest to search for Becca, the mysterious road unfurls before them. All they have to do is walk down it. But the path to Lucy is not of this world, and it has its own rules. Every mistake summons new horrors. Vengeful spirits and broken, angry creatures are waiting for them to slip, and no one is guaranteed safe passage. The only certainty is this: the road has a toll and it will be paid. Sara knows that if she steps onto the road, she might not come back. But Becca needs her. And Lucy is waiting."--Page [2] of cover.
Haunting the Deep
Published in 2017
Samantha Mather survived one curse, and now she's having recurring dreams about the Titanic, and walking the deck with first-class passengers like her aunt and uncle. Then missives from the Titanic begin finding their way to her, along with haunting visions of people who went down with the ship. Her friends in the Descendants are determined to help Sam. First they must unravel who is behind the spell that is drawing her ever further into the dream ship-- and closer to sharing the same grim fate as its ghostly passengers.
The Haunting of Sunshine Girl
Book One
Published in 2015
A New York Times Shortly after her sixteenth birthday, Sunshine Griffith and her mother Kat move from sunny Austin, Texas, to the rain-drenched town of Ridgemont, Washington. Though Sunshine is adopted, she and her mother have always been close, sharing a special bond filled with laughter and inside jokes. But from the moment they arrive, Sunshine feels her world darken with an eeriness she cannot place. And even if Kat doesn?t recognize it, Sunshine knows that something about their new house is just ... creepy. In the days that follow, things only get stranger. Sunshine is followed around the house by an icy breeze, phantom wind slams her bedroom door shut, and eventually, the laughter Sunshine hears on her first night evolves into sobs. She can hardly believe it, but as the spirits haunting her house become more frightening?and it becomes clear that Kat is in danger?Sunshine must accept what she is, pass the test before her, and save her mother from a fate worse than death.
Beyond
A Ghost Story
Published in 2012
Everyone thinks seventeen-year-old Jane has attempted suicide more than once, but Jane knows the truth: her shadow is trying to kill her.
Beyond
A Ghost Story
Published in 2012
Everyone thinks seventeen-year-old Jane has attempted suicide more than once, but Jane knows the truth: her shadow is trying to kill her.
Ruined, a Novel
Published in 2009
Rebecca Brown is staying with her aunt Claudia in nineteenth century New Orleans, a city of voodoo, ghosts, and hurricanes. While walking in Lafayette Cemetery she is befriended by Lisette, a ghost who helps Rebecca to uncover shocking truths about her life and influences her to right the wrongs of the past.
What the Dead Want
Published in 2016
"Inheriting a love of photography, an old camera and countless questions years after the disappearance of her mother, 16-year-old Gretchen returns to a decaying family mansion, where ancestral photos and letters dating back centuries reveal her family's haunted past."
The Ghost of Graylock
Published in 2012
Staying with their aunts over the summer, Neil Cady, his sister Bree, and their new friends Wesley and Eric, set out to explore Greylock Hall, an abandoned psychiatric hospital which is supposed to be haunted by the ghost of Nurse Janet.
The Ghost of Graylock
Published in 2012
Staying with their aunts over the summer, Neil Cady, his sister Bree, and their new friends Wesley and Eric, set out to explore Graylock Hall, an abandoned psychiatric hospital which is supposed to be haunted by the ghost of Nurse Janet.
The Agony House
Published in 2018
Seventeen-year-old Denise Farber, her mom, and her stepfather are moving back to New Orleans, into the Argonne house, which is over 100 years old, and really showing its age, but which her mother plans to turn into a bed-and-breakfast--but old houses have histories, and sometimes ghosts, and a mysterious old comic book that Denise finds in the attic may hold the answer to a crime and the terrifying things that keep happening in what she thinks of as the "Agony" house.
The Haunting of Sunshine Girl
Published in 2015
A New York Times bestseller Shortly after her sixteenth birthday, Sunshine Griffith and her mother Kat move from sunny Austin, Texas, to the rain-drenched town of Ridgemont, Washington. Though Sunshine is adopted, she and her mother have always been close, sharing a special bond filled with laughter and inside jokes. But from the moment they arrive, Sunshine feels her world darken with an eeriness she cannot place. And even if Kat doesn't recognize it, Sunshine knows that something about their new house is just ... creepy. In the days that follow, things only get stranger. Sunshine is followed around the house by an icy breeze, phantom wind slams her bedroom door shut, and eventually, the laughter Sunshine hears on her first night evolves into sobs. She can hardly believe it, but as the spirits haunting her house become more frightening?and it becomes clear that Kat is in danger?Sunshine must accept what she is, pass the test before her, and save her mother from a fate worse than death.
Thirteen Chairs
Published in 2015
When Jack enters the deserted house in his neighborhood, he finds a group of people who invite him to take the thirteenth chair in the room and share a story--in the house where the ghosts meet.
Project 17
Published in 2007
When six high school students sneak into an abandoned mental institution to make a film about their night there, they do not expect the inexplicable and terrifying events that keep occuring within the crumbling, maze-like building, causing them to question themselves and, ultimately, to make different choices about the course of their lives.
Project 17
Published in 2010
High atop Hathorne Hill, near Boston, sits Danvers State Hospital. Built in 1878 and closed in 1992, this abandoned mental institution is rumored to be the birthplace of the lobotomy. On the eve of the hospital's demolition, six teens break in to spend the night and film a movie about their experiences. For Derik, it's an opportunity to win a filmmaking contest and save himself from a future of flipping burgers at his parents' diner. For the others, it's a chance to be on TV, or a night with no parents. But what starts as a dare quickly escalates into a nightmare.
In the Shadow of Blackbirds
Published in 2013
In San Diego in 1918, as deadly influenza and World War I take their toll, sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort and, despite her scientific leanings, must consider if ghosts are real when her first love, killed in battle, returns.
In the Shadow of Blackbirds
Published in 2013
In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to s?ances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she?s forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love?a boy who died in battle?returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her? Featuring haunting archival early-twentieth-century photographs, this is a tense, romantic story set in a past that is eerily like our own time. -- STARRED REVIEW ? -- STARRED REVIEW ? -- The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books "Winters strikes just the right balance between history and ghost story, neatly capturing the tenor of the times, as growing scientific inquiry collided with heightened spiritualist curiosity." -- In the Shadow of Blackbirds -- The Diviners -- ? "Beautifully written and absolutely riveting. I enjoyed everything about this book." ? Award William C. Morris YA Debut Award Finalist 2014 School Library Journal Best Book of 2013 2014 Best Fiction for Young Adults
In the Shadow of Blackbirds
Published in 2013
In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to s?ances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she's forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love?a boy who died in battle?returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her? Featuring haunting archival early-twentieth-century photographs, this is a tense, romantic story set in a past that is eerily like our own time. Praise for In The Shadow of Blackbird s STARRED REVIEW "Winters's masterful debut novel is an impressively researched marriage of the tragedies of wartime, the 1918 flu epidemic, the contemporaneous Spiritualism craze, and a chilling love story and mystery." ? Publishers Weekly , starred review STARRED REVIEW "More than anything, this is a story of the breaking point between sanity and madness, delivered in a straightforward and welcoming teen voice." ? Booklist , starred review STARRED REVIEW "Winters deftly combines mystery, ghost story, historical fiction, and romance. Excellent pacing and deliciously creepy descriptions..." ? School Library Journal , starred review "This engrossing combination of historical fiction, ghost story, psychological thriller, and straight-up whodunit moves between genres with stunning ease, maximizing the tropes of each to satisfying effect." ? The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books "Winters strikes just the right balance between history and ghost story, neatly capturing the tenor of the times, as growing scientific inquiry collided with heightened spiritualist curiosity." ? Kirkus Reviews "Mary Shelley is a likable, sympathetic heroine, and through her story, teen readers will get a glimpse of a fascinating time period, made all the more real by the haunting historic photographs that pepper the novel, from soldiers in trenches to policemen in gauze masks. Part romance, part mystery and part ghost story, In the Shadow of Blackbirds makes palpable a terrifying time that brought the horror of death into the homes of millions." ? Bookpage "One of the creepiest (in a good way) covers of the season! What's inside, historical Y.A. set at the time of the Spanish influenza, is equally haunting." ? The Atlantic Wire ?Cat Winter's debut novel is creepy good." ? The Boston Globe "Romance fans will love Stephen's ghostly visits to Mary Shelley, confirming that their romance is as steamy as ever. Mystery lovers will enjoy the satisfactory resolution of the puzzle. Recommend this title to fans of Libba Bray's The Diviners ." ? VOYA "In this book, the passion of first love and the paranoia of the times are realistically and movingly rendered." ? The Oregonian "Beautifully written and absolutely riveting. I enjoyed everything about this book." ? The Statesman Journal
Now Entering Addamsville
Published in 2019
"Zora Novak is framed for a crime she didn't commit--in a town obsessed with ghosts, will she be able to find the culprit and clear her name before it's too late?"-- Provided by publisher.