Halloween was just a few days ago, the perfect time for ghost stories whether reading from book or watching a movie. So, I thought I’d mention a few of my favorites. Please share yours. If there’s one I missed, I’d like to check it out.

One of my favorite books and movie ghost stories is GHOST STORY by Peter Straub. It’s about four aging men in the terror stricken town of Milburn, New York, an act inadvertently carried out in their youth comes back to haunt them. Now they’re about to learn what happens to those who believe they can bury the past—and get away with murder. It’s a chilling story that made my skin crawl when I read it (with all the lights on). And even though I knew what was going to happen, the movie scared me just as much.

THE SIXTH SENSE with Toni Collette and Bruce Willis was a well crafted story with wonderful characters and many twists and surprises. Did you guess the ending?

THE SHINING  by Stephen King is more about a man who goes mad, tries to murder his family and the psychic connection between a his son and another man, but it is also a ghost story—very suspenseful and creepy ghost story with many ghosts haunting a grand hotel in the Colorado mountains.

STIR OF ECHOES is a movie adapted from a novel by Richard Matheson with Kevin Bacon. When Bacon is hypnotized by his sister-in-law, he discovers his ability to see spirits and split-second glimpses of the past and future and solves a violent mystery in his neighborhood.

THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson and the movie based on the book, THE HAUNTING. The older sepia toned movie makes this ghost story even spookier and fun to watch. Hearing that ghostly voice call, “Eleanor…” always makes the hairs on the back on my neck stand.

WHAT LIES BENEATH with Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer. It has Alfred Hitchcock undertones and good twists and turns.

Other favorites: THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL with Vincent Price and Carol Ohmart.

THE CHANGLING with George C. Scott

THE LADY IN WHITE with Jack Andreozzi and Angelo Bertolini

GHOST with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore

DRAGONFLY with Kevin Cosner and Kathy Bates

THE SKELETON KEY with Kate Hudson

 Here’s MSN Entertainment’s Top 10 Scariest Ghost Story Movie List:

10. “The Blair Witch Project” (1999)

 9.  “The Uninvited (1944)

 8.  “The Ring” (2002)

 7.  “The Innocents (1961)

 6.  “The Other” (2001)

 5.  “The Tenant” (1976)

 4.  “Don’t Look Now” (1973)

 3.  “Carnival of Souls” (1962)

 2.  “The Shining” (1980)

 1.  “The Haunting” (1963)

I’m sure there are tons more, some bad, some good, that I’ve watched and read over the years since I was a kid. I’ve always been a fan of ghost stories. I have a number of ghost story and supernatural books, many 25 years or older that I will never part with.

One last ghost story I have to mention is my own since it just came out in print a couple weeks ago. Yay! WILD JADE by Cerridwen Press. http://www.jasminejade.com/p-7698-wild-jade.aspx

Haunted by the ghost of a Mayan shaman, archaeology student Lauren Halpern unearths a tragic romance that she and rugged lead archaeologist Deven Chandler had shared in a past life thirteen hundred years ago. Deven is struggling with local officials who are threatening to shut down his project because of rumors about antiquity thieves in the jungle. Lauren’s visions of the past only complicate matters in the present. Despite their differing beliefs in the supernatural, the wild and exotic jungle soon lures them into a passionate love affair.

The shaman’s ghost warns Lauren that unless she finds a jade owl artifact all the members in the field crew will be in danger. But to unearth the artifact she must trespass on restricted land, risk professional disaster and the unknown menace that threatens to repeat their tragic history.

So what are your favorite ghost stories?

Tags: Beneath, dragonfly, ghost, ghost story, ghosts, Kathy Kulig, Sixth Sense, Stir of Echoes, The Haunting, The Haunting of Hill House, The house on Haunted Hill, The lady in white, The Shining, the skeleton key, What Lies, Wild Jade