A governess lands a job in an English country house, taking charge of two oddly quiet orphaned children, Miles and Flora. She begins to see a strange man and woman wandering around the estate and, learning from the housekeeper that the previous governess and her lover died, believes them to be ghosts. With growing horror she becomes convinced that the two children are secretly aware of the presence of these phantoms, who she begins to suspect want possession of her young wards. In his chilling novella Henry James creates a pervading and unsettling sense of ambiguity and suspense: are these ghosts a genuine threat to the children, or do the apparitions exist only in the mind of the governess?

Stephen King’s first published novel offers teen angst, telekinetic terror, and lots and lots of blood.

2. Carrie by Stephen King

Stephen King’s Carrie is a high school misfit, bullied by her classmates and sheltered by a Christian fundamentalist mother, who discovers a hidden talent: she can move things with her mind. When pupils play a cruel prank, pouring pig's blood over her at the school prom, Carrie is pushed over the edge and uses her newly found powers to exact revenge on her tormentors. She electrocutes pupils and teachers, starts a fire that destroys the school with everyone trapped inside, and unleashes a wave of destruction on the rest of the small town – before finally turning on her own mother. King’s first published novel offers teen angst, telekinetic terror, and lots and lots of blood.

3. The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

In this Gothic ghost story, Arthur Kipps is sent to Eel Marsh House to settle the affairs of a Mrs Alice Drablow. At her funeral he is the only person to spot a sinister woman dressed all in black. During his stay at the house, which is cut off from the mainland at high tide, Arthur is further haunted by strange cries and things that go bump in the night; a locked door is flung open to reveal a nursery filled with old toys and an empty rocking chair in motion. Eventually, a local landowner reveals to the terrified Kipps that every time someone sees the figure – the ghost of Mrs Drablow’s sister – a child dies in a horrific accident. Years later, Arthur’s sees the woman in black once again. Will his own son be safe?