Snow horror embraces the cold. Isolation. Howling winds. The stark silence of a white, winter landscape. It forces protagonists to take shelter or brave the bleakest weather nature has to offer. This oddity list from the Author-Oddity Newsletter thrusts you into a frozen lake of horror book recs and other uncanny content.
Mind your firewood. Gather your warmest gear. It’s about to be a long and chilling night.
Snow Horror Book Recs
The White Road was a particular joy for me as a CreepyPasta kid. After a near-death experience, an adrenaline junkie tackles Mount Everest—stalked by the ghost, or the madness, of his previous caving expedition. That opening section, or the caving expedition, evoked the first time I read “Ted the Caver” way back in the day. As we transition from the cave to the freezing mountain, the vibe shifts: it’s less “taut, vibrating fear” and more “spiraling, deteriorating sanity.” Still, I give it my highest “creepy” rating. If you like the uncanny, a slow-burn dread, try this one. (Read my Goodreads “The White Road” review.)
In comparison, Leech brings something new to snow horror. In this slice of snow horror, a young physician investigates the death of his predecessor in a remote chateau. It’s sci-fi, but Victorian-ish and weirdly human for being so . . . well, not human. (Read my Goodreads “Leech” review.)
And The Overnight Guest had me by the absolute throat despite being a thriller, not the snow horror (emphasis on horror) I assumed it was. A true-crime writer rents a remote cabin to work on her next book, but as a blizzard moves in, she discovers and rescues an injured boy nearly frozen to death in the snow. Check your trigger warnings, but it’s really one of those books I feel confident recommending widely (mostly) regardless of genre preference. (Read my Goodreads “The Overnight Guest” review.)
Finally, reading The Shining was such a cool experience. I’ve always been a fan of reading authors’ earlier work; I think it’s just got especially fresh, extra-weird energy.
I’d happily recommend All the White Spaces: Something deadly and mysterious stalks the members of an isolated polar expedition. But I’d note that you should be a reader who loves historical (nautical) detail; the author is thorough. You should also be ready for super slow-burn dread, almost on the psychological side, versus some kind of splashy creature-feature. (Read my Goodreads “All the White Spaces” review.)
If you are in the mood for a splashy creature-feature, though, you might like Ararat. An earthquake reopens a cave on Mount Ararat, revealing the ruins of an ancient ark…and the corpse of a demon. From that premise, I assumed it’d be slow burn and uncanny, but it was way more goopy than anticipated. Think of it as like a really solid, fun B-movie you’d sneakily stay up past your bedtime to watch. (Read my Goodreads “Ararat” review.)
Finally, The Hunger by Alma Katsu is a reimagining of the events of the Donner Party with supernatural elements. I had mixed feelings on it overall, but if you have any interest in this era or event at all, you should give this one a look. (Read my Goodreads “The Hunger” review.)
In terms of my “to be read” list, I’m madly excited for Our Winter Monster and Dark Matter. My excitement for Dark Matter is all the more intense because I’ve had a heck of a time getting my hands on a copy! I’ve heard The Shuddering is more of a creature feature deal, and I’d like to see how Ahlborn handles that style of horror. I was also really pulled in by the passionate reviews for White is for Witching.
For I saw by the sickly moonlight,
As I followed, bending low,
That the walking of the stranger
Left no footmarks on the snow.
– Charles Dawson Shanly
Rabbit Holes
Roopkund Lake – In 1942, an Indian forest ranger stumbled into a remote lake in the Himalayas full of human skeletons.
Dyatlov Pass Incident – Nine Soviet hikers died in the northern Ural Mountains in 1959 under uncertain circumstances. Some overlap with the mysterious Khamar-Daban Incident.
Polar gigantism – Animals living at the poles (in the Southern Ocean and Arctic Ocean) are way bigger than their relatives near the equator.
S. A. Andrée’s failed polar expedition – In 1897, a Swedish aeronaut attempted to fly to the North Pole in a hydrogen balloon. It ended poorly.
Art
Art by Hellish Razor for “Korpi” (2025), an album by the Finnish black metal band Kalmankantaja. If you need to get into a mind space for creating a wronged monster, some terrible entity rising from the depths to claim its due, I recommend their music. The musical side is ethereal and grieved, but the vocals are astonishing, an inhuman scream that cuts through the chilling landscape.
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If you’ve got more chilling theme-related oddities or recommendations, don’t hold out. Drop ’em in the comments! I’m always happy to hear from readers.