Don't Read These Alone Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Exorcist

"The Exorcist" by American author William Peter Blatty, is supposedly a dramatized account of a real case of demonic possession which occurred around 1949. It focuses on the interactions of two Catholic priests and a teenage girl who is believed to be possessed by a demon.

After psychiatry and medicine do not help the teen, the church is brought in to perform an exorcism. Before the novel ends, both priests are dead, but the child is saved. This novel was extremely popular when it was released in 1971.

This horror novel mixes religion with the idea that this could happen to anyone, in order to achieve the maximum amount of terror.

Answer: The Picture of Dorian Gray

While all of these were written by Oscar Wilde, only one of them is a novel. "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1890) was originally published as a magazine serial. It was also published later as a regular one piece novel. Its description of the hedonistic lifestyle of the protagonist, Dorian Gray, was found to offend Victorian morals.

It centers around a young, wealthy man who has just had his portrait painted. He wishes that this painting will age instead of him and then locks it away. As he leads a more and more decadent life, he never ages, while the painting appears to become older and more twisted.

By the end of the book, insanity sets in and the character stabs the painting in the heart so that he can be released from the wish. When he is found, he has turned into the old twisted character that had been seen in the painting, while the artwork has turned back into the youthful portrait that it had originally been.

Answer: England

The 1987 novel "Dracula" was not the first vampire novel, but it was probably the most influential. In this novel, the Transylvanian vampire named Dracula moved to England, hoping to find easier and more naïve prey. The novel also dealt directly or indirectly with multiple cultural issues of the time.

These included colonialism, women's rights, and Victorian prudery. This unusual novel is written in an epistolary format and consists of multiple diary entries as well as entries into the ship's log.

The novel is a story of good vs. evil, in which the good triumphs. At the time of its first printing, it was considered to be too terrifying a novel for the "delicate" females of the time to read.

Answer: Rosemary's Baby

Written by American author Ira Levin, "Rosemary's Baby" sold over four million copies when it was released, and is often given this credit. The story deals with a young couple who have moved into a new apartment in a building that is rumored to be haunted.

They meet their new neighbors who are practicing Satanists and seem to have a close interest in the couple. The novel is full of twists and turns, and leaves the reader guessing if the young female is going crazy or if her husband is caught in the clutches of evil.

It is not until the end of the book that the reader finds out that the neighbors are not evil, the husband is not possessed, and that the young wife is actually giving birth to the Antichrist.

Answer: Carrie

While it was probably the fourth novel to be written, "Carrie" was the first of Steven King's horror novels to be published. It deals with an abused child who has grown into a bullied teenager. It is at this time that she realizes that she has telekinetic powers.

She tries not to use this ability for evil. She becomes the object of a prank at the Prom. She is elected queen of the Prom by the prankster who then drop buckets of pigs blood on her. Her telekinetic powers overtake her and the school erupts in fire killing a large portion of the senior class.

This novel deals with religious extremism, bullying, and the power to overcome. This novel was a huge hit and was followed by a movie which led to entrenching Stephen King firmly in the highest echelon of horror writers in written history.

Answer: Robert Bloch

"Psycho" is a horror novel that uses the horrors of insanity to scare the reader. A young woman strays off the highway and ends up staying at a small, decrepit motel. The female character is stabbed to death in the shower by a character that is never seen.

Some of her friends who come looking for her are also killed by this character. The reader is led to believe the evil character is the mother of the motel's owner. It is not until later in the novel that it comes out that the mother has been dead for ten years and that the son has never accepted this.

He has a split personality in which one side believes that he is his own mother. It is not until the end of the novel that the reader realizes that the mother character and the son character are the same person.

The novel is believed to have been influenced by the real-life story of murderer Ed Gein.

Answer: Edgar Allan Poe

This is the only published novel by Edgar Allan Poe. It is a strange, rambling work that involves the travels of a stowaway who becomes involved in mutiny, a shipwreck and cannibalism. It was not well received, possibly because it was very hard to follow.

It should be remembered that it is thought that Poe may have been suffering from syphilis at this time. There may be some autobiographical elements to this novel. It graphically deals with death by starvation and thirst, and survivors who are hovering around like vultures waiting for the weaker men to die so that they may eat them.

Answer: Shape-shifting

"Ghost Story" (1979) was a popular horror novel that featured ghost stories, nightmares, and of course, a shape-shifting character that changes throughout the novel. The novel goes back and forth in time and requires careful reading. The shape-shifting character drives multiple men into insanity, homicide, and suicide by leading them to involve themselves in evil acts and then turning into something else.

In the end the reader is led to believe she has been killed...or has she?

Answer: False

"The Amityville Horror: A True Story" is a novel by author Jay Anson, not Dean R. Koontz. At the time of its publication, it purported to be the true story of a haunted house and the paranormal activity that befalls its new owners. The book delved into the horrifying activity that started occurring as soon as the new owners moved in. Slime oozing from the walls, whispering voices, ghosts, bite marks appearing from unknown animals are just a few of the things that were said to have occurred.

In reality, the house in question was the site of a family multiple-murder that had occurred in 1974. How much of the story is true is unknown, but there is no doubt that novel scared a generation of readers when it first came out.

Answer: Cannibalism

This scary novel deals with a renowned psychiatrist who is also a cannibalistic serial killer. A young FBI trainee is sent by her boss to interview him, after he has been sentenced to nine life sentences in a mental institution. She is trying to enlist his help in finding another cannibalistic serial killer who is on the loose. Gruesome imagery is used throughout this novel, with graphic descriptions of cannibalism. Cryptic clues, driving suspense, and excellent characters make this a book you do not want to read alone. Read the novel before you see the movie.