an incomplete list of unsettling short stories I read in textbooks

some are well-known, some obscure, some I enjoy as an adult, all made me uncomfortable between the ages of 11-15

add your own weird shit, I wanna be literary and disturbed

The Tell-Tale Heart, The Gift of the Magi, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calavaras County, Thank You Ma'am

the box social by james reaney. i remember we all had to silently read it in class, and you would hear the moment everyone reached the Part because some people would audibly go “what”

wHat did I just put my eyes on

“The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury

Not quite a short story, but read in class: “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” from The Twilight Zone

Harrison Bergeron, Cat and the Coffee Drinkers

“Where are you going and where have you been” by Joyce carol oates

“The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury

the lottery by shirley jackson

i can’t believe Roald Dahl’s “The Landlady” wasn’t already mentioned and also it’s not so much unsettling as more absurdist but “The Leader” by Eugene Ionesco definitely made me go wtf

Ett halvt ark papper. I cried so much.

Ночь у мазара, А. Шалимов

A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury

I Have no Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury 

Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Colby, by Donald Barthelme

I read Ray Bradbury’s “All Summer In A Day” in seventh grade (it wasn’t assigned, I was just going through my textbook for new stuff to read) and as a bullied kid with SAD, it Fucked Me Up.

An Ordinary Day with Peanuts, by Shirley Jackson

Eh, this was more like community college, but The Star by Arthur C. Clarke

Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl

and this story that I can’t remember the name of and can’t find, though it might be by O. Henry? it’s about a bunch of demons who want to stop Santa Claus from going through with Christmas, and he must travel through the mountains they inhabit to escape their vices? (good christ I can’t remember the name for the life of me)

Ok but the laughing man and a good day for bananafish but j.d. Salinger

The City (195) Ray Bradbury. An intense commentary on colonialism and space exploration. I read it for a sci fi survey class.

Another short story I read in that sci fi class was Vaster than Empires and More Slow (1971) by Ursula K. Le Guin. A commentary on humanity and how human we believe ourselves to be. Also, an interesting commentary on mental health.

In the Woods Beneath the Cherry Blossoms in Full Bloom, written in 1947 by Ango Sakaguchi. It made my skin crawl the first time I read it.

Also going to recommend For A Breath I Tarry by Roger Zelazny, a commentary on whether AI can become human in a future without humans: http://www.kulichki.com/moshkow/ZELQZNY/forbreat.txt

whoever posted “The Laughing Man” and “A Good Day For Bananafish” is Correct

All of Flannery O'Connor’s shorts.

I didn’t read it in a text book, but “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” haunted me for life.

Adding to the list of Bradbury: “There Will Come Soft Rains”

The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C. Clarke. (I never re-read it and suspect if I did, I’d find it had issues, but I still think about the ending.)

“W.S.” by L.P. Hartley

“Lost Hearts” by M.R. James

“The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” by Edgar Allan Poe

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin

My Father’s Hands by Calvin R. Worthington

In the Vault, by  H. P. Lovecraft.

The Feather Pillow, by Horacio Quiroga

What a Thought! by Shirley Jackson

There Will Come Soft Rains - Ray Bradbury

Singing my Sister Down - Margo Lanagan

Flowers for Algernon and The Contents of a Dead Man’s Pockets were both in my junior high english textbook and they both made a huge impact. There was also some short story about a hitchhiker and a guy who was trying to drive across the country that was spooky as fuck

This was in college, but “A Real Doll” by A.M. Homes is… something.