History Main / Haunted

* ''Literature/{{Haunted}}'' - the 2005 Creator/ChuckPalahniuk novel
* ''Literature/{{Haunted 1988}}'' - the 1988 James Herbert novel (and film adaptation)
* The fifth book in Kelley Armstrong's ''Literature/TheOtherworld'' series
* Music/TheHaunted - a Swedish metal band

* ''Literature/{{Haunted 2005}}'' - the 2005 Creator/ChuckPalahniuk novel

* ''Literature/{{Haunted 2005}}'' - the 2005 ChuckPalahniuk novel

* The fifth book in Kelley Armstrong's ''TheOtherworld'' series
* TheHaunted - a Swedish metal band

* The fifth book in Kelley Armstrong's ''TheOtherworld'' series

A link to something about "Twilight" sent you to this page. The context of the link should help you figure out which page you want.

* ''Literature/{{Haunted2005}}'' - the 2005 ChuckPalahniuk novel
* ''Literature/{{Haunted1988}}'' - the 1988 James Herbert novel (and film adaptation)

This novel by ChuckPalahniuk is a collection of short stories. Seventeen [[DysfunctionJunction unusual people]], all of whom happen to be [[MostWritersAreWriters writers]], are invited by the mysterious Mr. Whittier to attend a three-month writer's workshop. Instead, they decide to destroy themselves both mentally and physically, telling highly dramatized versions of their own life stories in between chopping off body parts. What results is a {{deconstruction}} of reality TV shows, and a whole lot of {{squick}}.

Some of the stories have supernatural elements. Most have sex -- lots of sex. It never becomes clear how much of them is made up by the characters as they go along. Although quite a few of them (often the ones that sound downright impossible) are very closely based on real events.

The novel's first chapter, "[[http://chuckpalahniuk.net/features/shorts/guts Guts]]", was published in Playboy magazine well before the book came out proper ([[ShmuckBait presumably as a warning]]). Palahniuk did readings of it during his worldwide book tour for ''{{Diary}}''. [[BrownNote Over 80 people fainted]].

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'''This book contains examples of:'''
* AdamAndEvePlot: [[spoiler:The end of Mr. Whittier's second story, "Obsolete". It's never clarified if it's really happening in-universe or it's just a story he made up.]]
* ArcWords: ''Onstage, instead of a spotlight, a movie fragment...''
* BlackAndGreyMorality: [[UpToEleven Good. Gravy.]] Absolutely '''NO ONE''' in this book gets off clean. If they didn't do something horrendously evil in their story, then they became a CompleteMonster during the writer's retreat. The closest thing to a "good guy" we get is Ms. Clark and even she [[spoiler:murdered her daughter.]]
** There's also Miss America. Even though she's a catty bitch, the worst thing she does is [[spoiler:eat Cora Reynolds...the cat, not the lady.]]
** Miss Sneezy is also fairly innocent, the thing that needs to be kept in mind though, is that with the exception of Ms. Clark, even the ones who don't dirty their hands just stand by while the others do.
*** Cora Reynolds was just trying to protect innocents. She was one of the few people in the book with altruist motivations.
* BlackHumor
* BodyHorror: The Baroness Frostbite, whose mouth has been reduced to a greasy hole without lips due to...[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin guess]].
* BrownNote: A RealLife one, if you can believe it. [[http://chuckpalahniuk.net/features/essays/guts-effect Chuck has read the short story "Guts" several times while promoting the book, and almost everytime, someone has fainted]]. There's also accounts of others reading this story to their peers with similar effects. Oddly, [[BigApplesauce New Yorkers]] seem to be immune to the story's effect.
** As an anonymous audience member responded when Palahniuk expressed surprise that no one had fainted: *snort* "[[WhereDoYouThinkYouAre This is]] {{New|YorkCity}} [[BrooklynRage York]]."
* ADateWithRosiePalms: "Guts". Horrifyingly (or [[DeadBabyComedy hilariously]]) enough, all three accounts are based on true stories.
* DownerEnding: It's pretty much hinted that [[spoiler:everyone dies]].
* DrivenToSuicide: One of the people who looked into the Nightmare Box.
* EatsBabies: [[spoiler: Miss America is pregnant at the beginning of the book and goes into labour around the time everyone has entered Donnor Party Mode.]] And just because [[{{CrossesTheLineTwice}} the situation wasn't horrifying enough]] [[spoiler: the others bring her some baby stew afterwards.]] Luckily(?) [[spoiler: it's possible she died before eating it.]]
* FootFocus: Mother Nature's story.
* GagBoobs: Mrs. Clark... the story behind them isn't very funny, though.
* GenreSavvy
* GranolaGirl: Mother Nature
* GroinAttack: Director Denial's story describes how a fellow Social Worker became so fed up with the local cops having sex with the anatomically-correct dolls she used with sex crime victims that she put [[VaginaDentata razor blades in its orifices]]. Not to mention the Matchmaker's story. ''Shoo-rook.''
* IllGirl: Miss Sneezy
* ImprobableWeaponUser: [[spoiler:Bowling ball?]]
* IncurableCoughOfDeath: [[spoiler:Double subverted]] in a brilliant way. Everyone assumes Miss Sneezy has poor health due to her sneezing all the time. In reality, she sneezes all the time because her sinuses are wrecked...[[spoiler:from walking several miles underwater when she escaped from the island she was being held in for carrying an incredibly deadly airborne virus.]]
* ITasteDelicious: That's what [[spoiler:Comrade Snarky thinks until she notices a familiar tattoo.]] "[[HighOctaneNightmareFuel You fed me my own ass?]]"
* '''ItGotWorse'''
* KnifeNut: Chef Assassin
* {{Loads and Loads of Characters}}: The seventeen writers, Mr. Whittier, and Ms. Clark.
* ManipulativeBastard: Mr. Whittner.
* MeaningfulRename: The first poem, "Guinea Pigs", discusses how they got their names: each of them was named after a sin or something that they did that got them in trouble. To quote the poem, "the opposite of superhero names".
* MindRape: Whatever the "Nightmare Box" does.
* NoPartyLikeADonnerParty
* OfficialCouple: Invoked. Saint Gut-Free and Mother Nature believe that a romantic couple will draw sympathy from audiences.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Everyone who isn't Mr. Whittier or Mrs. Clark.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The boy and dog from "Hot Potting?" [[http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/hotspring.asp They're real.]] [[TearJerker Sadly.]]
** At least part of "Guts" is true: Faulty pool drains can and have sucked out people's intestines. Former politician John Edwards made his name [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Edwards#Legal_career representing a five year old girl]] who suffered that fate.
*** Actually, all three stories in "Guts" are true stories recounted to Chuck, the first two by friends, the third by a man he met at a Sexoholic's meeting (research for {{Choke}}).
* SacrificialLamb: They tried to invoke this trope on Miss Sneezy, but it ends up being [[spoiler:Lady Baglady]] instead. In fact, [[spoiler:[[{{Irony}} Miss Sneezy survives until the end of the story.]]]]
* SealedRoomInTheMiddleOfNowhere
* {{Shotacon}}/{{Lolicon}}: If anatomically-correct dolls count. Also, [[spoiler:"old" Mr Whittier is actually a progeria-suffering thirteen-year-old, and makes money by seducing wealthy women and then threatening to turn them in as child molesters]].
* SmallNameBigEgo: In-universe, Chef Assassin. He doesn't like critics.
* StepfordSmiler: Miss America. She acts at all times like she is on camera.
* StrawFeminist: Comrade Snarky and her clan. Granted, many of them have good reasons for being distrustful of men, but it really doesn't give them the excuse to [[spoiler:essentially rape a [[strike:man]] woman who may or may not have been born a man.]]
* ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow: According to the museum curator, the Nightmare Box [[spoiler:contains the truth of reality, which drove three people into a state of near-madness.]]
* UnreliableNarrator: Possibly. There is the potential for tons of it. Keeping in mind that these people are writers, it's easy to start second guessing their stories. When the stories first acquire an air of MagicalRealism and then become increasingly fantastic, it is left up to the audience to decide what to believe, (if anything) and what to doubt (if anything).
** Especially considering that two of the stories are about biological mutations and psychic abilities.
* UnusualEuphemism: Saint Gut-Free referred to his attempts at underwater masturbation as "Pearl Diving".
** Specifically the act of collecting the little "pearls" of ejaculate from the pool
* YoungerThanTheyLook: Mr. Whittier, a [[spoiler:thirteen year-old suffering from progeria.]]
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** As an anonymous audience member responded when Palahniuk expressed surprise that no one had fainted: *snort* "This is {{New|YorkCity}} [[BrooklynRage York]]."

* BrownNote: A RealLife one, if you can believe it. Chuck has read the short story "Guts" several times while promoting the book, and almost everytime, someone has fainted. There's also accounts of others reading this story to their peers with similar effects. Oddly, [[BigApplesauce New Yorkers]] seem to be immune to the story's effect.

** [[FridgeLogic Although, given the first line dares you to hold your breath until the end of the story...]]