Is Children of the Corn your favorite horror movie of all time? Did Signs have you shaking in your boots? Then you might be a fan of agri-horror, a subgenre of horror fiction that uses the backdrop of an agricultural setting to explore terrors made all the more intense by the isolation of country life.
After all, when your nearest neighbor is miles away and you’re being hunted in a cornfield, who will hear you scream? Here are a few agri-horror reads that will send shivers down your spine.
![]() Brother by Ania AhlbornThis eerie horror novel is set in a strange farmhouse in the heart of Appalachia. This is where the Morrows live, a family shrouded in mystery and hiding unimaginable violence. However, 19-year-old Michael Morrow feels like an outsider amongst his family members. He wants to live a different life. He wants to be normal. When he meets a girl who works at a record shop in a nearby town, he wonders if she might be his chance at a normal life. But his brother Rebel is all too ready to remind Michael of the monster he truly is. |
![]() Clown in a Cornfield by Adam CesareWe all know the best kind of agri-horror happens in a cornfield, so you must give Clown in a Cornfield a read. The small town of Kettle Springs hasn’t been the same since the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory shut down. Since then, the town has been divided into the young and the old, progress versus tradition. But Baypen’s mascot, a clown named Frendo, has some ideas about how to solve this divide. It might just involve the deaths of the town’s unruly youths. |
![]() Water Ghosts by Shawna Yang RyanInspired by folk horror, Water Ghosts is a novel set in 1928 in a small Chinese farming town in California. One day, three women appear from the mist. One is the long-lost wife of a well-known town member. The other two are complete unknowns—outsiders. But when mysterious strangers arrive in a small town, they don’t remain strangers for long. Soon, everyone in Locke, California, becomes entangled in the lives of these newly arrived women. Only then are their true powers revealed. |
Looking for more horror books with similar vibes? You might also be into folk horror! Check out this post for even more recommendations!