Help me find a YA horror story

November 19, 2012 5:01 AM

When I was 9 or 10 I read a book that truly scared me. I don't remember much about it now, but I'd love to find it. Please help me!

I think it was the mid 1990s that I read this horror novel for children/teens. I don't remember much about the plot only that the main character was a young girl, there was a baby involved (either a sibling or a nephew/niece) and that the climax of the story took place in a dried up riverbed. There was a demon/ghost haunting her. The cover of the book featured a pair of creepy eyes. Not much to go on, but if anyone has any ideas or places I can look to try to find it, I would be so grateful.

posted by GilvearSt to writing & language (4 answers total)

Was it The Ghost of Fossil Glen? I thought I remembered a baby being involved, but Search Inside doesn't seem to mention any. This is the first book that came to mind, though.
posted by jeudi at 5:32 AM on November 19, 2012

Every scary story I read as a kid can be traced to some book by Alvin Schwartz -- the ones with the spindly spidery illustrations. Like the girl who had an ever-growing pimple and one day she took a hot bath and it exploded and a million baby spiders crawled out.
posted by hellomina at 10:36 AM on November 19, 2012

Maybe Wait Til Helen Comes? Or The Ghost Belonged To Me?
posted by spunweb at 5:39 PM on November 19, 2012

Wait Til Helen Comes was what I thought of immediately.
posted by clerestory at 9:39 PM on November 19, 2012