There are a lot of stories that stick with you - the plot, the characters, or a moment of the book that stays in your memory like it actually happened in your real life.  For me, spooky stories are the worst of this kind, coming back into my mind bringing with it a feeling of foreboding.  I don't read a whole lot of horror stories anymore, but when I was younger I LOVED them.  One of my favorites (as in I can't get the images out of my mind) is The Mist by Stephen King, a short story found in the collection, Skeleton Crew.  The story opens with the main character looking out across a lake in the morning to find that a thick fog has formed, making it impossible to see the familiar shore on the other side.  In this fog, of course, are scary, unknown things.  Living in the land of 10,000 lakes, this image comes to me often.

The Mist: Saturday on Gull Lake

Spooky, isn't it?  I mean, anything could be in that fog.  And I have Stephen King to thank for that thought.

Do you like to read scary stories?  Do you have any favorites?  Do you love the old horror stories by authors like Edgar Allan Poe, or are you more of a mass market-style Stephen King kind of person?  For you, what makes a creepy tale - mystery, horror, supernatural, crime?