Novels like Folk Taboos and Strange Tales
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as Folk Taboos and Strange Tales, best match first.
- 1 The Silk Road's Haunted Trail: A Gansu Paranormal Journal 丝路诡途：甘肃探灵笔记 Murong Che, a folklorist, travels to Gansu and is drawn into a tragic tale of tangled lives between the living and the dead. At a ferry crossing haunted by wronged souls, vengeful ghosts cling to him, and misfortune never lets up! [Ding! A request for help has arrived from the Haunted Ferry Crossing!] To soothe the restless spirits, he struggles to survive at every turn. In a village of colorful houses, a wronged female ghost appears night after night, beautiful and sorrowful, but not malicious. —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 2 The Realm of Evil 邪恶之境 Strange and bizarre things keep happening: absurd dreams, bloodthirsty monsters, and baffling mysteries. The world order is in chaos, but that doesn't stop me from being a true god who can move mountains and overturn seas. 2Reads—Score—14d adds
- 3 A Ye's Paranormal Investigation Diary: The Office Building Elevator 阿野探灵日记：办公楼的电梯 A Ye's Paranormal Investigation Diary: The Office Building Elevator —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 4 Marching Against the Yellow Springs: The Book of the Impermanent 黄泉逆行：无常簿 Have you ever narrowly escaped death? A car crash, a fire, or even a sudden slip beneath your feet... In that moment, you were grateful to be alive. But you don't know that from the instant you "accidentally" survived, your name was written in an invisible Book of Impermanence. It is no ghost or curse. It is a rule, the coldest correction program in the universe. From then on, the everyday things you rely on will become your tomb. The floor beneath your feet, the chandelier overhead, the cup in —Reads—Score214d adds
- 5 The 444th Horror Story 第444个恐怖故事 Every chapter is a standalone horror story. [Modern Mystery] [The More You Think About It, the More Terrifying It Gets] [Folk Horror] [Rule Horror] [Monstrous Thrills] It's all here. 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 6 The Train I Drive Leads to the Abyss 我开的火车通往深渊 My name is Lin Muhai. I'm twenty-one and a trainee train driver at the Ancheng Locomotive Depot. Before my first run, I heard a woman's voice in the crew waiting room. "One sleeper, two sleepers, three sleepers..." She counted to six, then paused. "Lin Muhai, it's your turn to count." 29Reads—Score—14d adds
- 7 Hook in the Mist 迷雾之钩 The mist over Qinglan Reservoir never lifts. A pendant and fishhook engraved with the date 1962.7.15 don’t catch fish; they catch the living and the dead. Three years ago, documentary photographer Shen Bozhou’s heart stopped for ten minutes when he jumped into the reservoir to save his partner, who had plunged into the water under mysterious circumstances. Ever since, he has been haunted by visions from beneath the surface. Now he has returned to finish the film he left incomplete, only to find —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 8 The Haunting of the New Home 搬家诡事 [Mystery + Thriller + Supernatural + Horror + No Female Lead + Smart Protagonist] His name was Yi Jibo. After he was wrongfully imprisoned, his mother fell ill and died. To pay off his gambling debts, his father sold her ashes to the Japanese through a crematorium driver. To get his mother's ashes back, Yi Jibo went to work at a Japanese funeral home. And so he burned Japanese corpses while searching for his mother's ashes… 18Reads—Score—14d adds
- 9 A Collection of Bizarre Horror Stories 怪诞恐怖故事集 My stories have magic, blood and tears, the evil side of human nature, and the horror you’re looking for. 1. Mother’s Bottles and Jars: A single drop of blood can turn one grain of rice into a whole pot of rice. A hundred drops can conjure a bicycle... What kind of magic is hidden in the bottles and jars Mother prepared for him? 2. The Toilets in Dreams: If you fall asleep while desperate to pee, you’ve surely dreamed of all kinds of toilets. If you write down the toilets you see in your dreams, 13Reads—Score—14d adds
- 10 The Coffin Bearer 压棺人 Carriage duty, also known as sitting on the coffin, means that when a funeral procession takes a body to its burial site, someone must ride on top of the coffin all the way up the mountain. But not every coffin is fit to sit on. I agreed to ride on one to help someone out, never expecting it to bring me trouble... 530Reads8.4Score—14d adds
- 11 Midnight in the Countryside 午夜乡村 My parents' job transfers sent me to live and study at my grandmother's house. Before bed, she warned me not to go and look, no matter what sounds I heard. From then on, one strange event after another came crashing into my life. Then, one day, my grandmother suddenly told me the secret about who I really was... 550Reads6.8Score—14d adds
- 12 The Corpse Soul's Lost Spirit 尸魂落魄 I bought a human-body mannequin on Taobao. The seller had clearly gone to a lot of trouble, because what arrived was a living corpse... 35Reads—Score—14d adds
- 13 Poison Before Bed 睡前毒物 Look up to the heavens and honor all living things; lower your head to write, and fear ghosts and gods. Good is repaid with good, and evil with evil. It’s not that retribution never comes, only that its time has not yet arrived. Absurd, terrifying, eerie, moving. I hope there’s a story that can frighten you, bring you to tears, and make you fall in love with it. 1.1kReads8.2Score19714d adds
- 14 Tales of Folk Supernatural Encounters 民间灵异故事说 This book takes a fresh approach with its distinctive chapter structure. Each chapter is like a gateway to a mysterious world, leading readers into one gripping, spine-chilling ghost story after another. The stories cover a range of subjects and styles: some are so sinister and terrifying they raise the hairs on your neck; others are packed with suspense that makes your heart race; still others are steeped in an eerie atmosphere that draws you in and refuses to let go. Whether you’re a seasoned 4Reads—Score—14d adds
- 15 A Ye's Paranormal Investigation Diary: The Woman in the Rental Apartment 阿野探灵日记:出租屋里的女人 A Ye's Paranormal Investigation Diary: The Woman in the Rental Apartment —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 16 A Ye's Paranormal Investigation Diary: The Last Bus on Route 73 阿野探灵日记：73路末班车 A Ye's Paranormal Investigation Diary: The Last Bus on Route 73 —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 17 A Ye's Paranormal Investigation Diary: The Dripping Sound in the Old House 阿野探灵日记：老宅滴水声 A Ye's Paranormal Investigation Diary: The Dripping Sound in the Old House —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 18 Listening to Strange Tales at Night 夜听诡事 Whenever you're bored in your spare time, you can open my book and let it take you into a different world. This book is made up of a collection of short tales of horror, the supernatural, and ghosts and monsters. They will show you the warmth and coldness of the world, and reveal the selfishness and greed of human nature. Perhaps you'll find yourself in the stories and feel what the characters feel. As you read, set aside the weariness of body and mind for a while and immerse yourself completely 613Reads8.0Score—14d adds
- 19 I'm Broke, Why Should I Be Afraid of Ghosts? 我穷鬼，岂会怕鬼？ [Goofy] [Funny] [Irreverent] [Mystery] [Supernatural] [Hop in] [No System] [A fish that slipped through nine years of compulsory education] Wang Ling landed a job paying 18,000 yuan a month as a security guard at a private hospital. On his first day, he was left completely stunned! Each floor of the hospital's inpatient wing had a special passage enshrining one of the underworld's yin deities. The morgue even had butcher's knives inexplicably lying around. Wang Ling put up with all of that. Then 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 20 My Sister-Obsessed Guardian: Becoming a God in a World of the Uncanny 护妹狂魔我在诡异世界封神 [Gory violence + System + dungeons + no female lead + no saintly do-gooder + slow burn + global livestream + doting big brother] Chen Mo: The bizarre world is supposed to be hell for humanity, right? But I always feel like they’re friendlier than humans. They’re not scheming or plotting against each other, and they’re completely open with me. Every one of them calls me Little Boss and scurries along behind me. I have no idea why. All the Ghost Kings: (ಥ﹏ಥ) As long as you’re happy, Your Highness 2Reads—Score—14d adds
- 21 My Dopamine Black Market: Midnight Collection of Folk Horror 我的多巴胺黑市：午夜民间惊悚集 I’m the owner of the Midnight Dopamine Black Market. I don’t sell antiques or talismans. I deal in just one thing: those few thrilling seconds when your heart stops after waking from a midnight dream. There’s only one rule for entering this black market: trade your courage for the dopamine you desire. Here you’ll find folk horrors that make your scalp crawl: a headless sacrifice beneath the old locust tree at the village entrance, paper figures carrying a bride in a sedan chair, and the “passing 21Reads—Score—14d adds
- 22 Bureau 749: A Yin Messenger on the Road to the Underworld 749局：黄泉走阴人 There is an organization that exists only in the darkness: Bureau 749. Founded in 1974, with no records and no official status, it is made up of scientists and people with supernatural abilities. It handles the dirtiest, most sinister, most forbidden affairs in the human world. Ghost soldiers march through the night, leaving nothing but empty skins in an entire village. The White God of Wealth kills anyone who worships him, taking their souls to feed evil. An ancient Buddha opens its mouth to de 5Reads—Score—14d adds
- 23 Where Love Runs Deep, Spirits Stir 情深则灵 Jiang Xiaomao has a secret: he’s discovered that his desires can get people killed. As he gradually awakens supernatural abilities during paranormal events, he also realizes that he’s been corrupted. What should he do? —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 24 The Last Ghost Exorcist 最后一个驱鬼人 I was born under a curse, with the umbilical cord wrapped around my neck before I was even born. My grandfather used a life-borrowing ritual to save me. But how could anyone challenge the authority of the underworld and King Yama? Strange things began happening around me one after another, and at night I even saw the Impermanence Spirits coming to claim my life. Later, I followed a fat old Daoist and learned the way of the Dao, how to read burial sites, and how to break poison curses. I became t 77Reads6.6Score—14d adds
- 25 Horror and Terror 恐怖，惊悚 A classmate by the bed calls out softly. A cat's cries echo through the woods. Shadows flicker at the edge of the street. A piercing scream comes from inside the restroom. Are all the things you see and hear real? And are they all human? 696Reads—Score—14d adds
- 26 Tales of the Monstrous 怪形异传 In the forbidden zone of the Taklamakan Desert, the Cradle Project’s experimental base has become a living hell after its vacuum energy spiraled out of control. An unknown flying-saucer-shaped creature, covered in transparent, wet streaks, breaks through the barrier. It devours researcher Chen Ming in an instant and escapes into the ventilation ducts, leaving behind only a few drops of blood to announce the coming disaster. Three hours later, Chen Ming returns “unharmed.” His face is pale, his g 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 27 Tales of Strange Happenings in the Countryside 乡村奇闻怪谈录 In remote villages, there are countless stories unknown to the outside world. My name is Li Yan, and I was born in a secluded rural village. I grew up by my grandmother’s side. She was the village’s famous spirit medium, and from childhood I heard all sorts of strange tales and strange happenings from her. I’m sharing them with everyone here. 6.7kReads8.7Score14814d adds
- 28 The Strange Case Files 诡局录 [No System + No Cultivation + No Foolish Protagonist + Traditional Supernatural Horror + Mystery and Suspense] My name is Shang Tian, and I’m a man cursed by an evil spirit. It was a lottery ticket that should never have existed. Its dark, yellow-black background looked soaked in old blood and night; the glaring red lettering wasn’t a set of lucky numbers, but an invitation to hell. When I scratched it off, overjoyed and thinking I’d found a lifeline to a hundred-thousand-yuan jackpot, my finge 8Reads—Score—14d adds
- 29 Ghostly Tales from Fengdu 丰都鬼事 In her previous life, young artist Lin Wan set out alone for the fabled ghost city of Fengdu to search for her missing older sister, Lin Zhixia. Naively, she trusted the seemingly kind innkeeper and local gentry, unaware that she had stepped into a carefully laid trap. Coveted for her yin constitution, she was ultimately sacrificed in an old mansion behind Fengdu's famous mountain by the so-called “good Samaritans” to a traitor in the underworld who had disguised himself as Black Impermanence. H 4Reads—Score—14d adds
- 30 A Compendium of the World’s Supernatural Phenomena 世界灵异全汇 A collection of supernatural incidents from around the world. Netizens share their own experiences. One story in each installment. If you've experienced anything supernatural, you can tell me about it. I'll share it with readers around the world. Come experience these true stories from netizens firsthand. 176Reads6.8Score—14d adds
- 31 Possessed by an Evil Spirit 撞邪 Grandpa spent his whole life doing good deeds. He never imagined that one night, he would ruin a young girl's life... 290Reads8.4Score—14d adds
- 32 A Collection of Folk Supernatural Tales 民间灵异收录 A string of strange experiences in my childhood, combined with the paranormal tales told by the older generation, left me both terrified of and curious about another kind of existence in this world. Though I live in a modern city, I firmly believe in phenomena science cannot explain. By a stroke of fate, I took up a profession no ordinary person could understand. From then on... the veil over the other side of the supernatural world began to lift. 42Reads—Score—14d adds
- 33 I Was a Ghost Officer, but Now I Only Want a Promotion 身为鬼差的我，后来只想升官 I wield the Register of the Underworld as a ghost officer, commanding the power to seize souls. Everyone says the King of Hell is the supreme ruler of the netherworld, but to me, he is merely a stepping stone. The underworld is vast, and the Nine Hells are deep. Is that really the limit of my ambition? I want to break the Nine Hells’ shackles, shatter the chains between yin and yang, ascend to the realm of the Great Emperor, and rule the netherworlds of all realms. Only then will my lifelong wis 33Reads6.0Score—14d adds
- 34 Rift in the Abyss: We Awakened the Old Ones 深渊裂隙：我们唤醒旧日支配者 In 1992, U.S. Army Major Austin takes charge of the top-secret project "Abyss Watch." One hundred and thirty meters beneath the desert, a strange fissure spreads madness into the world above. Five elite soldiers are ordered into the abyss, with Austin directing their investigation remotely. A videotape that appears out of nowhere exposes a horrific secret from the past: To spy on the secrets underground, the military sacrificed living people. A thousand meters below ground, an ancient stone gate —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 35 Midnight Terror: Tales of the Supernatural 午夜惊魂：民间鬼事录 [Folk Taboos + Rural Ghost Stories + Episodic Tales + Chilling on Second Thought] The village elders say that some things are better believed than dismissed. Liu Er, a bachelor, picked up a red wedding dress. That very night, he heard the sound of a suona, and a faceless bride knocked on his door and said, “Liu Er, I’ve come to marry you.” Before a dead person is buried, the guiding candle at the head of the coffin must never go out. Old Liu Guang died, the candle went out, and a crack appeared 4kReads—Score16814d adds
- 36 Folk Sorcery 乡野诡术 My fate is ruled by the Seven Killings star, and I was born with a short life. Before adulthood, I face a calamity every year. The eighteenth year is the most perilous, known as the Life-and-Death Tribulation. My grandfather took seventeen calamities for me, but he died before my Life-and-Death Tribulation arrived. Before he breathed his last, he took away seventeen paper figures. They are my karmic retribution... 143Reads6.9Score—14d adds
- 37 Sisters, Here’s a Scary Ghost Story to Test Your Nerve Before Bed 姐妹，睡前听个练胆恐怖鬼故事吧 “It’s late. Want to hear a horror story to test your courage?” This is a collection of short horror stories made just for gorgeous you. Every story comes from a crack in ordinary life that becomes terrifying the more you think about it! Maybe it’s the faint sound of breathing beneath your bed, or a strange reflection that flashes across the mirror, or perhaps it’s the home where you live alone, yet someone always knocks on the door in the dead of night... The book is made up of several standa 14Reads—Score—14d adds
- 38 Strange Tales: Once Upon a Time, There Was a Peach Blossom Spring 怪谈：从前有座桃花源 [Supernatural + One True Female Lead + Sequences + Sci-Fi Style + Not a Power Fantasy + Not Mindless + Games + Some Urban Legends] Urban legends are appearing all over the world. As spiritual qi revival begins, humanity is feeling its way toward an entirely different path to immortality. Have you ever memorized “The Peach Blossom Spring”? If so, do you really understand it? Why is the town surrounded by endless peach blossoms? Peach wood wards off evil. Look at those falling petals: don’t they r 3Reads6.7Score114d adds
- 39 Grandma's Tales of Strange Happenings in the Village 奶奶讲的乡村诡事 Grandma's Tales of Strange Things in the Countryside 6Reads—Score—14d adds
- 40 I Heard of Strange Things That Year: Never Read This Late at Night 那年听闻怪事，千万别深夜翻看 These stories are adapted and fictionalized from various experiences shared by friends. They are written in an accessible style and make for a good way to unwind. A reminder: reject superstition. This is all imaginative fiction. Any similarities to real events are purely coincidental, so don't take it seriously! 11Reads—Score—14d adds
- 41 After Years of Playing the Charlatan, I Specialize in Treating Beautiful Female Ghosts 做神棍这些年，我专治漂亮女鬼 On the day I was born, my mother had a difficult labor. To save his eldest grandson, my grandfather tore down the family’s front door and found a bloodstained kitchen knife hidden in the doorframe! As the knife came down with a clang, I was born… P.S. This is no run-of-the-mill supernatural story. Expect all kinds of mystery and twists, with a lighthearted, funny take on catching ghosts! 37Reads—Score—14d adds
- 42 One Chilling Story Every Night 每晚一个惊魂故事 [One story per chapter] [Chinese-style horror] [Folk tales] [Urban vengeful spirits] [Haunted houses] [No main plot] Collected and adapted fictional tales of terror from all over, one story per chapter, each one different. No grand lectures, just bone-chilling tales rooted in everyday life. All adapted from strange folk tales passed down for years. They sound true, and the more you think about them, the more unsettling they get. Great for unwinding, but don't try to “unwind” alone in the dead of 1.1kReads—Score10314d adds
- 43 Strike It Rich by Opening the Coffin 开棺发财 [Handcrafted from scratch + Traditional supernatural horror + No System + No cultivation + Extremely scary + Based on true experiences] Paper figures carry the coffin, a black dog tosses the grave, and an old man falls in love with a ghost. An opened coffin is carried home, and a beautiful fairy follows through the door. My name is Qin Yang. I was down on my luck and only hoped to make money by opening coffins. I never expected that it would turn out to be such a high-risk profession. (Friends i 1.6kReads—Score13414d adds
- 44 Man-Eating Python 噬人蟒 Man-Eating Python —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 45 The Paper Effigy Yama 纸扎阎罗 Before Grandpa died, he left me with a warning: a paper effigy maker must never make three kinds of figures. On my very first day taking over the shop, I broke every rule. I made a wedding dress for a girl who died violently, a filial son for a childless widow, and finally... a stand-in for a living person. Now all the paper figures I made come alive at night and gather around me, calling me “Master.” Outside the window, the girl who should have been dead for three years is knocking on the door. 4Reads—Score—14d adds
- 46 The Yin-Yang Twin 阴阳双生人 [Mild Horror + The Supernatural] Ming Ye grew up living in a cemetery. Her parents went missing seven years ago and were eventually found dead under bizarre circumstances in the mountains. Seven years later, she became an emergency room doctor. One midnight, she met the Taoist priest Xu Baoyang on a bus as he was out catching ghosts. Later, while tracking clues about his missing master, Xu Baoyang came to the hospital where Ming Ye worked and discovered that a strange hospital orderly had set up —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 47 The New Taiping Guangji: Records of Supernatural Survival 新太平广记：非自然生存实录 “Stay away from Duan Fei! He’s a jinx who meddles with yin and yang and throws the Three Realms into chaos!” The warning from the darkness is filled with despair. “So what if he’s a jinx? I’m going to uncover the secrets of the Six Paths behind him.” The voice is brimming with arrogance. “Uncover them? You’re pushing yourself into the cracks between the Three Realms, straight into the Six Paths’ deadliest abyss!” The whisper sinks into the bones. A deadly mystery spanning life and death acros —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 48 Visitor from Hell 狱下来客 A modern supernatural mystery. Not wish fulfillment, not brainless, and no System. In this life, you pass countless people on the street. What makes you so sure they're all human? I never believed in this stuff either, until my landlord tricked me into moving to a place called Happy Community. The people around me didn't seem to be people at all. Footprints on the ceiling, dolls made of human skin, bloated drowned giants, people raising zombies, mother-and-child ghosts... Just how many secrets l 596Reads8.0Score10014d adds
- 49 Terrifying Tales 惊魂诡事 Deep, silent alleyways, eerie, terrifying deserted villages, reed marshes choked with weeds... Every scene holds some of my most unforgettable memories! Everything that happens in this book is something I saw or heard myself. You can also read it as a story. Curious about the supernatural tales that have taken place in rural villages and mountain hamlets? Have you ever heard of or seen something that made your hair stand on end? If you find yourself sleepless in the dead of night, put on your he 308Reads6.5Score—14d adds
- 50 A Collection of Horror Stories 恐怖小集 The gods are watching from three feet above your head, and even the darkest places will eventually see the light! This book collects stories from around us that will make you think twice and send chills down your spine. One short story a day, guaranteed to cure your little bouts of insomnia. This is Horror Shorts. I'm Strawberry Duorou. See you there! 1.2kReads—Score—14d adds
