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.
- 101 Patroller of the Living World 阳间巡逻人 Stories of spirit babies have circulated in the countryside of Sichuan and Chongqing for generations. When a baby dies, its lingering resentment can turn it into a ghost. Spirit babies were most common during the height of the one-child policy. As a child, I fed crows, which left me with an unusually strong aura of yin. Spirit babies often mistook me for one of their own, so someone later raised a ghost to protect me. On top of that, I have to work for the Underworld Bureau just to stay alive. 506Reads7.3Score—14d adds
- 102 The Temple That Eats People 吃人的庙 The Man-Eating Temple 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 103 The Ghost Bone-Reading 鬼称骨 Where I'm from, we call our great-grandfather “Laodie.” In Meihua Village, everyone gives a thumbs-up when they talk about my Laodie, saying he was an extraordinary man. Even the children have surely heard the adults tell stories about how my Laodie dealt with ghosts, monsters, and spirits. In the late Qing dynasty, Laodie passed the xiucai examination at the age of twelve. He was supposed to go on to take the provincial and metropolitan examinations, but an unexpected accident changed everythin 417Reads8.7Score10514d adds
- 104 If You're Afraid to Die in a Horror World, What Makes You Think You Can Win? 在恐怖世界怕死，你凭什么想赢啊 [Infinite Flow]+ [Death Game]+ [Apocalyptic Survival]+ [Horror Mini-Worlds] Warning: This may not be well written, so think carefully before diving in! In the orderly world we know, have you ever imagined a chaotic world that was its opposite? Yun Xiao was snatched from his sleep and brought into such a world. Here, there are no laws, no order, no humanity… In short, there are no rules at all. All that exists are terrifying mini-worlds where you can grow stronger! At first, he thought this was 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 105 What Will the Next Story Be? 下一个故事会是什么？ A collection of episodic stories based on personal experiences. First person, rural life, the supernatural, mildly frightening, and terrifying when you think it over... episodic stories. The damp villages of the south conceal supernatural tales colder than snakes. Open this book, and you’ll enter a graveyard of memories: a forgotten puppy leaves muddy paw prints on a rainy night; the withered vines of gossip tighten around a young girl’s neck; a blond doll by the roadside carries a curse that cl 11Reads—Score—14d adds
- 106 Afterlife Notes Bonus Story: Secrets of the Haunted House 还魂笔记番外篇：凶宅秘录 Afterlife Notes: Bonus Story: The Haunted House’s Secret Records —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 107 There Are No Evil Dogs on Evil Dog Ridge 恶狗岭没有恶狗 There Are No Vicious Dogs on Evil Dog Ridge 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 108 The Conspiracy Behind the Terrifying Calls 恐怖电话背后的阴谋 The conspiracy behind the horror phone 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 109 Redemption and Rebirth in the Darkness 黑暗中的救赎与新生 Salvation and New Life in the Darkness 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 110 Terror Underground: My Journey of Adventure and Growth 地道惊魂，我的探险与成长 Terror Underground: My Adventure and Growth —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 111 The Abandoned Wife's Desert Island Adventure 弃妇的荒岛冒险之旅 An Abandoned Wife's Adventure on a Deserted Island 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 112 Someone New Appeared in the Footage 录像里多出一个人 The test shoot’s discarded footage was four seconds longer. Everyone in the frame held the same poses they had at the end of filming. No one moved. I counted three times. There were six people every time. But only five people had been there that day. On the hard drive my mother left behind, there was an empty folder with a four-character name: Do Not Fast-Forward. In the recycle bin was a deleted video, four minutes and twenty-five seconds long, which couldn’t be recovered. Our production crew w 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 113 Strange Tales, Volume 1 奇闻诡事录1 This is a collection of folk tales about the uncanny, strange accounts from across the land. Each chapter is a complete story, each tale a separate supernatural mystery, revealing the mysteries of yin and yang, folk taboos, and the obsessions of the dead. You never know when a casual remark might draw the attention of spirits lurking in the wilderness; when an old object you pick up might hold the memory of a tragic death; or when an everyday habit might already have crossed a forbidden boundary 20Reads—Score—14d adds
- 114 One Hundred Thousand and One Folk Horror Stories 十万零一个民间恐怖故事 A collection of short horror stories in an episodic format, with a new story every chapter. No dragging things out! Haunted houses in the countryside, mountain spirits, urban legends, old customs and taboos... Every kind of Chinese-style horror is covered, with nonstop thrills and no filler. Anti-superstition disclaimer: This story is entirely fictional. Believe in science and read rationally. Please don’t apply it to real life~ 304Reads—Score10114d adds
- 115 Who’s Watching You Sleep? 谁在看着你睡觉 A collection of horror stories, including The Haunting of the Girls' Dorm, The Peeping Eye, and The Abyss of the Locked Room: A Mother's Checkmate! I guarantee you'll be too scared to use the bathroom after reading them at night! Each story is 80,000 to 100,000 characters long. I'm a newcomer, and this is my first time writing on Tomato Novel! I hope you'll give me lots of encouragement! Your support is what motivates me to create more and better stories! 2Reads—Score—14d adds
- 116 The Yin Guardian: The Mysterious Divine Coffin Hidden Beneath the Mountain 守阴人：藏在山底的神秘天棺 After I encountered the Ghost Granny, my dad died. Later, I found my older brother, and then my grandpa died too. Somehow, I became the last Guardian of the Yin. Later, I discovered that it wasn't the Ghost Granny behind it all, but another conspiracy hidden from view. [Entirely written by hand, no AI writing!] 225Reads—Score—14d adds
- 117 The Yin-Yang Master of the Living World 阳间阴阳先生 I was an ordinary first-year college student. Then one incident gave me a whole new understanding of the world. From that day onward, I walked between the realms of yin and yang. 3.3kReads—Score11014d adds
- 118 Horror Urban Legends: An Unspeakable Fear 惊悚怪谈：不可名状的恐惧 Tomato Original, Mystery and Imagination, Supernatural Horror [Horror + Dark Style] [A collection of uncanny short stories, fear returns, Lovecraftian horror] [The gaze of an unknown presence. Good and evil lie in the human heart] Have you ever had a moment in everyday life that sent a chill down your spine? Perhaps it was hearing a cat cry while walking alone at night, the sound of marbles rolling across the floor upstairs, or a shadow glimpsed from the corner of your eye... Story One: Cat Syn 108Reads—Score—14d adds
- 119 Terrifying Folklore: It Begins with the Weasel Spirit 恐怖民俗：从黄皮子开始 The day I was born, I bore the burden of the Five Ghosts, and my soul was bound. I was destined to die, but my grandfather used an evil folk ritual to borrow a life for me. When I was twelve, weasels surrounded the village. They told me the life I'd borrowed had to be repaid... 102Reads9.0Score—14d adds
- 120 Yin-Yang Headhunter: I Find Jobs for Ghosts, and They Ask Me Out 阴阳猎头：我给诡找工作，诡问我处不处对象 On the day he was laid off, Jiang Ye received a death notice: in thirty days, someone would throw him off a rooftop. To stay alive, he was forced to take a job at Yin-Yang Headhunting Co., Ltd., a company that specializes in finding jobs for ghosts. Every time he finds a job for a ghost, he unlocks part of the truth behind his own death. Every time he fails, another corpse spot appears on his body. Once they cover him from head to toe, the company will devour his soul. Every high-level order com 2.4kReads8.4Score36714d adds
- 121 Strange Tales of the World 世奇怪谈 [One Thousand and One Nights of Terror] A deranged pregnant woman, abnormal growth, a horrifying circus, money paid to buy a life, a bizarre matchmaking gathering, an endless staircase, a rule-based horror story at a nursing school, a haunted snow mountain, a human-faced badger, strange happenings in a rented apartment, dog-headed men... Bizarre tales you’ve never heard before, wildly imaginative premises, plot twists layered upon plot twists, and endings you’ll never guess. A cup of tea, a cig 2.4kReads8.5Score36114d adds
- 122 My Years Learning to Catch Ghosts 我学捉鬼的那些年 People can get away with all sorts of things, but greed is one thing they must avoid, especially when it comes to things inside a coffin. And greed was exactly where I went wrong. If you covet money, it can cost you your life! They dug a red-lacquered coffin out of a construction site, and I thought I'd found a priceless antique. If I'd known what would happen afterward, I wouldn't have gone anywhere near it even if they killed me... 749Reads—Score—14d adds
- 123 The Eighteenth Floor Underground 地下十八楼 [Urban Mystery / Thriller / Puzzle-Solving / Supernatural / No System] Beneath an upscale residential complex lies a mysterious space known as “Underground Level Eighteen.” They say that anyone who goes in either dies or goes mad… Su Chi, a new resident, accidentally gets caught up in it. There are ancient coffin mazes, a blue underground river, savage subterranean creatures, and even mysterious wild men… Danger lurks at every turn, and the mysteries are hair-raising. It feels as if a pair of ey 34Reads—Score—14d adds
- 124 The Human-Skin Umbrella 人皮伞 A human-skin umbrella! Just as the name suggests, it’s made from human skin. Before the skin is removed, the “material” must soak in a medicinal bath for three full nights. Then the skin can be peeled off with ease. The intact skin is cut into several pieces and soaked in a specially prepared solution for two days. Only after it has been dried in the sun can the crafting begin. A human-skin umbrella is impervious to sunlight. The better the “material’s” skin, the better the user’s skin will be i —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 125 I Rented a Haunted House, and My Roommate Is So Strange 租房租到凶宅，我的室友太奇怪 I Rented a Haunted House, and My Roommate Is So Strange While scrolling through short videos, I discovered that the place I’d been renting for six months was a haunted house where someone had died. Even the pillow used to smother someone to death was lying quietly on my computer chair. I was going to ask my roommate to come with me to get out of the lease. But the landlord said he’d only rented the place to me. What roommate? 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 126 Terror on the Meat Delivery Run 运肉惊魂 On the eve of Spring Festival last year, I quit my job in a fit of anger and went back to my hometown to work at a buddy’s butcher shop. One night, while we were driving back with a load of meat, a stunningly beautiful woman stopped us. I kindly offered her the front passenger seat, but she opened the door and climbed into the rear compartment, which reeked of blood. On the way, I could faintly hear tearing and chewing sounds coming from behind me. But the only things back there were that beauti —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 127 My Neighbor Isn't Normal 我的邻居不正常 My Neighbor Doesn’t Seem Quite Right I secretly recorded all the evidence and called the police, but watched with my own eyes as he hanged himself in a room full of “trophies.” —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 128 There's a Ghost in the Dorm 宿舍有诡 My roommate gave me a handmade paper-cut window decoration: the magpies had no eyes, and the paired fish had their tails cut off. Someone commented on my social media post: “That’s a broken talisman. It’s meant to lure a lonely ghost into your home.” I didn’t believe in such things. That night, there was knocking at our dorm room door. In the darkness, I heard a plastic bag rustling under the bed. A cold hand slowly crawled up my leg. —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 129 The Haunted House 诡异之家 Three of us went up the mountain to pick mushrooms, but there were four of us when we came back. I desperately told my parents there was an extra person, but they laughed and said I was imagining things. Until, in the middle of the night, I heard them whisper, “She seems to have noticed.” Mom gripped the meat cleaver and sneered. “Just kill her like we did the last one. Then everything will be fine.” —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 130 The Intern Who Died at His Desk 死在工位上的实习生 On my first day at my new company, the boss said, “Remember, you must leave before seven.” I thought it was a perk, until my coworker Xiaojuan saw a woman with “limbs like bamboo poles” in the empty office next door. The next day, she jumped to her death. That night, I worked overtime until 7:01. Suddenly, someone cut the power, and a freezing hand slipped inside my collar. The cleaning lady appeared in the darkness. “Run! Everyone on this floor has been dead for ages, except you!” —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 131 Please Do Not Use the Voice Button 请不要使用发声按钮 At midnight, my dog pressed the talking buttons in the living room: [Mom] [Bad thing] [Went out]. I was too sleepy to pay attention, until it pressed them again: [Mom] [Hungry] [Want food]. But my dog was fast asleep at my feet. The living room was empty, except for the overturned dog bowl and the soaked buttons. My best friend said, “Cats and dogs can see things people can’t.” I tried to stay calm, but then I felt a dog leash tucked between the sofa cushions. It wasn’t mine... Just then, the be —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 132 Manor of Strange Tales 庄园怪谈 I came to Cloudtop Manor to look for clues about my younger sister’s disappearance. When the gates closed, the manor’s steward told us: “You can only leave once you find the key.” Each of us was given a list of rules about the manor: “Do not set foot in the red house to the east. It will bring misfortune!!!” “Do not wander around the manor after eleven o’clock!!!” “Do not pick a single rose in the manor, or you may bring a deadly disaster upon yourself!!!” The remaining rules are still “unlockin —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 133 The Door Guardian Statue 门神像 The company is built on a mass grave, and every night, “something” follows me into the bathroom. My boyfriend told me to put up a Door God poster, but I accidentally put up a “Yin-Gathering Formation” instead. Ever since, the ghostly knocks at my door haven’t stopped. He said that repeating “I do” three times would drive away the evil spirits. But after I actually said it for the third time... I realized he didn’t want me. He wanted my body. The male ghost who’d been chasing me kept whispering i —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 134 Beware of Yourself 小心你自己 Every Wednesday, a note warning me would appear in the company suggestion box. I thought it was a prank. I thought my colleague Lin Hao was getting revenge, until the police shot him dead in my living room. The last note said: “Watch out for yourself.” I turned around and saw my wife raise a knife —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 135 The Vengeful Ghost 怨鬼 My roommate sobbed as if her heart were breaking every night. I posted online to complain, and a female Taoist priest messaged me: “She’s not human. She’s a vengeful ghost. The more often she cries, the sooner you’ll die.” I didn’t believe it, until one night she bit into my wrist and smiled. “Have a taste.” I ran, she chased me, and the Taoist priest Jiang Yu handed me a string of bodhi beads. “Put them on. They’ll protect you.” I put them on, and she smiled. It turned out this wasn’t a protect 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 136 Knock on the Door and Die 敲门会送死 An delivery driver chasing online views deliberately targeted orders marked “Don’t knock.” This time, he’d picked the wrong person. He pounded on the door, picked the lock, and stormed into my home with a group of people, shouting to the millions watching his livestream, “Come out and apologize, beautiful!” Cradling the ghost baby, I said softly, “Go eat, sweetheart.” The next second, a tiny blue-gray figure pounced That night, every viewer in the livestream remembered: Some doors, once knocked —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 137 Please Find My Body 请寻找我的尸体 I’m Hell Butterfly, a mystery writer who never shows her face. One day, I launched a puzzle game called “Find My Body,” and the whole internet thought I was just drumming up publicity. Until someone really found the body of a woman in white beside an abandoned building. Posing as a reporter, I called the police and pointed out “my own” corpse to them. Everyone thought the dead woman was me, not knowing she was my younger sister, who had been missing for half a year. The real killer lived in the —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 138 The Night Shift Guard 夜班保安 On my first day as a night-shift security guard, I found my predecessor’s patrol notes in a locker The last page was scrawled with the words, “Don’t trust Captain Wang. He’s been dead for seven years.” At that very moment, in the monitoring room, Wang Shouquan was staring at a screen full of static and smiling, his corpse-spotted hand clutching an employee badge from twenty years ago. And I’d just seen another uniformed version of him patrolling the fourth floor. —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 139 Last Train: No Living Passengers Allowed! 末班车，活人勿进！ The card reader let out a series of warning beeps, and the driver handed me a note: Don’t speak to anyone on the bus, or you’ll die. I turned around and saw Lin Shen, the senior I’d had a crush on for five years, sitting in the back. He was dressed in a suit, but his head was slick with cold sweat. “Everyone on this bus except us is a ghost,” he whispered. The next second, the wound on my wrist suddenly split open, and a drop of blood fell. Every passenger turned to stare at once. I recognized t —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 140 A Thousand-Year-Old Zombie Awakens! And Becomes a Celebrity Ghost Hunter 千年僵尸苏醒！竟成网红捉鬼师 My name is Jiang Shi, and I’m a thousand-year-old jiangshi. But after waking from a long slumber, I took on a new identity. I’m going to become an internet-famous ghost hunter. 43Reads—Score114d adds
- 141 The Ghost Whisperer 鬼语者 I’m a nurse, and I can talk to ghosts. After working night shifts for so long, I’ve seen my share of strange things. The nurses were chatting about the weird things that had been happening lately. Every night at midnight, we could hear the sound of a woman’s high heels. Click... click... click... “It’s so creepy. It’s our turn on the night shift tonight. What are we going to do?” Xiao Zhang asked nervously, clutching my sleeve. “What’s there to panic about? It’s normal for ghosts to show up in a —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 142 The Woman Eaten by a Cat 被猫吃掉的女人 Ten years ago, I handled a child abduction case. The child was never found, and the mother drank herself into a stupor every day. One day, she got drunk and passed out in an abandoned house on the outskirts of town. Dozens of rabid feral cats devoured her, leaving behind only a pile of bones. Many years later, I ran into the woman who’d been eaten by cats in a small town. —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 143 Afterlife Notes: Blood Silkworms Raised on Babies 还魂笔记之血蚕饲婴 The Soul-Returning Notes: Blood Silkworms Feeding a Baby —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 144 Afterlife Notes Bonus Story: The Hundred Ghosts' Night Parade 还魂笔记番外篇：百鬼夜行 The Soul-Returning Notes: A Hundred Ghosts Roaming by Night —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 145 The People of Huai Tree Lane 槐树里的人 The People in the Locust Tree Lane 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 146 The Compendium of Ten Thousand Ghosts 万诡集录 This book brings together thrilling, suspenseful, and terrifying stories. Discover tales that are both gripping and fun to listen to. After reading this book, you’ll never be alone again, because there’ll be someone under your bed and at its foot!!! —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 147 The Haunted House at No. 13 13号凶宅 Number 13 Qianliang Hutong in Beijing has long been a haunted house. During the Cultural Revolution, several people died mysteriously one after another inside the residence. Long Fei, an investigator with the Public Security Bureau, assumed the alias Li Qiang and moved into the compound as a housing office inspector. After a series of thrilling struggles, Li Qiang finally discovered that Number 13 was an operational base for an enemy spy organization... 959Reads9.4Score—14d adds
- 148 A Collection of Ancient Folk Tales of the Supernatural 古代民间灵异故事合集听来的故事 A hugely popular collection on Tomato Listen, featuring rule-based horror, infinite-loop survival, folk customs and taboos, deranged killers, deadly survival instances, feng shui, livestreaming, modern technology, and many other kinds of horror. Volume One: Classical ghost stories. A blend of modern and classical taboos: never look in the mirror at midnight, someone is under the bed... A wedding sedan, an old well, an ancestral shrine, a nighttime opera... Any ordinary thing can become a spirit; 4Reads—Score—14d adds
- 149 The Eerie Coffin Bearers 诡抬棺 Nine peaks, a sea of blood, mountains of bones... Murderous danger lurks everywhere. Every step is fraught with peril, and I never know how much longer I'll survive. It wasn't until I deciphered the nursery rhyme I'd heard when I became someone's disciple that I uncovered a shocking secret... 63Reads9.0Score—14d adds
- 150 Shattered Yin-Yang Jade 阴阳玉碎 [Supernatural + horror + suspense + first person + no idiots in the story + clever protagonist + a touch of angst] "I'm turning eighteen soon. I should die, too." Yu Yue and I are twin sisters, born eighteen years ago on Ghost Festival. A fortune-teller gave us each a jade pendant and said that on our eighteenth birthday, whoever's pendant broke would die. We're seventeen now, and suddenly both pendants have shattered. How can we possibly survive? 39Reads—Score—14d adds
