What would you say is the scariest/creepiest Tarot deck?

[Nepenthe Sea]

Reviving an old thread... I hope that's okay here (I'm new). I own Deviant Moon and it's kind of creepy, but it's creepy-cool, which is why I bought it. My family was marveling at it's creepiness during the Christmas holidays.

The Bosch Tarot is very creepy, but again, I bought it knowing that. I was a studio art major in a previous life, and as a Certified Creepy Person, have always had an appreciation for creepy art, especially HISTORICAL creepy art.

I think at this time, the creepiest deck I may own, in addition to the previous two, is the Scapini Medieval. I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's because it's not advertised as being creepy, and so it's more unsettling. Maybe it's because the history of the that time is so dark. I'm not sure. The art gives me the heebies at times, though.

I am intrigued by the Ritual Abuse Tarot.

I'm glad I read through this, as you guys gave me more decks to put on my wishlist (Barbara Walker, NO Voodoo, etc.). I also just ordered the Konarxi cards. : )

 

[Marie-Bernard]

Deviant Moon. I tried so hard to get with that deck, but it was terminally icky for me. This from a person who's loved the Mary-El, Liber T, Lunatic, Night Sun, and Dark Grimoire. Someone earlier (I think LeFanu) mentioned the Barbara Walker. It's a strange deck. Not good-strange like the ones I've listed, but not creepy and off-putting (BTW, when I write off putting imagine the giant argentine dog breed that's notorious for it's 'disgust' face). Barbara Walker is more disconcerting for me. I see the direction it's going, but it's always a little too much, a little too far. The starkness of the artwork only serves to highlight this.

If you read up on B. Walker, she's really multitalented, possibly a genius. Her Tarot deck has the quality Freud described as "uncanny."

 

[earthair]

I don't find the Bosch creepy at all, I think the deformed creatures are quite cute in their own way ... It's not a good reading deck though because the minors are so samey. The majors are clever and worth reading with on their own.

The deck that crept me out was the Favole. Had to sell it immediately. I thought it was a vampire thing, so I got the Vargo to prove a point, but actually and surprisingly I really like that one, so obviously wasn't a vampire thing...just those particular Favole ones

 

[FLizarraga]

Gosh, where to begin? This thread is a full-blast CreepFest! And of course there's the good chill-down-my-spine creepy, which I love, and the eww-don't-touch-me creepy....

Some of the decks people tend to find creepy look pretty campy to me --i.e. Deviant Moon and the Bohemian Gothic. Don't get me wrong, they are dark, but there is a lot of campiness and really black humor in them --say, the BG's King of Cups and 8 of Pentacles make me chuckle every time.

I agree with Nisaba that the Bosch is probably the most blood-curdling of the bunch, the veritable stuff of nightmares. But I have been familiar with his art for so long that I'm sort of.... I wouldn't say numb to it, but I can manage it. The Giger, on the other hand, I just could NOT handle. At ALL. And it's hard to explain, since I had seen practically all the images online already. The cards came out of the box exactly twice, and never for reading. I breathed easier when that THING was out of my home.

Anything from Doreen Virtue --yes, scary. All that pink and all those pretensions of wholesomeness just can't be good for you. Like the witch's gingerbread house in Hansel and Gretel.

When people talk of dark, scary decks, the Tyldwick is never mentioned, yet I found it curiously hard to deal with; it's the only deck ever that has given me nightmares (quite literally). Conversely, the Nicoletta Ceccoli is so gorgeously disturbing that I couldn't resist it, despite being of two minds about it. I have, however, been successful in NOT getting the Magical Forest, no matter how beautiful; I just can't get past those goggly, murderous eyes....

Oh, and an even more unusual one: I find the Victorian Romantic somehow unsettling. I know it's supposed to be a sunny deck, and I find it extremely poetic, but there's something dark and melancholy in that poetry that the BG does not quite manage, I think. Not quite a dark deck like the Tyldwick is IMHO, and not scary at all, but there's a lot more darkness in it than one would expect.

 

[Michellehihi]

Barbara Walker

The Barbara Walker deck. It doesn't even try to be scary like these jumped-up teen vamp decks of nowadays.

There is just something unsettlingly odd and wrong about it.

Le Fanu I just checked this deck following your post and I am very attracted to the art, from the few pictures I see on this site....since I have a great admiration for you and respect your opinions, could you elaborate so that I don't go and jump to buy it?

 

[jema]

Enochian is the creepiest deck I got, but it is more of a personal thing where some of the images are straight from my own nitemares.

 

[FaintlyMacabre]

Hanson Roberts

It's a cross between the Eloi and the Bad Seed.

 

[FLizarraga]

Hanson Roberts

It's a cross between the Eloi and the Bad Seed.

 

[FLizarraga]

Dark Carnival . . . haven't seen that one before. It manages to be both vulgar and creepy at the same time. Unbeatable combination! It looks like what Deviant Moon wants to be when it grows up . . . and discovers bath salts. There's bloody axes everywhere . . .

This made me laugh, but also brought back awful memories. The so-called Miami Zombie incident (please don't Google it if you don't want to see some truly horrifying images) took place half a block away from where I was at the moment. Now THAT was scary.

 

[Electric Maenad]

Tyldwick Tarot

I have to agree with this. There's nothing overtly creepy or macabre about the deck, just the deeply unsettling feeling you get in a completely empty room with your back to the door.