Welcome, Gypsy!
I read alot of King's stuff when I was in High School. Back then The Shining was my favorite but also the scariest (I still won't reread it). I just recently (in the last 3 months or so) finish IT for the first time. Great, but was a bit disappointed with the ending (I wrote about it elsewhere on the board).
As far as sleeping with the lights on LOL About the only author that creeps me out that much is H.P. Lovecraft. Nothing compares to the original Master of the Macabre!
Major K
"He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a Prince." George Graham Vest
"We are alone, absolutely alone on this chance planet: and, amid all the forms of life that surround us, not one, excepting the dog, has made an alliance with us." - Maurice Maeterlinck