Welcome to Dead House (9 page)

CONTENTS

About the Author

Q & A with R.L. Stine

Hungry … for YOU!

Cemeteries

Pop Quiz: Which House Is Haunted?

Create Your Own Haunted House Tale!

A Terrifying Peek at
GOOSEBUMPS HORRORLAND #14:
LITTLE SHOP Of HAMSTERS

Bonus material written and compiled
by Matthew D. Payne

Petey, the family’s white terrier, knew something was fishy in Dark Falls before the human members of the family did. As Ray, one of the creepy neighborhood kids, said in Chapter 13, “Dogs always know.” Has your pooch, or any of your friends’ pooches, ever detected ghosts or ghouls?

R.L. Stine (RLS):
I can’t say that my dog has ever detected a ghost — but I do think that dogs have a kind of sensitivity to the world that can be a little creepy. My dog is so terrified of thunder and lightning that she always hides in the closet when there is a storm. But recently we noticed that almost an hour before the storm starts — even if the sun is shining — poor Minnie heads for the closet. Dogs know things… .

Eleven-year-old Josh was fearless the night he went to the cemetery to find Petey. When you were Josh’s age, could you have walked through a cemetery in the dead of night without getting scared?

RLS:
No! But when I was a kid, there was a big pile of white stones behind my house. My brother and I believed that there were dead people buried under those stones. One Halloween my brother and I decided to go to the mound of stones and wait for ghosts. I remember the moon was full, and the stones sparkled in the moonlight. My brother and I inched our way close to the mound and then we looked at each other and ran home! It was too scary.

You’re an incredibly well-known — and well-read! — children’s book author. The Goosebumps series has sold over 300 million copies! You must have tons of people come to hear you read. What’s the biggest crowd or longest line you’ve ever had at a book signing?

RLS:
Once I was doing a signing in Columbus, Ohio, where I grew up. I was driving to the bookstore and I got stuck in a huge traffic jam. I was really upset because I knew that if the traffic didn’t ease up, I’d be late for the signing. Finally, I yelled out the window to a policeman to find out what was causing the traffic jam. The answer amazed me. I was the cause of the traffic jam! So many people showed up to see me that the street was totally blocked. That was cool!

If you weren’t an author, what career path do you think you would have followed?

RLS:
I always wanted to be a cartoonist. But there’s a problem with that. I can’t draw.

It’s one thing to write, but another thing to come up with ideas to write about. Without ideas, you can’t write about anything!

How do you keep coming up with new ideas and creepy creatures year after year?

RLS:
I really don’t know. Ideas come from everywhere. But most of the time, I think of a title for a book — then the idea starts to take shape in my mind. For instance, Goosebumps HorrorLand #13:
When the Ghost Dog Howls.
Having that title makes me think: When does the dog howl? And why is he a ghost? And where does he come from? Answering those questions gives me the start of a story. I hope you like the book. Here’s a secret: I’m writing a bunch more HorrorLand books with new villains, new attractions, and new scares.

Speaking of the next HorrorLand book, most people think of hamsters as cute, cuddly pets, but your stories tend to go in a different direction. What do you have in store for readers with HorrorLand # 14:
Little Shop of Hamsters
?

RLS:
Sure, everyone thinks hamsters are cute and cuddly — but that’s just an act! The hamsters in
Little Shop of Hamsters
look cute, but here’s some advice: Don’t get them mad!

To find out if R.L. Stine could survive in the wild, grab a copy of the new collector’s edition of

GOOSEBUMPS: WELCOME TO CAMP NIGHTMARE,
and LOOK in the back of the BOOK.

Bloodsuckers! Brain eaters! The children in
Welcome to Dead House
are just a few of the many creatures, dead and living, who can all agree that YOU are their favorite food. Hopefully, you won’t run into the hideous creatures on this list.

The cemetery in Dark Falls is super-creepy at night. Most cemeteries are scary … even without the
LIVING DEAD
roaming around! During the day, though, cemeteries are actually a great place to head for some peace. In most cities and towns, it’s the only area where things are completely
QUIET!
Everyone just lies around and relaxes …
SIX FEET
under the ground.

The cemeteries we see today are larger versions of the
GRAVEYARDS
that are found in old churchyards. The dead were buried in church grounds with markers or headstones at the grave sites. The only problem was, these small churches ran out of space —
CORPSES
were piled up on one another in the graves!

In addition to the space crunch, having the dead so close to the living, especially in large cities, helped to spread
DISEASE.
Cities realized this and placed a ban on burials. Soon, massive cemeteries were built outside of cities.

One such cemetery is Green-Wood in Brooklyn, New York. It is so large and beautiful that since its creation in 1838, people have been going there to relax, sightsee, and just walk around. When New York City’s
CENTRAL PARK
opened decades later, many said it looked just like Green-Wood … without the
TOMBSTONES!

Still, there’s just something SOOO creepy about being surrounded by so many
DEAD PEOPLE.
As the saying goes, “It’s quiet …
TOO
quiet!” Generally, cemeteries are not a place to be at night: The risk of hitting your knee on a tombstone (and that really bruises) or falling into an
OPEN GRAVE
are reasons enough to stay away. Plus, there have been numerous reports of
CEMETERY HAUNTINGS
across the U.S. Moaning or weeping can be heard from inside large
CRYPTS.
Onlookers have seen strange mists on clear nights. People born hundreds of years ago have been seen going for a late-night walk together.

Perhaps the most terrifying tomb tale is about The Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, buried in the St. Louis Cemetery #1. Since her death in 1881, there have been numerous sightings of her ghost. Legend has it that you can hear her casting a
CURSE
on those who trespass within the cemetery walls and vandalize gravestones. Many people have reported seeing her in the form of a
BLACK CAT
walking amongst the graves. Don’t let her see your back or you’ll be cursed to do her bidding for eternity!

The scariest thing of all: Soon there won’t be any more room left in places like Green-Wood to comfortably bury anyone! Some interesting solutions to this problem have been found. For instance, several
SKYSCRAPER CEMETERIES
have been built in South America. Dozens of floors high, they offer the tradition of tomb burial while saving a whole lot of space. So will there soon be an R.L. Stine book on the horrors of being locked in a skyscraper cemetery at night? We shall see… .

Read the descriptions of five different haunted houses. Some are real haunted houses, but two are houses that R.L. Stine created for his terrifying tales. Can you tell which haunted houses are real and which are made up by R.L. Stine? Write your answers on a piece of paper and use the key at the bottom of the facing page to see if you’re right. If you can’t pick out the two R.L. Stine houses, you need to read more Goosebumps!

1
A family moves out of their house after a poltergeist breaks photo frames, messes up the furniture, and even melts a phone! Eventually, the family comes back home and defeats the ghost.

2
One night, the Payne family abandons their home, and the neighbors never hear from them again. Kids passing by the house on Halloween night dare each other to break in and have a terrifying run-in with a demon dog!

3
The Lutz family moves into a house whose previous inhabitants were murdered. Soon after, crazy things start to happen — green ooze pours out of the walls, flies are everywhere (even in the winter), and faces appear in the fireplace.

4
After their baby dies, a young couple lock themselves in their house and spend the rest of their lives bitter and arguing. After they die, they haunt the house and turn any children who come inside into ghosts!

5
A famous gun maker’s wife is haunted by the ghosts of the people killed by his guns. She is forced to move and build a new, bigger house — and must continue to build more and more rooms for them to haunt, or she’ll die!

KEY
1: REAL!
The Galway Ghost
terrified a family in Ireland. 2: R.L. Stine! From his Give Yourself Goosebumps book
One Night in Payne House.
3: REAL!
The Amityville Horror
took place on Long Island, New York. 4: R.L. Stine! From the short story “The House of No Return” from
Tales to Give You Goosebumps.
5: REAL!
The Winchester Mystery House
was built by the widow of real-life gun maker William Winchester.

Start the story below by choosing words, adding a friend’s name, and filling in the missing sentence. Then use the rest of the space to keep the story going! Remember — be scary AND funny!

I don’t want to believe it, but I think my house is haunted! I’m not surprised, since we live next to [a cemetery] [a mad scientist who is experimenting on humans] [a ghost factory]. As soon as we moved in a year ago, I knew something [creepy] [disgusting] [annoying] would come from over there and [haunt] [entertain] [bother] us.

There are a few reasons I can tell my house is [under the spell of a poltergeist] [haunted] [turning into a loony bin for ghosts]. For one thing, my [kitchen] [living room] [basement] is totally [spooky] [scary] [smelly], especially [when it’s raining] [at night] [when I’m trying to practice my dance moves]! Just the other day, I was [eating] [shaving the dog] [doing my homework] in there when suddenly I heard [moaning] [whispers] [the ghost of Elvis]. Nobody else was around, so I was really scared. It sounded so real! So I pulled out my cell phone and called my best friend,_____.

I said, “________!”

My best friend,_____, got so freaked out that [he] [she] decided to come over and help me investigate. As soon as [he] [she] got there, we [ate some Brussels sprouts] [put on biohazard suits] [listened really hard for the sound again]. We must have been in there for an hour, but nothing happened. Then we heard something coming from [the bathroom] [the garage] [my room]. It sounded like [whispering] [a sad and angry moan] [creepy old music].

We rushed toward the sound and found …

Still going …? Go to your computer or grab more paper to make your story as long as you want. Maybe it will become a book one day!

Add more Goosebumps to your collection! Here’s a chilling preview of

Goosebumps
Horrorland™