95 Fun Facts About Goosebumps

Goosebumps' cover tagline warns readers they are in for what?

'Reader beware, you're in for a scare!' ran on the original back covers; the 1998 Series 2000 relaunch swapped it for '2000 Times the Scares!'

Which book is numbered first in the Goosebumps series?

Welcome to Dead House, Goosebumps #1, follows Amanda and Josh Benson's move to the town of Dark Falls, where the neighbours turn out to be the living dead.

What does R. L. Stine think of first for a Goosebumps book?

The title comes first: Stine says he thinks up a title and then lets it lead him to the story, rather than plotting the book first.

Which ventriloquist's dummy is the Goosebumps series' most famous villain and unofficial mascot?

Slappy is the series' unofficial mascot, and in 2017 he got his own book series, Goosebumps SlappyWorld, which he introduces himself.

In Goosebumps' Night of the Living Dummy books, what brings the dummy to life?

Reading words from his pocket, a strange chant on a slip of paper, wakes the dummy, who then plays nasty tricks and makes the children take the blame.

Which classic children's story did Stine cite as the inspiration for his living dummy?

The Adventures of Pinocchio is a lot scarier in the original, Stine says: the puppet falls asleep with his feet on a stove and burns them off.

In The Haunted Mask, what is the name of the timid girl whose Halloween mask becomes her face?

Carly Beth gets a duck costume in The Haunted Mask because Stine remembered the embarrassing duck suit he got as a boy.

In Goosebumps, which theme park does the Morris family find after getting lost on the way to Zoo Gardens?

HorrorLand later gave its name to the Goosebumps HorrorLand book series, whose stories take place in the same park.

Which 1995 Goosebumps spin-off series was written as choose-a-path gamebooks?

Give Yourself Goosebumps made the reader the main character, so one wrong choice could bring a horrid ending.

Before the TV show, what quietly introduced the first Goosebumps titles to children?

School book clubs brought the first books to children, and word of mouth among kids built the rest of the audience.

In Goosebumps' Say Cheese and Die!, what is wrong with the camera Greg finds?

Its photos show disasters to come, and Greg soon wonders whether the camera only predicts bad things or actually makes them happen.

How does R. L. Stine say he came up with the name Goosebumps?

An ad for TV horror movies read 'It's goosebumps week on Channel 11', and Stine, stumped for a series name, knew he had found it.

Which rule does R. L. Stine say he keeps for every Goosebumps book?

No one ever dies in a Goosebumps book, because Stine wants kids to know the story is a creepy fantasy that couldn't really happen.

Who painted the covers for most of the original Goosebumps books?

Tim Jacobus was first hired to paint only a few covers, yet he stayed with Goosebumps for a decade.

What did R. L. Stine find in the attic at age nine?

A typewriter from the attic went down to his bedroom, where young Stine began typing his own stories and little joke books.

Goosebumps surprised publishers by pulling in equal numbers of which readers?

Boys and girls read it equally, a surprise because everyone assumed boys didn't read, so the early books were aimed at girls.

Which company originally developed Goosebumps and later fought its publisher in court over the rights?

Parachute Press was co-founded by Stine's own wife, Jane, and its fight with Scholastic ended in 2003 when Scholastic bought every Goosebumps right.

On which network did the original Goosebumps TV series premiere in October 1995?

Fox Kids launched the show with an hour-long prime-time special, a week before its regular half-hour episodes began.

In which country was the 1990s Goosebumps TV series filmed?

The series was shot in Canada by Toronto's Protocol Entertainment, with real houses around Toronto and Markham, Ontario, standing in for suburban America.

Which future star acted in the Goosebumps TV series?

Long before his Oscar nominations, Ryan Gosling was the teenager who finds a cursed camera in the episode Say Cheese and Die!

Who plays a fictionalised R. L. Stine in the 2015 Goosebumps movie?

Jack Black plays Stine as a vain writer jealous of Stephen King, jokes the real Stine says he dislikes because he would never brag.

In the 2015 Goosebumps film, how does Stine keep his monsters under control?

Locked inside his original manuscripts, the monsters escape whenever a book is unlocked, which is exactly what nosy neighbour Zach does.

Which filmmaker was attached to an unmade 1990s Goosebumps movie?

Tim Burton was attached in the late 1990s, but the project stalled, and no Goosebumps film reached cinemas until 2015.

Which director made the 2015 Goosebumps film and later co-developed the 2023 series?

Rob Letterman was first set to direct the 2018 sequel too, but Ari Sandel took over the job.

Which inventor built the tower looming over Wardenclyffe in Goosebumps 2?

Nikola Tesla built the real Wardenclyffe tower on Long Island for wireless transmission, but it was demolished long ago.

On which streaming service did the 2023 Goosebumps series premiere on Friday the 13th of October?

Disney+ and Hulu launched it as one season-long mystery, five teens investigating a death from decades before, instead of a new story each episode.

Which Friends actor plays the twins' divorced father in Goosebumps: The Vanishing, the TV series' second season?

David Schwimmer led The Vanishing, but the show was cancelled after that second season.

Which comic books did R. L. Stine credit as an inspiration from his childhood reading?

Tales from the Crypt, which Stine started reading at about eight or nine, struck him as funny rather than frightening.

Under what pen name did the Goosebumps author write humour books for children before turning to horror?

Jovial Bob Stine wrote dozens of joke books for kids, and Stine still sees a close connection between humour and horror.

Which teen horror series did R. L. Stine launch in 1989, later adapted into a Netflix film trilogy?

Fear Street spun off Ghosts of Fear Street, a series for younger kids that ghostwriters wrote under Stine's name.

Before Goosebumps, R. L. Stine was head writer of which Nickelodeon puppet show for preschoolers?

Eureeka's Castle was built on slapstick, like Batly the bat, who kept crashing into things and insisting he meant to.

Which organization ranked Goosebumps among the 1990s' most challenged books?

The American Library Association placed it 15th for the decade, as some adults complained the books were too scary for young readers.

Which Goosebumps book has Evan Ross buying a can of green gunk that keeps growing?

Monster Blood is an ordinary toy until a spell is put on the can, on the orders of a witch disguised as a black cat.

What does R. L. Stine often compare reading a Goosebumps book to?

A roller coaster, Stine says, because the books are fast rides full of thrills, chills and sudden twists and turns.

Which Hollywood star played Dracula in a 1996 Goosebumps PC game?

Jeff Goldblum filmed the part in live action, and his Dracula leads a young girl through an awkward waltz.

What made publishers view Goosebumps as a risky bet in 1992?

No central character gave kids someone to latch onto, as Nancy Drew did, so publishers saw a risky launch and TV looked an unlikely fit.

Which dummy is the villain of the first Night of the Living Dummy book?

Mr. Wood terrorises twin sisters Kris and Lindy until he is crushed by a steamroller.

R. L. Stine quotes a fan who had read 40 of his books and found them what?

Really boring was the fan's verdict, and Stine calls it the weirdest letter he has received and also his favourite.

In 1996, roughly how many Goosebumps books were being sold each month?

4 million copies a month were selling in 1996, yet when sales slowed early in 1997, Scholastic's shares lost about 40 percent in a day.

The 2015 Goosebumps film is set in Madison, Delaware, but which state was it filmed in?

Georgia hosted the shoot around Atlanta, and the small town of Madison, Georgia, stood in for the film's Madison, Delaware.

R. L. Stine admits to one phobia, which stops him doing what at a swimming pool?

Jumping in is beyond him, so Stine steps into the pool instead, and his nephews think it a riot for such a scary guy.

Which author did a nervous R. L. Stine greet with 'You're my hero'?

Ray Bradbury shook his hand and answered that Stine was a hero to plenty of others too.

In the 2015 Goosebumps film, which monsters swarm the heroes in a kitchen?

Lawn gnomes fill the kitchen, and when the heroes smash them, the broken pieces pull themselves back together.

Who composed the score for the 2015 Goosebumps film?

Danny Elfman wrote a score critics called playful yet spooky, just the mix of funny and scary the filmmakers wanted.

Who plays Zach Cooper, Stine's new neighbour, in the 2015 Goosebumps film?

Dylan Minnette plays Zach, whose widowed mom moves him from New York, only for Stine next door to warn him away from his daughter.

Goosebumps creator R. L. Stine has been called the children's-literature version of which horror novelist?

Stephen King is the name critics reach for, and the sales agree: USA Today named Stine America's number one best-selling author three years in a row during the 1990s.

Which book series is the only one to have outsold Goosebumps, which has passed 400 million copies?

Harry Potter alone is ahead, though Goosebumps, published in 35 languages, once held the top spot itself.

Which monster is the first one set loose in the 2015 Goosebumps film, forcing Zach and Hannah to hunt it down?

The Abominable Snowman, straight out of the book The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena, is cornered at an ice rink, where Hannah's father traps it again.

Which family member's struggle to pull off a Halloween mask gave R. L. Stine the idea for The Haunted Mask?

His son Matthew pulled on a Frankenstein mask one Halloween and struggled to get it off. Stine also worked in a duck costume his own parents once got him for trick-or-treating.

In the Goosebumps book A Night in Terror Tower, Eddie and Sue flee the Lord High Executioner in which city?

London is where the holidaying siblings get lost in a medieval torture chamber, and then start losing their money and even their memories.

In The Cuckoo Clock of Doom, what happens to Michael after he tampers with his father's new clock?

He goes back in time every night he goes to sleep, starting with a replay of the disastrous birthday party he had hoped to pin on his bratty sister Tara.

In The Girl Who Cried Monster, Lucy discovers that which adult in her town is secretly a monster?

The librarian, Mr. Mortman, turns out to be the real thing, an awkward discovery for a girl who loves tormenting her younger brother with made-up monster stories.

In It Came from Beneath the Sink!, the bad-luck monster called a Grool looks like which household object?

A sponge is what Katrina and her brother Daniel think they have found under the sink of their new house, but it is alive and brings bad luck to anyone who finds it.

Which comedian plays Mr. Chu, the neighbour who is an avid Goosebumps fan, in Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween?

Ken Jeong, best known as Leslie Chow in The Hangover films, plays the neighbour who helps the heroes disguise themselves so they can cross town safely.

In Why I'm Afraid of Bees, how does Gary Lutz end up living as the insect he fears most?

A body swap goes wrong at a clinic Gary finds through an advert: he asks for the body of a cool jock named Dirk and wakes up as a bee instead.

In the Goosebumps book Vampire Breath, what is the newly awakened Count Nightwing searching for?

His fangs have gone missing, so the vampire that Freddy and Cara wake with a bottle from a hidden chamber spends the story hunting for a set of fanged dentures.

Which superhero-TV veteran played the Galloping Gazelle in the Goosebumps TV episode Attack of the Mutant?

Adam West, television's Batman of the 1960s, played the comic-book hero on screen and then voiced him again in the 1997 PC game based on the same story.

In The Beast from the East, bear-like monsters force Ginger Wald and her brothers into a deadly game of what?

Tag is the game, played by the creatures' rules in the woods where Ginger and her twin brothers Nat and Pat are lost. The monsters even call their version Beast from the East.

The real R. L. Stine has a cameo in the 2015 Goosebumps film, teaching which subject at Madison High School?

Drama is his subject, and the teacher's surname is a wink at the actor who plays the fictional Stine in the film.

Which monster is left on the loose at the end of the 2015 Goosebumps film after the others are recaptured?

The invisible boy, Brent Green from My Best Friend Is Invisible, was missed in the round-up and closes the film plotting his revenge on Stine.

Which rival series from Goosebumps' own publisher was blamed for its falling sales in the late 1990s?

Animorphs, the saga of teenagers who turn into animals, was the main competitor. The author answered with Goosebumps Series 2000, a new run he promised would be much scarier.

Which Goosebumps book about a school play plagued by accidents was turned into a stage musical in 2016?

Phantom of the Auditorium casts Brooke and Zeke in their school's version of The Phantom of the Opera. Goosebumps The Musical, which followed a 1998 stage play, is based on it.

In The Haunted School, Tommy Frazer steps out of an elevator into a world that has lost what?

Colour is missing from the monochrome world where the school's vanished class of 1947 has been trapped by a photographer called Mr. Chameleon.

In My Hairiest Adventure, Larry Boyd blames his suddenly hairy hands on which expired product from the trash?

Tanning lotion from a bottle found in the trash gets the blame, but the truth is stranger: Larry's friends keep vanishing, and dogs that look like them appear in their place.

Which horror director's unfilmed 1990s Goosebumps script ended up in the University of Pittsburgh archives?

George A. Romero, whose films shaped the modern zombie, adapted the very first book in the series and made its undead townsfolk sympathetic.

In the very first Goosebumps book, Amanda and Josh Benson move into a creepy inherited house in which town?

Dark Falls is four hours from the Bensons' old home, and the house comes to them from a great-uncle that their father never knew existed.

In the first Goosebumps book, what makes the undead neighbours of Amanda and Josh Benson crumble away?

Bright light does it: Josh's flashlight turns one attacker into a pile of bones, and the siblings then knock down a tree to finish off the rest.

Which video-game movie kept the first Goosebumps film's director from returning for the 2018 sequel?

Detective Pikachu was already keeping him busy, so Ari Sandel took over Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, in which the first film's leading man returns only for an uncredited cameo.

In the 2015 Goosebumps film, which new job brings Zach Cooper's mother Gale to Madison, Delaware?

Vice-principal of the local high school is the post, and the family moves from New York City to take it after the death of Zach's father.

In the 2015 Goosebumps film, what is the name of the classmate who becomes Zach Cooper's best friend?

Champ, one of Zach's new classmates, joins the monster hunt and ends up rescuing Taylor, the popular girl he has a crush on.

Which studio acquired the Goosebumps film rights in 2008 and released both movies under its label?

Columbia Pictures picked up the rights after a 1990s attempt had stalled, and its first Goosebumps film opened at number one at the box office.

The 1995 Goosebumps TV series was expected to premiere alongside which animated show's Halloween special?

The Simpsons was the planned neighbour: a 1995 trade report expected the hour-long opener to air just before or after its yearly Halloween episode. The anthology went on to run for four seasons.

Which chart-topping singer-songwriter adapted the Goosebumps books into a stage play in 1998?

Rupert Holmes, whose Escape (The Piña Colada Song) was the last number one of 1979, created the stage version nearly two decades later.

Before Goosebumps, R. L. Stine edited which humour magazine for teenagers, which ran for 72 issues?

Bananas ran from 1975 to 1984 with Stine as its editor and main writer, and only afterwards, in 1986, did he publish his first horror novel.

R. L. Stine characterises the Goosebumps series as scary books that are also what?

Funny is his word for them, and lessons are off the menu too: Stine says his stories carry no morals and exist strictly to motivate children to read.

The Goosebumps books, mostly narrated in the first person, are known for closing with what?

A twist ending is the trademark: the stories drop ordinary children into surreal, frightening situations and save one last surprise for the final page.

What persuaded R. L. Stine to write new Goosebumps books in 2008 after eight years away?

Mail from young fans kept asking when new books were coming, Stine said, and the comeback series that followed ran to nineteen books, most of them holding two stories each.

Which book launched Goosebumps Series 2000, the follow-up line R. L. Stine billed as much scarier?

Cry of the Cat opened the 25-book run in 1998 and was later filmed as a two-part episode of the TV series.

Which R. L. Stine series, planned for release in 2000, had cover art shown online but never reached shops?

Goosebumps Gold would have continued two favourites, The Haunted Mask and the very first book in the series, but nothing beyond the cover art appeared.

Which TV network broadcast a 1997 school district hearing on whether to ban the Goosebumps books?

C-SPAN carried the hearing, where most parents and children spoke up for the books, and the district's review committee decided to keep them.

In Calling All Creeps!, the school bullies who start stalking Ricky turn out to be what in disguise?

Lizard people are behind the bullying: a prank message in the school paper backfires on Ricky, and the Creeps want him to plant seeds that will enslave all of humanity.

In Chicken Chicken, Crystal and Cole start growing feathers after doing what to a woman named Vanessa?

Knocking her down outside the grocery store and leaving without an apology is all it takes: Vanessa whispers the book's title at the siblings, and the feathers and beaks soon follow.

In The Headless Ghost, the boy who haunts Hill House is said to have been beheaded by whom?

A sea captain did the deed, the legend goes, which is why pranksters Duane and Stephanie slip in after hours to look for the missing head.

In The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight, whose spells bring the scarecrows stalking Jodie and Mark to life?

The farmhand is to blame: Jodie and Mark are visiting their grandparents' farm when they find that his spells have set the scarecrows walking.

Which 1986 teen thriller was R. L. Stine's first horror novel, written years before Goosebumps began?

Blind Date came first, and Stine followed it with many more teen thrillers, among them Hit and Run and The Girlfriend.

Besides Goosebumps, which R. L. Stine book became a TV series that aired from 2010 to 2014?

The Haunting Hour, a collection of ten short stories, was first filmed as a direct-to-DVD movie in 2007 before getting a series of its own three years later.

In Welcome to Camp Nightmare, what do campers call the creature said to lurk in the nearby woods?

Sabre is the rumour that turns Billy Harlan's stay at Camp Nightmoon sour, and it gains weight as accidents pile up among the campers.

In The Horror at Camp Jellyjam, what becomes of the campers who win at Wendy and Elliot's sports camp?

They disappear, one of several things Wendy finds bizarre there: a counsellor shrugs off a bone-crushing hit to the chest, and the ground shakes at night.

In Don't Go to Sleep!, Matt wakes up in a warped new reality after spending the night where?

The guest bedroom was off limits on his mother's orders, and after a night there Matt is hunted by a police force that punishes those who bend reality.

In The Curse of Camp Cold Lake, what does unhappy camper Sarah Mass fake in the hope of winning friends?

Drowning is the act she puts on, but it goes badly: a near-death experience introduces her to Della, a spirit who wants a friend in the afterlife, whatever it takes.

Which literary prize honoured Goosebumps creator R. L. Stine for a lifetime's achievement in his genre?

The Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement, conferred by the horror writers' own organisation, goes to careers that have substantially influenced the field.

In A Shocker on Shock Street, Erin and Marty test a new thrill ride based on their favourite what?

Horror films from the Shock Street series are the pair's obsession, and Erin's father picks them as the first children to try his ride, where the animatronic creatures seem to turn on them.

Which studio, launched in 1995 with backing from Microsoft, released two Goosebumps PC games in the 1990s?

DreamWorks Interactive put out both in consecutive years, the second being Attack of the Mutant, with Jim Belushi voicing its masked villain.

Which toy company turned A Night in Terror Tower into a Goosebumps board game in 1996?

Milton Bradley published it alongside a second game based on another book in the series, both designed by Craig Van Ness.

In Ghost Beach, Jerry and Terri Sadler try to solve the mystery of a ghostly figure said to live where?

In a cave is where the ghost is said to have lived for three hundred years, up in the rocks above the beach that the brother and sister explore.