Jerry Sadler

Jerry Sadler is the main protagonist in the twenty-second Goosebumps book Ghost Beach. He is the older brother of Terri Sadler.

History
Jerry and his sister, Terri had gone to New England to spend the last month of summer with their distant cousins, Brad and Agatha. To Jerry and Terri, it sounded great, especially since their only other choice was the cramped hot apartment where they live in New Jersey. There, he and Terri started to explore the beach outside of their cousins cottage. Whilst they were exploring, Jerry had a memory of a nightmare that he had a few months ago. Terri told him that he might have remembered the dream because he was nervous about being away from home. Soon, they came to a cemetery where they found the grave of John Sadler. Jerry was fascinated at this as John Sadler could be their great-great-great grand-something. Soon they came upon a mysterious cave and they were attacked by a "bat" until it crashed onto some rocks. Jerry clambered down over to the bat and discovered that it was only a kite. Then three kids (a boy and a girl about their age and a little boy about five) clambered up. They introduced themselves as Sam, Louisa and Nat Sadler. Jerry was amazed to know that the three children had the same surname as them. Later as they were hanging around on the shore, Terri asked the three Sadlers about the cave, prompting Louisa to ask them if they believe in ghosts. Jerry felt very uneasy about this as he reckoned that he does believe in ghosts (something that he would never admit to Terri). They later asked Brad and Agatha about the cave, but for some reason they didn't want to talk about it.

The next morning, Jerry and Terri were in the forest looking for Indian pipe when Jerry inadvertently uncovered a dog skeleton by pulling out a strange root plant. Jerry was astonished at this as he used to be fascinated by skeletons when he was nine years old. Whilst he and Terri were discussing what had happened to the dog, frightening howls were heard, which then turns out to be Sam, Nat and Louisa, much to Jerry's annoyance. When they saw the skeleton themselves, Nat explained that dogs can recognize ghosts and always bark to warn about them. Sam also mentioned that there are many skeletons in the woods all picked clean because of the ghost and then they were on their way before Louisa could explain anymore. Jerry and Terri later asked Brad and Agatha about the skeleton but they didn't know how to explain it. Jerry told them that the three Sadler kids said that a ghost killed the dog, prompting Agatha that they were just teasing. Later that night, while Jerry was in bed, Terri sneaked to talk to him about the ghost. Jerry was skeptical about it, telling Terri that Agatha said that Sam likes to make up ghost stories, but Terri insisted that there was something strange going on.

The next day, while Jerry and Terri hanging around a tide pool, the three Sadlers turned up. Terri managed to find out from Nat that the ghost lives in the cave that they discovered earlier and they also said that the ghost comes out when the moon is full and they had seen a flickering light in the cave. But Jerry, thinking they were playing another joke told them that they were just trying to scare them again, causing them to leave much to his sister's annoyance. Later that night, Agatha asked about a missing beach towel. Jerry reckoned that they left it on the beach and went out to find it. while he was out there, Jerry noticed a flickering light in the cave and thought that it could be Sam playing a trick. Jerry attempted to investigate the light by climbing up to the cave, but his attempt was dashed when Terri caught up with him to see what he was doing. He asked Terri if she could see the light but it suddenly vanished. In bed, Jerry was debating about what had happened when he heard a dog barking outside. Jerry looked out the window, but there was no dog there. The next morning, he was telling Terri about the barking dog when they came across the three Sadlers, who were about to go fishing and invited them along. While they were fishing, Jerry told them about the flickering light, worrying the three kids. This prompted Jerry to find out why they were so terrified of the cave.

That night at dinner, Jerry asked Brad and Agatha about the flickering light and they told him it was the northern lights. After dinner, Jerry and Terri were walking along the beach with Jerry thinking that Brad and Agatha were lying to him when they saw the flickering light. This time, they climbed up the rocks together and were able to get inside. After a tense walk and a brief encounter with bats, Jerry and Terri managed to reach the end and discover that the flickering light was candlelight. They also found an old man sitting at a driftwood table, who tells to come closer. Believing him to be the ghost, Jerry and Terri ran from the cave with Jerry barely able to escape after tripping over. They managed to get home, where Agatha asked them about the missing beach towel. Later while he was in bed, Jerry was thinking about the ghost when he received a surprise visit from Sam, Nat and Louisa. Jerry told them about the ghost in the cave and they said to him that they didn't want to scare him and Terri and that the ghost is dangerous and wants to kill them all. They also told Jerry that there is a way to get rid of the ghost but they need him and Terri's help so they asked him to meet them at the beach.

Unfortunately, that plan was dashed when it rained the next morning. After lunch, Jerry and Terri were able to go out to the beach, but Sam, Louisa and Nat were not there. So the two siblings went back to the cemetery they had explored earlier. While they were there, Jerry discovered that it was a cemetery full of Sadlers and Terri called out to him and pointed out some gravestones for Sam, Louisa and Nat Sadler. Jerry and Terri were very uneasy about this so they raced home to tell Brad and Agatha. This prompted Agatha to tell them the tragic story of how the whole Sadler family moved to New England in 1641 to start a new life but were unprepared for one of the worst winters in history and most of them died one by one from it and by 1642, there were almost none left. Agatha also said that like her and Brad, Sam, Louisa and Nat are also Jerry and Terri's distant cousins and they were named for their ancestors, the same with her and Brad were named for their ancestors as there were gravestones for Bradford and Agatha Sadler. Jerry and Terri were very relieved to know that there was a simple explanation for the tombstones. The next day, they found the three Sadler siblings and asked them about the graves. Like Agatha, Sam said they were named for their ancestors. After that, they showed Jerry and Terri the boulders piled on top of the cave. Louisa said that the cave is a sanctuary and that once the boulders cover the mouth of the cave, the ghost will be trapped inside forever. They then pleaded with Jerry and Terri to help them trap the ghost. Jerry was unsure as there are some things that could go wrong, but then had no choice when Terri said yes.

After dinner, Jerry and Terri went out and met their three friends at the beach. Sam told them that they will distract the ghost while Jerry and Terri climbed up to push the rocks down. The two siblings managed to reach the boulders but ended up getting caught by the old ghost, who dragged them to the far end of the cave. Jerry and Terri pleaded with him to let them go and then to their surprise, he told them he is not a ghost - Sam, Louisa and Nat are! The old man, Harrison Sadler (another distant relative) told that he came to New England after college to trace his ancestors and to study ghosts and the occult. He stayed in the cave because it was a sanctuary and he piled the boulders on top hoping to trap the ghosts someday. He then asked Jerry and Terri if they wondered why the three Sadler kids sent them up instead of coming up themselves, prompting Jerry, who was not believing the old man to shout that they were terrified of him. Seeing that Jerry doesn't believe him, Harrison told him and Terri to go back to the east corner in the cemetery. The two children do, with Jerry still not believing Harrison. When they reached the east corner, Jerry and Terri found some fresh graves, which to their horror turn out to be their own graves. They attempted to go back to the cottage to tell Brad and Agatha but were stopped by Sam, Louisa and Nat. When they heard that the ghost had not yet been killed, they insisted to go back there. Jerry declined saying that they had been up far enough, but once again Terri said yes.

As they were walking to the cave, Jerry tried to persuade Terri to tell the three Sadler kids that they had changed their minds, but Terri insisted that they have to solve the mystery. And this time, Sam, Louisa and Nat did come up with them. Once they reached the cave Harrison Sadler appeared and they started arguing about who the ghost was, leaving Jerry and Terri torn in between. Then Harrison called in a German Shepherd by whistling and Jerry remembered that dogs recognize ghosts. And then to his and Terri's astonishment, the dog started barking at Sam, Louisa and Nat. The three Sadler kids tearfully tell Jerry and Terri that they came to New England to start a new life, but they never had one at all. Then the three of them became skeletons and started toward Jerry and Terri when Harrison's torch blew out. Jerry waded in the darkness until Terri grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the cave - just in time, because the rain loosened the boulders causing them to fall down in front of the cave, sealing Harrison and the three ghosts inside. And then it was Jerry's turn to pull Terri back to the cottage.

At the cottage, Jerry and Terri did their best to explain to Brad and Agatha about the three ghostly kids and the old man in the cave. They apologized for disobeying their cousins about going to the cave, but Agatha said that the important thing was that they were safe. Just then Harrison Sadler's dog came by and barked at Brad and Agatha, revealing them to be ghosts too, much to Jerry and Terri's shock. Agatha slammed the door and asked Brad what to do about the two kids, with Jerry and Terri in fear of what they would do.

Personality
Jerry is cautious, sensible and can sometimes be sarcastic and is always eager to explore. He can be a very uncomfortable person at times as he is always nervous about staying in strange places or if Terri suggested to do something that could be dangerous. Jerry knew that ghosts were not supposed to be real but he had a feeling that all the scientists were wrong. Jerry also thinks that he does believe in ghosts and he guesses that is why he sometimes gets scared when he is in strange places (Jerry would never tell Terri this, for fear of her laughing at him about it forever). Jerry can get pretty annoyed when someone plays a practical joke on him and he can always detect if someone is about to play one on him. But there are moments when Jerry supplied some humor himself and had a laugh with some people. Like his sister, Jerry can be scientific and is always ready to use his "critical thinking skills" to draw in the facts he has in mind and draw to a logical conclusion. He thinks a lot of Terri's hobbies are very strange, especially her gravestone-rubbing hobby. But Jerry thinks that Terri is okay for a kid sister and they get along amazingly well.

Appearance
Jerry is twelve years old, Caucasian, tall and thin with short brown hair, hazel eyes and some freckles across his nose.

In Goosebumps Graphix, he wears a black-sleeved baseball shirt, grey cargo shorts and shoes. And his freckles were removed.

Books

 * Goosebumps
 * Ghost Beach
 * Goosebumps Presents
 * Ghost Beach
 * Classic Goosebumps
 * Ghost Beach
 * Goosebumps Graphix
 * Scary Summer
 * Slappy's Tales of Horror

Television and Film

 * Season 2 - Ghost Beach

Actor

 * Sheldon Smith (television series)

Trivia

 * Since it is mentioned that there were almost no Sadlers left after the winter of 1641, it makes it possible that some of them survived and Jerry is a direct descendant of one of them.
 * Jerry is one of the first protagonists to actually be related to some ghosts.
 * Whilst he was born in America, Jerry is actually of British descent, considering the Sadlers came from England before the winter. Jerry is also one of the first protagonists to be of British descent.
 * Apparently Jerry likes baseball as he asked the reader why he couldn't have a sister who liked baseball instead of gravestone rubbings. And in the comics, he wears a baseball shirt.