The Scream of the Haunted Mask

The Scream of the Haunted Mask is the fourth book in the Goosebumps HorrorLand book series, and the third book in the Haunted Mask saga. It was first published in 2008.

The cover illustration depicts The Haunted Mask sitting on display in front of the window of a mask shop.

Blurb
Wear and Scare!

What should Carly Beth be for Halloween this year? TERRIFIED! Late at night, an ugly green mask is mysteriously calling out to her, and ugly green masks don't like to be ignored.

Face Your Fears!

If Carly Beth survives the night, even a scary theme park might sound like a vacation. Or maybe not! At HorrorLand, every night is Halloween. And those monster masks? They aren't masks at all.

Plot
Almost a year after the events in The Haunted Mask, Carly Beth wakes up in the middle of the night and begins uncontrollably walking to the basement of her house, and she even hears her name being called. She walks over to the back of the basement and retrieves the Haunted Mask. Before she puts it, Carly Beth manages to will herself to put the mask down.

The next day, Carly Beth goes to the Tumbledown Farms daycare with her best friend, Sabrina Mason. Both Sabrina and Carly Beth work at the daycare. The two girls meet up with Laura Henry, another worker at the daycare. Soon after Carly Beth and Sabrina arrive, the daycare instructor, Mrs. Lange, enters. Mrs. Lange says that the three girls should take the kids into the orchard to pick apples. While in the orchard, Sabrina and Carly Beth spot an empty stable, but Carly Beth thinks she hears a horse whinny. They go to check the stable, but they are stopped by Laura and led back inside. Laura explains that the stable was a riding stable. One night, all of the horses were heard screaming, and the horses were all found dead of fright. According to Laura, the stable boy had worn a mask and scared the horses, and he was trampled to death when he scared them. Sabrina mentions that Carly Beth heard a horse whinny, and Laura says that the stable is allegedly haunted by the ghosts of the horses and stable boy. Mrs. Lange interjects, and she says that the farm boy has haunted the old stable, waiting for his mask to return. Carly Beth and Sabrina leave Tumbledown Farms and they go home. Before Carly Beth goes to sleep, she goes to the basement to check on the mask. Carly Beth goes to where she hid the mask, and she finds that she forgot to close it the previous night. The mask is squirming around and whispering the phrase "Almost Halloween..."

The next day, Carly Beth calls Sabrina. While they are talking, Sabrina reminds Carly Beth about the report that they had to write for school; the essay was supposed to be about urban legends. Sabrina says that they should write their report about the abandoned stable. Sabrina and Carly Beth meet up and go to Tumbledown Farms. The girls sneak over to the abandoned stable and enter with the intent of taking pictures. While inside, Carly Beth leaves a bag of carrots, which she brought for the ghost horses. While in the stable Carly Beth hears a horse whinny, but Sabrina assures Carly Beth that it is just Chuck and Steve, and that they set it up as a prank. When the girls look for Chuck and Steve, they are unable to find the boys, and when Sabrina calls up Chuck on her cell phone, they learn Chuck and Steve are home and forgot about the prank. Carly Beth notices that the carrots are gone. Frightened, the girls run out of the stable. Carly Beth looks back and sees a boy near the stable...

The story jumps ahead to the next day. Carly Beth and Sabrina are helping Mrs. Lange at the daycare, and Mrs. Lange asks the girls to help supervise a kids party on Halloween night. The two girls are enthusiastic to help. The girls leave, and Carly Beth decides to visit the stable alone. Inside the stable, Carly Beth finds a boy. The boy, Clark, says that he lives nearby. Carly Beth tells Clark about her experience with the Haunted Mask from the previous year, and she asks him if he knows anything about the mask that the old stable boy had worn. Clark does not seem to believe Carly Beth, but Carly Beth suspects that he is hiding something. Carly Beth leaves and again hears horse whinnies. While walking home, Carly Beth passes the store where she had bought the Haunted Mask a year earlier. Carly Beth enters the shop and tells the Shopkeeper that he has to take back the mask that he sold her. The Shopkeeper says that he cannot take the mask back. He explains that the mask will destroy anyone who wears it. The Shopkeeper warns Carly Beth that the mask will try to destroy her once again on Halloween night. The Shopkeeper then drags Carly Beth out of the shop. Carly Beth runs home and checks to see if the Haunted Mask is still in its box, but the mask is gone, replaced with her awful duck costume her mother made the previous year.

On Halloween night, Carly Beth and Sabrina go to work at the Tumbledown Farms daycare while dressed as clowns. They decide to have all the kids make paper bag masks, and when Carly Beth is looking for art supplies in Mrs. Lange's office, she notices a Tumbledown Farms history book. She finds a picture of the old stable boy, and the boy looks exactly like Clark. Carly Beth runs to find Sabrina, but she runs into Clark with an alligator mask. Carly Beth accuses Clark of being a ghost, but Clark tells her that the stable boy in the photo was actually his grandfather, and Carly Beth realizes Clark is alive and not a ghost like she initially thought.

Suddenly, all of the kids in the daycare are unable to remove their paper bag masks, and some of the kids can hardly breathe. Laura bursts in and tells Carly Beth that the only way to save the kids is to give the Haunted Mask back. Laura admits that she is a ghost, and that that she had worn the mask many years ago and died in the stampede, and Clark's grandfather had never worn the mask. Laura says that she cannot rest until she has the mask. Sabrina then steps forward and reveals that she had stolen the mask and buried it near the stable in order to protect Carly Beth from it. Carly Beth runs outside, unearths the mask, and rushes back inside. Carly Beth suspects that Laura will betray her once she has the mask, so Carly Beth decides that she must put on the mask in order to fight evil with evil.

Once Carly Beth has put on the mask, the kids are able to tear off their masks; Laura unintentionally releases them when she directs all of her attention to Carly Beth. Using the evil power of the Haunted Mask, Carly Beth attacks Laura and chases her into a field. Carly Beth watches as a stampede of ghost horses runs through Laura. When the stampede passes, Laura is gone. The ghost horses then stampede towards Carly Beth, but they stop near her and await to be petted. Carly Beth remembers the carrots that she gave the horses, a symbol of love. And soon after she pets the horses, Carly Beth rips the Haunted Mask off of her face. The horses disappear to the afterlife. While Carly Beth is holding the mask in her hand and tells Sabrina they must bury it again, the mask's mouth begins to move. The mask says, "You’re my favorite, Carly Beth. See you next Halloween...."

Enter HorrorLand
Carly Beth Caldwell receives an invitation to HorrorLand in the mail, and she decides to go and take her best friend, Sabrina Mason, with her. While attending Mondo's magic show in HorrorLand, Carly Beth and Sabrina see Billy Deep and Matt Daniels. Carly Beth and Sabrina talk to Billy and Matt, and the girls find out that Matt and Billy are in search of Sheena Deep, Britney Crosby, Molly Molloy, and a Horror named Byron.

The magic show starts and Billy is surprised when Mondo makes his sister, Sheena, appear onstage. Sheena says that, before reappearing onstage, she saw Britney and Molly on a flaming carousel in a dream. Matt warns Carly Beth that she is a special guest, and she is likely in danger. The kids sneak backstage and find Byron's name tag on the floor alongside a small flyer for a ride called the Wheel of Fire. The kids go in search of the ride, but Carly Beth is startled when she passes the HorrorLand mask shop. Carly Beth sees the Haunted Mask through the window. Carly Beth and Sabrina go inside the shop, and they find masks that look like Britney And Molly. The masks whisper vague warnings to Carly Beth. Carly Beth screams, but the Horror tending the shop tells her that a draft was causing the masks' lips to move.

After leaving the shop, the girls hear two Horror MPs, Bubba and Marcus, discussing scary surprises for all of the special guests. Marcus says that two special guests (Britney and Molly) have already been dealt with.

The two girls rush off in search of Matt, Billy and Sheena. As the sun is setting, Sabrina and Carly Beth rush into Wolfsbane Forest in search of the other kids. The girls get lost in the woods as night is beginning to fall. The girls hear wolves in the distance and footsteps nearby. Suddenly, a dark figure leaps out at them...

Trivia

 * Apparently, this book is a retcon of The Haunted Mask II. Carly Beth is twelve in this book, just like in The Haunted Mask II.
 * This book references Lego, The Sci-Fi Channel, Disney Channel, The Incredible Hulk, Wolverine and Wal-Mart.