The Ghost Next Door

The Ghost Next Door is the tenth book in the original Goosebumps book series. It was first published in 1993.

The cover illustration features a ghost's feet standing on a welcome mat, and a door open with a person's foot visible.

Blurb
"How Come I've Never Seen You Before?"

Hannah's neighborhood has just gotten a little--weird. Ever since that new boy moved in next door. But when did he move in? Wasn't the house empty when Hannah went to sleep the night before? Why does it still look deserted? She's not getting any answers from her new neighbor. He just keeps disappearing in the oddest ways. And he's so pale... Is Hannah being haunted by... ...the ghost next door???

Plot
Hannah Fairchild is having a very boring summer at home after all her friends leave town for the break. She tries writing to them, but they do not ever seem to write back. She spends some time with her little brothers, even making a campfire in the backyard and telling ghost stories one night, but it does not really seem like enough.

However, the day after having a horrifying dream about her bedroom being on fire, she meets her new next door neighbor, Danny 'Daredevil' Anderson. She does not remember Danny moving in and he claims he goes to her school and though they are supposedly in the same grade, they do not know any of the same people. Hannah begins to suspect that Danny is not all he seems, as he keeps disappearing into thin air every time she turns around. It is then that she suspects that this boy is a ghost.

After she spies Danny downtown with a pair of trouble-making children, Alan Miller and Fred Drakes, she is pursued by a shadowy figure. All the while, Danny is getting into worse and worse trouble with his excursions with Alan and Fred. The two dare him to steal ice cream cones and destroy mailboxes. After they are caught trying to break Mr. Chesney's mailbox and Danny gets treated in a less than fragile manner by the man, Alan and Fred tell Danny that they have to get back at Mr. Chesney. Naturally, Hannah has been following the three around town the entire time and has spied the whole ordeal.

She tries to warn Danny but he is less than responsive to her pleas, especially when she accuses him of being a ghost. This is immediately followed by Danny accidentally putting his entire hand through Hannah's chest and running off in hysterics. It turns out that Danny is not a real ghost, Hannah is.

Approximately two minutes after she figures this out, Mrs. Quilty, a neighbor, shows up at her house with her friend Beth, and explains to Beth that Hannah's entire family died five years ago when their house caught fire. It turns out the fire was started when Hannah did not entirely extinguish the campfire in the backyard. Hannah after eavesdropping the discussion between the two women, goes to her home in search of her family, but finds it empty and unfurnished. She begins to experience weird black outs and when she wakes up later at the night, she attempts to stop Danny from getting into perilous danger but only succeeds in scaring him.

She then gets on her bike and rides to catch up to him. Hannah catches up with Danny and his friends, as they break into Mr. Chesney's house and set it on fire while still inside. Alan and Fred manage to escape but they leave Danny in the burning house. Then the shadowy figure who has been scaring Hannah suddenly appears. Hannah pulls down the shadowy figure's hood to reveal Danny's face.

The Shadow/Danny tells Hannah that Danny must die in the fire so that he can live and the real Danny can take his place in Shadow World.

Hannah escapes Shadow-Danny's grasp and rescues the real Danny, leaving Shadow-Danny to burn in the flames. After the nurses tended his small injuries, the ambulance took Danny and his mother home. When at his bed, Danny tells his mother, Mrs. Quilty, and Mr. Chesney that Hannah rescued him, but they don't believe him and try to explain to him that she died 5 years ago. As Danny is resting on his bed, Hannah fades away from the real world and reunites with her family in the spirit world. But as she is departing from the real world, she goodbyes Danny and tells him to never forget her.

Differences

 * The Classic Goosebumps reprint was released as a tie-in to the Goosebumps film.

International releases
Table = Gallery =

Differences

 * In Portugal, this is the eleventh book in the original Goosebumps series.

TV series
The Ghost Next Door was adapted into a two-part episode of the Goosebumps TV series. It is the third (part one) and fourth (part two) episode of season four, and the sixty-ninth and seventieth episode overall.

Trivia

 * This is one of the few Goosebumps books without a surprise ending.
 * One of the people Danny's mentions name is Alan Miller. This name was later reused in R.L. Stine's TV series The Haunting Hour, for the famous comic book writer in the episode "Brush With Madness."
 * The door knocker on the Goosebumps classics reprint of the book bares a close resemblance to the Haunted Mask.

References in other Goosebumps media

 * Hannah Fairchild appears as a protagonist and as the adopted daughter of R.L. Stine in the Goosebumps film.
 * This book is referenced in "Goosebumps: The Game" as the name of an achievement. Also, at the end of the game, R. L. Stine says he will move to Madison with his daughter.