Compton Dawes

Compton Dawes is the main antagonist in the first book in the Goosebumps series, Welcome to Dead House, as well as its television adaptation. He is the real estate agent that helps the Benson's move into Dark Falls. He turns out to have been dead like the rest of the town.

Book
Compton Dawes is the local real estate agent of Dark Falls. He shows the Benson family their new home. However, unbeknownst to the Bensons, Mr. Dawes and the other residents of Dark Falls have lured the family to their doom. After an accident at the local plastics factory cast a poisonous fog over the town, all of the residents ended up in a state of living dead. Unable to survive in bright light, yet unable to fully die. They took one house in the town and dubbed it the "Dead House", to lure unsuspecting families and feast on their blood. When Amanda and Josh soon learn about this, they save their parents, while also seemingly destroying the residents of the town. This includes Josh smashing a halogen flashlight over the head of Dawes. However, as the Benson family escapes, they see that Mr. Dawes is still alive and has already lured a new family.

TV Show
The television adaptation does not feature him as much as the book, and he is not present for the climax of the episode until the very end. He is also much older in the episode in comparison to the book as his tombstone in the book suggests he died at age 30. His actor, Ian D. Clark, was in his mid forties at the time of filming.

Personality
While Mr. Dawes appears kind at first, he shows a sinister side when he is revealed as another member of the undead. He has deliberately led many families to their deaths by luring them to the Dead House. In the TV series, he's also shown to be completely insane when his hunger makes him desperate. Despite the Benson's family knowing what their intentions were, he foolishly pleads for them to stay giving them more real estate offers in hopes it'd convince them. However, when the family manages to get some distance from him and the other undead, he tearfully pleads for them to come back, before angrily declaring that he's hungry.

Physical appearance
Compton Dawes is described as being a young-looking man, with short blond hair. In his undead state, his skin and hair are a dull gray.

Trivia

 * In Goosebumps HorrorTown, he owns a business called "Better Call Dawes", a reference to the television series Better Call Saul.
 * It is possible that Dawes, as well as the other Dark Falls residents, were set to return in the Goosebumps Gold book Happy Holidays From Dead House, but both the book and Goosebumps Gold were cancelled not long after R.L. Stine parted ways with Scholastic.
 * According to Mr. Dawes' tombstone, he died 12 years before the Benson family arrived in Dark Falls.