Brandon Plush is the main protagonist of the tenth Goosebumps Series 2000 book, Headless Halloween.
History[]
A cruel prankster and bully, Brandon loves, above all things, to scare people. Primarily, his little sister, Maya, and cousin, Vinnie. With Halloween just around the corner, Brandon has big plans to terrify his neighborhood. However, his main target quickly changes to his science teacher, Mr. Benson, after he gives Brandon a week's detention for a prank on Vinnie.
When Halloween night eventually comes, Brandon is forced to go trick-or-treating with Vinne, Maya, and her friends. Together with his best friend, Cal, the two ditch the children behind to enact Brandon's revenge on Mr. Benson. His plan: Break in and vandalize his house. Mr. Benson's home is a creepy old place located on the edge of Raven's Ravine, a rock cliff with a steep drop.
When Mr. Benson leaves, Brandon and Cal make their way to the house but are startled to find two guard dogs waiting for them outside, luckily, however, the dogs appear to be chained up. Entering, Brandon, sick from Halloween candy, vomits all over Mr. Benson's kitchen table. While Cal urges him to leave, Brandon thinks they should do some more damage to his house. However, his plan is spoiled by the arrival of Mr. Benson and his dogs. The boys flee the scene, but before they can escape, Cal gets stuck in a window. Not wanting to get caught, Brandon abandons Cal and makes a run for it. Out of options, Brandon jumps Raven's Ravine, but misses the other side by mere inches, and falls into the jagged rocks below.
However, Brandon is surprised to wake up and discover he's seemingly survived his jump. Now on the other side of the ravine, Brandon finds himself in unfamiliar territory. The houses are dark, and he doesn't see a single trick-or-treater in sight. Eventually, he runs into a body wearing a green monster mask identical to his. The boy introduces himself as Norband, and invites Brandon to an ongoing Halloween party. While he is initially reluctant, Brandon agrees.
At the party, things quickly turn from normal to terrifying. Brandon is forced to eat a doughnut filled with worms, and later, bob for apples in a barrel full of cockroaches. The partygoers, a group of children in costumes, take delight in Brandon's suffering. When he tries to escape, the children swarm him and begin to chant "Let's get scary!". The terrified Brandon makes it back to the ravine but is horrified to find his own body lying at the bottom.
Norband then explains to Brandon what happened. He didn't survive the jump, and his spirit is now on the other side. He reveals that there is now only one way to get his body back, he must help three frightened people, as penance for all those he's scared. Giving him his body back, Norband tells Brandon he has one hour to make things right. With a second chance at life, Brandon starts off his good deeds by saving Cal from Mr. Benson's dogs. Second, he rescues Vinnie from a haunted house. Lastly, he rescues his sister, Maya, from a group of bullies. With his hour now over, Brandon jumps to the other side of the ravine, to tell Norband he has accomplished the task.
However, Norband tells Brandon that all of the work he was forced to do was part of his Halloween prank. Brandon is now one of them, and will be trapped on the other side forever. Brandon, however, isn't bothered by this. Realizing it's still Halloween, and that they're still all dead, Brandon tells Norband and the other spirits that they should cross over to the other side and start some real scaring.
General information[]
Personality[]
Brandon is a bully who takes delight in scaring people. He has a cruel sense of humor like his father, and never seems to question if what he's doing is wrong. While he initially shows some regret once Norband and the other children scare him, at the end of the book, he hasn't truly learnt his lesson, and will continue scaring people.
Physical appearance[]
The book never describes Brandon's appearance.
Trivia[]
- Brandon is one of the few bullies (and few antagonistic characters in general) in the Goosebumps franchise to actually be the protagonist of the book he appears in. Another example would be Steve Boswell from The Haunted Mask II, although the protagonist in the original book was Carly Beth Caldwell, with Steve merely being a side character.
- Brandon is also one of the only Goosebumps protagonists to die. This time, he dies during the events of the story, as opposed to a character like Hannah Fairchild from The Ghost Next Door, who dies prior to the book's events.