"Don't Wake Mummy" is the third story in the third Tales to Give You Goosebumps book, Even More Tales to Give You Goosebumps.
Plot[]
Jeff's older sister Kim takes pleasure in teasing and scaring him. When their father — a museum curator — has a mummy case accidentally delivered to their house, Kim is up to her old tricks. After the case is put in the basement for safekeeping, Kim dares Jeff to enter the basement and touch it. Jeff is reluctant, but he eventually agrees. As soon as he steps in, Kim locks him inside. To his shock, the chains on the mummy's container begin to rattle and the lid moves. Jeff screams and darts up the stairs. He tells his sister what he saw, but the lid doesn't seem to have moved at all.
Later that night, Jeff has trouble sleeping. He hears what sounds like footsteps and fears the mummy has come to life. A figure comes into his room, but it turns out to just be his mother, who assumes he just had a bad dream. The next day, he does research on mummies and ends up at a magic shop. He asks the owner if he can help with his mummy problem, and he pulls out a bag of powder that he claims is Mummy Dust, which legend states will cause a mummy to lose its power. Jeff buys it for twenty dollars.
When night falls the next day, Jeff waits for the mummy to awaken. Eventually, it stumbles into the kitchen and reaches out for him. The noise wakes up Jeff's parents, and the mummy flees back into the basement. Jeff tells them about the mummy and Jeff's father reveals there was a rumor that suggested — if the chains on its case were ever removed — the mummy would come to life. He then locks the basement door and apologizes to them for bringing the mummy into their home, and Jeff's mother apologizes for not believing Jeff about the mummy.
Down in the basement, it is revealed that the mummy was actually Kim, who was pulling a big prank the whole time. She tries to sneak back upstairs, but finds herself locked in. She's shocked to find the lid to the sarcophagus has been removed. She then hears multiple thumping sounds.
Television adaptation[]
"Don't Wake Mummy" was adapted into an episode of the Goosebumps TV series. It is the twenty-second episode of season two, making it the forty-first episode overall.
Trivia[]
- Jeff and Kim's father is mentioned by name in the book: Larry. This is the second father in the series with that name, the first being in The Girl Who Cried Monster.
- This story has an abrupt perspective change from Jeff to Kim near the ending. A similar thing would later happen in I Am Your Evil Twin.
- The line, "Would you believe that the only books they had on mummies were scary novels and art history books?" could be a meta reference to the Goosebumps franchise, which contains several scary books about mummies, notably The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb and Return of the Mummy.
- The title is likely a parody of the board game Don't Wake Daddy.
- An issue of the UK FBX magazine includes a comic strip adaptation of this story.