Dr. Richard Hawlings is an antagonist in the thirty-ninth book in the original Goosebumps series, How I Got My Shrunken Head, as well as the television adaptation.
History
When Mark Rowe arrives on the island of Baladora to meet with his Aunt Benna, instead of being greeted by her, he is instead greeted by a man named Dr. Hawlings and his 12 year old daughter Kareen. They inform Mark that his aunt has been missing for weeks, and that they need the jungle magic that was bestowed on Mark to find her. It is revealed that Mark was bestowed the magic when he was four by Aunt Benna, however Mark has no idea how to call upon it. Mark walks off, only to find a room filled with shrunken heads and Aunt Benna's journal. It reads that Dr. Hawlings and his sister Carolyn are actually evil, and if they were to discover the secret of jungle magic, it could destroy the entire jungle. He ends up running into Kareen, who claims she doesn't know anything about her dad being evil. Mark believes her, but goes off into the jungle to find his Aunt Benna.
After several harrowing incidents in the jungle, he is eventually rescued by Kareen. The two find Aunt Benna, who is horrified to see Mark with Kareen, as it turns out that she was working with her father all along. And due to him saying the magic words "Kah-lee-ah" in front of her, she now knows. However, they can't get the magic to work. They threaten to shrink Mark and Aunt Benna's heads. Mark attempts to use his Shrunken Head on them, but it gets knocked into a pile of heads. As Aunt Benna fights with Dr. Hawlings, Mark dives into the pile, says the magic words, and causes Dr. Hawlings, Carolyn and Kareen to shrink to the size of mice and run off into the jungle, never to be seen again. In the televison adaptation, the villains are still shrunk, but Mark manages to catch them and keep them in a lizard tank in his room where he takes care of them.
General information
Physical appearance
Dr. Hawlings is described as having white hair and pale blue eyes, wearing a white lab coat. Mark accidentally mistakes him for his aunt at first glance.
Personality
Dr. Hawlings is written to be rather nice and unassuming until Mark soon discovers his true evil intentions. He also seems rather impatient, desperately wanting to know how to control the jungle magic.
Trivia
- Dr. Hawlings' actor, Richard Fitzpatrick, also portrayed Mr. Kramer in the television adaptation of "Night of the Living Dummy II".