Goosebumps Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Navigation:
Book


Elevator to Nowhere is the thirty-fourth book in the Give Yourself Goosebumps gamebook series. It was published in 1999.

The cover illustration depicts Uncle Darius trapped in an elevator with the indicator flashing "6." He seems to be desperately trying to force the doors open in an attempt to escape.

Blurb[]

GOING UP...AND OUT OF THIS WORLD!

Meet Uncle Darius. He's an inventor — and your ticket to an A on your science project. The trouble is he's a little wacky. Okay a lot wacky! Right now he's testing out his Transuniversal Transvator. It looks like an elevator. But it takes passengers to other universes! Uncle Darius says he'll prove it by bringing back a special souvenir — a shrunken head.

But when Uncle Darius returns, something is wrong. How wrong? He wants to shrink your head! And your only means of escape is battling this headhunter on Earth — or battling the unknown in another universe. Hurry, the doors are closing!

Plot[]

You have to do a science project with a girl named Jamie, who you have been paired with. Jamie's uncle happens to be an inventor, which makes you think this project will be much easier now! Jamie does however warn you that Uncle Darius happens to be "Extremely extreme". That means, it is best to not let him demonstrate his inventions, since they hardly ever work the way they are supposed to.

Upon arrival, you see how run down the house is. It looks like nobody has lived there in a very long time! But the two of you just think that maybe Uncle Darius just does not have the time to deal with such things and the two of you go inside. A pair of hands suddenly grab you! But it turns out to just be Uncle Darius and he brings you and Jamie into the lab, where he announces he is going to be testing one of his inventions. Which you think just looks like a typical elevator. Uncle Darius explains that it does not take you to different floors, but to different universes instead!

You decide to humor Darius, finding this hard to believe as he explains that all of the universes are the same but with one deadly difference. He then steps into the elevator and returns moments later, only to produce a box... with your head in it! He then begins to approach both you and Jamie while wielding a machete! As the both of you do, Jamie explains that it can't be the same Uncle and she remembers that once the real Uncle Darius told her of a universe where Head Hunting was a casual sport!

You begin to panic, realizing that the other you has already died in this universe, but he must be trapped in it and you're trapped in the house! The controls are somewhere in the lab, where the evil Darius is. Jamie then suggest that you and her travel to this other universe to try to find her Uncle. But you do not really know if you want to do this, until realizing that saving the real Darius may be your only chance at stopping the evil one!

Story A[]

You decide to use the Transvator to journey into the Head-Hunting universe to save the real uncle Darius. You and Jamie manage to safely make it to the Transvator and narrowly escape from Evil Darius. Jamie tells you to press a button and you do not have too long before the evil Darius opens the door! You must then choose which button to pick, all leading to a different universe until you find the right one.

Story B[]

You decide it is much safer to stay in your own universe and use one of the real Uncle Darius' inventions to help save the two of you from Evil Darius and force him to save Good Darius. However, this is not going to be easy! You barely have any idea what the inventions do and Jamie can only help with what she does know.

List of endings[]

There are twenty-one bad endings and two good endings.

Bad endings[]

Ending Paths

You press a button to "Disintegrate" Evil Darius inside a machine, but then two of him emerge from the machine, and you realize that you pressed the "Duplicate" button by mistake. You and Jamie are each caught and decapitated by a version of Darius.

  • 85-27-45-89

You try the Escalator Shoes, which force you up against the ceiling, trying to break through it so you can fly into the air. Evil Darius comes into the room, and because you're hanging upside down, he can easily decapitate you.

  • 85-27-72-37

Evil Uncle Darius throws his machete at your neck, and you can't get out of the way in time, so you are beheaded.

  • 85-27-72-57-61

Using the "Fingernails on Chalkboard" sound on the Ear Irradicator makes Evil Darius happy because he loves the sound so much. He decides to show you another sound he loves: the sound of neck bones breaking. Then he grabs you and breaks your neck.

  • 85-27-72-57-123-84

Using the "Dripping Faucet" sound on the Ear Irradicator doesn't stop Evil Darius, but it jams the machine so that you can't use any of the other sounds. You and Jamie try to run, but crash into each other, and Darius decapitates you both.

  • 85-27-72-57-123-105

While you're wearing the Captivator Helmet, you accidentally knock over a shelf, causing the contents to tip onto Jamie's head and knock her out. The crash alerts Evil Darius, who orders you to open the door so he can shrink your head. You are unable to disobey him.

  • 85-27-72-78-53

You use the Captivator Helmet on Evil Darius and make him take you to the universe with the real Darius in it. You want him to remove a sign from a door, so you tell him to "take it off", but he interprets this as taking off the helmet - which he then puts on your head. Jamie escapes in the Transvator, while Evil Darius forces you into a basement and attaches you to the head-shrinking machine. You see that he had previously done this to the real Darius.

  • 85-27-72-78-121-133

You try to explore a universe where everything is upside down and gravity is reversed; but you lose your grip and drift away into space. There are two ways to reach this ending.

  • 85-77-24-104-118

You're caught by other kids who think you are police spies. You promise to help them use the Transvator to get back to your world; but they hate Darius because he invented toys, which in this universe are designed to hurt children. The kids decide you and Jamie are traitors, and punish you by locking you in a room full of toys.

  • 85-77-47-110-36

The other kids issue you with a Goosebumps quiz to prove you are not a spy (apparently, all children read Goosebumps!) You get the question wrong, and they write TRAITOR TO KIDS on your forehead in permanent ink. You are caught by the police and taken to a jail for kids, where the other inmates plot to kill you because they believe you to be a traitor.

  • 85-77-47-110-106-50

You're imprisoned inside a school to work forever with no breaks until your eighteenth birthday (by which time the real Darius will be dead anyway).

  • 85-77-47-131-63

You try to take on a whole team of "Head Hunters" with a machete, but they easily overpower you and decapitate you.

  • 85-77-73-46-54-16

You're electrocuted by the light switch in Evil Darius' basement, which he had booby-trapped to keep intruders out.

  • 85-77-73-46-54-83-59

You're about to fall into a pit after Evil Darius made the floor collapse beneath you. You try to use the real Darius' remote control to help you, but press a button that disables all the lights. This leads Evil Darius straight to you because the remote control glows in the dark. He then proceeds to decapitate you.

  • 85-77-73-46-54-83-70-48

You're caught and beheaded by an evil version of your science teacher Mr. Johnson, who dislikes you because you are so bad at science.

  • 85-77-73-46-124

You're decapitated by a robot that Evil Darius had built to collect heads for him.

  • 85-77-73-126-51

You arrive in a universe where animals have switched places with humans. You try to ask Sapphire to help you, but she knocks you and Jamie out with tranquilizers and sells you to a zoo. You become a popular exhibit as the only humans in the world that can talk.

  • 85-77-76-26

You cover yourself in bug spray to repel the bugs, but instead it draws a swarm of hungry bugs that begin to munch on you. It turns out that in this universe, bug spray is a treat for bugs to eat. You use more and more of the spray in the hope they will eat that instead of you - but the spray runs out, and the bugs are still hungry.

  • 85-77-93-17-29-42

You join the mysterious parade around the bug statue, but the bugs bite you and Jamie and you become zombies. You obediently line up and go inside the statue, where you are eaten by bugs.

  • 85-77-93-17-69

You're overpowered by bugs and turned into a zombie like the other inhabitants of that universe.

  • 85-77-93-39

Evil Darius traps you and Jamie, and is about to cut off your head.

  • 102

Good endings[]

Ending Paths

Because you saved Uncle Darius from the head-shrinking machine, he lets you keep the Captivator Helmet to use in your science project. You make Mr. Johnson wear it, and force him to stand on one foot and flap his arms like a chicken while telling the class that you and Jamie are the smartest kids in the school.

  • 85-27-72-78-121-68

You recover the real Darius from the "Head Hunting" universe, return to your own world, and defeat Evil Darius. Jamie captured the tiny shrunken Evil Mr. Johnson from the alternate universe for you to show off to the real Mr. Johnson as your science project.

  • 85-77-73-46-54-83-70-56

Page map[]

06-51 Give Yourself Goosebumps 34 Elevator to Nowhere.txt.gv

International releases[]

Artwork[]

Artistic process[]

On his website, Craig White released a detailed description of his artistic process for this cover, including numerous work-in-progress images. However, White's website wasn't properly archived; large portions of the process ⁠(including all its images) are currently lost.[1] According to some of the surviving information, White was asked to make "moderate revisions" to the initial sketch, with Scholastic requesting that more of the elevator be visible.[1] The man also originally had a yellow tie, but this was changed to red and green to be less distracting.[2] Reportedly, the creation process took "about 2 1/2 days including about 2 hours for pencils" and was "faster than most" to complete.[2]

In an interview, White stated that the man on the cover of this book was inspired by Emmett Brown from the film Back to the Future.[3] He admitted that this cover was one of his least favorite in the series in the same interview.[3]

Trivia[]

  • One website from 1998 listed the title of this book as Elevator to Oblivion,[4] suggesting that this was a working title.
  • Many of the choices in Story A are fairly straightforward. The plot contains almost no trick questions or choices of fate.
  • None of Uncle Darius's inventions actually kill the reader; they just incapacitate the reader so that Evil Darius can kill them.
  • One choice uses a question about The Cuckoo Clock of Doom.
  • Choices used in this book include flipping a coin, whether you're wearing long or short sleeves in the real world, and whether you have fallen off a climbing frame recently.

Reference in other Goosebumps media[]

  • An achievement in Goosebumps: The Game is called "Elevator to Nowhere". This is achieved when the player enters a room that is modeled after an Escher staircase drawing.

References[]

Advertisement