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'''The Ghost Sitter''' is the 5th story featured in the book, More and More Tales to Give You Goosebumps.
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{{Tabber/Story|previous=Something Strange About Marci|next=Fun With Spelling}}"'''The Ghost Sitter'''" was the fifth story featured in the book ''[[More & More Tales to Give You Goosebumps]]''.
   
 
==Plot==
 
==Plot==
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Ray and Mike's parents love buying and renovating old houses. The one they've just bought, however, is planned to be their new, permanent home.  At school, the siblings begin hearing rumors of a haunted house in the neighborhood. And as it turns out, the house is on the exact same street as they are. It doesn't take long to figure out which one they're referring to: the seemingly deserted house next door with a lawn of overgrown weeds. Arriving back at home, the siblings are told they have to do chores in that exact house on Saturday, where seemingly a couple by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Hodge live.
Two siblings, Ray and Mike, have just moved into an old house their parents were renovating. At school, all day they are warned about the dangers lurking in the house next to their own. Then upon arriving home, their mother tells them they were enlisted to be the volunteers in helping to housesit for an elderly couple next door. Which surprises the boys since they were told by everyone it was abandoned/haunted.
 
   
Inside the spooky house, they smell a foul odor and they spot a bowl of gross slop inside a dumbwaiter. As they pour the gross stuff out, they make sure to pour it at an angle to avoid splashing any and making a mess. When they come back later to finish their chores, they discover that the house has been trashed by ghosts and they run out in a fright, taunting the ghosts.
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When Saturday comes around, the boys do their required tasks, but soon discover strange things, such as a stuffed animal torn to shreds. Soon, they hard a loud crash followed by a groan. The noise causes Ray and Mike to flee the house in terror. The next time the two enter, they find the house completely trashed. While they initially want to tell their parents of what they've seen, they decide not to.
   
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Before going to bed, Mike realizes he left the Hodges's key in the kitchen and forgot to lock their door. He urges the reluctant Mike back to the house, where they find the Hodges home early. They explain that the noise and the mess was not a ghost, but actually their pet pig, Walter. They all share a laugh about the day's events, and the two brothers return to school and explain to their fellow classmates the truth behind the ghost rumor.
Their hurried escape causes one onlooker to remark, "Hey boys, where's the ''Bonfire of the Vanities''?" The elderly couple pulls up and while the boys try to prep them for the mess inside by promising that they didn't do anything while they were away, and that it was like that. But it turns out that ghost didn't cause the damage, the couples pet pig did!
 
==Surprise Ending==
 
   
The next day at school, the siblings brag about how nobody needs to heed what everybody else thinks about the ghosts or home, and that its perfectly safe. The siblings are then informed that the house ''they'' are living in is the haunted one...
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However, they don't get the response as expected. One student says everyone knows about the Hodges and their pig, their house isn't haunted. The real haunted house is actually the one ''they're'' living in, and according to another, nobody ''ever'' survives in that house.
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==Trivia==
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* Hodge House is the 3rd famous haunted house in the ''Goosebumps'' series with an "H" name, after [[Hill House]] and Hedge House from ''[[My Best Friend Is Invisible]]''.
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{{TTGYGoosebumps}}
 
[[Category:More & More Tales to Give You Goosebumps]]
 
[[Category:Short Stories]]
 
[[Category:Short Stories]]
[[Category:Ghosts]]
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[[Category:Ghosts (topic)]]
 
[[Category:Schools]]
 
[[Category:Schools]]
[[Category:Relatives]]
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[[Category:Houses]]
[[Category:Siblings]]
 
[[Category:More and More Tales to Give You Goosebumps]]
 
[[Category:Brothers]]
 
[[Category:Heroes]]
 

Revision as of 03:33, 25 July 2019


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"The Ghost Sitter" was the fifth story featured in the book More & More Tales to Give You Goosebumps.

Plot

Ray and Mike's parents love buying and renovating old houses. The one they've just bought, however, is planned to be their new, permanent home.  At school, the siblings begin hearing rumors of a haunted house in the neighborhood. And as it turns out, the house is on the exact same street as they are. It doesn't take long to figure out which one they're referring to: the seemingly deserted house next door with a lawn of overgrown weeds. Arriving back at home, the siblings are told they have to do chores in that exact house on Saturday, where seemingly a couple by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Hodge live.

When Saturday comes around, the boys do their required tasks, but soon discover strange things, such as a stuffed animal torn to shreds. Soon, they hard a loud crash followed by a groan. The noise causes Ray and Mike to flee the house in terror. The next time the two enter, they find the house completely trashed. While they initially want to tell their parents of what they've seen, they decide not to.

Before going to bed, Mike realizes he left the Hodges's key in the kitchen and forgot to lock their door. He urges the reluctant Mike back to the house, where they find the Hodges home early. They explain that the noise and the mess was not a ghost, but actually their pet pig, Walter. They all share a laugh about the day's events, and the two brothers return to school and explain to their fellow classmates the truth behind the ghost rumor.

However, they don't get the response as expected. One student says everyone knows about the Hodges and their pig, their house isn't haunted. The real haunted house is actually the one they're living in, and according to another, nobody ever survives in that house.

Trivia