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Welcome to Dead House

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Book

Welcome to Dead House was the first book in the original Goosebumps book series. It was first published in 1992. Along with this, it was then rereleased in 2010 as the thirteenth book in the Classic Goosebumps series, featuring new artwork by Brandon Dorman.

The cover illustration features an old, dark house at night, with the front door slightly ajar, and a strange figure illuminated in the window by an orange light.

Blurb

LOOK ALIVE!

Amanda and Josh think the old house they have just moved into is weird. Spooky. Possibly haunted. And the town of Dark Falls is pretty strange, too.

But their parents don't believe them. You'll get used to it, they say. Go out and make some new friends. So Amanda and Josh do. But these new friends are not exactly what their parents had in mind. Because they want to be friends...forever.

Plot

The Benson family takes their first trip to Dark Falls to meet with the local real estate agent Compton Dawes, and see their new home. Mr. Benson inherited a house that belonged to his late great-uncle that he didn't even know existed. Amanda Benson, her little brother Josh, and their dog Petey immediately sense that something is not quite right. Despite the fact that it is the middle of July, the entire neighborhood seems covered in an artificial darkness created by the shadows of massive, overhanging tree limbs. Dead brown leaves, shade, and shadows are everywhere. Then there is the creepy old house, that appears to have been built many years ago. It is an enormous, dark, antique home with two large bay windows on the second floor that look eerily like a pair of dark eyes staring down at the street below. While Josh proceeds to impatiently whine in protest over the family move and how tragic it is for him, Mr. Dawes welcomes the family into the home. Whilst exploring her new room, Amanda watches with amazement as she catches a glimpse of a boy standing in the doorway, before quickly disappearing down the hall.

Amanda feels much better after seeing her bedroom. She goes outside to tell Josh about it, but both he and Petey are gone. Mr. Dawes offers to provide directions while the family drive around town to find the missing pair. On the way Amanda finds it odd that there aren't any people in the houses or yards, or even on the street. Eventually, the group find Josh trying to catch Petey amongst the gravestones of the Dark Falls cemetery. The kids' father Jack ends up catching Petey and putting him on a leash despite how frantic his behavior is. The family then drops off Mr. Dawes at his real estate office in Dark Falls, where he mentions to the Bensons that they can come back the following week to finalize the contracts for the house. After an eventful first visit, the Benson family leave Dark Falls and head back home to their old neighborhood.

Amanda's best friend, Kathy, comes over on the family's last night in their old house, reassuring Amanda that Dark Falls is only four hours away. The following morning is moving day, and it's a rainy, windy arrival in Dark Falls for the family at their new house. Amanda keeps seeing other children in her home and hearing strange sounds. Amanda and Josh start meeting the locals, such as Ray Thurston who seem friendly enough, but also seem a bit strange and off putting. Both Ray and a girl named Karen claim they used to live in their house.

Two weeks later, Petey goes missing and they can't seem to find him. That night, Josh comes into Amanda's room and theorizes that Peter went into the cemetery, just like last time. When they head out to check, they bump into Ray, who warms them about being out here so late. In the cemetery, they find gravestones with their new friends names on then, including Ray's. Ray confirms that it's his, and he is actually one of the living dead.

Once a year, they must have the blood from a freshly killed person to sustain their "living dead" existence for another year. They killed Petey because dogs always sense the living dead. Ray attacks Amanda but Josh saves her at the last moment, when he shines his light on Ray's face. This results in Ray disintegrating and becoming a pile of bones. Amanda and Josh run home but when they arrive, they are attacked by the dead children who explain that there is no dead great-uncle and that the letter sent to their parents was a trick to bring the Benson family to Dark Falls. Suddenly Mr. Dawes, the real estate agent, appears at the door and the dead children vanish.

He tells them that he has already found their parents and that he will take the kids to join their parents. Although Amanda and Josh think he's saving them at first, a gravestone reveals Mr. Dawes is also dead. He explains to the children that Dark Falls used to be a normal town years ago, but a yellow gas escaped from a nearby factory and spread throughout the town, transforming the citizens into the undead. Amanda and Josh manage to escape Mr. Dawes after Josh hits him on the head with his flashlight. It turns out the dead children are zombies that crumble under light, and they knock down a tree to kill all of the living dead. They rescue their parents and go home to quickly pack up.

As the Benson family is leaving Dead House, they see a new family on the driveway. Amanda notices that these people are being guided by someone that looks like Mr. Dawes. She brushes this off and tells one of the kids that she used to live in their house, and the Benson family drives away.

Reprints and rereleases

Welcome to Dead House is ⁠the most rereleased Goosebumps book. It has received four standalone reprints, was included as a story within the omnibuses of Monster Edition #1 and Hair Raising Collection, and is included in the Retro Scream Collection tin. Additionally, it appeared as one of three stories within Scholastic's Tales of Suspense for Boys omnibus (alongside Chasing the Falconers from On the Run and The Encounter from Animorphs).

Differences

  • In 2008, before the Classic Goosebumps series officially began, Scholastic printed Welcome to Dead House: Special Collector's Edition. It used Tim Jacobus' original artwork and came with a limited edition poster. This reprint features the same logo as books in the Classic Goosebumps series.
  • The gravestones in the Classic Goosebumps version were updated. Each character's date of birth and death were moved forward multiple years.
    • "Josh had hold of Dad's hand" is changed to "Josh had grabbed Dad's hand"
    • "trying to tug his hand out of Josh's grasp" is changed to "struggling".
    • "“Let go, Josh,” I said quietly, grabbing Josh by the shoulder" is changed, so that the second "Josh" says "him"
    • "dead flowerbed" is changed to "overgrown flowerbed".
    • "And my room was huge and had its own bathroom and an old-fashioned window seat where I could sit at the window and look down at the street" is changed to remove the second mention of the window, likely changed to avoid redundancy.
    • The sentence "Even a finished attic filled with old furniture and stacks of old, mysterious cartons we could explore" adds "There was" at the start, likely to make the sentence more complete.
    • "I took one more look at my closet, a long walk-in closet with a light in the ceiling, and wide shelves against the back wall" is changed to "I took one more look at my long walk-in closet, which had a light in the ceiling and wide shelves against the back wall"
    • "He was chasing after Petey" removes the "after"
    • "Even though it was the middle of the afternoon" is changed to "Even though it was the middle of the day"
  • "Blonde" is changed to "Blond"
    • "I hadn't screamed" is changed to "I didn't scream".
    • "big potluck dinner party" is changed to just "big party".

International releases

Classic Goosebumps

Audiobooks



Differences

French:

  • There are a few renames:
    • Amanda is called "Anna"
    • Josh is called "Jimmy"
    • Petey is called "Pat"
    • Ray is called "Eric"
    • The town of Dark Falls is called "Tombstone"

Adaptations

TV series

Goosebumps g.png For the television adaptation, visit the episode page.

Audiobook

Audiobook Release date Length Narrated by Published by
01 Dead House Audiobook box front.jpg
 May 1997 (limited release) 46 minutes Ted Kryczko Walt Disney Records
Welcometodeadhouse-audiobook.jpg
► Play in Spotify
 April 2015 2 hours, 43 minutes Tara Sands Scholastic Inc.

Gallery

Conceptual

Trivia

  • Amanda and Josh's father was mentioned by name in the book: Jack Benson. Their mother was referred to as Penelope Benson in the television episode, but it is unknown if that really was her name in the book.
  • Stine claims that this book may be too scary for kids, because he didn't have his funny elements yet, and he says that if he could rewrite the book, he would make it a little funny.
  • A follow-up to the book titled Happy Holidays from Dead House was planned for the Goosebumps Gold book series in the year 2000. However, both the book and the series were never released due to R.L. Stine's fallout with Scholastic.
  • First edition copies of the book do not feature a number on the spine.
  • At one point, Amanda has a dream where her family are all skeletons. A similar dream appears in Say Cheese and Die!
    • However, the dream sequence in this book is much more detailed in comparison.
  • Certain copies of the original book advertise not one, but two books on the back cover; Stay Out of the Basement and Monster Blood.
  • The Classic Goosebumps reprint changes the back tagline to “Enter at your own risk!”.
  • The first word of this book is ‘Josh’, this book being the first Goosebumps book, and it’s first word being ‘Josh’ means that the first word ever in a Goosebumps book was ‘Josh’, and the first letter was ‘J’.
  • Legendary horror filmmaker George A. Romero once wrote a concept for a film adaptation of Welcome to Dead House. [1]

Errors

  • Early in the book, Mr. Dawes offers to drive the Benson family around. The story suggests that Mr. Dawes is driving his own car; he even retrieves his hat from the trunk. After driving the family, Mr. Dawes stops by his real estate office and gets out, and the Benson family drives off with their car. Either Mr. Dawes had a car in or near the Benson's driveway (that he got his hat from), or R.L. Stine forgot that Mr. Dawes was not driving his own car.

References in other Goosebumps media

The house as it appears in the game.

Goosebumps series
#01 Welcome to Dead House#22 Ghost Beach#43 The Beast from the East
#02 Stay Out of the Basement#23 Return of the Mummy#44 Say Cheese and Die — Again!
#03 Monster Blood#24 Phantom of the Auditorium#45 Ghost Camp
#04 Say Cheese and Die!#25 Attack of the Mutant#46 How to Kill a Monster
#05 The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb#26 My Hairiest Adventure#47 Legend of the Lost Legend
#06 Let's Get Invisible!#27 A Night in Terror Tower#48 Attack of the Jack-O'-Lanterns
#07 Night of the Living Dummy#28 The Cuckoo Clock of Doom#49 Vampire Breath
#08 The Girl Who Cried Monster#29 Monster Blood III#50 Calling All Creeps!
#09 Welcome to Camp Nightmare#30 It Came from Beneath the Sink!#51 Beware, the Snowman
#10 The Ghost Next Door#31 Night of the Living Dummy II#52 How I Learned to Fly
#11 The Haunted Mask#32 The Barking Ghost#53 Chicken Chicken
#12 Be Careful What You Wish For...#33 The Horror at Camp Jellyjam#54 Don't Go to Sleep!
#13 Piano Lessons Can Be Murder#34 Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes#55 The Blob That Ate Everyone
#14 The Werewolf of Fever Swamp#35 A Shocker on Shock Street#56 The Curse of Camp Cold Lake
#15 You Can't Scare Me! #36 The Haunted Mask II#57 My Best Friend Is Invisible
#16 One Day at HorrorLand#37 The Headless Ghost #58 Deep Trouble II
#17 Why I'm Afraid of Bees#38 The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena#59 The Haunted School
#18 Monster Blood II#39 How I Got My Shrunken Head#60 Werewolf Skin
#19 Deep Trouble#40 Night of the Living Dummy III#61 I Live in Your Basement!
#20 The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight#41 Bad Hare Day#62 Monster Blood IV
#21 Go Eat Worms! #42 Egg Monsters from Mars
  1. ↑ Fresh Details Unearthed for the ‘Goosebumps’ Movie George A. Romero Wrote in the 1990s
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