The Headless Ghost

"The Headless Ghost" is the 37th Goosebumps book by R. L. Stine.Followed By The Abominable Snowman Of Pasadena

Plot summary

When Stephanie Alpert gets bored of terrorizing the kids in her neighborhood such as Geena Jeffers, Terri Abel, Bradley Fuller, Chrissy Jacobson, and other kids. Wheeler Falls; she tells her partner-in-crime Duane Comack that she wants to go exploring around Hill House, a very old and creepy house. She wants to find a ghost. They sneak off the tour (luckily, they know the tour by heart) and try to find the head of Andrew McCraw, a ghost who failed at finding it himself a hundred years ago. After meeting a boy named Seth, their favorite tour guide Otto's nephew who lead them into the mansion late at night and claimed to be Andrew, they meet the real Andrew, find his head, and stop going to Hill House. Months later, while going home from a birthday party, they walk by Hill House and decide they want just one more tour. Otto and Edna give them the tour and after they leave the mansion, Stephanie and Duane get stopped by the police.

Apparently, Hill House shut down three months ago and that the place is empty, Duane looks at Hill House once more, and realizes that Otto and Edna were, during the last tour, ghosts themselves. The light then goes out.

TV Version

An adaption of the book was done for the "Goosebumps" television show. The differences in the episode's plot are:
*Stephanie is depicted as more antagonistic than in the book.
*There is no Edna character in the TV show version.
*Otto is not on a friendly basis with Stephanie and Duane because Stephanie is always causing trouble.
*Otto is later revealed to be the ghost of the sea captain who killed Andrew (the headless ghost). He then tries to turn Stephanie into a ghost by painting her portrait, but Duane saves her before she can fully disappear.
*In the end, Hill House is sold to a couple by Otto the ghost (who is disguised as a realtor).
*The story of the dumbwaiter is actually about a boy who loved strawberry ice cream so much that he tried to reach for it when his bowl got stuck in the dumbwaiter and died of head trauma when he fell through and hit the bottom.
*In the TV version, Seth lies about being The Headless Ghost and reveals that he's the ghost of the boy who died in the dumbwaiter.
*Stephanie's last name is Albert.
*Duane and Stephanie do not scare Geena, Terri, Bradley, and Chrissy, and the other kids.
* In the book, Hill House was shut down 3 months ago. In the TV version, Stephanie & Duane don't go to see the Hill House tour.

ee also

* List of Goosebumps books