Goosebumps HorrorLand facts for kids

Goosebumps HorrorLand is a scary book series by R. L. Stine. It's a spin-off from his super popular Goosebumps books. This series started almost ten years after the first Goosebumps books came out.

About the Series

R.L. Stine first planned Goosebumps HorrorLand as a twelve-book series. It was inspired by two older Goosebumps books: One Day at HorrorLand and Return to HorrorLand.

What makes this series special?

• It's the first Goosebumps series where all the books connect to one big story.
• It's also the first time characters, bad guys, and places from different Goosebumps stories meet up!

The new series was going to be like a huge story where fans could visit HorrorLand. R.L. Stine called it "the scariest place on Earth." The story wouldn't end in just one book. Instead, the spooky adventures would keep going online and in books #1-12. Each book could also be read on its own.

The first nine HorrorLand books would have new scary faces and some of the worst villains from the original Goosebumps series. Regular kids were being called to HorrorLand, but no one knew why. More and more characters got trapped in the theme park with each book. Their situations became more and more dangerous.

Books #11 and #12 were supposed to happen completely inside HorrorLand. The big question was: Who was behind the evil plan to bring all these kids together? The answer would be shown in the last book.

Scholastic also started reprinting classic Goosebumps books. These "collector's editions" had new covers and extra stuff. They were called "Classic Goosebumps." Some of these reissues connected to the HorrorLand story. For example, Be Careful What You Wish For... was reissued because a character from it, Clarissa, was used for Madame Doom in HorrorLand.

Things changed a bit from the original plan. The tenth book didn't happen only in HorrorLand. Also, the classic Goosebumps reissues kept going past the tenth book because they sold so well. Before the twelfth book came out, it was announced that a new story arc would begin in 2010. This new arc would have seven books, making the total nineteen. Later, R.L. Stine said he would write six more books, bringing the total to twenty-five!

How the Books Are Set Up

Each book in the first part of the series has three sections.

The Story

This is the main part of the book, usually about 100 pages long. It reads just like a classic Goosebumps story. This section introduces the main characters and the monster or scary situation.

Enter HorrorLand

This part is a mini-story, about 30-40 pages long. It continues the story from the first section. The characters from the book get invited to HorrorLand as Very Special Guests. There, they meet characters from other Goosebumps books. Each "Enter HorrorLand" part ends with a cliffhanger. This means the story stops at a super exciting moment, and you have to read the next book to find out what happens! For example, in The Scream of the Haunted Mask, Carly Beth and Sabrina think a werewolf is attacking them. In the next book, Dr. Maniac vs. Robby Schwartz, you find out it was just Robby.

Fear File

This section is only a few pages long. It has cool things like fake maps, brochures, or menus from the part of HorrorLand featured in that book. There's also a hand-drawn map of the area. Each book also has a fake ad for its featured park area on the front page. Most ads include web addresses for EnterHorrorLand.com and EscapeHorrorLand.com. All the maps from the books can be put together to form a map of the whole park!

The order of the maps (from top-left to bottom-right) is:

• Top row: 6, 12, 4, 11
• Middle row: 10, 8, 1, 9
• Bottom row: 2, 3, 5, 7

The "Fear File" parts in the books are just small samples. The full chapters were published in a book called Welcome to HorrorLand: A Survival Guide.

Other Cool Features

Some books include a preview chapter from the original Goosebumps book they were based on. For example, Creep from the Deep has a preview of Deep Trouble.

Also, the back of each book in the first series shows half of a special HorrorLand map token. When you put two matching books next to each other (like #1 and #2), the two halves connect to show a complete token. For example, the first two books together show Slappy the Dummy. Each token has a secret message written in mirror writing around its edge. The messages change depending on if you put a book next to the next book in the series or its matching "Classic Goosebumps" reissue. For example, putting Revenge of the Living Dummy and Creep from the Deep together says "Find This Token Online." But Revenge of the Living Dummy and the reissued Night of the Living Dummy spell "Find This Dummy Online." The twelfth and final token was never finished.

Second Arc

The books in the second part of the series, starting from #13, are also split into three parts:

• Part One is a short adventure in HorrorLand.
• Part Two tells the main story.
• The Epilogue describes the hero going back to HorrorLand.

This new seven-book story arc starts with kids visiting the Chiller House, a gift shop in HorrorLand. They get a souvenir and a small "Horror" creature to take home. At home, strange things happen because of their "free" gift, while the glowing Horror watches them. When it's time to pay, the Horror takes them back to the shopkeeper, Jonathan Chiller.

Third Arc

The third part of the series, called "Hall of Horrors," has six books. Its slogan is "The Hall of Horrors is open. Step into the nightmare!" A teaser at the end of book 19 says the Hall of Horrors is "hidden in the darkest shadows of the park." It's a place for kids who have scary stories to tell. Hall of Horrors is numbered as its own series, starting again at #1.

Books

Characters

Here are the main characters in the HorrorLand series.

List indicator(s)

• (Own Book) means the character was the main focus of their own book.
• (HorrorLand) means the character was invited to or visited the HorrorLand amusement park.
• (Chiller House) means the character was invited to the Chiller House in HorrorLand.
• (Hall of Horrors) means the character visited the Hall of Horrors in HorrorLand.
• (s) means another main character was in the same book.
• (A Grey Cell) means the character did not appear in that specific part of the series.
• (a) means all the characters listed above a are in this book.
• (b) means all the characters between a and b are in this book.

Websites for the Series

The Goosebumps HorrorLand series also had special websites that went along with the books.

Enter HorrorLand

The website EnterHorrorLand.com was like a game where fans could explore HorrorLand. It had twelve map sections, one for each HorrorLand book. Each section had lots of mini-games. The idea was that the bad guy from each book was trying to take over that part of HorrorLand. The mini-games told the story of how players defeated these bad guys. It's funny that the player was often shown as Mr. Wood, a villain from Night of the Living Dummy. A fortune teller named Madame Doom would give guidance and help. The website also had two short cartoons: "What to Expect in HorrorLand" and "An Interview with Slappy." This site opened on February 20, 2008.

Escape HorrorLand

The website EscapeHorrorLand.com was a blog that shared facts and information about the HorrorLand theme park. It was written by Luke Morris, a character from One Day at HorrorLand. His sister Lizzy also helped by sharing parts from a "Welcome to HorrorLand" guidebook. Luke and Lizzy received messages from Madame Doom, a mysterious "MONSTER-X," and Slappy the Dummy. Some of these messages even appeared in the HorrorLand books! This site opened on February 14, 2008, but stopped updating its blog on August 22, 2008. The website was later closed in November 2009.

Video Game

Scholastic Book Company released a Goosebumps HorrorLand video game on October 28, 2008. You could play it on Nintendo DS, Wii, and PlayStation 2. The game was made by Gusto Games. In the game, a young child and their friends get trapped in HorrorLand. They have to complete challenging levels to escape the evil theme park. The game was similar to an older Goosebumps game called Goosebumps: Escape from Horrorland. In that game, players had to win mini-games to find out who was behind the scary events and get back home. The HorrorLand game had five main areas:

• Vampire Village (the main hub)
• Mad Labs
• Terror Tombs (an Egyptian-themed area)
• Fever Swamp
• The Carnival of Screams

Many of these areas were inspired by classic Goosebumps books or earlier versions of HorrorLand.