Escape from Horror House was the thirty-seventh book in the Give Yourself Goosebumps gamebook series. It was preceded by Ship of Ghouls and followed by Into the Twister of Terror.
The cover had an image of a run-down house. The house had twisted and warped into features that seemed to form a monstrous face. This tagline is "Home is where the horror is!"
It was released in July 1999 and was 137 pages long.
Plot
Despite the title, this book focuses on you getting rid of a ghost that has haunted a house, not trying to get out of a haunted house.
Strange incidents of vandalism are happening at your home, and your mother refuses to believe that you didn't do it. She orders you to clean up, then leaves you at home alone. Your friend Bobby's words make you think that perhaps there is a poltergeist in your house, and indeed it turns out there is. It writes a message to you, saying that it's going to take over your body. At this point the doorbell rings, and a woman called Madame Matilda appears. She says she can help you get rid of the poltergeist, and the reader must decide whether or not to trust her.
Story A
You trust Matilda and let her into the house. Together you hold a séance and summon the poltergeist. Another ghost hunter called Marvin appears at your door, but he and Matilda hate each other and won't work together. The reader must then decide whether to work with Matilda or Marvin to get rid of the poltergeist.
Story B
You shut the door in Matilda's face and refuse to let her in. Rather than face the poltergeist by yourself, you decide to ask your friends Bobby and Lisa for help, so you go down to the basement to email them. There, you discover ghostly faces in the walls. The faces tell you that there are multiple poltergeists in your home, and that the poltergeists feed on negative emotion. You have to find a way to stop them and make sure that no one around you is expressing fear or anger...
Side Story C
From story B, you get trapped in the basement, and have to convince the ghostly faces (who, in this storyline, are the poltergeists) to let you out. They will agree to release you only if you promise to find bodies for them to inhabit. When your friends arrive, the three of you have to work together to find animal bodies that the poltergeists can use.
Bad Endings
- You return home and find out that your family — except you — has been turned into hideous, horrifying monsters after the poltergeists possessed them all while you were gone away.
- Your face melts off.
- Your head explodes.
- The poltergeists possessed the ants in your ant farm and one of them is hungry, so it decides to eat you up.
- When you feed the poltergeists enough fear, they will give them enough power to kill you, Bobby and Lisa.
- The poltergeist drains the life force out of you forever.
- Marvin and Matilda fail to defend you from a three-headed orange monster before it gulps you.
- When you "accidentally" crash your lawn mower into a tree, dolls that are possessed by the poltergeists kill you.
- A poltergeist tricks you into smashing Matilda's favorite necklace, which contains trapped poltergeists. after smashing the necklace, they are all released from her necklace and kill you instantly.
- Poltergeists lock you in Jen's toy box with Marvin where you are transported to the poltergeists' world. Then, they eat you and Marvin.
- You, Bobby and Lisa are turned into ghosts by the poltergeists.
- The poltergeists literally tickle you to death.
- Your mother feeds the poltergeists with enough anger, they will possess your body and you become just as evil and mean as they are.
- The poltergeists might take over the whole town.
- The poltergeist tricks you into scaring Matilda away, after it kills you.
- The poltergeists transformed the ground into soft mud and waves from a nearby lake drown you, Bobby and Lisa.
- The dolls who are posessed by poltergeists will tear you into pieces.
- The poltergeists and Zak (who is now a poltergeist) combine together to bring you down.
Good Endings
- The poltergeist's mother takes it away from the human world.
- Your sister Jen has control over the poltergeists. The bad thing is that you should never fight with her unless the poltergeists wake again.
- The poltergeists decide to stay in the dump and leave you alone forever.
- You, Bobby and Lisa neutralize the poltergeist with magnets. You are now helped by your favorite school teacher, Ms. Peters.
- You find out that you have telekinetic powers and you are the reason weird things happen. There aren't really any poltergeists and you're happy that your levitating abilities will make things much easier.
- You find that your sister Jen was the reason weird things happen because she is now telekinetic. There isn't a poltergeist in the house (especially in your room), but you should just keep being nice to her.
- The poltergeists were joking. They don't mean to take over you. You, Bobby and Lisa play with them and then they go away to find another house to haunt.
- You don't let the poltergeists feed on anything that makes them strong. They evaporate and are gone forever.
Trivia
- The book employed little of the type of humor characteristic of the series.
- There are 18 bad endings and eight good ones.
- Despite the cover, the reader's house doesn't actually twist and warp to form the monstrous face that the front cover has.
- The title doesn't actually focus on you escaping your house, since that will be too easy to do (just unlock the door and get out). Instead, it is all about you attempting to get rid of the poltergeist taking over your house and managing your fear.