Vanessa is a mysterious woman and the main antagonist of the fifty-third Goosebumps book, Chicken Chicken.
History[]
Chicken Chicken[]
Everyone in Goshen Falls thinks that Vanessa is weird. She lives alone in a farmhouse and never talks to anyone in town. Some of the kids even think that she is a witch. Because of her ominous reputation, many kids like to play pranks on Vanessa.
One day, in front of the grocery store, Crystal, Cole, and Anthony bump into Vanessa, causing Vanessa to drop all of her groceries. Anthony apologizes and runs away. Vanessa points at Crystal and Cole and says, "Chicken chicken." The siblings quickly return home.
Over the course of the next few days, the siblings slowly begin turning into chickens. Ultimately, they decide that they will need to go to Vanessa's house and look for a spell book so they can change themselves back into humans. Vanessa walks in on the siblings and they beg her to be turned back into their normal selves. Vanessa initially declines, and she explains that she cursed the siblings because, unlike Anthony, they didn't apologize for bumping into her. Crystal thanks Vanessa for explaining and for teaching them a lesson. Vanessa, impressed by the politeness of the humble letter, turns the kids back into humans.
Vanessa offers the kids soda, which they accept and drink. Cole burps, and both kids laugh. This infuriates Vanessa, causing her to point at them and cast another spell: "Pig pig."
Goosebumps HorrorTown[]
Vanessa was a nice farm girl who had been hired by Crystal to make food for a big Thanksgiving feast. Crystal treated her like trash, calling her a freak and never thanking her for her services. Eventually this reached a breaking point, causing Vanessa to get angry and unlock her magic powers. She used them to turn Crystal and her brother Greg into chickens. Despite being put through this, Crystal still didn't see that she was at fault and refused to apologize or thank Vanessa. With Crystal out of the way, Vanessa took over the dinner and everyone had a nice Thanksgiving feast. While the event ended with Crystal and Cole still chickens, Vanessa told them that it wears off, so it likely did soon after.
General information[]
Physical appearance[]
Vanessa is has long, straight, black hair and a pale, white face. She also dresses entirely in black and wears black lipstick and fingernail polish. In HorrorTown she instead has blonde hair which turns white when she casts a spell, she also has blue eyes that turn green when she casts a spell.
Personality[]
Vanessa is considered by most townsfolk to be a strange woman, as she always keeps to herself. Whenever someone does something that she doesn't like, Vanessa gets angry and casts a spell on that person in the hopes of teaching them a lesson; to Vanessa, politeness is very important, especially for young people.
In Goosebumps HorrorTown, she is a nice farm girl.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In Goosebumps HorrorTown, Vanessa is portrayed as Clarissa's niece, possibly as a reference to how Be Careful What You Wish For... is Blogger Beware's most Goosebumps book whereas Chicken Chicken is infamously his least favorite.