Gooseblog: Goosebumps #22: Ghost Beach

It's time to hit the beach everyone. Get out the suntan lotion, hit the waves, and oh, be careful about some freaky urban legends. It's time for Ghost Beach AKA Everybody Ghost Now!

COVER STORY

This is such a beautiful cover. A moonlit cemetery on a rather cold looking beach, with moonlight peeking from the clouds. Headstones of all shapes and sizes. Not to mention the ominous shadowy figure looming above, ready to do something creepy. It's engaging, it's actually creepy (not one that scared me as a kid, but it is really effective), and one of the finest works of Tim Jacobus.

STORY

Jerry and Terri Sadler (our second Jerry protagonist by the way) are spending the summer with their really, really, REALLY old cousins Brad and Agatha. They live on a beach in New England near a cemetery. They run into three other kids named Sam, Louisa and five year old Nat Sadler. Yep, a whole lot of Sadlering going on in this one. The three kids, who are totally not ghosts, warn Jerry and Terri to not go near the ominous cave on the beach because it's supposedly haunted. The next day, Jerry and Terri are looking around the beach and discover a skeleton. A dog skeleton! Dammit Jovial Bob, I haven't forgotten about Petey!

They run into the three other Sadler kids and tell them about the dog. They inform them that perhaps the ghost did it, as dogs are always the first to know about ghosts and assorted spectral figures. That's something we learned all the way back at book number one, so points to Stine on some sort of strange continuity. This is also around the time we get our stock "someone grabs someone from the shoulder" scare. Seriously, after twenty three books, this is getting predictable, Stine. Jerry and Terri tell Brad and Agatha about this later, but the two seem a bit shaken. However they ultimately tell the kids that the other Sadlers are just playing jokes on them and there couldn't possibly be any ghosts around here. Not on this beach. This GHOST BEACH. Nosiree.

The next day Jerry and Terri look around the beach for sea stars when they run into the Sadler three again. They tell them a bit more about the ghost, about how it comes out at midnight and how light can be seen glowing from the cave. Jerry and Terri still doubt any legitimacy and go about their merry way. But when Jerry does see some light in the cave, he goes to investigate. Hand on shoulder scare #2 as Terri sneaks up behind him, and the light vanishes at that convenient moment. It seems like everyone is spooked about what goes on in the cave, even Brad and Agatha, but Jerry is now determined to find out why.

Jerry and Terri enter the cave, and then the ceiling collapses. Oh wait, it was just a whole bunch of bats. Good fake out on that one, Stine. They search on some more and see the flickering light. It's the candlelight of a disheveled old man. He chases after them as the kids escape the cave. That night, Sam, Nat and Louisa talk to Jerry about the ghost they saw, saying that they didn't mean to get them involved, despite the constant talk about the ghost. So they did a terrible job. Later on, Jerry and Terri search the graveyard, which too is filled with Sadlers. This book may have well been called Sadler Beach. It's there where they find three gravestones for three children who died in the 1600s.

So, why are there so many dead Sadlers? Brad and Agatha tell Jerry and Terri that the Sadler family came to America in 1641. Everything was going fine, but they weren't prepared for one thing, and that's the harshness of winter. Almost every Sadler died during that winter and were buried in the cemetery overseeing the beach. Brad and Agatha also say that Sam, Nat and Louisa are distant cousins, and it's just coincidental that they were named after ancestors. Totally not ghosts at all, how could you assume that? Still convinced the man in the cave is the ghost, Jerri and Terri decide that this will be the night they block the cave entrance, keeping him from escaping. But if it's a ghost, can't it just you know, phase through the rocks? Or is it like Hannah in "The Ghost Next Door" and his ghost powers are vague and only convenient when Stine needs them to be?

That night however, before they can drop the rocks on the cave, the ghost man sneaks up behind Jerry and Terry and drags them into the cave. He tells them that he's not the ghost, it's the three kids. He introduces himself as Harrison... you guessed it... Sadler, who came to the US from England to investigate the stories of his ancestors. The previous night that he was chasing the two kids, he was trying to warn them about the three ghosts. We get an explanation that answers my question on the ghosts not escaping the cave. It's some sort of sanctuary that keeps them from escaping if there's no exit. Okay, I rescind my claim about you being lazy Stine... for now.

Then he tries to proclaim his innocence by letting them go. The kids then find a gravestone with Harrison's name, showing he too died in the 1600s. They go back to confront him, and he uses the ancestor excuse. They think he's a liar and go back to the cemetery, they see two newly dug graves, with headstones with their names on it. They run into Sam, Nat and Louisa and confront them about what's going on. The three kids pressure them to seal the cave, so they agree. However, when they make it to the cave, rain begins to fall, so Terri shoves the three kids into the cave.

Sam, Nat and Louisa panic as Harrison shows up to confront them. Everyone argues that they're not the ghost as a dog conveniently arrives. It drives Sam, Louisa and Nat further into the cave as their faces begin to vanish, being replaced by ghostly white skulls. Jerry and Terri run away just as the rocks above the cave come crashing down. Harrison must have somehow loosened them, and he sacrificed himself to trap the three Sadler kids inside forever.

TWIST ENDING

Jerry and Terri return to Brad and Agatha, telling them about what just when down. Suddenly the dog starts barking at the two old cousins. Brad and Agatha, knowing that they've just been found out as also being ghosts, ponder what it is they're going to do with Jerry and Terri. I guess those two new graves will be filled after all!

CONCLUSION

Ghost Beach is kind of a dull book to start. Its pacing goes a bit too slow and really doesn't engage you like other Goosebumps books. But when it gets moving, it's actually a decent little mystery. Giving you enough characters to question just who the real ghosts are. Ultimately you feel that the three cousins are the most likely candidate, but they do add enough reasoning for you to also assume its Harrison. I like the twist as well, since it leaves us with a rather ambiguous dark ending. It wasn't aggravating to read through like most GB books, but it also really lacks much oomph to really want to come back to it. It's as middle of the road as it gets. Ghost Beach gets a C-.