History Literature / GiveYourselfGoosebumps

--> Don't feel too crushed about it! [''When you're about to be squished by a giant hand'']\\
Oh well. That's the breaks. [''Your reflections broke through a mirror and have you trapped in the mirror-verse'']\\
'''''Hang''''' in there! [''You're turned into a craving on a pendant'']\\
You always wanted to fill your room with music... [''when you're about to be squashed alive by an enlarging walkman'']\\

Don't let it give you a ''swell'' head! [''one of the BodyHorror moments when your head becomes freakishly huge'']

* AcmeProducts: "Acme Cleanup" is mentioned.

* {{Cyborg}}: In one ending its reveal that [[spoiler: your best friends Stacey, Jason and their uncle Jack are Cyborgs.]]

* DigitalAbomination: Spyder, a living computer virus that manifests itself as a spider/octopus hybrid in the real world that leaves toxic slime all around. It bites the main character, causing him to have amnesia.

* {{Cyborg}}: In one ending its reveal that [[spoiler: your cousins Stacey, Jason and your uncle Jack are Cyborgs.]]

* Cyborg: In one ending its reveal that [[spoiler: your cousins Stacey, Jason and your uncle Jack are Cyborgs.]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: R.L. Stine previously wrote a {{Gamebook}} series called ''[[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=193 Hark]]''. The trademark randomness of the ''Give Yourself Goosebumps'' novels was also present on ''Hark''; perhaps even more so. The closest ''GYG'' came to reflecting ''Hark'''s game design was ''Into the Jaws of Doom''.

For '90s kids, this series was the first (or, if one avoided the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' Alternamorphs books, perhaps only) exposure they've had to the Choose Your Own Adventure genre. Like other books in the genre, you, the reader, are required to make potentially dangerous choices to escape whatever dire circumstances you find yourself trapped in. Depending on the book, this may involve fleeing a haunted house, [[JackassGenie a deceptive genie]] or escaping a carnival of horrors (i.e., [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the book pictured to the right]]). And of course, [[TheManyDeathsOfYou the possibility of lots and lots of grisly deaths]].

For '90s kids, this series was the first (or, if one avoided the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' Alternamorphs books, perhaps only) exposure they've had to the CYOA genre. Like other books in the genre, you, the reader, are required to make potentially dangerous choices to escape whatever dire circumstances you find yourself trapped in. Depending on the book, this may involve fleeing a haunted house, [[JackassGenie a deceptive genie]] or escaping a carnival of horrors (i.e., [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the book pictured to the right]]). And of course, [[TheManyDeathsOfYou the possibility of lots and lots of grisly deaths]].

[[folder: #28: ''Night of a Thousand Claws'']]

* AdultFear: Much of the story's plot is kicked off when your youngest brother strays out in the night, and both you and your other brother (the book assumes you're the eldest) goes out to find him. And then you're forced to spend a night - without any adults - in a spooky town infested by ghostly cats.
* CainAndAbel: Jacob and Katrina Madd play with this trope, as the roles of Cain and Abel switch depending on the storyline.
* CatStereotype: As per tradition, black cats are associated with misfortune; the third storyline have you and your brothers trying to return to the inn your family's staying, but right off the bat you end up stumbling into a pair of black cats in the streets. From that point on, ''all'' paths in the third storyline leads to bad endings, regardless which way you choose.
* CatsAreMean: The book is ''built'' on this trope, and the reader's character is all too aware of it.
* CatsHateWater: You try to use this trope against Katrina in one ending, by use of a hose... shame you didn't check if said hose was connected to anything.
* CrazyCatLady: Katrina Madd. Some of the endings have you pull an EnemyMine, while one of the truly good endings reveals the real, good Katrina had been held hostage by her brother Jacob since before the book started. After freeing her, she decides to confront the impostor you met at the beginning.
* DumbwaiterRide: In the lighthouse, you attempt an escape from a room full of hostile cats by leaping into a dumbwaiter. Unfortunately, it malfunctions causing you to fall to your death.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: "Story A" has no completely good ending. In the two endings where the reader wins, his or her parents will either become the new "Keeper of the Cats" or the reader himself/herself will turn into a dog.
* HereWeGoAgain: You managed to escape from Cat Cay Island and return to the inn with your parents, but to your horror, your parents had adopted one of the cats behind your back.
* LighthousePoint: Much of this adventure is kicked off when you're searching for your missing younger brother, found him in an abandoned lighthouse after he's drawn out by a mysterious force, and must decide whether to stay in the lighthouse for a night after being warned by the lighthouse's keeper or to ignore his advice and brave the streets full of ghostly felines.
* LittleBitBeastly: One of the endings ends with you defeating the evil {{cat|folk}}people and leaving the island forever, only to realize on the drive home that you have grown a dog tail.
* MegaNeko: Katrina has the ability to transform herself into a building-sized giant cat to chase you down, as you discover after ticking her off too much.
* MortonsFork: You have been cornered and are about to be devoured by ghost cats. The book then presents you with a wordsearch puzzle to determine whether you'll survive. If you don't solve the puzzle, the cats eat you, and you are told it's your own fault for being too lazy to solve a simple puzzle. If you ''do'' solve it … the cats eat you anyway, because you were too absorbed in the puzzle to notice them advancing on you.
* NotMyDriver: You can attempt to escape Cat Cay Island by hitching a ride, but as soon as you close the doors, you realize Katrina Madd is the driver.
* OutOfTheFryingPan: You ''may'' escape Cat Cay Island early in the story, but this only leads to a bad ending where you're trapped in another town full of ghostly dogs.
* PunnyName: ''Kat''rina Madd, the Keeper of the Cats of Cat Cay Island.
* SkewedPriorities: If you succeed in the "SPIRAL STIRCASE" puzzle, you become so absorbed in finding more words that you don't notice you're in danger, and die anyway.
* TownWithADarkSecret: The town of Cat Cay on Cat Cay Island, where residents are told to stay indoors after dark, thanks to a curse infesting the streets with ghostly cats.
* ThisLoserIsYou: In one path of the book, you have to make a list of words from the phrase "Spiral staircase", and if you don't get enough, the book insults you for your laziness in getting such a simple task wrong.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: #31: ''The Werewolf of Twisted Tree Lodge'']]

* AdultsAreUseless: Played around in two ambiguous endings.
** Trying to break out of the lodge leads to it's cranky old keeper throwing you out for vandalizing. You get sent home on the spot, but at least you didn't die a horrible death via werewolves.
** Your dad drags you back home after the contests' organizers found out you plagiarized a story. While you didn't die, you'll still be in big trouble for cheating.
* CassandraTruth: One of the ambiguous endings have you being sent home for cheating, after you discover the titular lodge to be infested with werewolves. You tried telling your dad the truth, but he doesn't believe you and you realize you'll be in big trouble once you got home.
* CursedWithAwesome: In one ending, you now know that monsters are terrified of dust, and you can't ever clean your home again, so you won't have to do any more chores.
* DisproportionateRetribution: The story is kicked off when you found a manuscript disposed in a trashcan titled "Revenge of the Werewolves" and decide to claim it as your own, winning you a trip to the titular lodge. Your punishment for plagiarism is to be hunted down by werewolves, zombies, and all kind of monsters. Good grief!
* GetIntoJailFree: In one ending, you accidentally set off a burglar alarm whilst trying to escape from the lodge. Police arrive and arrest you, thinking you were trying to break ''in'' … and you happily play along with this so you can go to jail where the werewolves can't get you.
* {{Metafiction}}: Early in the adventure, you recover dropped papers from a suitcase and discovers them to be the manuscript of a story... that spells out all events leading up to this point.
* MortonsFork: This book presents an interesting scenario when you're trapped in the middle of the woods, facing a bunch of creatures that could easily eviscerate you for their own amusement. One option is to trick them into playing a game of tag and running like hell to escape, but they easily catch up and kill you. The alternative? Convince them that they'd all turn on each other if they try to eat you, because they're all different creatures, and require different needs when it comes to eating humans. By doing that, they'd either let you live to prevent turning on each other, or go all divide and conquer to see who gets to eat you. Instead, they claim that they're diplomatic monsters, and that their different needs doesn't interfere at all with feeding on you, so you still wind up dead.
* PlagiarismInFiction: The plot is kicked off by "you" having found a story, "Revenge of the Werewolves", in the trash and it somehow being submitted to a story competition in your name.
* RetGone: One of the weirdest examples; you can come across a typewriter composing a story, and choose to press "DELETE". You'll end up deleting the entire adventure, including yourself.
* ShoutOut: In one section, you see a man in black with a suitcase, and [[Series/{{Goosebumps}} the papers start falling out of it]].
** The book's tagline? [[Film/DancesWithWolves Dances With Werewolves]].
* SilverBullet: Explicitly subverted. There are silver items at the titular lodge, but the werewolves aren't affected by this.
* TomatoSurprise: A subplot have you pretending to be a monster in order to blend in with three other writers, all of them being real monsters. But if you chose to confess that you plagiarized the story and you're a human, they replied that "only a werewolf could've written that story"... at which point you realize, deep down inside, you're ''actually'' a werewolf your whole life, but you didn't know it yet.
* WasOnceAMan: Much like the earlier GYG book ''Literature/TrappedInBatWingHall'', one of the good endings reveals that the occupants of the titular lodge used to be humans until a curse turns them into monsters. You maanged to break the curse, therefore saving everyone.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: #34: ''Elevator to Nowhere'']]

* AlternateSelf: The ''real'' Uncle Darius had either died or was trapped after entering the Transuniversal Transvator to another world, and that the hostile Uncle Darius before you is himself from another dimension. You also found the decapitated head of yourself from another universe, realizing your alternate self had died.
* AlternateUniverse: The whole premise of the story. The A storyline has you entering other worlds besides the head hunting one, such as one where everything is upside down.
* AndIMustScream:
** Anyone who wears the Captivator Helmet will be forced to comply and obey any order they're given, but they're still aware of their actions. More than one bad ending have you being trapped by this helmet permanently, but a good ending have it Played for Laughs as you decide to trick your hated teacher into wearing it.
** There's also an ending where you get zombified by insects and obediently allows the insects to devour you alive, despite being conscious the whole time... and nothing you can do about it.
* BaldOfEvil: The "alternate" Uncle Darius, who is bald and a sadistic headhunter who wants to collect your cranium, having done so to the real Darius.
* CatsAreMean: Uncle Darius' cat Sapphire in one dimension.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Jamie describes her Uncle Darius as "Extremely extreme".
* EatenAlive: You risk getting devoured alive by sentient, intelligent insects inhabiting one of the 'verses.
* EvilElevator: The very premise of the book. The Transuniversal Transvator is a malfunctioning elevator which traverses dimensions - and drags you to an adventure out of this world.
* GravityScrew: One of the 'verses has gravity running in reverse, where you step out of the elevator and instantly flips around to walk on the ceiling.
* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: Evil Darius comes from a universe where this is a normal casual sport.
* LivingToys: One of the 'verses where "Kids are Illegal" is populated by toys, all which are alive and sentient.
* MadScientist: Uncle Darius is a non-villainous example, but his inventions going haywire kickstarts the plot. Evil Darius from an alternate 'verse is a more straightforward example whose machines and inventions are created to help him hunt heads.
* MirrorUniverse: Many of the 'verses the elevator leads are reversed from our reality. From one where animals are sentient and humans are kept in zoos, and another where bugs are ''attracted'' to bug sprays.
* MyLittlePanzer: One of the alternate 'verse where everything is in reverse is filled with hostile toys designed to ''hurt'' children, and are used to punish instead of reward kids. You end up getting killed by hostile toys in one bad ending.
* NeckSnap: One of the bad endings have Evil Uncle Darius twisting your neck after declaring "he likes the sound of breaking bones".
* NeverTrustATitle: The titular elevator does take you somewhere; you use it to travel to other dimensions.
* OffWithHisHead: Early on, Evil Darius presents the decpicated head of another version of you. And in at least ''seven'' bad endings you end up being decapitated, either by Evil Darius or your hated Science Teacher.
* PeopleZoo: A possible bad ending you can end up in after entering the world of sentient animals.
* ProfessorGuineaPig: Uncle Darius, who tests the Transuniversal Transvator on himself before confirming it's safe to ride. Which got him stranded in another 'verse before bringing back an evil version of himself.
* ShoutOut: On the cover, Darius looks like [[Franchise/BackToTheFuture Doc Brown]].
* TalkingAnimal: Uncle Darius' cat can talk. And he's not the only one, as you found out after entering one of the alternate 'verses and realizing it to be full of talking animals.
* TooDumbToLive: You - a 12-year-old kid - choosing to fight a ''whole'' team of headhunters, alone, ends as realistically as you'd expect.
[[/folder]]

* AndIMustScream: Most books have at least one ending describing you getting permanently frozen into an immobilized state or morphing into an inanimate object. This includes (but not limited to): being turned into a statue, being turned into an art museum painting, being turned into a computer chip for a virtual reality game, etc. For obvious reasons, these tend to be the creepiest endings for each book.

* AndIMustScream: Anyone who wears the Captivator Helmet will be forced to comply and obey any order they're given, but they're still aware of their actions. More than one bad ending have you being trapped by this helmet permanently, but a good ending have it Played for Laughs as you decide to trick your hated teacher into wearing it.

* GravityScrew: One of the verses has gravity running in reverse, where you step out of the elevator and instantly flips around to walk on the ceiling.

* LivingToys: One of the verses where "Kids are Illegal" is populated by toys, all which are alive and sentient.
* MadScientist: Uncle Darius is a non-villainous example, but his inventions going haywire kickstarts the plot. Evil Darius from an alternate verse is a more straightforward example whose machines and inventions are created to help him hunt heads.

* TalkingAnimal: Uncle Darius' cat can talk. And he's not the only one, as you found out after entering one of the alternate verses and realizing it to be full of talking animals.

* AlternateUniverse: The whole premise of the story. The A storyline has you entering other worlds besides the head hunting one, such as one where everthing is upside down.

* OffWithHisHead: Early on, Evil Darius presents the decpicated head of another version of you.

[[folder: #26: ''Alone in Snakebite Canyon'']]

* {{Animorphism}}: The A-plot is ''built'' on this trope. Most of the bad endings involve you being turned into some kind of animal, including a mosquito, a bear, a tarantula, a mouse, a raven, a fish, a snake, and a kangaroo rat.
* InvoluntaryShapeshifting: The book is practically '''based''' on this trope, with at least one named character ending up stuck in a random animal-form by most endings.
* MortonsFork: At one point. the story presents a pair of animal morphs that [[LampshadeHanging even the book admits sound less-than-ideal]]: a slow-as-molasses tarantula morph to cross a busy street, or a mosquito morph through a bat infested cave, right after you ate a mosquito when you were in bat morph minutes earlier. The choices end as well as you expect. [[TakeAThirdOption The logical third option]] -- i.e., turn into a tarantula and wait in the cave until the snake eyes reset into two other and presumably better animal choices -- was completely absent.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: #41: ''Danger Time'']]

* LuckBasedMission: In this book, you come up against the Zodiacs: representations of each star sign. Subsequently, certain choices are affected by your real life horoscope and, if you have the "wrong" sign, it's impossible to get around some of them without cheating.
* NoEnding: Should you choose to press a button marked "Time Loop", you're disappointed to find that the button doesn't do anything -- so you press it again, and again, and again and the book ends there.
* TimePolice: The book features a set whose motives vary depending on the storyline.
* TimeStandsStill: One bad ending involves you being frozen forever in time when you accidentally break a watch that controls the flow of time.
* TimeTravel: Part of the plot involves you traveling through time to defeat a set of villains, who vary depending on the storyline.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: #37: ''Escape from Horror House'']]

* AdultsAreUseless: Averted in one ending, where your teacher helps you to defeat the poltergeists using magnets.
* EnemyMine: One storyline involves you deciding whether to work with a medium or a ghostbuster in order to defeat poltergeists. The two hate each other and each accuses the other of being a fraud, but you have the option of making them work together just this once.
* HauntedHouse: The plot of the book is you trying to get rid of poltergeists that are making your house haunted.
* MindOverMatter: A possible outcome is that there is no poltergeist -- the mysterious events in your house are caused by you, or your sister, being telekinetic and not knowing about it.
* NeverTrustATitle: Nowhere in the story are you required to escape from a house -- the story is based around you getting rid of poltergeists that have invaded a house.
* {{Poltergeist}}: They serve as the main enemies of this particular book.
* YourHeadAsplode: One of the bad endings.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Special Edition #2: ''Return to Terror Tower'']]

* TheCameo: The woman who gave Sue away to the Lord Executioner makes an appearance. Remembering how that went down helps you make the right decision.
* CaveMouth: In one ending, giving the wrong code to enter Morgred's tower turns it into a giant mouth that bites you in half.
* GenderFlip: In one path you discover that Robin Hood is a woman.
* HeelFaceTurn: The Lord High Executioner is a major villain (and the main villain of the original Goosebumps book on which it's based) but in the best ending of the book, you defeat the evil king and the Executioner becomes good, having been under mind control the whole time.
* InventoryManagementPuzzle: This book has you picking three items out of a possible four, and using them at a possibly appropriate time. Pick the ''wrong'' item to use during the events, and a humiliating death usually results. One item is useless, as the one time you could use the object, [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption it doesn't help you at all]].
* KillItWithFire: In this book, you can be burned at the stake for sorcery.
* LongLostRelative: In one of the good endings, you help your two friends (a medieval prince and princess) overthrow their evil uncle and reclaim the throne. It is then discovered that you are their cousin and didn't know about it, so you get to rule the country with them.
* StrippedToTheBone: This book has an ending where living skeletons (who were burned alive by a dragon) skin you alive so they can have your skin.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: #24: ''Lost in Stinkeye Swamp'']]
* BalefulPolymorph: Drinking cursed banana shake will turn you and Zeke into monkeys.
* CassandraTruth: One of the ambiguous endings have you surviving the adventure, but then you tried explaining to your mother when she enquires where have you been all day... and she doesn't believe you, instead [[GoToYourRoom sending you to your room for lying to her]].
* CurbStompBattle: You can ''try'' fighting Ed the ghoul with a nearby crowbar, but Ed will jus tsnatch the weapon from you effortlessly, saying that's his toothpick. Before devouring you.
* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler: Zeke]]. Although the cause of this character's death, and reasons for remaining in this world as a ghost change depending on what path the reader has taken.
* TheDogBitesBack: One ending sees you eaten by your own goldfish, which is pissed off that you haven't bothered to care for it as you were too busy trying to escape the book.
* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: The titular Stinkeye Swamp.
* FountainOfYouth: Drinking apple juice cursed by Annabelle will turn you and your friend Zeke into babies. Annabelle then decides to adopt both of you as her kids.
* GoldFever: There's hidden prospector gold in the titular swamp, which you'll be more than interested to uncover.
* GroundByGears: One of the possible fates you come across have you being grounded ''alive'' by a fertilizer-making machine.
* ManEatingPlant: The giant Venus flytraps infesting the swamp, one pictured on the cover. You get eaten alive by one of these in a bad ending. There are also living vines that will attempt to strangle you.
* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: Or alligator. The titular swamp is infested with gators which will give you quite a bit of trouble in the "swamp exploration" storyline.
* QuietingTheUnquietDead: More than one of the good endings have you releasing Annabelle from the afterlife, allowing her to rest after haunting Stinkeye Swamp for 200 years. You get rewarded by finding the treasure after that, of course.
* SwampsAreEvil: The titular swamp is haunted by a ghost named "Annabelle", who had cursed the area 200 years ago.
* TrueSight: The Captain's Magic Telescope you obtain early in the book allows you to see things you could not see before.
* WithFriendsLikeThese: Your friend Zeke will screw you over or abandon you in more than one of the bad endings. There are also scenarios where it turns out Zeke himself is another ghost haunting the swamp.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: #27: ''Checkout Time at the Dead-End Hotel'']]

* AllJustADream: One of the (few) good endings have you waking up, realizing you're still in your friend's mother's car, having fallen asleep in the middle of a road trip and have arrived home safely. All that spooky stuff in the titular hotel? Just a bad dream from a tediously long journey (although you do actively wonder OrWasItADream)
* IAteWhat: Eating from the hotel is a ''bad'' idea - right off the bat, you're tricked into consuming spiked food that slowly kills you, and must find a way to escape your predicament. The Sweet Dream Mints on the other hand turns you and your friends to ghosts, while the Clam Juice distorts your vision making you an easy target.
* BittersweetEnding: One of the endings have your friends survivng, but not you. Now that you're a ghost, you decide to play all sorts of pranks on Hotel Morte's resident ghosts until they became so fed up, they decide to leave, with you as the ''only'' resident ghost left. Eventually your friends took over ownership of the hotel, who became a roaring success, and you get to remain with your buddies, ''but'', you're still a ghost.
* CoversAlwaysLie: As usual, since this is, you know, GYG. Norman the clerk looks perfectly human, resembling nothing like the skeletal figure on the front cover, and at no point in the adventure do you encounter skeletal bellhops.
* CuttingTheElectronicLeash: You receive a phone call from a man named Drew, who warns you that whatever happens, don't fall sleep. Before you can get more information the call is cut short by a scream on the other side. Then the line goes dead.
* DeadlyEuphemism:
** Early in the book, you're left alone with your friends in Room 1313 after one of the staff "takes care" of your friend's mother and the sole adult caretaker.
** You find a pack of Sweet Dreams Mints in your room, a complimentary gift from the hotel, with a note saying "'''Sweet Dreams''' form Hotel Morte!"... said mints will kill you in your sleep and ensure your ghost remain in the hotel forever.
* EmptySwimmingPoolDive: One of the endings has you forced to do this by the ghosts, resulting in your death.
* FaceHeelTurn: One of the bad endings have you and your friend Jamie dying and becoming the hotel's residents, at which point Jamie decide to phone all your classmates to check into the hotel as well, so that you two would have company. And you agree to her decision, for some reason...
* GenderBlenderName: Drew Mortegarth. It's a plot point that you don't know Drew's gender and thus, which of two potential Drews is the right one.
* HauntedTechnology: The television in your room is haunted by a ghost who gleefully tells you, you're screwed for checking in, and you will never leave.
* HellHotel: Hotel Morte, where the action takes place, is a hotel full of ghosts who are out to make "you" into a ghost too.
* IntercontinuityCrossover: Jenna from ''Literature/ScreamOfTheEvilGenie'' has a cameo in one ending here. If you accept her help, she actually transports you into ''her'' book.
* JacobMarleyApparel: You can encounter the ghost of an old woman with a knife embedded permanently to her chest, though you don't find out at any point what leads to her demise in the first place.
* KilledOffscreen: In more than one ending, you managed to rendezvous with your friends after splitting up, only to discover they're ghosts, having been killed by the hotel's ghostly residents, and they want you to join their numbers. One of these endings have this happening to B.J's mother and the sole adult caretaker.
* LetsSplitUpGang: Bafflingly, early in the book ''after'' you and your friends discover the hotel to be haunted, you then decide to split up to look for the unknown man named Drew, and meet up in an hour.
* MeaningfulName: Hotel "Morte" -- it means Hotel "Death" in Italian and Portuguese.
* NeverSleepAgain: One of the only ways to survive the book is to never fall asleep, or else you would wake up a ghost.
* NoEnding: Choosing to drink clam juice will lead to the book telling you that clam juice can cause strange affects on people, such as causing the books they're reading to have missing letters. The remainder of the page begins leaving out random letters itself, and then ends saying the book is now unreadable (even though this shouldn't affect the characters themselves).
* PlotDrivenBreakdown: What kicks off the story in the first place, when your friend B.J's mom have her car breaking down outside Hotel Morte while driving all of you back during a road trip.
* RazorApples: The Sweet Dreams mints given by the hotel as a complimentary snack for visitors, that you receive right at the start of the book, has the side-effects of turning anyone who consumes them into ghosts, ensuring any guests in the hotel would never leave.
* RoomDisservice: Right off the start of the story, a ghostly waiter brings dinner to your room, and informs you ''after'' your meal that the food is [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink spiked with a "special ingredient"]] - you're about to die and become one of the hotel's resident ghosts.
* ShoutOut: Unsurprisingly, this book throws in a few nods to classic horror films involving that classic "checking into an evil hotel" plot.
** For starters, the moment you checked in, you're greeted by a desk clerk named [[Film/{{Psycho}} Norman]].
** The hotel itself is implied to be alive, and actively corrupts it's guests and prevents anyone who checked in from leaving, making anyone who enters their resident ghosts. So, the [[Film/TheShining Overlook Hotel]]?
*** Heck, there's a Room 402 which is stated that anyone who enters will never leave. And a possible encounter with the ghost of a spooky old woman, like in the movie.
* SpotTheImposter: A plot point is the reader having to decide which of two people is Drew Mortegarth, who has promised to help you escape. But because the reader has never met Drew (and [[GenderBlenderName Drew's name leaves their gender ambiguous]]), picking out the real one may prove difficult.
* ThirteenIsUnlucky: Your room number in the hotel? 1313. There's also a bad ending where you get killed on the hotel's thirteenth floor.
* SkeletonsInTheCoatCloset: The basement of the hotel is ''full'' of bones. Probably from the resident ghosts, ''before'' they were ghosts.
* TooDumbToLive: Lampshaded in one of the endings where you decide to eat the Sweet Dreams mints as result of a dare from your friends, ''after'' you knew the mints to be harmful and can turn you into a ghost. The book reprimands your idiocy and tells you to come back when you're capable of making more sensible decisions.
[[/folder]]

*** Heck, there's an especially spooky room where nobody survives, labelled Room 402. And a possible encounter with the ghost of a spooky old woman, like in the movie.

* CaptainErsatz: Several of these. Illinois Smith (Indiana Jones), Nasty Kathy (Talky Tina from ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E126LivingDoll Living Doll]]"), and many more.

[[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife Your life has been forever ruined by TV Tropes]]. Looks like this is [softreturn]