Duane Comack and Stephanie Alpert
Portrayed By: Kenny Vadas and Andreanne Benidir (TV)
The protagonists. They are a pair of mischievous troublemakers whom enjoy terrorizing little children around their neighborhood. They also visit Hill House so much that they don't even need to pay anymore. But they soon get involved in an adventure that involves finding the missing head of a murdered boy.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Stephanie is much worse in the TV episode, to the point where Otto, who turns out to be the Sea Captain, tries to get revenge by turning her into a ghost through his painting.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When Seth tells him that he wants to borrow his head, Duane wanted to get down on his knees and beg him to let him and Stephanie find his original head instead. But he was afraid that if he did that, Seth would pull his head off.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: They want to look for Andrew's lost head. But their wish would come true with many twists along the way.
- Cowardly Lion: Duane is mostly very afraid inside, but when it comes to protecting Stephanie, he is willing to go for it.
- Determinator: Once Stephanie has an idea, there is almost nothing to stop her.
- Hidden Depths: They get over their obsession of scaring other people, and pursue other interests. Duane joins the school basketball team and is now a star player, and Stephanie joins the talent club and is close to either being Dorothy Gale or a Munchkin in a Wizard of Oz play.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: They have no qualms with frightening little children in their town, but they are shown to actually care not only for each other, but also with Seth when they defend him from his Uncle Otto when he gets in trouble with him for pranking them.
- Like Brother and Sister: Both of them are only children to their families, but Duane states that he likes it just like that. They do most everything together, and sometimes bicker like siblings. People even mistake them as brother and sister because they look so much alike and are quite platonic with each other.
- Nervous Wreck: Downplayed. Duane is emotionally afraid constantly throughout the story, but he manages to keep his composure most of the time.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Duane is the Savvy Guy and Stephanie is the Energetic Girl. Duane is known to be more circumspect and has his limits when it comes to pranking while Stephanie fancies pranks without foreseeing the subsequent consequences.
- The Sociopath: Both are very apathetic and troublesome with other children in their area. By the end of the book, they manage to reform themselves.
- Thrill Seeker: Stephanie is definitely this. She is more willing to sneak around and possibly get into huge trouble in order to have fun.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Stephanie is tomboyish with her unfeminine love for scary pranks, but she always has a liking for Hannah Craw's room which is full of dolls.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Once they get scared straight from their headless ghost adventure, they don't find frightening people fun anymore, and stop it all in order to pursue other hobbies.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Of the two, Stephanie is definitely the most rebellious and daring. She will drag Duane along dares and urges to take risky goings on in Hill House.
Andrew Craw/The Headless Ghost
Portrayed By: Daniel Goodfellow (TV)
A once normal, if bratty, boy living in Hill House who had his head taken off by the sea captain and was forced to wander the house as a ghost in search of it.
- Adaptational Jerkass: In the TV episode, he's every bit as petulant and mean-spirited as he was before he became a ghost, and never redeems himself like he does in the book. See Ungrateful Bastard. He's also portrayed this way in Goosebumps HorrorTown.
- And I Must Scream: Being made to wander his childhood home for years while unable to see, smell, hear or taste anything must've absolutely sucked.
- Asshole Victim: In his backstory, he abused animals and played tricks on his servants until karma caught up to him in the form of the sea captain's ghost pulling off his head and hiding it.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Before he died, he was a nasty, cruel child.
- Death Equals Redemption: As his appearance in the end would suggest, it seems this horrifying fate made him into a much kinder person.
- Dying as Yourself: His mutilated soul haunted Hill House for years, basically a mindless husk of his living self. He finally becomes a full boy again after his head is found and expresses his gratitude to the kids as he vanishes for good.
- Small Role, Big Impact: He only makes a true appearance at the very end of the book, but it really says enough about his character.
- Undeath Always Ends: He's already dead long before the story, but his spirit is finally laid to rest when the kids unearth his head. And if the Goosebumps wiki is to be believed, Seth, another character from the same book, will replace him in the upcoming movie.
- Ungrateful Bastard: In the TV episode, he insults and threatens the protagonists even after they find his head for him.
Captain Otto Bell
Portrayed By: Dennis O'Connor (TV)
The original ghost of Hill House and the original owner. He built the house for his young bride, but never got the chance to live in it when he was called off to sea and died a year later. He returned to his home as a ghost long after his wife departed, and spent decades roaming the house searching for her before he killed Andrew Craw and made him take his place as the ghost of Hill House.
- Composite Character: He's combined with Otto the tour guide in the TV show's adaption of the story.
- Disproportionate Retribution: His response to Andrew finding his hiding spot was to rip his head off and hide it somewhere he'd never find it.
- Freudian Excuse: The sea captain died of a broken heart because his wife left him for another man while he was at sea.
- Greater-Scope Villain: He's the one responsible for Hill House becoming a wretched place that destroyed anyone who lived in it. It's taken further in the TV show, with the added reveal that he's actually Otto and still haunts the house alongside Andrew and Seth. He planned to kill Stephanie and make her the newest ghost but was stopped. He's last seen posing as a realtor selling the house to an unsuspecting couple.
- Karma Houdini: He gets away with murdering Andrew in both versions of the story, and while he fails to kill Duane and Stephanie in the TV version, it ends with it being clear he's getting more victims.
- The Lost Lenore: Roams the house in search of his deceased wife, Annabelle. Unusually for this plot, he actually died first.
- Pet the Dog: In the TV episode, he was willing to let Duane go, since he hadn't done anything to cause trouble in Hill House. Subverted when Duane ruins his attempt to turn Stephanie into a painting.
Seth
Portrayed By: Sean Vertigo (TV)
A mysterious kid who gives Duane and Stephanie an after-hours tour of Hill House.
- Adaptational Villainy: He's just a troublemaking kid in the book, but in the TV episode, he's another ghost... just not the headless one.
- Evil Nephew: More like "mischievous" instead of "evil", but he turns out to be this to Otto. When he finds Seth with Duane and Stephanie, he rightly suspects that he's been pretending to be the Headless Ghost again to terrify them, implying that this has happened multiple times already.
- Jerkass: He pretends to be Andrew and tells Duane that he needs to take his head For the Evulz.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: With the reveal that Otto and Edna are dead at the end of the book, it is unknown if this included Seth. The episode leaves it unambiguous by revealing that he is in fact a ghost as well.
- Sham Supernatural: While exploring Hill House, which is rumored to be haunted by the titular ghost, the main characters meet a mysterious boy named Seth. After guiding them through the house, he reveals himself to be the headless ghost, and that he plans on borrowing their heads... Until the actual headless ghost shows up, and Seth is revealed to just be the prankster nephew of Otto, the man who runs tours of the place. But subverted in the end - Seth might be implied to really be a ghost, just not the one he was pretending to be.
- Spoiled Brat: In the TV episode, he was one just like Andrew when he lived in Hill House. Until he leaned too far into a dumbwaiter and fell to his death.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Strawberry ice cream.
