"You" have recently moved into a new home — Swamp House, which is ugly, run-down and rumored to be haunted. But the rumors also tell of a hidden treasure, and two items in the basement lead you along two paths, one in the house and one in the swamp, on your quest for the treasure.
This book provides examples of:
- Cassandra Truth: One of the ambiguous endings have you surviving the adventure, but then you tried explaining to your mother when she inquires where have you been all day... and she doesn't believe you, instead sending you to your room for lying to her.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: You can try fighting Ed the ghoul with a nearby crowbar, but Ed will just snatch the weapon from you effortlessly, saying that's his toothpick. Before devouring you.
- Dead All Along: 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.
- The Dog Bites Back: 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.
- I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: The titular Stinkeye Swamp.
- Forced Transformation: Drinking cursed banana shake will turn you and Zeke into monkeys.
- Fountain of Youth: 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.
- Gold Fever: There's hidden prospector gold in the titular swamp, which you'll be more than interested to uncover.
- Ground by Gears: One of the possible fates you come across have you being ground up alive by a fertilizer-making machine.
- Man-Eating Plant: 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.
- Never Smile at a Crocodile: Or alligator. The titular swamp is infested with gators which will give you quite a bit of trouble in the "swamp exploration" storyline.
- Quieting the Unquiet Dead: 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.
- Swamps Are Evil: The titular swamp is haunted by a ghost named "Annabelle", who had cursed the area 200 years ago.
- True Sight: The Captain's Magic Telescope you obtain early in the book allows you to see things you could not see before.
- With Friends Like These...: 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.
