History Literature / CampHauntedHills

* KingOfTheDinosaurs: Bluto the ''T. rex'', who serves as a major threat in book 3 during the time the characters are in the past, chasing them twice with the intent of eating them, and they're still wary of him when he's brought forward in time and a little stunned by the trip (plus Robert's ability to talk to him and keep him calm). However, he's quickly supplemented as a main threat by the time vortexes and Flash Milligan's desire to exploit the dinosaurs (rather than send them back to where they belong), which together could have disastrous consequences.

* KingOfTheDinosaurs: Bluto the T-rex, who serves as a major threat in book 3 during the time the characters are in the past, chasing them twice with the intent of eating them, and they're still wary of him when he's brought forward in time and a little stunned by the trip (plus Robert's ability to talk to him and keep him calm). However, he's quickly supplemented as a main threat by the time vortexes and Flash Milligan's desire to exploit the dinosaurs (rather than send them back to where they belong), which together could have disastrous consequences.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: The reprint of the first book removes an Asian character being described as "oriental", and a use of "retarded".

'''Camp Haunted Hills''' is a trilogy of humorous science-fiction/fantasy books by Creator/BruceCoville and released from 1988 to 1990 by Pocket Books (a division of Simon & Schuster) under their Minstrel Books imprint. The books follow eleven-year-old Stuart Glassman, who discovers his favorite movie director has opened a summer camp for kids who want to learn how to make movies, and immediately signs up. Little does he expect that by summer's end, he'll have been kidnapped by a sasquatch, chased by a mummy, and menaced by a room full of monsters.

Books 1 and 2 cover Stuart's first year at camp. Book 3 covers his second year.

The series consists of:

* ItCameFromTheFridge: Hinted at in book 3. Stuart recalls at one point how his family's refrigerator broke while they were away on vacation, and it had sat there, unattended, for a full week before they got home and discovered it. While the contents are not described, it apparently smelled pretty terrible - when he's feeding Bluto the tyrannosaurus, Stuart thinks to himself that the dinosaur's breath smells just as bad as the broken fridge had.
* ItOnlyWorksOnce: Invoked in book 2. Lucius Colton, who's already transformed once thanks to the Jekyll Juice, is in the room when everyone else unwittingly drinks it ''en masse'', but avoids drinking it himself. He informs Stuart that after everyone turns back, he'll lie and tell them he was immune to the effects because of this trope.
* {{Jerkass}}: Lucius Colton, the camp bully who torments people for the fun of it, and Flash Milligan, the camp lighting expert who's even worse. Stuart explicitly compares them, figuring that Flash is a perfect example of what Lucius would be like when he grows up.
* LoveDodecahedron: ''Several'' people, both campers and councilors, have unrequited crushes on Aurora Jackson, the camp's makeup specialist. The two most actively seeking her are Harry Housen and Flash Milligan; Aurora eventually settles on Harry, and Flash spends most of book 3 trying to get even with him over it.
* MamaBear: Or rather, Mama ''Bigfoot'', who is willing to fight in defense of a perceived young Bigfoot whom she thinks has been kidnapped by humans. She's heartbroken when she discovers it's really Stuart in costume.
* MeaningfulRename: The camp itself, which went from the nonsensical "Camp Haw N'ed Hee Las" in 1941 to Camp Haunted Hills after former counselor Robert Campbell started hanging around as a ghost.
* MultitaskedConversation: Book 1 introduces the rather puckish Robert Campbell, a ghost whom only Stuart (or anyone else Robert chooses) can see; this makes conversation difficult when the two are around anyone else, but Stuart manages to figure out how to pull these off at least some of the time. Robert in turn actually congratulates Stuart on being able to do this the first time he does so.
* {{Mummy}}: Gregory Stevens gets one in book 2, to display in his "Cottage" (actually a massive house he's building for himself nearby, with all kinds of gadgets and other things). After the deliverymen steal a gold scarab from the case, the mummy starts wandering around to try and get it back.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The series features famous director Gregory Stevens (who founded the camp in its current form), who is essentially a combination of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg (though the latter actually exists in-universe too, based on Stuart's comment in book 3 that "Indiana Jones I am not"). His films include the ''Battle For the Galaxy'' trilogy (a reference to ''Star Wars''), ''White Death'' (referencing ''Jaws''), ''Temple of the Golden Arches'', and ''Boogeymen'' (which was said to be making money so fast that the government would have to open a new printing plant to make enough dollars to pay his earnings).
* NoodleIncident: Exactly how Robert died, which Stuart wonders about but Robert refuses to answer the one time he asks. The closest we get to an answer is early in book 2, when Harry states that "A man's got to do what a man's got to do", which Robert says disgustedly "is the kind of thinking that got me turned into a ghost", and a comment late in book 3 when he experiences an alternate timeline in which he's still alive while still remembering being fatally shot in the original timeline.
* NotBigEnoughForTheTwoOfUs: In book 2, after their encounter with a wandering mummy the night before, Robert remarks to Stuart and Brenda that "There's only room for one active dead man in this camp, and I'm it. I don't want that mummy on my turf."

** In book 3, Flash Milligan does it too - all he cares about is ruining Harry Housen and making money off the three dinosaurs, and ignores the fact that sending them back to their own time is the only way to save time itself from coming apart at the seams.
* SawStarWarsTwentySevenTimes: In book 1, Stuart Glassman admits to having seen ''Battle For the Galaxy'' fifteen times the first week it was open.
* SerendipityWritesThePlot: InUniverse version - Late in book 1, Harry adapts his script for ''Cry of the Sasquatch'' to incorporate their adventures in the woods, and the footage he shot.
* ShapedLikeItself: Used as an insult in book 3, where Flash Milligan demands to know if Stuart is trying to make a fool out of him. Robert, unheard by Flash, says that "That would be like making a duck out of a duck."
* SharkFinOfDoom: Subverted when Stuart first dives into Misty Lake and sees a fin heading towards him - it turns out to be Flipper, the swimming counselor's assistant, with a fake fin on his back.

* SpeaksFluentAnimal: Ghosts, such as Robert - he's shown talking to lizards and dinosaurs.
* SpeechImpediment: In book 1, when the camp staff are introducing themselves to the campers after dinner that first night, Harry Housen is mentioned as stuttering a little when he talks. This is never brought up again throughout the rest of the series, nor is it portrayed in his dialogue.

* TyrannosaurusRex: Bluto the T-rex in book 3.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The series features famous director Gregory Stevens (who founded the camp in its current form), who is essentially a combination of George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg. His films include the ''Battle For the Galaxy'' trilogy (a reference to ''Star Wars''), ''White Death'' (referencing ''Jaws''), ''Temple of the Golden Arches'', and ''Boogeymen'' (which was said to be making money so fast that the government would have to open a new printing plant to make enough dollars to pay his earnings).

* SprayingDrinkFromNose: In book 1, Stuart notes that he'll have to be careful if he's drinking milk while Robert's around and cracking jokes, so as to avoid laughing and causing this to happen as a result. He further notes that he's experienced it before, and that it's both embarrassing and painful.
* SquirrelsInMyPants: Flash suffers from this in book 3, after Robert, to get even with him for his actions earlier (sabotaging Harry's big announcement of his new movie), talks all the lizards and salamanders in the forest into crawling up his pants.

* DogsAreDumb: The Glassman family dog, Jeremiah the golden retriever. Stuart thinks to himself that the animal is likely to forget Stuart even existed after he's been away for a week or so.

* GhostlyGoals: Discussed in book 1. When Stuart and Robert first meet, Robert says he was a counselor there in 1941. Later on, when Stuart asks Robert why he's haunting the camp in the first place, he elaborates by revealing he was a counselor at the original "Camp Haw N'ed Hee Las", the first time a summer camp existed in that area, and it was where he was happiest back when he was alive. Later, he came back from the dead to liven things up and have a good time.

* ThreateningShark: Gregory Stevens' first big hit was ''White Death'', described as "the ultimate shark movie". The mechanical shark from the film (or one like it) is now in Misty Lake at the camp, which the counselors use to freak out their campers.

* {{Slurpasaur}}: In-universe in the ''Camp Haunted Hills'' trilogy, set at a camp where the attendees learn how to make movies. Harry Housen (ironically, named for [[Creator/RayHarryhausen an effects artist who specialized in averting this trope]]), who teaches special effects, specializes in holographic projection and is always painting his pet iguana Myron different colors, or pasting wings, fins or other things on the lizard, even figuring out how to make smoke come out of Myron's nostrils at one point, and then uses the altered iguana as a model for said holograms. Fortunately, the lizard is very patient about all this. The resulting holograms are more effective than one would think -- they terrify both humans and, in the finale, a family of Bigfoot holding the heroes captive.