10 Best 'Goosebumps' Covers Ranked (2024)

Getting creeped out at Goosebumps books is a right of passage for any young reader. While the prose itself is scary, the series' beloved covers add another layer of creepiness to the series. Possessed ventriloquist dolls, demonic rabbits, living scarecrows, frightening gnomes, living scarecrows, mud monsters and giant insects are just a fraction of the things that have graced the book's covers over the years.

With some help from the Goosebumps Wikia site, we compiled and ranked our top 10 Goosebumps covers from artists Tim Jacobus and Jim Thiesen, taking into account uniqueness, scariness and memorability.

Honorable Mention: 'Why I'm Afraid of Bees'

10 Best 'Goosebumps' Covers Ranked (1)

Why I'm Afraid of Bees gets an honorable mention solely because of its sheer absurdity. That is a human boy's head on a bee's body. I don't think I have to elaborate on how disturbing that is. Just look at it!

Tagline: He's no ordinary human bee-ing...

Synopsis: Gary Lutz needs a vacation...from himself. Bullies are constantly beating him up. His only friend is his computer. Even his little sister doesn't like him. But now Gary's dream is about to come true. He's going to exchange bodies with another kid for a whole week. Gary can't wait to get a new body. Until something horrible happens. And Gary finds out his new body isn't exactly human…

10. 'A Night In Terror Tower'

10 Best 'Goosebumps' Covers Ranked (2)

A Night In Terror Tower has a very distinctive cover. Its medieval executioner antagonist is a unique part of the story, and this cover conveys his constant hunt as you see him lumbering towards you.

Tagline: It's gonna be a L-O-N-G night!

Synopsis: Sue and her brother, Eddie, are visiting London when they run into a little problem. They can't find their tour group. Still, there's no reason to panic. No way their tour guide would just leave them. All alone. In a gloomy old prison tower. No way they'd get locked inside. After dark. With those eerie sounds. And a strange dark figure who wants them…dead.

9. 'Say Cheese And Die!'

10 Best 'Goosebumps' Covers Ranked (3)

Say Cheese and Die! is one of the series' campier covers, and that's what makes it so great. A skeleton BBQ is undeniably memorable.

Tagline: One picture is worth a thousand screams.

Synopsis: Greg thinks there is something wrong with the old camera he and his friends found. The photographs keep turning out wrong. Very wrong. Like the snapshot Greg took of his father's new car that shows it totaled. And then Greg's father is in a nasty wreck. But Greg's friends don't believe him. Shari even makes Greg bring the camera to her birthday party and take her picture. Only Shari's not in the photograph when it develops. Is Shari about to be taken out of the picture permanently? Who is going to take the next fall for... the evil camera?

8. 'Calling All Creeps!'

10 Best 'Goosebumps' Covers Ranked (4)

Calling All Creeps! might not be the most well-known of the Goosebumps series, but it's got a cover like no other. A group of velociraptor-like creatures hanging out in a pay phone booth is just weird and distinctive enough to get a slot on this list.

Tagline: Just dial 5-5-5-C-R-E-E-P!

Synopsis: Ricky Beamer is furious when he gets kicked off the school paper. So he decides to play a joke on Natasha, the bossy editor in chief. Just a little joke. Harmless, really. After school one day he sticks a message in the paper. If you're a creep, call Tasha after midnight, it reads. But somehow Ricky's message gets messed up. And now he's getting calls. Strange calls from kids who say they are creeps. Creeps with scaly purple-colored scales and long sharp fangs…

7. 'Welcome To Camp Nightmare'

10 Best 'Goosebumps' Covers Ranked (5)

This cover perfectly encapsulates the feeling that there's a monster lurking in the darkness ready to attack. Plus, that eerie green glow makes Welcome to Camp Nightmare one of the series' most haunting covers.

Tagline: It's the little camp of horrors!

Synopsis: The food isn't great. The counselors are a little strange. And the camp director, Uncle Al, seems sort of demented. Okay, so Billy can handle all that. But then his fellow campers start to disappear. What's going on? Why won't his parents answer his letters? What's lurking out there after dark? Camp Nightmoon is turning into Camp Nightmare. For real. And Billy might be next...

6. 'Bad Hare Day'

10 Best 'Goosebumps' Covers Ranked (6)

Bad Hare Day's deranged hare will make you question every small woodland creature you come across in the near future. Also, if you have an irrational fear of magicians, you're welcome for the nightmare fuel!

Tagline: He's no Easter bunny!

Synopsis: Trick cards, floating scarves, disappearing doves. Tim Swanson loves magic tricks. Someday he wants to be a real magician. Just like his all-time favorite hero, Amaz-O. But then Tim goes to Amaz-O's show. And he finds out his idol is a total grump. That's when Tim decides to steal the bag of tricks. Amaz-O's bag of secret tricks. Scary tricks. The one with the multiplying red balls. And all those hissing snakes...

5. 'You Can't Scare Me!'

10 Best 'Goosebumps' Covers Ranked (7)

Mud monsters are another freaky addition to the Goosebumps universe. Image taking Batman's villain Clayface, melting him a bit and adding a demonic visage. That's what you get on this creepy cover.

Tagline: They're coming for you...

Synopsis: Courtney is a total show-off. She thinks she's so brave and she's always making Eddie and his friends look like wimps. But now Eddie's decided he's had enough. He's going to scare Courtney once and for all. And he's come up with the perfect plan. He's going to lure Courtney down to Muddy Creek. Because Eddie knows Courtney believes in that silly rumor about the monsters. Mud Monsters that live in the creek. Too bad Eddie doesn't believe the rumor. Because it just might be true….

4. 'How To Kill A Monster'

10 Best 'Goosebumps' Covers Ranked (8)

That red door, those green paws and the fear of what's hiding in the unknown; with all that, How To Kill a Monster has one of the series' most striking visuals.

Tagline: Step 1. Run. Step 2. Run faster.

Synopsis: Gretchen and her stepbrother, Clark, hate staying at their grandparents' house. Grandpa Eddie is totally deaf. And Grandma Rose is obsessed with baking. Plus, they live in the middle of a dark, muddy swamp. Things couldn't get any worse, right? WRONG. Because there's something really weird about Grandma and Grandpa's house. Something odd about that room upstairs. The one that's locked. The one with the strange noises coming from it. Strange growling noises…

3. 'The Haunted Mask'

10 Best 'Goosebumps' Covers Ranked (9)

The Haunted Mask is one of the most iconic Goosebumps covers, due to that drooling, evil mask (which you can now even wear for Halloween). It's made even more striking on top of the overall-wearing protagonist, adding nightmare fuel for all the kids (and adults) reading.

Tagline: If looks could kill...

Synopsis: How ugly is Carly Beth's Halloween mask? It's so ugly that it almost scared her little brother to death. So terrifying that efen her friends are totally freaked out by it. It's the best Halloween mask ever. It's everything Carly Beth hoped it would be. And more. Maybe too much more. Because Halloween is almost over. And Carly Beth is still wearing that special mask…

Related:

  • R.L. Stine Teases More 'Fear Street' Movies
  • 'Goosebumps' Executive Producers Talk Series' 'Nostalgia Factor,' Easter Eggs, and 'Subverting Expectations' (Exclusive)
  • 'Goosebumps' Scares a New Generation of Viewers While Offering Plenty of Nostalgia for R.L. Stine Fans (Review)

2. 'Stay Out of the Basem*nt'

10 Best 'Goosebumps' Covers Ranked (10)

That hand! That creepy, Swamp Thing-like hand! It's gonna grab you and yank you down into the basem*nt, never to return. Stay Out of the Basem*nt's cover is just so gripping, especially when you compare it to its lackluster re-print covers.

Tagline: Something's waiting in the dark….

Synopsis: Dr. Brewer is doing a little plant-testing in his basem*nt. Nothing to worry about. Harmless, really. But Margaret and Casey Brewer are worried about their father. Especially when they...meet...some of the plants he is growing down there. Then they notice that their father is developing plantlike tendencies. In fact, he is becoming distinctly weedy--and seedy. Is it just part of their father's "harmless" experiment? Or has the basem*nt turned into another little shop of horrors.

1. 'Night Of The Living Dummy'

10 Best 'Goosebumps' Covers Ranked (11)

Slappy from Night of the Living Dummy is one of the series' creepiest antagonists. This iconic cover shows it all: the possessed stare, the lifelike laugh and the face that makes you sketched out about every ventriloquist doll you've seen since.

Tagline: He walks. He stalks...

Synopsis: Lindy names the ventriloquist's dummy she finds Slappy. Slappy is kind of ugly, but he's a lot of fun. Lindy's having a great time learning to make Slappy move and talk. But Kris is jealous of all the attention her sister is getting. It's no fair. Why does Lindy have all the luck? Kris decides to get a dummy of her own. She'll show Lindy. Then weird things begin to happen. Nasty things. Evil things. No way a dummy can be causing all the trouble. Or is there?

10 Best 'Goosebumps' Covers Ranked (2024)

FAQs

What is the rarest Goosebumps? ›

There are four rare Goosebumps books; Legend of the Lost Legend (Goosebumps #47); Werewolf Skin (Goosebumps #60); I Live in Your Basem*nt! (Goosebumps #61) and Monster Blood IV (Goosebumps #62). These books only exist as first editions and are known to Goosebumps fans as 'The Unreprinted .

What is the scariest Goosebumps? ›

While Slappy may be the scariest and most notorious villain in Goosebumps' history, the most terrifying story is arguably the first one in the series, "The Haunted Mask." There was a sequel, but the original is far scarier and has an element of mystery that is not present in the follow-up.

Who is the most popular Goosebumps monster? ›

#1: Slappy the Dummy

Without question the most memorable and iconic creature to ever appear in the series, this living ventriloquist's dummy has become one of the poster children for the entire “Goosebumps” franchise.

What is the number one Goosebumps book? ›

Goosebumps (1992–1997)
#TitleISBN
01Welcome to Dead House0-590-45365-3
02Stay Out of the Basem*nt0-590-45366-1
03Monster Blood0-590-45367-X
04Say Cheese and Die!0-590-45368-8
58 more rows

Why did Goosebumps get banned? ›

Between 1990 and 1999, books in the Goosebumps children's series made the top twenty list of most-challenged books; between 2000 and 2009 they made the top hundred. The objections came from parents who felt the books were too frightening for kids and/or contained satanic and occult themes.

Does Goosebumps 3 exist? ›

Goosebumps 3 was released in the United States on October 14, 2021 by Sony Pictures Releasing under the Columbia Pictures label.

Who is the most evil Goosebumps character? ›

Slappy (Multiple Books/Episodes)

We couldn't make a list about Goosebumps monsters without mentioning Slappy, one of R.L. Stine's most infamous, well-known creations who is still wreaking havoc in some of his most recent books.

Who is the main villain of Goosebumps? ›

Slappy the Dummy is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the Goosebumps children's series by R. L. Stine. He is the main antagonist of the Night of the Living Dummy saga and one of the series' most popular villains, as well as its mascot.

Did Goosebumps go number 1? ›

It also peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Songs Chart.

What's the longest Goosebumps book? ›

With 214 pages and over 34,000 words, this is the longest Goosebumps book ever. The book Goosebumps Wanted: The Haunted Mask is 240 pages long, but it has a lower word count than Weirdo Halloween.

What was the last Goosebumps book? ›

Goosebumps is a series of children's horror fiction novellas by R. L. Stine. 62 books were published under the Goosebumps umbrella title from 1992 to 1997; the first was Welcome to Dead House; the last was Monster Blood IV. The cover illustrations for this series was done primarily by Tim Jacobus.

Is it rare to have Goosebumps? ›

Horripilation is a very common and normal body response. It is not harmful and does not require medical attention. The bumps usually go away within a short period of time. As mentioned above, horripilation may occur as a result of an underlying medical condition.

What are the Goosebumps that never go away? ›

Keratosis pilaris (KP) is a skin condition that causes portions of the skin to resemble goosebumps. It occurs when dead skin cells clog the hair follicles, forming tiny bumps. The skin may also be red, itchy, and dry. KP is harmless, but many people dislike its appearance.

What was the last Goosebumps? ›

Goosebumps is a series of children's horror fiction novellas by R. L. Stine. 62 books were published under the Goosebumps umbrella title from 1992 to 1997; the first was Welcome to Dead House; the last was Monster Blood IV.

Are Goosebumps for 11 year olds? ›

About the “terror:” Goosebumps books are written for 8 to 12-year-olds and if your kids read and weren't frightened by the books, the same should hold true for the movie. However, as the creatures all come out to haunt, some moments are scary.

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