Haunted Lighthouse

by R.L. Stine

The lighthouse stretched up to the clouds. It's light cut through the rain, sending bright stripes through the black sky.

"Wait in the lighthouse. Wait for me there," Father said. "I shall return with your mother."

Those were the last words I ever heard him say.

Genres: Horror

89 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Robert Lawrence Stine known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer, well known for targeting younger audiences. Stine, who is often called the Stephen King of children's literature, is the author of dozens of popular horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series.

R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.

Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.

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Reviews

[Brandon]

The Haunted Lighthouse is a book adaptation of this thing at SeaWorld apparently.The story is only 89 pages long,so it is pretty short I do have a funny story about this book though.Around nine or so years ago,there was this thrift store across town that I occasionally stopped by and this little old lady ran it. I either asked if she had any R.L.Stine books or Goosebumps.Either way she told me no.I went over and found this book and thought it was kind of funny.Sadly that place is closed down now.The story is in two parts.One part is the past and the other is the present.It begins with this family in 1879.There is a mom a dad and two kids named William and Annie.The family is in Boston and want to go home to Cape Cod.They find this guy that runs the boats and he says the boat has already left.They end up seeing a ship out in the fog before a storm comes.The man on the boat warns the family not to go on this boat though because it is allegedly haunted.The dad is hard headed and gets the family on the boat and this storm hits so he leads the family below to a cabin.The kids  sneak off and hide behind this trunk and see these men start singing one jumps off this high platform and one removes his head.The dad realizes that the man's name sounds familiar and realizes this ship is a ship of men that sunk and everyone parished.The ghosts end up disappearing but they  still sing.They spot the lighthouse,but the dad runs the boat into some rocks and crashes the boat.The family finds a dingy,which is a small boat.I didn't know most of these terms.The small boat only fits two people.The mom is afraid she will sink it.The dad says he will drop the kids off at the shore and then come back for her.The kids end up trying to go to this little house beside the lighthouse and they watch their dad row away and this big wave swoops the boat further out and pushes the two kids toward the lighthouse.They go inside and find a note that has this saying that I'm pretty sure is what the ghost sailors were singing.This ends part one and after this is present day now.This story begins with Ashley and Mike,two siblings on vacation in Cape Cod.I have no idea where there parents are.I honestly don't remember.They are roasting marshmallows.This guy named Cap'n Jack is telling a story and part one of this book was that story.He tells them the parents got swallowed up by a wave and the lighthouse light went out.They are on the beach the next day and Mike is chasing seagulls and Ashley is just hanging out, when this kid pops up.He introduces himself as Edgar.They talk for a bit and Mike talks about listening to more of Cap'n Jack's ghost stories.Ashley kind of makes fun of Mike for believing in this kind of stuff.Edgar tells her that lots of people believe in this story and that the ghosts are real and they can go to the lighthouse on a canoe,so they do.They end up at the light house and go inside the little room and hear wails and find this knights armor,that Edgar explains probably belonged to the original owner.The shutters begin to bang shut and the wails are coming from the the visor of the knights armor.There is a twist here and if you've been reading R.L.Stine's books for a while,then you will guess the twist.In fact,this book actually has pictures of the show and that spoils the ending of this book.I have to point out though that one of the kids in the picture is reading a Nightmare Room book,which is cool.The ending was really good though.It had some good emotion and there is a tease for a dark ending,but stine reversed it,which is fair in my opinion,because they probably wanted this to be pretty lighthearted.I give R.L.Stine's Haunted Lighthouse a three out of five stars.The story was fine,nothing to impactful,but definitely not bad either.

[Pulp_Fiction_Books]

This was a quick little ghost story told across two different time periods, a hundred years ago and present day. I'd rate each section about the same. I was enjoying the first part and it felt like we were at an important juncture then it ended really abruptly. As for part two I thought it was slightly weaker while still enjoyable but it was filled with a bunch of really stupid fake-outs.

[Austin Smith]

2.5⭐

A perfectly okay/fine ghost story. Nothing special.

[Kasy]

This is one of my favorite books! I saw the movie when I was 13 at Sea World and bought the book the same day! I have read it many times in the years since I bought it. In fact the color pictures from the movie have had to be taped back in a couple of times! It's a good read for when I just need to completely reset my brain!

[Alex Joseph]

The opening flashback utterly ruled and was A-Tier kids horror stuff, but the rest of the book devolved into a half-baked ghost story with an ending that attempted to do more than it needed to. It’s a good read mostly for the opening segment and an okay story basis with decent beats but it’s watered down by the crappy logic with the ghosts (they’re basically just dumbasses who could’ve dealt with their problem a long ass time ago) and, again, an ending that attempted at too many things. Overall, 6.5/10. Holy Scottish implications.

[Drucilla]

This is definitely a "young readers" book. The "twist" is obvious and it's an easy read. Of course, that doesn't mean it isn't good. It's a nice ghost story with a happy ending. I liked that you actually learn the history of the ghosts.