ABANDONED. 90s YA horror series, NOT Goosebumps/Fear Street/Strange Matters

[Jenna]

Hi there. I remember reading a series of books as a kid, probably late 90s but the books MAY have been older. Not sure if each book was written by a different author but each was a completely different story. Probably likely they were different authors, because I remember once not liking the style of one and giving up on it. Here's what I can remember:

1. Wax museum story- the main character is a rocker-type teen who doesn't want to go on vacation with his family, ends up touring a wax museum where the figures depicted are particularly creepy (I want to say there was an exhibit with civil rights riots? Not 100% sure), along with his family and another family (or 2...or so, at least with one girl he has the hots for). He tries to tell everyone on the tour he sees the eyes in a figure move, and the host of the tour gets increasingly upset at his antics. At the end, they are imprisoned in a cell of some sort and are being covered in hot wax, the main character ends up saving them somehow.

2. Brother and sister or other set of young relatives take a road trip and something creepy happens...I think they are left behind on an empty road? This one is vague but if it jogs any memories, I may as well include it.

3. Friends, plus possible young relatives (brother/sister, brother/brother) playing on an old island where creepy stuff happens, I think a creepy older male type of thing? I do remember it was an island, because it was on the cover of the book.

It's vague, but I remember the wax museum one well because it was my favorite. I read quite a few of these books, so they must have been cheap and readily accessible. I was about 7 or 8, but the books were likely well above my expected level, probably meant for young teens or at least older kids. They were more "creepy" than Goosebumps, I personally thought. Covers were relatively colorful, and depicted a scene from the story on each.

[Holly]

Maybe Point Horror?

[Tab]

There was an Are You Afraid of the Dark? series, but it doesn't quite fit
https://www.goodreads.com/series/7110...

[Donna]

Maybe the "Dark Forces" series.The Game

I have included a link for one book of the series. I don't know how to do a link for the whole series.

[Katherine]

"Shivers" by MD Spencer? I used to read those a lot. they were a lot like goosebumps but generally had a darker tone.

[Jen]

There is the "Bone Chillers" series. By Betsy Haynes

[A book away from an episode of hoarders]

is part of series, no. 18

[A book away from an episode of hoarders]

*bump*

[Kyle]

I cant remember the name of the series but Christopher Pike did a good horror series.

[Charlotte (Buried in Books)]

I think the Christopher Pike ones were part of the Point Horror series.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Pike's books were part of the Spooksville series. Or at least, some of them were.The Secret Path is the first book in this series.

Then The Last Vampire Collector's Edition is a suggestion for another of his book series.

[Charlotte (Buried in Books)]

I remember reading his Final Friends and Remember Me series. They were part of Point Horror. They were good books. So many series, hard to keep up with them all.

[drowningmermaid]

You know, I really couldn't find anything, but did you ask on this thread?

http://cliqueypizza.wordpress.com/201...

It seems like there are a lot of people over there who might know their 80s and 90s YA horror.

[[deleted user]]

I saw a book in the library that made me think of this thread. Frightmares https://www.goodreads.com/series/1053...

[[deleted user]]

Here is a list of the point horror ones if haven't looked through yet: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

[Jenna]

Oh my, I just found this thread again. After due diligence I am so sorry to say no one has found the series yet. I don't believe it was Point Horror, though it seems close.

If it helps, I'm 23 now (2015) and read them during the maybe late 90s, early 2000s. They were chapter books but short, for kids. They were CREEPY, not scary, if that makes sense. I don't remember them being about the paranormal, more like dangerous and scary situations.

I'm still looking, and will post if I find them!


edit: the reason I believe the stories may have been older was because I remembered buying them at my local corner store, which is why I could buy so many (they were cheap). So they may not have been new and were not very popular. I remember RL Stine really dominating that genre back then, and I found these books much darker and scarier than anything Stine wrote.

[Deborah]

The Point Horror series has an anthology with a wax museum as one of the stories Thirteen Tales of Horror
http://yarevisited.blogspot.com/2012/...

Petrified
http://www.amazon.com/Petrified-Josep...

[J.J.]

Looks like you're thinking of the Shivers series. Here's a review of the Wax Museum story I found - looks like it's what you describe in your post exactly, including the weird civil rights riot exhibit. Hope this helps!

http://www.gnarlybookreviews.com/2014...

[Miranda]

Shivers does sound like the right ones.

The island book could be either The Secret of Fern Island or Terror on Tomahawk Island. (I'm thinking Terror.)

Was story sounds like Weirdo Waldo's Wax Museum.

[[deleted user]]

Did you ever find the book series? I'm currently looking for the exact descriptions that you posted! It's driving me crazy

[[deleted user]]

How funny, I just found it! It was called The Midnight Library!

[Kate]

The Midnight Library for Vanessa's suggestion.

[Jenn]

I believe you might be looking for Fright Time. I had a set of these as well and they sound SO familiar. I think the one you are specifically mentioning was book #16.

https://www.goodreads.com/series/6528...

[Kris]

Note: Jenna (OP) was last active on the site in February 2015.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Jenna, are you still looking for this or did you find it?

[Kris]

No response, moving to Abandoned folder.

Jenna (OP) was last active on the site in February 2015.