Goosebumps And Other Books That Wrongfully Haunted Our Childhoods

Before we were age appropriate to get our hands on a Steven King novel or anything zombie professors Max Brooks (World War Z) and Richard Matheson (I Am Legend) had written, these were the books that deeply haunted our childhoods.

5. "Say Cheese and Die!"

Scholastic

Here's why: As for any series of books, not every one is a hit. But being the fourth release in the Goosebumps series, "Say Cheese and Die!" was the first to cross over into the truly terrifying threshold. By telling a story about a supernatural camera that kills people and parents who didn't want to believe in its powers, this book gave us all trust issues in the simplest of things.

4. "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark"

Harper & Row

Here's why: The problem with these "fictional" tales of horror folklore and unexplained deaths were that they were all reportedly non-fiction after writer Alvin Schwartz spent a year researching the collection's real-life stories. So to release such a myriad of scary stories to children was quite irresponsible - considering the insomnia-filled late nights it led us all to soon after.

3. "The Giver"

Scholastic

Here's why: The problem wasn't that the book was horrifying, but just the timing was. Most kids read were forced to read Lois Lowry's dystopian tale about a society without happiness and controlled death way too young in elementary school. And for nineties kids, this was before 'The Hunger Games' and 'Divergent' series made such cutthroat dystopian worlds common and well... cool.

2. "Welcome to Camp Nightmare"

Scholastic

Here's why: Before the 1993 release of this novel, camp seemed like a fun place to be. While camp-horror film 'Friday the 13th' may have been released decades prior, such R-rated content was never accessible to our second grade imaginations yet. But that's where R.L. Stine stepped in with this tale, introducing young readers to horrific drownings, evil parents, and late-night alien invasions. Soon after, a whole generation of paranoid pre-teen campers would never be the same.

1. "The Teacher from the Black Lagoon"

Scholastic

Here's why: When "The Teacher from the Black Lagoon" series first premiered in our Scholastic bookstores, it was basically confirmation that all school's faculty was out to get us. The series later included book's featuring the lizard-tailed custodian, the librarian, and even the cafeteria lady (as if they weren't already scary enough).

Now let's just hope these books didn't leave us eternally programmed to grasp our covers whenever the bedroom door mystically opens.