Jose drops Eric like a bad shoe for a conversation with A.D. Aro (@bumps_in_the_night_books on Insta). Together they traverse the forest of irresponsibility that grew from the mind of M.D. Spenser by way of a particularly unsane entry in the Shivers series, The Curse of the New Kid! Is this just American Psycho for elementary students? Does vomitation really carry the comedic weight Jose thinks it does? And how many faculty members need to either fall from great heights or be fallen upon from great heights before we outlaw second stories in school buildings? Then Aro treats us to an overview of his exciting new horror series for the warped and twisted children in all of us! Grab your copy of Bumps In The Night Book 1: In the Mall of Madness on Amazon now!

If a picture is worth a thousand words and your thoughts cost a penny apiece, then today's episode might just save your life! No, we don't know what that means, either. What we do know is that, as Jose and Eric guide you through a cross-section of thirty-second terrors from this 2009 collection, you will be able to say with certainty that you heard them speak for a particular length of time.

After earning an extra long summer break by graduating early from the Class of Sass (and Horror), Eric and Jose return to reading, writing, and rill silly names with the first entry of the ultimate children's anthology series of the '90s: Bruce Coville's Book of Monsters! The stories--and the creatures within--rip, slap, rule, and rock.

Have you ever been to camp? Was it creepy? Have no fear, the Lord is here! Rod Randall uses the horror genre to teach us a thing or two about the Bible or...something.

Have you ever wondered what would happen if all of your worst nightmares came true? Wonder no longer, for the listener-submitted tale read aloud in this episode answers that question--and more! One more. It answers exactly one more question.

Let's venture into new territory--that of an anthology series to rival Goosebumps: Strange Matter! This one is about phantom greasers who drive through walls, up buildings, and over oceans in a bid to recruit fresh victims for--what, exactly? Well, telling you would spoil the twist, wouldn't it?

Jose makes his triumphant return to the pod with nothing but boxing shorts and a dream! A BAD dream! Or several! That comprise the folklore compendium Short & Shivery! A rival series to Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark! Does this episode merit so many exclamation points? NO!

On a second excursion into the realm of the trilogies-of-teeny-tiny-terror known as Fright Time, Eric welcomes a new guest into the treehouse--his girlfriend! Take that, everyone who says I'm patently unlovable. Adana fills in for the pretending-to-be-busy-to-get-out-of-work Jose and gives her thoughts on Creatures from the Ice, Dead-End Drive-In, and Strange Exchange. We'll either have to bring her back on the show someday or else kill her now that she knows where the treehouse is located....

Remember those books you could apparently buy at the dollar store with a price tag of $7.95? Nothing is spookier than cognitive dissonance! Anyway, Eric doesn't remember that (although the dollar store may be where he picked up Gooflumps) but Jose had rollicking fun reading entries in the Fright Time series whenever he got a break from all those child beauty pageants his mom was always entering him into. Three spine-tingling stories for the price of two! Jose deep-dives into book #1 while Eric wades into the shallow pool with book #4.

Monster Kids Don't Host Podcasts! Except that they do, in the form of Eric and Jose, who celebrate the Ghoultide season with winter-appropriate entries in the popular children's chapter book series, the Bailey School Kids! At what point do child sleuths cross over from "charming" to "obnoxious"? Is the best case scenario that all the adults in Bailey City are just weirdos with boundary issues? Could the series be rebooted for Gen Z? All these questions, and more, go completely unanswered in our latest episode! But that seems appropriate, given the ambiguity of the subject matter itself. Ho Ho Hoooooooooooogodhelpme.