Harry and the Haunted House

Harry and the Haunted House
Released	October 24, 1994
Characters	Harry, Amy, Earl, Stinky, and Spot
Language	English
Pages	12
Previous	Arthur's Birthday
Next	The Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight

Harry and the Haunted House is the eighth Living Books game from 1994, and is based on the 1987 book of the same name written by Mark Schlichting and presented by Harry D. Rabbit. It is the second and final title in the series to be an original story exclusively created by Living Books– rather than an old one adapted from years later. Unlike Ruff's Bone (which was co-produced by Colossal Pictures), this one was entirely produced by Living Books themselves. Released on October 24, 1994.

Plot

Harry is playing baseball in a field with his friends Amy Fourpaws, Earl Earwax, and Stinky Jones, along with his dog Spot just after lunch-time. Earl throws a curved ball, and Harry hits it way out into an old mansion in the background. Earl remarks that Harry just made a big blunder, stating that the house is haunted. The boys argue about how they're going to retrieve the ball, and are all reluctant to do it, but decide to go on anyway causing Amy to say that they’ll all go get the ball together. When they make it into the house, they're continually scared by noises and creepy sights, but all of them are only their imaginations (according to Amy), as it usually turns out to be one of them. For example, the boys are scared by a scratching noise, but according to Amy, it was only Spot itching and she tells Harry that his dog has fleas. At one point, they hear a stomping noise, in which they all begin to panic (especially Earl), but it was only their lost baseball, and they all make it out of the house, laughing at how the things that frightened them were only themselves and their imaginations. At the end, they discover that Harry lost his hat somewhere in the house, and are once again reluctant to go back inside before dinner. In the "THE END" screen, Harry got his hat back and sweats, then he signs off by saying, "Phew. Were you scared? I wasn't too much. Well, I'll see you again soon. Bye!"

Characters

• Harry Donald Rabbit, the main protagonist, an anthropomorphic rabbit as in his last name. He is voiced by Gus Weinfield.

• Amy Fourpaws, the main deuteragonist and Harry's love-interest and one of close friends who is not scared of anything. She is an anthropomorphic cat She is voiced by Tina Satris. 
• Earl Earwax, one of Harry's friends along with Stinky. Like Harry, he is a rabbit as well, he blames Harry for hitting the ball too hard, he's scared of monsters. He is voiced by Taylor McCluskey.
• Stinky Jones, is an anthropomorphic skunk who likes his baseball and is scared of monsters, he is voiced by Ian Crawford and his mother Cathy Patterson-Jones is mentioned.
• Spot, Harry's little pet dog. He is white with black spots and also has a red collar around his neck and travels with the group. He also got his rear end stung by a bee.
• Red Bird, The wisecracking red bird. He is red and just like Amy, he isn't scared of anything either and makes fun of Harry's friends and jokes around. He appears on pages 1, 2, 3, 4 and 12.

Pages

• 1 One day my dog, Spot, and I were playing ball with my friends Amy, Earl, and Stinky.
• 2 "That house is creepy!" said Earl. "It has ghosts!" "I heard that a witch used to live there!" said Stinky"
• 3 The closer we got to the old house. the bigger and spookier it looked.
• 4 We knocked three times at the big front door, but nobody answered.
  • The front door was open, a little. So we went in. I volunteer to take the lead.
• 5 Inside, the big house was dark and filled with old furniture.
  • Nobody answered
  • We hear a fluttering sound.
• 6 We tiptoed slowly down a hallway. We had the feeling someone was watching us. Then something grabbed me and I yelled! It was only Stinky.
• 7 It must have been a long time ever since anyone had lived there. There was dust everywhere.
• 8 Then we heard a scritch-scritch-scratch sound right behind us. "W-W-What's that noise?" gasped Stinky, and we all stood still. It might be a monster with huge, long arms. It could be a skeleton, shaking its bones. It might be a zombie dragging one foot.
• 9 We searched in the front room. We searched in the hall. We searched in the kitchen. Where could that ball be?
• 10 We turned a corner and saw a hideous monster coming our way! It was fat and ugly with six arms and six legs, and it had long spikes on its head!
• 11 Then we heard something coming slowly down the stairs. We froze in our steps. Earl screamed. We turned and we it... It was Stinky's ball. My dog had found it. Good dog, Spot, good dog!
• 12 We stood outside and laughed. We'd been all through that haunted house and scariest thing in it was... ourselves!

Locations

• Terrible-looking old house

Songs

• Hot Tomato
• I'm Alive
• Drunken Sailor
• Daisy, Daisy
• It's Just Imagination

Trivia

• Like Ruff's Bone, this is the second Living Books game (third if you count Mark Schlichting's adaptation of The Tortoise and the Hare) that is not been based on any existing books as it was originally created and written by Mark Schlichting, the founder of Living Books.
• The child voice actors, except Earl's voice actor Taylor McCluskey and Stinky's voice actor Ian Crawford, never starred in anything else except this game.
• You leave the book when Harry says, "Okay, bye!" (if "Yes" is chosen), the same game as Arthur's Birthday. However you might keep playing when he says "Okay!" (if "No" is chosen). The "No" answer is a painting of a sailor, and the "Yes" answer is a painting of an old cat lady and her cat.
• In the first four games for V1.1 as well as the third and fourth games for V1.0, the preview for this game also exists in the files, but can only be accessed when you edit the outline file.
  • In this preview, it is revealed that Harry's fur was originally going to be plain white, but in the final game, it changed to beige.
• In the PAL versions of this game, Spot is beige instead of white, like Harry D. Rabbit himself.
• Harry got his hat back in the THE END screen, and it's also the last time the sloppy red THE END text would be used in the original plain gray-background variant of the THE END screen.
• This game along with Ruff's Bone was featured in Brutal moose's review of the Living Books series.
• When the mouse clicks on the electrified mirror figure, he sings and dances the I'm Alive song.
• This is the first Living Books game to have a character say something other than "Welcome to Living Books!". In this game, Harry D. Rabbit says “Come have an adventure with me and my friends”.
• This, The New Kid on the Block, Just Grandma and Me, and The Tortoise and the Hare were featured in a Czech magazine advertisement for Living Books. However, none of the Living Books games have been released in the Czech Republic.

Quotes

Stinky: D-d-did you see that?

Sailor in the painting: How about a kiss from the old captain?

Photos

Quit

Harry D Rabbit: Are you sure you want to quit?

[clicking on "No" which a sailor in the painting is holding]: Okay.

[clicking on "Yes" which an old cat lady and her cat in the painting are holding]: Okay. Bye!