You can’t call yourself a card-carrying 90s kid if you didn’t read Goosebumps growing up. Real talk – there are few things in my life as a 40-year-old that are as exciting as the Scholastic Book Fair used to be when they still had Goosebumps out there for sale.

Some were a lot of fun. Some actually did give me bona fide nightmares. But, it was like spicy food – it’s so painful, but the ride is so enjoyable that you can’t help yourself. Maybe I was just a glutton for punishment as a kid, but I couldn’t put Goosebumps down. Plus, they were almost like collector’s items – I’ve always been a collector. Pretty sure I had some of R.L. Stine’s masterpieces that I didn’t even read, but I just HAD to have ’em for the whole collection. Goosebumps, pogs, and Pokemon – gotta collect ’em all.

The movies have come out in recent years, and I gotta say, I find them quite enjoyable. There’s something about ’em that just appeal to that childhood nostalgia bone – not unlike Hocus Pocus or Are You Afraid of the Dark?

So, with Spooky Season in full swing for 2026, I’ve decided to take this opportunity to offer up my 15 favorite Goosebumps stories from my childhood. Granted, I can’t remember what actually happened in…like…any of these books. But, I can remember the way they made me feel, and particularly, how they gave me goosebumps.

Hot damn I’m a good writer – did y’all see that? What I just did right there?

Top 15 Goosebumps Stories

15. Vampire Breath – Vampire Breath may have been kinda forgettable for a lot of people, but it sticks out in my mind because…well…how cool would it be to just casually wake up a vampire in your basement and then help him wake up all his vampire friends? Like, I would’ve been game for leading a vampire cabal back in the day.

14. One Day at Horrorland – Listen, it’s hard to imagine getting lost looking for an amusement park and just settling on a creepy one you just happen to stumble upon in 2026. But, back in 1994, that shit was real life. The idea of getting lost as a kid was frightening….getting lost in a theme park with ghosts and monsters?!?! That’s the shit that leads to therapy when you become an adult.

13. A Shocker on Shock Street – Giant monstrous creatures, enormous praying mantises – listen, I’ll say it. I think this is one of the more underrated tales in the lineage of the original Goosebumps stories.

12. Deep Trouble – Holy shit, I wonder if this book is why I have a shark phobia as an adult?

11. The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena – It’s weird to me that the abominable snowman became one of the main characters in the movies, because I don’t remember him having a cult-like following when we were kids. What creeped me out the most about this story was how unusual the idea of an abominable snowman in California was. Some real…like…uncanny valley stuff going on there.

10. The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight – Scarecrows that come to life. I know a lot of this stuff was “______ comes to life” back in the day, but this one was one of the early classics of the line, so it gets a pass.

9. The Horror at Camp Jellyjam – A blob monster, some good brainwashing, summer camp – what more could a nine-year-old ask for in a tale?

8. The Headless Ghost – Wait they actually called the house in this book Hill House? FUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCC – no wonder I remember this one being particularly scary. Loaded with ghosts….just some Grade A ghost shit.

7. Attack of the Jack-O-Lanterns – What a classic Halloween tale – scary ass hissing pumpkins that come to life. I was afraid of every pumpkin I walked past for years because of this book.

6. How I Got My Shrunken Head – I actually remember reading this one and thinking it was more ‘cool’ than terrifying. I don’t know what that says about me, but I was always cautious of shrunken heads from the day I finished that book moving forward.

5. The Barking Ghost – Man, the woods….the woods are what got me with The Barking Ghost. This family moves deep into the woods and then ol’ boy rolls up on some ghost dogs. It just hit too close to home given I grew up next to hundreds of acres of woods.

4. Be Careful What You Wish For… – One of the OG tales from this series. I can remember that cover plain as day, and this was one that had all the kids in the third grade talking and shitting their pants. Think about it – you’re given three wishes, and they’re granted but they all RUIN your life. WILD ASS SHIT!

3. The Werewolf of Fever Swamp – We got a werewolf on the loose just killing animals, people are going missing, and we’ve got a good old fashioned suspense story building up to the end. It’s one of the earlier novels, and in my opinion, one of the most iconic covers in the series.

2. Ghost Beach – When I think scary Goosebumps, Ghost Beach is the one that comes straight to mind. I lost so much damn sleep because of this book – a three hundred year old ghost that lives in a cave and haunts the beach. I love the beach – how could you take that from me, R.L. Stine?

1. A Night in Terror Tower – Gonna be a hot take here for sure, but this one has all the nostalgia going for me. Why? Because this one was actually my first Goosebumps book. I can distinctly remember it – going out to Hickory Hollow one night with my mom and her friend, going to Media Play, and talking her into trying them out because it might actually get me into reading.

I was hooked right off the bat, and why wouldn’t I be? This one was about a couple of kids who got lost in a tower with an executioner chasing ’em around. Talk about badass.

I don’t know about you guys, but I actually feel like dusting off some old Goosebumps and seeing how they hold up to a man at 40 years old.

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, second on Football & Other F Words, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.

Elsewhere on the SoBros Network: Check out Stacking The Inbox for premium coverage of the Tennessee Titans and NFL Draft. Subscribe to Nashville Movie Dispatch for all of our movie content. We get weird on Phone It In, the history podcast that explores legendary tales, important historical figures, and events.

What do you know? I’m on time with the Spooky Season book recommendations this year! You actually still have time to pick these up AND read them before Halloween gets here! Well, at least your choice of the three if you’re a slow reader like me and are self-aware enough to know there’s no way you’re going to read three books in one month. I digress.

Spooky Season Book Recommendations, 2026

The Shining by Stephen King – I feel like I’m going to become rather predictable by including some King on this list every year, but his stories are such a breeze and the vibes are so aligned with Spooky Season, it’s hard not to. I read The Shining for the first time this year, and while it may play better in January, I found that it had a good old fashioned Spooky Season vibe to it. It has a reputation for being a bit of a boring book, but I was enamored by it and found it to be a breeze.

The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury – It is quintessential Halloween as told as only Bradbury could. It is part whimsical, playing on the magical nature that we experience Halloween with as a child. It is part creepy, playing on the notion that all is not as it seems. And, it is part history lesson, exploring the origins of Halloween itself. It’s a rather quick and easy read. Dare I say, you could start this on Halloween morning and knock it out before the trick or treaters hit the streets. This is one that I will probably make a tradition of revisiting every October.

Halloween – This gem of an anthology was a random Thriftbooks find when I was scrolling through ‘Halloween’ books a year ago. It is perfect to just set out on the coffee table and pick up to read a story as you have the free time. Featuring short stories from the likes of Bradbury, H.P. Lovecraft, Peter Straub, F. Paul Wilson, and many more, this collection celebrates the scary story as much as the nostalgia we feel for the holiday itself. It’s as festive a Halloween book as you’ll find.

Finally, I know I wrote about these two last year, but I will probably mention them every year because they are so fun:

Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon – If you’re all about setting, Tryon takes his sweet ass time in building out the setting in this one. Personally, I like it. It’s a slow-burn world-building that really fleshes out the characters that inhabit the story. It feels like fall in upstate New York. By the time we get to the climax of this story, the pace quickens, and shit gets off the rails in a hurry. It’s a cool story that flirts with folk horror. I found this book after watching The Witch and Googling “folk horror style books.” It fits the bill.

Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King – As easy and as quintessentially Halloween as it gets. This is practically a novella, but it has all of the hallmarks of classic Stephen King. It should be a breeze. I think I read it it in three sittings. There’s no better time to read this one – it’s creepy, the plot is winding, and in its own way, it feels incredibly festive…think about it in a “Universal Studios monster movie” sense.

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, second on Football & Other F Words, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.

Elsewhere on the SoBros Network: Check out Stacking The Inbox for premium coverage of the Tennessee Titans and NFL Draft. Subscribe to Nashville Movie Dispatch for all of our movie content. We get weird on Phone It In, the history podcast that explores legendary tales, important historical figures, and events.

2003 was an interesting time in my wrestling fanhood – to me, it’s one of the greatest periods in wrestling history. That calendar year produced some of my favorite shows, including one of my favorite WrestleManias. But, there’s also that thing we do when we tend to look back on our own experiences more fondly. Was 2003 really that good? Would it hold up to the golden ages of wrestling? Or, do I just think that way because I was a young man finding my way in life through the WWE? Who’s to say?

When I thought about what the best pay-per-view events of the year were, Vengeance came to mind right away. In hindsight, that card was absolutely loaded with a little bit of everything – good technical wrestling, singles wrestling, tag team wrestling, the gaga hot mess storylines, and a title match for the ages. On paper, that show absolutely was as stacked as I remember it.

The summer before, the brand split felt more like a suggestion than a guideline. Wrestlers were swapping shows left and right. You never knew who from Monday’s show would show up on Thursday and vice versa. In 2003, it felt like the WWE realized it had to get serious about the brand split if they were going to make the whole thing work. So, they started splitting their pay-per-views up by brand. Raw had Bad Blood in June of 2003. Smackdown had Vengeance in July of 2003. If this thing was going to work, Vengeance had to deliver. From what I remember, it did. But, I wanted to take the opportunity to see how it holds up 23 years later. Was it really as good as I remembered? Or, was I just a teenager happy with whatever slop WWE fed me? Let’s fire up the Netflix engine.

Rewatching WWE Vengeance 2003

• Man, I do miss excessive and extravagant displays of pyro for no other reason than to let the audience know that the show has started.
• United States Championship: Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero – What an opener! Starting this thing off with Benoit and Guerrero for that beautiful new United States Championship (still my favorite version of the U.S. title) was certainly a message. I love the fast paced tit for tat technical style and this one felt pretty evenly matched. To me, this is what the midcard titles are all about. This was a physical contest between two guys who were just out there going for it. Man, Eddie got UP for those German suplexes. We got some classic Guerrero shenanigans and a Rhyno heel turn on Benoit. This is a U.S. Championship classic and a true testament to what an opening match on a big show should be.
• Billy Gunn vs. Jamie Noble – No way! This was the indecent proposal match! “If you beat Billy at Vengeance, I’ll sleep with you right here on SmackDown next week” is a WILD thing to say if you’re Torrie Wilson. I had forgotten about this run where they paired her up with Billy Gunn. Deciding to run the Mr. Ass gimmick back in 2003 was certainly a decision, though. I wonder why they don’t have more “I’ll have sex with you if you beat my man” angles in 2026! These two could go – it wasn’t all gross. Gunn was just smacking Noble’s body into the mat like a ragdoll. These two dialed up the physicality. Noble wins after some shenanigans, and Michael Cole is on commentary saying he wants to be a fly on the wall on Thursday’s SmackDown when Noble and Wilson are supposed to fuck. What the hell are we watching?
• The APA Invitational – There’s Funaki running that Smackdown number one announcer gimmick. Those were the days. You’ve got Bradshaw openly drinking Jack Daniels in this backstage promo. What a time to be alive. It’s time for the APA Invitational. I totally forgot about half of these participants – the FBI, the Easter bunny, Brother Love, Sean O’Haire, what a clusterfuck. Nobody can bump in this thing because there’s glass and broken shit all over the floor…it’s a concrete floor to boot. Bradshaw wins, and damn it if I wasn’t laughing my ass off the whole time. They need to bring this concept back at some point.
• WWE Tag Team Championship: The World’s Greatest Tag Team (c) vs. Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio – Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas were awesome but holy shit was “the world’s greatest tag team” a terrible gimmick. Generic tights. Generic music. Generic everything. To no one’s surprise, this was a really high energy fast paced match with TWGTT going over. This was the 4th match and there’s been some really good variety on this show – from technical to gaga bullshit to brawling to high flying…this show has something for every wrestling fan in it.
• Sable vs. Stephanie McMahon – The announcers calling this a “cat fight” sure was a sign of the times. I totally forgot about Stephanie ripping Sable’s shirt off on Smackdown. At one point, Sable loses her shirt (again), and Tazz says “I don’t think Sable’s hands are big enough to cover those things.” I’m just warning y’all. If you thought the indecent proposal angle aged poorly, wait ’til you fire this up. Sable wins the cat fight after A-Train comes out and steamrolls Stephanie McMahon for some reason. This wasn’t very good, but it wasn’t long so they understood the assignment to advance whatever the fuck kind of soap opera this was meant to be.
• John Cena vs. Undertaker – I was ready for a step up in the action by this point in the show, so Undertaker and John Cena were a welcome sight. This show was paced really well – that’s the first time I caught myself thinking, “okay, I’m ready for some of the top guys.” It’s wild to think about where Cena was at for this – you forget there was a time when he was indeed an “up and comer,” and not “the dude.” I like that the build for this was Cena claiming he was the SmackDown “legend” and that Taker had to teach him a lesson and put the brash upstart in his place. But, this match was awesome. Cena could absolutely go – hopping up 10 feet in the air on that chokeslam. It’s wild watching this slugfest in 2026 because it feels like it ought to be the main event! Anyone who says Cena can’t wrestle should watch this one back…Taker wins after a Last Ride to the moon.
• Mr. McMahon vs. Zach Gowen – “You may have beaten cancer but you will not beat me” is a bar. I won’t even lie. This whole angle was clearly designed to make McMahon look like a vile human being. That’s fine. Sometimes, things in wrestling can be that simple. In this case, it was “mission: accomplished.” Gowen’s theme was a banger – I forgot about that Seether song. The match itself was perfectly fine given the context. I didn’t appreciate it as a 17-year-old, but watching it back now, I found that the commentary team did a fantastic job in this match. Maybe they were biased and openly rooting for Gowen, but it just hit that extra gear in putting McMahon over as a dastardly heel. Man, I forgot how fucking gnarly that chairshot was at the end, though. I mean, McMahon was SPOUTING blood. For what it was, it was perfectly fine serving a narrative.
• WWE Championship triple threat: Kurt Angle vs. Big Show vs. Brock Lesnar – I remembered this match most vividly prior to my rewatch, and while I still enjoyed it quite a bit, in 2026, I’d say that Benoit-Guerrero and Cena-Undertaker were both better matches. Still, this one holds up well. It’s more of a frenetic sprint than I remember. Big Show was out there bumping his ass off for these guys. Seeing Lesnar sell like that is something you rarely see today. And, Angle getting the title back after the big WrestleMania angle was cool. There was an ample amount of violence and chaos, as every good triple threat has. It was a fitting cap on a damn good show – I can’t imagine the folks in Denver didn’t go home happy that night. I’ve found that it’s rare that things I liked from my childhood and adolescence hold up as an adult, but this show did. It’s one I’d highly recommend clearing an evening for to go back and relive. We really didn’t know how good we had it back then.

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, second on Football & Other F Words, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.

Elsewhere on the SoBros Network: Check out Stacking The Inbox for premium coverage of the Tennessee Titans and NFL Draft. Subscribe to Nashville Movie Dispatch for all of our movie content. We get weird on Phone It In, the history podcast that explores legendary tales, important historical figures, and events.

Brandon Vick reviews Resident Evil, Forgotten Island, and Heart of the Beast on this month’s installment of The Cinema Chronicles. 

• Resident Evil – 6:11
• Forgotten Island – 18:54
• Heart of the Beast – 24:45

Keep up with all of our work covering the world of movies on Nashville Movie Dispatch. Listen to the The Cinema Chronicles podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you take in your podcasts! Just search for ‘Nashville Movie Dispatch’ and you’ll find us. Or, just smash the play button on the embed below!

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, second on Football & Other F Words, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.

Elsewhere on the SoBros Network: Check out Stacking The Inbox for premium coverage of the Tennessee Titans and NFL Draft. Subscribe to Nashville Movie Dispatch for all of our movie content. We get weird on Phone It In, the history podcast that explores legendary tales, important historical figures, and events.

Hello, and welcome in to the latest edition of Yankee Candle Reviews here on SoBros Network. I will be your host – the Fragrance Aficionado of SoBros Network, also the EIC, Stoney Keeley. My passion for Yankee Candle began in 2006, when I strolled into the location in Providence Marketplace in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. I picked up a jar of Autumn Woods, and found it captured the essence of the season perfectly. I’ve been hooked in this…well, you could even call it ‘romantic…’ relationship with Yankee Candle ever since. Today, we’re kicking off the fall season with a sniff of Moonbeams on Pumpkins.

Ah, yes – the fall season is upon us! But, for me, it’s not quite “pumpkin and cinnamon” fall season. It’s that early fall…where there’s still just enough of a hint of summer twilight to still smell fresh at sunset. I like the decaying leaves and the wet smell they produce as they pile up on the ground. It’s why I’ve always gone for those Earthy smells this time of year – Autumn Woods, Woodland Road Trip, Autumn Leaves, etc. Next in line for that ethereal vibe is Moonbeams on Pumpkins, which I snatched a year or so ago on sale from the Returning Favorites section. Moonbeams on Pumpkins was tailor made for this time of year – it hits like a watered down version of Midsummers Night at first, musky and humid. But, then it slides right into a nice Earthy pumpkin smell…not the baked spiced pumpkin smell you’re used to. But, a real “out the ground” pumpkin. This is a nice fragrance that I’ll be adding to the September rotation.

Recommended Burning: The last rays of summer sunshine bend across the horizon, disappearing for another season. You feel faint warmth across your brow as the smell of blossoming pumpkins rises up through your nostrils. That’s weird. You don’t remember planting pumpkins in the backyard, and it still seems a little early for them to be in season. A quick thought invades your mindscape, telling you to remove your clothing. You oblige. This really feels weird now and you think you might be at risk of violating a few laws now. It’s a public park, after all. Nonetheless, you walk naked across the field, into the woods, where the pumpkin smell is emanating from. It’s a witch. Fuck – she’s drawing you into her lair with the smell of summer’s twilight and Earthy pumpkin. Oh well. Whatever happens happens. You enjoy the scent of Moonbeams on Pumpkins as you float into the abyss.

Check out the Yankee Candle archives here on SoBros Network for my extensive backlog of Yankee Candle reviews! Also, be sure to check out my comprehensive list of the top 100 Yankee Candle fragrances of all time. I worked on that thing for forever, so any read is appreciated, thank you. That is all.

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, second on Football & Other F Words, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.

Elsewhere on the SoBros Network: Check out Stacking The Inbox for premium coverage of the Tennessee Titans and NFL Draft. Subscribe to Nashville Movie Dispatch for all of our movie content. We get weird on Phone It In, the history podcast that explores legendary tales, important historical figures, and events.