The Haunted Elevator

Haunted House Storybooks

by Rick Detorie

When Randa's mother instructs her not to ride on one certain elevator in their apartment building, Randa's friend Jilly insists it is because that elevator is haunted

24 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1988

About the author

Rick Detorie is the creator of the popular comic strip One Big Happy. He is the author of 14 humor books, including the best-sellers No Good Men, No Good Lawyers, Totally Tacky Cartoons, Catholics and How to Survive an Italian Family. He currently resides in Venice, California.

Reviews

[Emmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had this book as a kid, and it must have scared me so badly that I never finished reading it. I only remembered one detail: a kid (or kids) getting off the elevator at the "wrong" floor and a creepy man "getting" them. This was apparently a reference to a spooky story that one of the kids in the actual book told her friend, it amounted to about two or three sentences, and it was not a central plotline of the book.

The book I read this time around was absolutely charming, cute, sweet, and not scary at all. Randa lives in an apartment with 13 floors. There are three elevators, but only one goes up to the top. One day, Randa's mother tells her not to use that elevator anymore and of course, being a child, Randa and her best friend concoct this crazy story that the elevator is haunted (complete with a monster on the top floor who turns kids into shrunken heads!!). In the end, the reason for not using the elevator was because Randa's parents bought the penthouse on the top floor and wanted to surprise her. About as wholesome as you can possibly get! Very cute, very sweet. 10/10 would recommend.