The Swamp Monster is a minor antagonist in Goosebumps, being the main antagonist of the book How to Kill a Monster.
Biography[]
The monster is part of a species of creatures that dwell in the swamp. They are green furred creatures with the bodies of gorillas and the heads of alligators. They are capable of speaking English and are quite resistant to poison, being able to survive eating Rat Poison, Turpentine, Drain Cleaner, Ammonia, paint, mothballs, and bug spray, with the only ill effects being an upset stomach followed by briefly passing out. They are also quite durable, being capable of surviving great falls. The creatures are also omnivores, as they enjoy eating meat as well as pancakes and pies.
In How to Kill a Monster, the monster invaded the home of Grandpa Eddie and Grandma Rose, who trapped it in a room upstairs. Not knowing how to kill the monster, Eddie and Rose elected to keep it fed until they had their car fixed and could go into town looking for help. Eddie and Rose's granddaughter Gretchen and her stepbrother Clarke arrive at their home while their parents are on a business trip. Eddie and Rose opt not to tell Gretchen and Clarke about the monster so as to avoid worrying them, deciding to keep it a secret until they can deal with the creature.
Unexpectedly, the couple's car is fixed while Gretchen and Clarke are staying with them. In their stupidity, the couple decides to leave the children in the house with the monster while they go into town for help instead of taking the children with them. After Clarke accidentally frees the monster, he and Gretchen are forced to deal with the monster themselves. After failed attempts at killing the monster by making it fall off a staircase and feeding it a poisoned pie, the children are cornered by the monster, who proceeds to lick Gretchen in anticipation of eating her. The monster begins to choke and asks Gretchen if she's human (revealing its ability to speak). When Gretchen confirms that she is, the monster states that it is allergic to humans and dies.
With the monster dead, the children flee the house with their dog Charlie. After traveling through the swamp for a bit to try and reach town, they stop to read the second of two letters the grandparents left them, informing them that if the monster escapes the room and they kill it, they should stay out of the swamp should they leave the house to try and reach town, revealing that the monster's family lives in the swamp. Upon reading this, Gretchen and Clarke begin to hear noises around them and notice shifting shadows, indicating the other monsters are about to surround them.
It's unknown if Gretchen, Clarke, and Charlie escaped the swamp alive. While the first monster was deathly allergic to humans, it is uncertain if the allergy was a species shared trait among the creatures. Even if it was, the monsters could have still killed the children without eating them if they managed to overhear the children saying that they killed the first monster (giving the other monsters a reason to want to kill them besides hunger). However, the story being narrated in past tense first person perspective by Gretchen suggests that they did somehow escape.
Personality[]
The monster was quite stupid, being easily outsmarted by two children. It also had quite an appetite; still having room in its stomach for the kids after eating three pies. Given that it was sapient and could speak English, its behavior went beyond that of a simple predator, as it still tried to eat Gretchen even after she begged the creature to let her go, despite the fact that she was just a child and there were still pancakes back in its room it hadn't eaten yet, even smiling sadistically at her as it prepared to eat her. It should be noted though that its behavior toward the children may have been partly justified by the fact they bothered it while it was trying to eat its pancakes (Gretchen by continuing to stare at it as it ate even after it tried to ignore her, Clarke by outright taunting it) and tried to kill it twice. This leaves it uncertain as to just how evil the monster was, but it at the very least had no problem killing children after they provoked it.
Other Media[]
TV Show[]
The monster appeared in Episode 18 of the second season of the Goosebumps television series. In the episode, the monster is not sapient and does not speak. It is also changed to a large creature resembling a cross between a chicken and a dinosaur. Instead of a poisoned pie, the kids feed it a spicy gumbo that burns its stomach up. The story is also changed so that Eddie shot the monster while he was hunting and brought it back presumably as a trophy, thinking it was dead. Instead of going into town for help with killing the monster, Eddie and Rose go out to attend to an undisclosed errand.
Movie[]
The monster appears in the first Goosebumps film as a background character. It once again has a completely different look from either the book or episode. In the film, the creature appears as a large being with a body made entirely out of green swamp moss. It features in several shots with the other monsters but does not play any significant role in the story like some of the other monsters and villains do. It was however featured at Comic Con during the appearances of the film crew there. Comic Con officially referred to it as the "Bog Monster" and explicitly identified it as the monster from How to Kill a Monster. Two books released alongside the film as activity books and official material related to the monsters in the film however, mistakenly identify it as one of the Mud Monsters from You Can't Scare Me.
Trivia[]
- The Swamp Monster may be based on the Honey Island Swamp Monster due to their similar appearances.
External Links[]
- Swamp Monster on the Goosebumps Wiki
