Goosebumps Author R.L. Stine’s Childhood Fear May Surprise You

When R.L. Stine first started writing, the best-selling author thought he would be bringing the laughs instead of Goosebumps.

After all, the 78-year-old originally left his hometown of Ohio and headed to New York with an intention of writing funny novels for adults.

But 30 years after Scholastic first introduced the monthly children’s book series known as Goosebumps, the man behind the beloved series can’t believe how his life story ended up.

“It’s beyond my wildest dreams,” Stine exclusively shared with E! News. “When Goosebumps first came out, no one bought them. They sat on the shelves for months. And today with all the computers and everything, they would’ve been yanked off. They would have disappeared. But somehow, after three or four months, kids discovered them and took them to school and showed them to other kids.”

When first starting out in the publishing industry, Stine couldn’t help but remember his childhood filled with comic books. “There were these great horror comics when I was a kid,” he said. “Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror were really nasty, horrible and all had great twist endings and great artwork.”