Overdue Podcast – Episode 725

The Haunted Baby (Choose Your Own Nightmare #13) by Edward Packard
Aired: October 20, 2025
Hosts: Craig and Andrew

Episode Overview

This week on Overdue, Craig and Andrew dive into The Haunted Baby, the thirteenth entry in the 'Choose Your Own Nightmare' spin-off series by Edward Packard, a mastermind behind the original 'Choose Your Own Adventure' phenomenon. As part of the annual Spooktober celebration, the hosts break from their usual format to read and actively play through this rare, out-of-print interactive children's horror novel. The episode balances nostalgic humor with keen insights, exploring the mechanics and oddities of this twisty, loop-filled “choose-your-fate” story about a babysitter pitted against the possibly-evil toddler Katie.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Stage: Spooktober and Rule-Breaking

• Spooktober is in full swing—“a spooky month full of spooky books,” says Andrew [04:14]. This year’s (aborted) theme: Spooktober Baby, “all books about scary babies” [05:36].
• The Haunted Baby is highlighted as both a rule break (from classics to interactive fiction) and a natural fit for the spooky agenda.
• Craig admits: “This is our book podcast where each week one of us reads a book and tells the other person about it. But every once in a while we break all the rules and do choose your own adventure books” [04:59].

2. Background on the Book & Series

• Andrew offers a detailed rundown of 'Choose Your Own Adventure' history, noting:
  • The primary series ended in 1998 after 184 books.
  • 'Choose Your Own Nightmare' ran for 18 books (1995-1997), a clear Goosebumps competitor [08:30].
• Trivia: This is “Choose Your Own Nightmare #13”; Andrew wonders if they started at 13 for added spookiness, but confirms there are 18 books [09:46].
• Andrew’s book acquisition story (and near-loss to a neighbor) highlights the book’s rarity and cost (approx. $25-$30 for a battered copy) [13:01].

3. Examining the Book: Physical and Visual Details

• Both hosts share details about their used copies. Craig’s has stickers from a library in Tucson, AZ; Andrew’s hails from Reynolds School District 7 in Oregon [22:08].
• The cover features a raven or crow carrying a baby stamped “BAD” (with a skull-and-crossbones bow), a play on the stork myth [24:07]. “This is one haunted. This is a bad baby,” jokes Andrew [25:01].
• The back of the book advertises: “Babysitting a two-year-old will be a snap. Or so you thought. There’s something creepy about Katie...” [25:25].

4. Book Mechanics: How ‘Choose Your Own Nightmare’ Works

• Hosts read the “Warning” to readers: “If you had known that little Katie Harper was haunted, you never would have accepted this babysitting job. But you’ve already said yes. It’s just you and Katie now… only you can decide what happens” [28:38].
• Immediate foreshadowing: “This baby is haunted. Yeah, because the back of the book was a little more ambiguous about it. Like is this baby haunted or is it just you?” [28:44].

5. Interactive Playthrough Highlights

(Timestamps based on main story sections; choices and results paraphrased for clarity)

5.1. Starting the Babysitting Gig

• The protagonist lands a lucrative $7.50/hour gig with the Harpers; “It was very easy this year to spill over into Spookvember and to take the fight to Christmas” [05:53].
• Mr. Harper is a mall taxidermist who jokes about never having stuffed a human—Craig: “He works at the mall. Taxidermist. He’s saying he’s gonna stuff people and…” [32:37; 32:52].

5.2. Meeting (Possibly Haunted) Katie

• Katie is presented as an adorable, angelic toddler, but only when adults are around—classic horror fakeout [33:33].
• The dead kitten backstory is established. When alone, Katie’s behavior turns, and odd things begin, including a spooky computer program: “Blink and shrink, the computer voice says. A cartoon person appears… Katie clicks on the person’s eyeball. The person gets smaller and smaller. Katie giggles. Fun, she says” [36:05].

5.3. Early Choices and Outcomes

• Skip instructions and follow Katie (51): Leads to the haunted computer, then dolls and dollhouse play, where the protagonist increasingly suspects evil.
• Dollhouse Segment (12, 72, 47, 25): Katie claims “We in my room in the dollhouse.” The narrator blinks and realizes they may really be inside a dollhouse version of the house itself, stuck in a recursive nightmare.
• Key loop ending: “You hurry downstairs, open the front door and step out of the dollhouse into Katie’s bedroom. A giant-sized Katie sitting on the bed. She’s smiling at you, but you don’t smile back. Gently, she picks you up and puts you back in her dollhouse. The end” [45:27].

5.4. Alternate Endings: Mayhem & Paradox

• Stroller Ending: Protagonist, bitten by Katie, loses control of the stroller. “For a split second, you don’t care. Then you realize you have to care. You run as fast as you can... The truck hits you. Smash. As you take your last breath, you see Katie standing on the sidewalk, smiling happily down at you. 'Bye-bye,' she says. The end.” [50:20].
• Tunnel/Caterpillar/Yard Ending: Attempting to escape through play equipment leads (inexplicably) to the protagonist’s backyard, then a surreal for-sale Harper house featuring the ghost kitten: “The kitten runs faster. And you realize it’s not just following, it's leading you home. The end.” [56:17].
• Waking Up?: Includes the unusual ability to just “end the book” as a choice: “If you say, tell her yes, turn to page 17. Otherwise, just say, no thanks, and this is the end.” [57:06].
  Andrew: “I’ve never seen that before…an ending you could just, like, preemptively choose to end it.” [57:08]

5.5. Innovations and the Book’s Structure

• Unique for the genre: Inline choices (“If you feel like it…"), loops that send you back to earlier story beats, endings buried as options rather than page-turns.
  • “We’ve never been looped before like that.” [57:38]
• Economy and Pacing: The book is shorter than a regular Choose Your Own Adventure, but the hosts agree it's “tighter” and more experimental in structure.
  • "This is a house of leaves book instead. It's just tighter, you know." [46:40]

6. The Lisa Path: Splitting the Babysitting Fee

• If the protagonist brings along the friend Lisa (who demands a higher cut!), things devolve fast:
  • Katie bites Lisa; Lisa throws the baby on the couch.
  • Katie plays with a bucket of glass eyes (taxidermist’s tools), grabs a mouse.
  • Afternoon is punctuated by supernatural TV (impossible to turn off, haunted programs), ultimately leading both babysitters to laugh maniacally with Katie—haunted babysitters, the end [68:31].
• Andrew: “Lisa is such dead weight.” [65:28]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the baby as the villain:
  • “We don’t have enough information… it is not 100% clear to me that the baby is the source of the haunting.” – Andrew [70:29]
• On the rare structural tricks:
  • “That’s pretty cool, Edward, good work. I like that… never had that before.” —Craig on the option to simply end the book [57:14]
  • “This book doesn’t want to waste your time. I mean beyond the time that you’re sort of wasting getting caught in loops and stuff.” – Andrew [70:14]
• On taxidermy and the 90s mall economy:
  • “Mr. Harper is much creepier, and he is kind of a loose thread… the one animal he hasn’t taxidermied before. He’s just using the law of attraction to will it into existence.” – Andrew [71:26; 64:44]
• The haunted cover:
  • “With all the subtlety of a political cartoon, this cover is telling us this baby is bad.” – Andrew [25:14]
• On the bizarre humor of the genre:
  • “The baby has resting demon face or something.” – Craig [70:57]
  • “What did you think of this baby, Andrew?” [70:26]
• Reflecting on the Form:
  • “We received a loop. We got an inline choice and an ending inside of a choice. The choice to end the book. We’ve never had that before.” – Craig [70:06]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Intro & Spooktober Concept: 04:14–06:08
• Book Series & Acquisition Story: 06:19–13:43
• Physical Book Descriptions & Cover: 22:08–25:25
• Warning & Gameplay Begins: 27:22–31:08
• Taxidermist Encounter: 32:25–33:28
• Haunted Computer & First Night: 36:05–39:02
• Dollhouse Loop & First Major Ending: 40:28–45:27
• Stroller/Street Ending: 47:00–50:41
• Tunnel/Yard/Ghost Kitten Ending: 51:10–56:17
• Waking Up Mechanic & Loop: 56:36–57:52
• Lisa Route & Haunted Babysitters Ending: 59:53–68:31
• Meta-Discussion: Structure & Lore: 69:01–74:14

Episode Tone

Wry, witty, and warm; the hosts riff on 1990s nostalgia, the absurd mechanics of interactive fiction, and the spooky genre’s cheesy charm. Frequent playful asides and deadpan humor keep the episode engaging even as the conversation veers into literary analysis (“This is a house of leaves book…”) and the nature of evil babies.

Conclusion: Reflections and Takeaways

The Haunted Baby surprises with its quirks: recursive endings, in-line loops, blunt horror, and surreal choices. Craig and Andrew agree it’s a cut above lesser “choose your own” fare, more adventurous in form and with just the right flavor of 90s kid-lit weirdness.

Final Quote:
"I thought we were gonna have fun, Andrew. I did not expect to really think about the form of the choose your own adventure. I’m a little shook, to be honest." – Craig [75:30]

Next Episode

Up next: Craig reads “I Know What You Did Last Summer” by Lois Duncan — and maybe watches the movie, too [78:42].

For more, visit overduepodcast.com or join the conversation on social media @overduepod.