Hello again R. L. Stein Story Club members, I'm Ivy, your host, and caretaker of those

strange and spooky tales from the hidden vault of R.L. Stein. Today is another chilling tale.

This spine-tingling story, story club members, might make you bundle up with

the chills. It's one I call Mr. Plighter the Spider. Bobby Sinclair knew there was something

strange about his new homeroom teacher, Mr. Harry Plighter. For one, he moved into the two-story

house directly across the street from him, which wasn't

all that strange at first, of course.

The house had stood empty for a few months.

No, what was strange is that at night, Mr. Plighter rarely had any lights on in his house.

All the neighboring houses on Weaver Street did, with shimmering blue lights flickering

from television sets,

and kitchen lights ablaze from supper and snacks. But not the case with this new teacher.

Total darkness when the sun went down. Did Mr. Plider go to bed early, or did he simply sit

around in the darkness? Either way, it was weird. To add to the weirdness, about a week or two after

the new resident pulled out the for-sale sign in the front yard, neighborhood pets started to

disappear. Mrs. Stapleton's cat, furry Tom, vanished. The goldsmiths lost their dog, Jerry, too.

That was so strange. Jerry, a little terrier, barely went outside. They put

him out at night just for a few minutes, and that's all it took. Jerry wasn't in the yard anymore.

He wasn't anywhere. And Mr. Plighter's house stayed dark. Bobby made sure that his gray schnauzer,

Mr. Scruffalupagus, went nowhere near that

house, just in case. He'd mentioned this to his parents, but they thought he was being

paranoid and unfair to the new neighbor. Pets get lost all the time, Bobby's dad had said. Sometimes they

...