The Curse of Camp Cold Lake

The Curse of Camp Cold Lake is the fifty-sixth book in the original Goosebumps book series. It was first published in 1997. The cover illustration shows a female ghost emerging from the lake.

Blurb
Sink or Sink Camp is supposed to be fun, but Sarah hates Camp Cold Lake. The lake is gross, nasty, disgusting, and slimy. And she's having a little trouble with her bunk mates. They hate her so much. So Sarah comes up with a plan. She'll pretend to drown, so everybody will feel sorry for her. But things don't go exactly the way Sarah planned. Because down by the cold, dark lake someone is watching her. Stalking her. Someone with pale blue eyes and a transparent body.

Plot
Sarah Maas doesn't particularly like the idea of swimming or going to camp at all. However, her parents have signed her up for Camp Cold Lake, which is located near a lake and focuses on water-based sports. Sarah's younger brother, Aaron, is enthused by the idea of going to camp. When the siblings get to camp, Sarah is disappointed to find that her bunk-mates Brianna, Megan, and Janice, have taken all of the best beds. Sarah complains to a counselor and gets the beds reassigned, but this annoys Brianna. Later, Sarah accidentally offends Megan and knocks over Janice's backpack, unintentionally revealing Janice's asthma inhalers. Janice is upset, and mad that the others will know about her asthma.

That night, all of the campers meet around the campfire. Megan and Brianna tell Sarah that someone threw fireworks into the campfire. Sarah runs, but she quickly learns that there were no fireworks at all. She is mocked and insulted by many of the other campers. Eventually, the campers are introduced to Liz, one of the camp counselors. Liz shares the camp's rules. After this, Brianna and Megan drop a snake into Sarah's shirt. Sarah throws the snake away and leaves the campfire. On the way back to her bunk, Sarah finds some spiders, and she scoops some of them up by trapping them in a hollow compartment in her flashlight. When Sarah gets back to her bunk, she pours spiders into the beds of Brianna and Megan. Sarah's bunk-mates return, and they go to their beds. When Brianna and Megan lie down, they are bitten by spiders. However, Janice had seen Sarah planting the spiders earlier, and she tattles on Sarah. Brianna and Megan are taken to the infirmary to have their spider bites checked.

The next day, Sarah wants to go canoeing. According to the camp's rules, she will need to find a "friend" to go with her. Sarah asks Janice if she would like to be partners, but Janice declines. Sarah complains to Liz, and Liz forces Janice to partner with Sarah. While canoeing, Sarah begins to lose control of the canoe. During this time, Janice reveals that because everyone knows about her asthma, she won't be allowed to go on the six-day canoeing trip that she had wanted to go on. Janice jumps off the boat and swims back to shore. Janice's jump flips the canoe. When Janice gets back to shore, she tells Liz that Sarah intentionally flipped the boat.

Sarah devises a plan to garner sympathy; she will pretend to drown. When Sarah goes swimming, she takes a deep breath and dives down. Sarah stays underwater for a long time, but nobody comes to rescue her. When she resurfaces, she finds that everyone has vanished. Sarah leave the water and notices that it has begun snowing, which shouldn't be possible given that it's supposed to be summer. Sarah follows the sound of singing until she finds a girl. The girl introduces herself as Della, and Della says that she's been waiting for Sarah. Della asks if Sarah will be her friend. Della begins floating, and Sarah notices that she can see through Della. Sarah assumes that Della drowned at Cold Lake. Sarah refuses to be Della's friend and runs away. Suddenly, Sarah's vision fades to black.

Sarah regains consciousness after being resuscitated by Liz. Everything seems to be normal again. Later, Sarah is preparing to join a camp meeting. While she looks for a seat, Sarah sees Della. Sarah cries out, which prompts the counselors to check on her. The counselors don't seem to see Della. When Sarah gets back to her cabin, her bunk-mates surround her. They apologize for their mean treatment of Sarah. The four girls spend the next few hours talking and having fun. The next morning, Sarah and the other campers go swimming, and Liz supervises from atop a motorboat. Sarah tries swimming alongside Janice, but she realizes that the girl she's following is actually Della. Della tries to catch Sarah, so Sarah swims towards Liz's motorboat. When Sarah looks aboard the boat, she sees Della. Della vanishes, and she is replaced by Liz. Worried by Sarah's behavior, Liz takes Sarah to speak with Richard, the head counselor.

Sarah meets with Richard, and she asks him if any camper has ever drowned at Camp Cold Lake. Richard says that no campers have. Sarah sees Della, but Richard isn't able to see her at all. Richard suggests that Sarah focus on sports to take her mind off of ghosts and supernatural creatures. Later, Liz teaches Sarah how to water-ski. As Sarah is water-skiing, she looks towards the boat that's towing her and sees that Della is controlling the vehicle. Sarah lets go of the tow-rope. She begins sinking, but she is held up by her life jacket. Della tries to hit Sarah with the boat, but she only rips through Sarah's life jacket. Sarah makes it back to shore. She runs back to her cabin and gets changed. Sarah is about to leave, but she is stopped by Brianna. Brianna asks Sarah if she is leaving, and Sarah answers positively. Brianna wishes Sarah good luck.

While Sarah is trying to find her way through the woods, she is met by Della. Della begins explaining to Sarah how she actually died. One night, Della sneaked into the woods by herself. At the time, Della didn't know that many deadly snakes lived in the woods. Della reveals that, she had tried to scare Sarah away from the lake so she would go into the woods. A snake begins coiling around Sarah's leg. Before the snake can attack, Brianna appears and removes the snake on Sarah's leg. Brianna explains that Della had tried to kill her during the previous summer, and now she is back to protect other campers from Della. Sarah and Brianna agree to be friends. Della wails and falls to the ground before disappearing completely. Sarah tries to hug Brianna, but her arms pass through the girl. Brianna reveals that Della had successfully killed her last summer, but she refused to be Della's friend. Brianna begins moving toward Sarah while holding a snake. She asks if Sarah will be her friend forever.