Jodie loves visiting her grandparents' farm, listening to Grandpa Kurt's spooky stories and devouring Grandma Miriam's chocolate chip pancakes. But she and her brother Mark haven't been to the farm in a year, and it appears to have changed. The cornfields are sparse, their grandparents look terrible, and the single scarecrow has been replaced by 12 towering, dark, evil-looking ones that seem to have a life of their own.

Sammy Jacobs is into ghosts and science fiction. Not exactly the smartest hobby-at least not if you ask Sammy's parents. They're research scientists and they only believe in real science. But now Sammy's met someone who's totally unreal. He's hanging out in Sammy's room. And and eating his cereal at breakfast. Sammy's got to find a way to get rid of his new ""friend."" Only problem is...Sammy's new ""friend"" is invisible!

Seth is interested to see the catalog-ordered Verona XG-20 remote he just got appears to be universal - it works on the stereo as well as the TV. But he's even more amazed when, turning it on "PAUSE" on his younger sister Jamie as a joke really does stop her tap-dancing! He's then informed by the still-playing tape that came with the remote by Tony Huband that "It's not a toy!" Eager to see what else it can do, he continues testing it: changing the color of his fish, rewinding/fast-forwarding passerby, hitting channel change so the school bully transforms into something more benign. But soon he goes on to bigger things, like pausing his teacher to cheat on tests, or his family when they want him to give the remote to Janie, despite his best friend's opposition. After all, none of Tony's phone-recorded warnings mean anything. Right?

Jonathan and Nadine were headed to a pep rally with their camera, when they passed the old abandoned mansion on the street. Standing outside the entrance gate is a strange little girl who tells them that her cat ran inside the door of the mansion. Jonathan is reluctant, but Nadine says that it will only take a second. So they both enter, but the cat is nowhere to be found. However, they do find a game. It's called ""The Mansion of Terror"". And it's got a strange effect on the players. Because now Jonathan and Nadine are trapped inside the game, and must win to get out...