Zack's line, "The wind began to howl" is the last line of Bob Dylan's song All Along the Watchtower"
This episode is based on Goosebumps book #55.
When Zack is trying to come up with a good opening tagline he says, "Reader Beware - You're In For A Scare," before shrugging it off. This is a reference to the back of all the original Goosebumps books were the tagline is at the bottom, before introducing the next books title.