The Haunted Mansion Escape Room

A Virtual SLEUTH adventure story

The Haunted Mansion

begin

Introduction

You, Ben, and Lily had a lousy time trying to trick or treat through the neighborhood tonight. It was way too dark due to the ominous clouds that began spitting rain after only a half hour of knocking on the first door of the evening.. Plus, you are feeling just a bit too old to go trick or treating anymore, which stinks cause you were really looking forward to all of that candy! After beginning to devour your candy back at your house, and frankly feeling a little reckless because of the whole "too old" thing, you look at Lily and say with a smirk, "Truth or Dare?" Which does she choose?

DARE

TRUTH

Truth

You knew she'd choose truth before it even left her mouth, so you already knew what you were going to ask. "What are you most afraid of?"Lily scoffed, "Easy. The scariest thing is the supernatural. Not like that fake haunted house vampires and stuff, but like real paranormal, supernatural stuff. Things without an explanation. Like The Mansion, ya know?" You get an idea. It's not a particularily nice idea, but it's a good one. "Follow up dare, do you accept?" You say, knowing Lily always accepts follow up dares. She rolls her eyes but smiles."Fine, jerk. Dare."

Dare

​"Ok! I dare you to go inside The Mansion," you say with a sly smile. Lily smirks and grabs her flashlight. "I aint afraid of no ghosts," she says quoting one of Ben's favorite movies. The next thing you know, the three of you are headed to explore The Mansion that stands ominously at the end of the street. It is rumored that the first owner was a powerful witch who trapped the souls of her unwanted guests inside. Now that you are at the front door, you wonder why you ever dared Lily to come here! This place is seriously scary! As you enter the creaky, cobweb-filled mansion, the heavy door slams shut behind you, and you hear eerie laughter echoing through the halls. Panic sets in. "What was that?" Ben squeeks. ​ You turn on your flashlights and slowly move into the mansion. You relize you're in a short hallway, the right side filled with ghostly portraits where the eyes of the painted figures seem to follow your every move.

Ben says shakily, "Come on. These are creeping me out. Look! There's a door down there!"As you reach the end of the hallway, you find a locked door. As you examine the door, you find the antique door knob is actually a complex dial that has numbers on it. Around the door knob, a strange script reads “Woman-Man-Child-Animal”. Above the knob are four blank spots for...what exactly?

The Door Knob

You turn the doorknob to open the door but instead hear four loud internal clicks and random numbers appear in the empty spaces above the knob. When you turn the knob, though, the numbers disappear and the door remains steadfastly shut. What were those four clicks? And what do the numbers have to do with anything? Frustrated, you turn around to retrace your steps and a painting of 2 dogs catches your eye. You scan over the other portraits and notice they all contain women, men, children, and animals. It makes you think…

What four digit code do you input above the door knob?

5485

8475

4855

You input the four digit code into the dial and wait…the doorknob starts to click: 1-2-3-4! You hear a loud clunk and the door slowly creaks open. You enter to see a staircase up and down and a door. You decide to explore the house.

Inventory

The Dining Room

You slowly ascend the staircase up, feeling the air get mustier as you go. Once or twice, someone behind you gasps and you’re sure you’ve felt something brush against your face or arms. When you finally reach the top, you find yourselves in a dimly lit dining hall, a table set for a feast, but for who? Just as you're about to turn back, Ben grabs your arm. "There's a note," he says, and reaches for it. He reads:

The Ghostly Feast

Could the rest of the clues be here at the edge of the table?

A Key!

Inventory

Lily reaches out and grabs the little key on the table. "This is it! This must be the key to the front door. Let's solve this riddle and get outta here!" She says. You couldn't agree more and take the key from Lily's proffered hand and put it in your pocket. Now, back to the table to find...what exactly? A part of the rhyme?

Could the rest of the clues be here at the edge of the table?

The Ghostly Feast Potions

The potion

What color potion do you drink to move back down the magicked stairs?

Yellow

Green

Red

Purple

Black

The Mirrors

After crossing her fingers, Lily takes a sip of the purple potion passing the glass to Ben, who does the same. Here goes, you think, as you finish the purple liquid. Nothing happens. "Thank god," Ben says with relief written all over his face. "Let’s get out of here." He starts to run down the stairs. You and Lily share a look and then follow close behind. Just as you make your way into the front hallway, you notice that where the front door used to be, is now a wall of 9 dusty mirrors. Are...are some of them moving? "And what about the key," you think. "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, reveal the way out, once and for all."

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The Mirrors

“Who said that,” you ask at the same time that you stop dead in your tracks. You see a hand reach out towards you from inside one old, decrepit frame as it starts to shimmer. Lily steps closer to the frames to take a look when, suddenly, a phone rings out a metallic brrring. You all jump, hearts pounding. On the opposite wall, there’s an old payphone embedded into the wall. Hesitantly, you pick up the phone– “Uh…hello?”

The Mirrors

It’s silent for what feels like forever when, finally, you hear an eerie voice say: “Welcome to my home. I’m always interested in the unwelcome guests who cross my threshold, although it’s been many years since anyone has come to visit me. I’m enjoying watching you solve my clues so, for tonight, I’ll strike a deal with you: solve all of my clues before dawn, and I’ll let you out alive with your souls intact. Fail to solve my clues, and you’ll be my next permanent residents here at The Mansion.” You hold the phone away from your ear as she lets out a throaty cackle. “Number passcode, in order from one to nine. Number passcode or you’ll never get out alive.” Then the line goes dead. Number passcode? You look at the phone then look back at the frames. What could that possibly mean?

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Back to Mirror

The Magnifying Glass

Just when you think you’ve entered the wrong code, the witch’s mirror swings forward to reveal a magnifying glass hidden behind it. You have no idea why you may need this, but you also know that if it was hidden, it is probably useful. You also know you need to keep moving through the house.

You put the magnifying glass in your pocket and feel it *clink* against something metal in there. "The key!" you shout as you draw it out of your pocket. "Try the door over there," says Ben with excitement. "Maybe it's the way out!"

Inventory

The Library

The key works! Unfortunately, it's not the way out. The room you enter was clearly at one point a gorgeous library, though now it’s so covered in dust and cobwebs you can barely make out the shelves let alone book titles. Curious to know what the witch's next riddle or clue or task is, you dust off a few shelves and find an odd selection of books with strange numbers and letters on them. You reach out and touch them...

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Just as you turn to leave the library, a whooshing sound escapes the uppermost shelf, and down floats a torn, aged piece of paper. Lily grabs it out of the air and flips it over."It's a sheet of music," she says. "Or at least part of a sheet of music," Ben replies, taking it from her. "C'mon, we must need this for another of the witch's games." He pockets the paper and you move back out of the door.

Inventory

♪♬ø

"Well," you say, "there's only one way left to go." And so down you go.

The Basement

You descend the stairs and can't help but feel a sinking feeling in your stomach. By the looks of Lily and Ben, they feel it, too.You enter a basement hallway that opens into two clear paths. "Which do we choose?" Ben asks, a little shakily.

"This room is weird," Ben says. "Like everything is a bit blurry. I wish we had glasses or something to help us see a bit better in here..."

Inventory

I'm watching you

♪♬ø

HELP

Inventory

I'm watching you

♪♬ø

HELP

"What's that piece of paper down there?" you ask, pointing to just below the typewriter.Lily picks it up and uncrumples it. "It looks like a key code of some sorts," she says, turning the paper this way and that. "Could be useful," Ben says, "let's keep it." So, you pocket the key code. "Oh! The typewriter has numbers on it!" Lily says as if just realizing this. "The hidden word from the wall!"

Inventory

I'm watching you

♪♬ø

HELP

_ _ _ _

01

_ _ _ _

02

_ _ _ _

03

_ _ _ _

03

The Basement

Inventory

♪♬ø

It's not correct...

The Music Room

"Oh come on!" you say in frustration at yet another room. "When will we find the way out?!""I don't think the witch is done with us yet," Lily says miserably. "So how do we know what notes to play?"

"I wonder if we can use this magic magnifying glass again?" Ben says.

Use Magnifying Glass on Music

Use Magnifying Glass on Keys

01

Use Magnifying Glass on Music

I know the answer!

01

Use Magnifying Glass on Music

Hmmm maybe not...

224

♪♫ø

Use Magnifying Glass on Keys

I know the answer!

♪♫ø

224

Let's try this!

01

Review the music

♪♫ø

224

Let's try this!

...Keep playing

02

Review the music

♪♫ø

224

Let's try this!

...One more

03

Review the music

Try again...

Try again...

"A book just appeared!" you say as you reach down to grab the dusty leatherbound book."That's not just any book," Ben says with an ominous tone to his voice. "That's a grimoire. A witches spell book!"

The Basement

Inventory

Just as you come back out into the basement hallway, you hear an angry shriek upstairs...

Terrified of the shriek but confident you're close to getting out of this house, the three of you run back upstairs to find the mirrors on the wall swaying with rage and chanting: Break the spell! Look in the book! Just as you begin to unwind the leather binding on the book, a chill runs down your spine. “Give it back to me!” You know that voice...

Inventory

"The witch! There!" Lily says and points to the middle mirror on the wall-the only one not shaking. The witch was slowly materializing into the mirror with her hand outstretched towards the book in your hand. “I said give it back to me and, if you do, I will let you and your little friends walk free. Give it to me now." Break the spell! Look in the book! Ben grabs your arm and says, "We must be able to use her own book against her. Don't give it to her." You look hard at Ben and then nod. You undo the leather binding and the page spills open to a page bookmarked by a telegram...

Haven't you seen those symbols before? You grab the ancient key code from your pocket.

Grabbing Lily and Ben's hands, the three of you shout the spell as loud as you can:

DISPEL

REMOVE

DISOWN

DEPORT

BANISH

You're mine...

Nothing happens for a moment, and then... The crash of the wall coming down, frames and all, is defeaning. You all jump back, avoiding the worst of the rubble. When the smoke clears, you see daylight streaming through a large hole in the wall. You can't believe you're finally free...

congratulations!

You've defeated the witch and saved the trapped souls of wayward adventurers of the past. Take this as a lesson to be more careful when playing truth or dare.