Exploring the Land of the Lost
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The Haunted Mansion
By
Scott Oliverson
scottnwo@pop.digisys.net
THE LAND OF THE LOST
in
THE HAUNTED MANSION
THE HAUNTED MANSION
Author's Note: This first edition is one of
many adventures experienced by the Marshall Family upon their escape from
the 5th Dimension realm known as THE LAND OF THE LOST and returning safely
home to Earth again in the 21st Century circa 2002 because they have been
missing since falling into that strange mysterious world back in 1974 and
were unable to find another way home until the end of the 20th Century and
the start of the New Millennium!!! However they did not return alone
because new friends accompanied them on their quest to pass through the
doorway portal such as Enik the Altrusian, Slatch the Sleestak the one that
could talk since he was born with great intelligence and ChaKa the Pakuni
the friend of the Marshalls who learned the English Language from Holly and
Will.
INTRO BACKGROUND: In the story "The Haunted
Mansion" the kids Holly and Will are returning home from a movie when a
storm hits without warning and they are forced to seek shelter inside an
empty abandoned manor house not far from where they live which is rumored to
be HAUNTED!!! When the front door closes on them without warning and with
no way out the friends are escorted by an unseen entity known as the GHOST
HOST who kindly shows his visitors around his humble home.
THE STORY BEGINS...
Have you ever seen a haunted house? You
know the kind I mean. That old dark house that's usually at the end of a
dimly lit street. The owners haven't been seen for years no one really
knows why. The windows are broken and boarded and the shutters hang loose
on their hinges. The sidewalk leading to the front porch is broken and
overgrown with grass and weeds. The trees are grown wild their branches
brush against the sides of the weathering house making strange noises in the
night. There's a high vine covered fence around the property with a rusty
squeaky gate. Is it there to keep somebody out or is it there to keep
something inside? It's a house that people avoid walking past at
night...strange sounds come from within its walls and it's said that errie
lights have been seen both in the attic windows and in the cemetary to the
side of the house. Our story revolves around this mysterious mansion...
Nights not long ago the Marshall
children were walking home from a movie. The night was cool as lightning
broke through the sky. The wind began to blow and the lightning cracked
again. Thunder rolled across the heavens and changed this pleasant evening
into a night to be remembered. Holly held Will's hand tightly as they began
to walk faster down the dark streets. The lightning struck again
and illuminated the front of the old mansion - it began to rain. Holly and
Will ran towards the old house through the old iron gate and onto the porch
for protection. Protection??? If only they had known...
HOLLY MARSHALL
Oh will, <She is complaining> look at that rain come down. We'll never get home on time before daddy or uncle get worried and start looking for us.
WILL MARSHALL
Sure we will, it's not quite midnight.
But this old porch isn't going to keep us dry though.
With that he starts pulling-tugging on the
stuck doorknob as he attempts in vain to open the front door while his
sister watches in alarm wondering what the heck is he doing???
HOLLY MARSHALL
What are you doing brother?
WILL MARSHALL
What does it look like sister? Trying
to get front door open, no one lives here. We can wait inside till the
storm's over.
HOLLY MARSHALL
Not me, I'm not going inside that old
house. I'd rather stay out here and get wet.
WILL MARSHALL
<Shrugs>
<Shrugs>
Suit yourself, that is if you prefer
catching a cold.
HOLLY MARSHALL
No way! <Looks defiant> If you're going
inside there, then I'm going too.
WILL MARSHALL
Ok, <Throws up his hands> don't get
angry.
At last he succeeds in prying open
the door wide enough to peer into the darkness beyond.
WILL MARSHALL
There, c'mon don't be afraid. I'll
light a match.
HOLLY MARSHALL
Huh? What match? <Curious look> You
don't carry matches around with you, that's dangerous unless you know what
you are doing.
WILL MARSHALL
I'm not planning on burning anything
down am I? <Looks innocent> Just to light our way through the dark.
HOLLY MARSHALL
Oh...oops, well be careful.
So saying Will struck one from a
book he carried inside his pants pocket and cupping it with his other hand
held it above his head to illuminate their surroundings. As the kids
stepped through the open doorway they found themselves standing inside a
large room or chamber filled with furniture covered in sheets and layers of
dust. This is the Foyer or Front Parlor with windows that gave commanding
views of the surrounding property even though pieces of glass were missing
from their panes and boarded up with wood and/or cardboard. The curtains
hung like limp flags in a still breeze. A large chandelier from the ceiling
flickers eerilly-omnoiusly with several candles providing the only light
within this massive chamber while other candles set in scounces along the
walls cast wierd shadowy patterns on the wallpaper. Against the far wall
stood a marble fireplace with coals still inside, blackened and sooted and
burned out embers and to both sides of this fireplace stand 2 wooden doors
one on the left and one on the right, both closed.
WILL MARSHALL
Well I'll be. <He looks around in awe>
This house is still full of furniture. It's as though someone still lived
here.
HOLLY MARSHALL
But if that's so then where are the
origional owners who lived here? <She is puzzled, confused> Where did they
go and why would they leave their personal belongings behind without taking
them?
WILL MARSHALL
Maybe they died, passed away
or...<Thinks quickly>...or they moved away to another home to live in and
forgot to pack their belongings.
Holly doesn't like that first idea
of dying, passing away but if that's the case then the owners left behind
their things for others to claim as their own in case anybody or anyone else
planned on buying or renting the mansion to live in. For awhile the kids
stand in the center of the Foyer-Parlor wondering what to do next knowing th
don't want to spend anymore time necessary inside this spooky old manor.
HOLLY MARSHALL
There's a candelabrum, light some
candles.
WILL MARSHALL
Good thinking this match is about to
burn out.
Quickly he touches the flame to the
candleholder until they are all lit and shakes out the useless match or
blows on it to snuff out the fire when suddenly at that same moment a
ghost-like voice echos from out of nowhere startling the kids!
GHOST HOST
Good evening...
HOLLY MARSHALL
<Caught by suprise>
<Caught by suprise>
Who said that?
WILL MARSHALL
Who spoke? <He too is startled by the
voice> Who's there!
GHOST HOST
When hinges creak in doorless chambers
and strange and frightening sounds echo through the walls...Whenever
candlelights flicker when the air is deathlessly still...that is the time
when ghosts are present...Practicing their terror with ghoulish delight...
Still shocked into unmobility by the unseen
presence speaking to them both kids stare around in terror with eyes wide
and mouth agape.
WILL MARSHALL
I think it came from that statue bust.
<He points out the source>
HOLLY MARSHALL <Totally loses it>
Will! Let's get out of here!
But as they turn to run back out
the front door it suddenly began to swing shut and before they could stop it
- it closed!
WILL MARSHALL
The door closed! <He ran over to it and
began yanking-tugging on the knob> I can't get it open!
HOLLY MARSHALL
Oh great! <Throws up arms, rolls eyes>
Now we're doomed, trapped inside this cursed mansion with no other escape.
Dad is going to kill us.
Meanwhile the unseen entity
continues addressing its visitors to its home.
GHOST HOST
Welcome foolish mortals to the haunted
mansion...I am your host, your Ghost Host...Kindly step this way, there's no
turning back now...You will not be harmed but you will not be released until
you take a tour of my home...We have so few visitors, live ones that
is...hmhmhmhmahahahahaah...Our tour begins here in this ghostly gallery...
Simultanously with those words
spoken one of the 2 doors to each side of the fireplace swings open by
unseen hands revealing another room within. Will and Holly Marshall too
frightened to find another way out obeyed their host's voice and entered the
candle-lit gallery. The art gallery was a large room its walls were covered
with paintings. As the kids stepped into the room the door behind them slid
closed.
HOLLY MARSHALL
Will we should not have come in here,
I'm scared.
WILL MARSHALL
<Confused>
<Confused>
I don't see a way out. There are no
doors, not even a window.
They gaze up at 4 portraits
suspended from each of the 4 corners along the walls. Below each painting
are stone gargoyle statues holding candles in their clawed hands with
leering features on their faces as if mocking-taunting the mortals below
them. The wallpaper is patterned in striped-colored bubblegum style and the
ceiling is a plaster relief recessed in its center. Each of the paintings
resemble ordinary people in fact they are the actual owners & members of the
family who lived in this mansion long ago. A young woman in a summer dress
holding a parasol, a young man smiling with arms folded, a old gentleman in
business tuxedo placing a document in his pocket, a old woman smiling and
holding a red rose. The Ghost Host's voice travels around the chamber
escorting his visitors on their so-called FREE GHOST-TOUR through his home.
GHOST HOST
Here in the gallery...you see there
paintings of some of our residents...As they appeared in their coruptable
mortal state...Even in this flickering gloom your pallor betrays an aura of
forboding...your trusting mortal eyes tell you that these walls are
streching...
Suddenly it appears as if the
entire room was getting TALLER! The ceiling appeared to be rising
up-up-away in front of the suprised kids eyes while at the same time the
paintings themselves began to elongate-stretch revealing more than what they
first appeared to be. The young woman is standing-balancing on a tightrope
high above a lagoon with a hungry croc or alligator waiting below with open
jaws, the young man is sitting on the shoulders of another man who's sitting
on the shoulders of another man and all 3 are sinking into quicksand! The
old gentleman is wearing boxer shorts, socks and shoes while standing on a
barrel of dynamite gunpowder and the fuse is lit, the old woman is perched
on a tombstone of her dead husband and below sits a stone bust of her
husband's proud features with an axe buried in its head! (Probably that
explains her so-called smile)
GHOST HOST
But logic says no it's mere
hallucination...then look above you, examine everything carefully...Your
logic cannot deny that this chamber has no windows and no doors...which
offers a rather logical challenge...To find a way out...<He then erupts into
laughter as though he said a bad joke> hmhmhahahaah...Of course, there's
always my way...
Lightning flashed from above the
room illuminating the attic area, there seemed to be no roof. From the
rafters a corpse or dead body of the Ghost Host swayed dangling by a taut
rope. A black crow flew into the room and perched on one of the gargoyle
statues.
CROW
<Possessed by ghost>
<Possessed by ghost>
Caw, caw! The courage way out, he chose
the courage way out. Caw, caw, caw!
Then the black bird flies away with
flapping wings. Just then all the gargoyle statue candleholders went out as
though extinquished by a gust of wind. The candelabrum Will held went out
too! Holly clutched his hand during what seemed to be an endless
darkness...Suddenly a loud scream startles both teens as a unseen victim
falls to his/her death down-down-down until fading away.
UNSEEN PERSON
Aaaaaaaaaaaah...!!! <Voice disappears
in boom of thunder, crash of lightning>
Then in a few seconds the candles
relit by magic to reveal the gallery restored to its origional size once
more, the portraits normal size and no sign of the dead body hanging from
above because the ceiling is again plaster relief as though nothing really
happened. A secret panel on the opposite side slid open exposing a dimly
lit hallway leading to who knows where...Holly & Will hurried or ran out of
the gallery and into this corridor not knowing where they are going or what
they will encounter.
PART 2
On the left side were windows revealing a
grotesque landscape frequently illuminated by the lightning flashes. On the
right side of the corridor were large portraits. And when the lightning
flashed these paintings morphed into decaying corpses, wierd shapes, ghostly
creatures.
HOLLY MARSHALL
We should never have come in here.
<Suddenly she is startled by a loud scream that catches her totally by
suprise>
GHOST SCREAM
Aaaaaaaaaaaah!!! <Accompanied by noise
of flapping wings>
HOLLY MARSHALL
What's that?
WILL MARSHALL
<Calms her>
<Calms her>
It's Ok, just that crow. <He can see the
black bird flying away>
GHOST HOST
Did someone scream?...Ahh, we didn't
mean to frighten you prematurely...Apparently the restless spirit of an old
witch has taken posession of that poor wretched crow's mortal being...Be on
your guard, it may want to permantly reposess...hmhmhmahahahaah...Come along
now...
Will and Holly walked down the long
tapering corridor. There seemed to be a light at the far end pitch
blackness behind them. The hallway made a sharp turn into an errie-lit
limbo abound with mist and decay, the furniture and walls were covered with
spiderwebs & dust. A staircase seemed to be the only passageway out. As
they climbed to the 2nd Floor they were greeted by an apalling cold! This
as you know is the traditional manifistation of the supernatural.
GHOST HOST
I hope you don't have an adversion to
darkness and cold...but you see we spirits are sensative to light...And
every consideration has been given to our comfort here in this delightfully
drearlly place...
HOLLY MARSHALL
Where do we go from here? How do we get
out of this horrible place?
WILL MARSHALL
This seems to be the main corridor.
Let's hope it leads to a back staircase and the way out. <He starts to walk
then says to his sister> Come on, let's keep going.
But as they walk faster down the
hallway in search of another staircase that hopefully will take them to the
backdoor exit loud sounds catch their attention and they turn in the
direction of the noises and stare in horror & terror!
HOLLY MARSHALL
Look out!
WILL MARSHALL
Quick! In this doorway.
Both kids run though an open door
and huddled against the frame just inside the room they peek back out.
Through the dimly lit mist of the upstairs corridor the familiar spectral
figure of the headless horseman galloped past on his black steed laughing
evilly while carrying its head in one hand and sword in the other.
Footsteps, laughs, screams, cries, groans, moans and rattling chains chased
the goblin down the hallway and faded into the darkness.
GHOST HOST
It's nice to see folks enjoying
themselves...In my home every room has wall to wall creeps and hot and cold
running chills...hmhmhmhmmm...
The kids turned their backs on the
corridor and looked into the room towards the sound of their host's voice.
The candelabrum Will held again mysteriously dimmed and went out. They
stood frozen with fright! They were in the old conservatory - a room
cluttered with decaying flowers and plants. Broken windows in the room
allowed them to see the outside and there below was the private graveyard.
Even though the rain was still falling hard an un-natural fog choked the
gravestones. The rain was coming in through the broken windows the air was
dank and had a musty smell. The crow flew in and perched atop a large box
situated in the middle of the room.
HOLLY MARSHALL
What's that noise? <She heard strange
sounds>
WILL MARSHALL
I'll light the candles, <Relights
candleholder> there.
Then they stood transfixed at the
nightmarish scene before them!!! For the large box was in reality a coffin
or casket and what was even more frightening to behold was 2 skeletal hands
wrapped around the edges of the lid and pushing up against it as though some
unseen victim is trying to escape from within. The nails securing the lid
in place to the casket squeal and squeak in protest while a pleading voice
echos from the confines of the box.
UNSEEN VICTIM
Get me out of here! Let me out of here!
HOLLY MARSHALL
It's a coffin, something's trying to get
out.
WILL MARSHALL
Good grief! Not Dracula, King of the
Vampires.
CROW
<Scolds them>
<Scolds them>
You've disturbed a guest, caw-caw!
You'll be sorry for that, caw-caw!
Will and Holly ran yelling in
terror out of that room back into the dark hallway. They passed several
closed doors as they continued towards the far end. From each door they
passed natural and un-natural sounds came from within - rattling
doorknockers, twisting-turning knobs, pounding-banging noises,
crying-pleading voices begging for help. Each sounded as though it were
trying to escape!
HOLLY MARSHALL
Will, I'm so frightened.
WILL MARSHALL
I know how you feel sis, me too.
GHOST HOST
<Warns them>
<Warns them>
Whatever you do, don't betray your
presence by screaming...Follow my voice, come...You have active
imaginations...that's good...
They entered another room dimly lit
by flickering candles and there an unusual seance was in session.
GHOST HOST
We are about to participate in a
seance...Madame Leota is assembling all spirits, they are just dying to meet
you...hmhmhmahahahahaah...
Madame Leota the medium fortune
teller who was chanting the plantive incantations was quite unique. She was
truly a disembodied spirit a mere talking head inside a misty crystal ball.
As she envoked the spirits objects floated around the room in response to
her commands.
MADAME LEOTA
<Contacts the Spirit World>
<Contacts the Spirit World>
Serpants and spiders, tail of a rat.
Call in the spirits wherever they're at! <Cries, moans, groans fill the air>
Rap on a table, it's time to respond. Send us a message from somewhere
beyond. <Slow knocks on tables> Goblins and ghoulies from last Halloween.
Awaken the spirits with your tamborine! <Tamborine rattles & shakes
violently> Creepies and crawlies, toads in a pond. Let there be music from
regions beyond. <Instruments play a haunting melody> Wizards and witches
wherever you dwell, give us a hint by ringing a bell! <Bell jingles &
jangles>
For a moment the children stare in
fascinated awe at the hovering objects glowing with rainbow aura colors and
of Leota's demands to the spirits to reveal, show themselves. Just then
strange shimmering shapes materalize into focus like mirages or illusions.
HOLLY MARSHALL
Brother, something's moving there in the
corner.
WILL MARSHALL
<Sees it>
<Sees it>
It looks like smoke. Here's another
one!
The shapes take on human forms and
start floating about the seance room joining in the ritual amoung the
floating objects.
HOLLY MARSHALL
I wonder if those are actual-real ghosts
or movie magic special effects?
WILL MARSHALL
They sure don't look fake to me so they
must be real ghosts.
HOLLY MARSHALL
Oh...uh-huh.
WILL MARSHALL
Very interesting, first time I ever saw
real ghosts.
It is then the unseen host reminds
his visitors there is much more to be seen on the tour itself than staying
here any longer.
GHOST HOST
Come now...we must leave this cozy
little circle...For the spirits have received your sympathetic vibrations
and are beginning to materalize...They are assembling for a swinging wake
and they'll be expecting me...I'll see you a little later...
So the Ghost Host led Will and
Holly through another doorway and up a winding staircase that led onto a
balcony overlooking a grand ballroom.
PART 3
As the kids stood on the balcony and stared
down at the scene before them they could not believe their eyes! A party
was taking place, one of the strangest parties you've ever seen. There was
a long dining table covered with decayed food and wiltered flowers,
spiderwebs hung everywhere. It seemed to be a birthday party and when a
birthday ghost blew out the candles on a cake several other ghosts
disappeared. They reappeared when the ghost finished extinquishing the
candles in one breath to clap & applaude their approval. Those spirits
seated at the table wearing various party costumes were talking, laughing
and sipping wine while high above them overlooking the massive dining table
other ghosts were playing on the chandelier. 2 sitting side by side with
grinning smiles on their faces either talking or laughing together, arms
around each other and sipping wine. Behind them a ghost wearing a top hat &
cape was hanging off the edge of the chandelier holding onto his hooked cane
which was preventing him from falling to the floor below. There was an
elderly lady rocking and reading a book beside a fireplace, when she rocked
forward she disappeared! When she rocked back she too reappeared. Other
ghosts were waltzing or dancing while an organist played a haunting refrain
on the pipe organ against the far wall.
HOLLY MARSHALL
This is crazy, I don't believe what I
see.
WILL MARSHALL
Me too sis, ghosts partying? No way.
HOLLY MARSHALL
Look at those dancing couples, how they
pass through the furniture without bumping into them or tripping against
them.
WILL MARSHALL
Now that's something we could never do
ourselves without falling down.
HOLLY MARSHALL
Yeah right, <Glowers at him> at least
we're not ghosts.
WILL MARSHALL
Just joking...and they vanish and
reappear like magic, wow.
HOLLY MARSHALL
<Tries changing subject>
<Tries changing subject>
Why did we ever come in this house? Oh,
don't tell me...we had to seek shelter from the storm and the door closed on
us.
WILL MARSHALL
Oops, my fault. <Looks guilty> And we're
still looking for that secret exit to escape from this nightmare.
HOLLY MARSHALL
So, <Gives a sly look> have we found
that exit yet?
WILL MARSHALL
<Looks around>
<Looks around>
Hey! Here's another door at the other
end of the balcony. Come on!
Will and Holly entered the door and
came face to face with a ghost dressed as a bride. She was strangly
illuminated and her heart glowed red with each heartbeat. The room they
were in was the unfinished attic...a storage space filled from floor to
ceiling with antiques in various stages of neglect - clothes, toys, rugs,
lamps, mirrors, chairs, tables, and so forth. Against one corner of the
wall stood a broken down piano with candelabrums atop it, flickering eerily
their light casting a shadowy shillouette of a figure wearing a top hat and
cape playing a somber version of the Wedding March. At the same time the
ghost-bride stood motionless in the center of the attic her face illuminated
by a candle she held in one hand revealing eyes staring straight ahead but
not seeing anything, lips curved upwards in a sad-smile as if she were
dreaming of walking down an imaginary asile towards the alter to meet her
groom-husband waiting for her. In her other hand she clutched a bouquet of
flowers now long wiltered-decayed state. As the kids turned to run out of
the door another ghostly manifistation appeared and blocked their way. He
was a cloaked figure with an evil grinning face, a hatbox hung from his
hand. With each beat of his bride's heart his head disappeared from his
body and appeared in the hatbox.
HOLLY MARSHALL
We're trapped! There's no way out.
WILL MARSHALL
Hold the candles, I'll try to open this
window.
Will ran to one of the dormer
windows and wrestling with the stubborn sill pushed it upwards and outwards
so he can peer outside. The storm has passed leaving in its wake a clear
sky of twinkling stars and full moon. He calls back to his sister.
WILL MARSHALL
Come on, we're in luck! There's a
balcony out here.
HOLLY MARSHALL
Then we did find the exit, yes!
<Excited>
Carefully they step through the
window onto the walkway catwalk and stare at their new surroundings. For a
second, or two, or three they stand there gazing at the entire property of
the mansion's grounds. From where they are, Holly & Will feel like they are
perched on the front railing of the TITANIC's bow reenacting that famous
movie scene when Leonardo DiCapricio shouted "I'M ON TOP OF THE WORLD!"
WILL MARSHALL
Watch your step, the rain made
everything slippery.
HOLLY MARSHALL
The candles went out again.
WILL MARSHALL
Just leave them we're outside now.
Everything's going to be OK. Here's some steps down at the far end.
He can see a fire-escape going down
to the ground below but Holly does not like where the steps end.
HOLLY MARSHALL
But they lead to the cemetary. Do we
have to go in there?
WILL MARSHALL
C'mon, it's the only way home. Besides
we can find the back-gate near the fence and escape quicker that way. I can
only see one path going through.
HOLLY MARSHALL
Well, I still don't like it...but, I
guess we have no other choice. We must hurry home before dad or uncle start
searching for us or send the police to find us.
WILL MARSHALL
Then let's go before we do get in
trouble and grounded forever.
Our adventureous friends descended
the steps to the ground level and began their walk through the private
burial grounds trying to find their way out of this living nightmare. They
passed the mansion's caretaker holding a railroad lantren too frightened to
speak or move. His dog was whimpering at his feet.
PART 4
Suddenly there was music all around them and
the sky was filled with flying spirits. Will and Holly continued down the
single path through the cemetary passing a group of musicians who paid no
attention to their presence. One was playing a guitar, another bass guitar,
another a fiddle. There was a fourth playing a banjo and a drummer pounding
out the tempo on a gravestone. There was a king and queen balancing a
teeter-totter on a gravestone with their daughter a princess swinging in a
swing pushed by the prince. They saw a hearse stuck in the mud, the
coachman chatting merrily with a duchess sitting atop the wagon sipping tea,
the coffin had slipped out and its contents a shrouded corpse also was
sipping a cup of tea. Behind the hearse on a hill a group of ghosts were
enjoying a bicycle ride through the tombstones. 5 marble busts singing a
barbershop quartet rendition of Grim Grinning Ghosts to the music being
played by the musicians and it went something like this...
GRIM GRINNING GHOSTS
Bass Singer: When the cryptdoors creak and the
tombstones quake.
Tenor/Baritone Singers: Spooks come out for a
swinging wake.
Bass Singer: Happy haunts materalize.
Tenor/Baritone Singers: And begin to vocalize.
All 5 Busts: Grim Grinning Ghosts come out to
socialize!!!
Bass Singer: Now don't close your eyes and don't
try to hide.
Tenor/Baritone Singers: Or a silly spook may sit
by your side.
Bass Singer: Shrouded in a daft disquise.
Tenor/Baritone Singers: They pretend to
terrorize.
All 5 Busts: Grim Grinning Ghosts come out to
socialize!!!
Bass Singer: As the moon climbs high over dead
oak trees.
Tenor/Baritone Singers: Spooks arrive for the
midnight spree.
Bass Singer: Creepy creeps with errie eyes.
Tenos/Baritone Singers: Start to shriek and
harmonize.
All 5 Busts: Grim Grinning Ghosts come out to
socialize.
Bass Singer: When you hear the knell of a
funeral bell.
Tenor/Baritone Singers: Wierd glows gleam where
spirits dwell.
Bass Singer: Restless bones etheralize.
Tenor/Baritone Singers: Rise as spooks of every
size.
Bass Singer: Mhmhmhm-bwahahahahahahaah!!!
Not far away stood 2 ghosts wearing
Viking-opera theater costumes arms around each other and wailing away to the
music in their own voices and joining them in the melody a huge masked
executioner singing a duet with a medieval decapitated knight who held his
singing head in his extended hand.
WILL MARSHALL
There's that crow again. <He spots the
black bird following them>
HOLLY MARSHALL
Why must it always bother us? <Annoyed>
Why won't it leave us alone.
WILL MARSHALL
Maybe it wants to tell us something,
warn us of danger.
HOLLY MARSHALL
Duh??? <Pretends to be puzzled> Warn us
of what?!
CROW
<Calls out>
<Calls out>
Caw-caw! Beware my friends, caw-caw.
They may try to follow you home, caw-caw-caw!
Then it flies away leaving the kids
staring after it in confused bewilderment trying to understand what it meant
by that remark of "They may try to follow you home" but quickly they forget
about it and hurry on their way through the graveyard.
HOLLY MARSHALL
Brother, are you sure we're going the
right way?
WILL MARSHALL
I think so...there's only one path. But
there's seems to be something up ahead.
He notices a huge dark shape
looming directly in their path. However he has no idea what it is until his
sister recognizes it first!
HOLLY MARSHALL
That's the crypt! That's the one by the
fence it's the way out.
WILL MARSHALL
Way to go sister! You found the secret
exit.
HOLLY MARSHALL
Well, <Smirks> what did you expect from
an expert?
WILL MARSHALL
Come on! Stay close and don't look
back.
Then they run towards the crypt
whose door is open to admit them entrance into its dark interior. Their
footsteps echo eerily down stone steps into the subterranean vault while
torches light their way along both sides of the walls. Continuing towards
the far end of the crypt searching for another doorway that should lead them
outside the main fence they suddenly hear the Ghost Host calling goodbye to
them.
GHOST HOST
Did you enjoy your visit?...<Sound of
unseen bells tolling the hours> I told you you would not be harmed...thank
you for spending some time with us...Come again, bring your friends...if
they believe this story you tell...I have to go now it is
midnight...Pleasant dreams...hmhm, hmhmhmmm...hmhmhahahahahaah!!!...
Finally the children emerge through
another stone doorway on the opposite side of the crypt and pass through the
back-gate of the fence which too stands wide open to allow them access.
Pausing to catch their breath from running so hard they look one last time
at the looming manor house before them and then without another glance they
turn and RUN! And they don't stop running until the mansion is far behind
and out of sight and still they run on until finally reaching home at last.
THE END
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