THE ROOM OF MYSTERY
HOW TO MAKE A HAUNTED HOUSE
ONE winter evening three boys--Jim Thompson, his cousin Will White, and
a friend named Handley--approached the door of Bobbie Cargill’s house.
Bobbie was a genius for inventions, and they all felt a desire to see
his home.
As they reached the door, White, who was a cynic in his own way, raised
his hand to the knocker and was about to give a thundering “rat-tat,”
when the door silently opened, revealing an empty hall in which the
light flickered dimly.
After a glance of surprise at one another the guests entered.
“CLOSE THE DOOR! WIPE YOUR BOOTS, AND COME UPSTAIRS!”
The visitors started violently as these words were uttered by a hollow
voice, coming from nowhere in particular, and yet quite close to where
they were standing.
After a moment Handley said in a whisper, “I don’t much like this. It
seems----”
“HANG UP YOUR HATS, AND BE QUICK ABOUT IT,” the ghostly voice
interrupted sharply. “ARE YOU GOING TO STAND CHATTERING THERE THE WHOLE
NIGHT? HANG UP YOUR HATS, I SAY!”
This was not a pleasant beginning, yet none of the guests cared to show
the white feather.
“Come on!” said White. “Let’s see it through”; and setting an example he
placed his hat upon the nearest peg.
Crash! Amidst a clatter as of broken glass the hat and peg fell to the
ground. The three boys looked at one another in consternation!
But before they had time to remark on this misfortune, a shriek of weird
laughter rang in their ears. “HA! HA! HA!” The invisible person seemed
in paroxysms of mirth at their disaster.
“I don’t care for this a bit,” muttered Handley; “let’s clear out.” They
were all about to beat a hasty retreat when Bobbie Cargill appeared,
apparently much surprised at finding his visitors making an awkward
group in the hall.
“How did you fellows get in,” he said, “and what have you been doing?
Has there been an accident? Never mind, come along upstairs and have a
‘feed’; perhaps you will feel better then!”
Nothing loth, the three guests followed their host to his own room,
which usually went by the name of “The Den.” The upper part of the house
was totally dark, and it was with a feeling of relief that they saw a
glimmer of light beneath the door of “The Den.”
“Step inside and make yourselves at home,” said Cargill. “I will just
run and say that you have arrived,” and he disappeared into the
darkness.
Followed by the others, White turned the handle and threw the door open,
glad to find a light once more. But the pleasure was short-lived, for
the door had scarcely opened half-way when the light went out.
White, however, strode into the room, and his friends were about to
follow, when there was a heavy stumble, a crash, and a smothered shout
that was instantly drowned in the violent clatter and ringing of bells
about their very ears.
“What has happened?” gasped Handley, scarcely able to hear his own voice
in the deafening clamor. Advancing into the darkness, a violent report
beneath his feet caused him to leap into the air with alarm, whilst in
the gloom White was trying to make himself heard above the pandemonium.
“Here, Cargill, get a light for goodness’ sake!” howled Handley, as
their host appeared. “I don’t know what on earth has happened; it seemed
like a pistol going off.”
“You fellows are making a fine noise between you,” shouted Cargill. “Get
inside, Jim, and turn on the light; it’s just to the left.” Jim had no
sooner stepped across the threshold and begun searching for the switch,
than BANG! BANG!--the very floor seemed thundering beneath him, whilst a
rattle as of a thousand pots falling to the ground made the confusion
worse. Leaping back hastily, he collided with Handley, and the couple
sat down with a ponderous thud.
“That’s right; make yourselves comfortable!” laughed Bobbie Cargill. As
he spoke the light was turned on, the jangling bells ceased, and the
three guests were discovered gazing ruefully at one another, whilst
their host, calm and collected, smiled down on them from the doorway.
It was some time before Bobbie could pacify his guests. Indeed, the
situation might have become painfully awkward had they not happened to
glance at the table, which certainly looked inviting. Knives and forks
glistened cheerfully on a spotless white cloth, whilst dainty mats and
sparkling cruets promised a really substantial “feed.” A large
center-piece full of flowers added to the appearance of the table, and
showed that Bobbie Cargill knew how to do things “in style.”
Following their host’s example, the three chums took their seats at the
table and glanced round the room. It was a cozy “Den,” and looked
cheerful, with a sparkling fire on the hearth. A thick curtain was drawn
across the window at Cargill’s back, lending an air of comfort to the
place.
Before each guest was a napkin, neatly mitered, with a piece of bread
reposing between the horns, and scarcely noticing what he was doing,
White drew this piece of bread from its resting-place.
A sharp exclamation drew attention to him. There he sat, a mass of
bread-crumbs before him, and a look of surprise on his face!
“Have you had an accident?” grinned Cargill. “Never mind the crumbs,
they can soon be scooped up; wait a minute until I fetch the tray.”
He had scarcely risen when a roar of laughter burst from Jim and
Handley. By some strange means the entire mass of crumbs had been swept
off the cloth and scattered all over the place.
“You might have waited for me to clear them away,” grumbled Bobbie, and
this was the beginning of a heated discussion, which would probably have
ended violently had not the host turned the conversation by asking Jim
if he would take a piece of tongue.
“Yes, please,” answered Jim.
Sharpening his knife in a business-like manner, Cargill made ready to
cut a slice.
But at this point a strange thing happened. As soon as the knife and
fork got near the tongue, it leaped from the dish and clung tenderly to
the knife. For a moment or two it hung suspended, and then flopped back
into the dish.
“Let’s have another try,” said Cargill in a puzzled way. Up it jumped
once more, apparently too anxious to be carved to remain still on the
plate.
A murmur of surprise escaped the guests as all eyes were fixed upon this
strange behavior. Once more the carver thrust his knife near the tongue,
caught it neatly as it ascended, and carried it away to a side table,
where he was obliged to bury his face in a handkerchief, presumably
overcome with grief.
Having recovered somewhat, the host resumed his seat, remarking, “I
think that tongue is best out of the way. I am afraid I have nothing
better to offer you than some potatoes. You might help them round,
Handley.”
Before his friend had time to reply, the lid of the tureen arose slowly
and deliberately--ascended and then remained stationary in the air. Only
for a moment, however. Suddenly rising yet higher it was followed by
each individual potato, as one by one they rose sedately to the ceiling,
leaving but one of their number in the tureen.
Their eyes fairly bulging with surprise, the boys looked at one another,
at their host, and then at the tureen with its solitary occupant. But
this last potato had suddenly awakened to a sense of its loneliness, and
sprang into the air to join its companions. Next the whole party of
vegetables slowly crossed the ceiling and disappeared behind the
curtain, to be seen no more.
Jim wanted to jump up and see where they had gone, but his host
dissuaded him, and, anxious to change the subject, asked what he would
have to drink.
“I don’t quite know. What is there?”
A wine bottle that had been quietly standing in front of White lurched
suddenly forward, as though in answer to the question. At the same
moment the table began to heave, the glasses to rattle, and a little
stool, covered with books, toppled over with a prodigious crash.
“Haven’t you some other room we can go to?” stammered Jim.
“Nonsense, it is only some silly trick of Cargill,” said White.
Nevertheless all three guests wished themselves well out of it,
especially when the dim light suddenly grew dimmer, and the shadows in
the room increased. In a few seconds the boys were barely able to see
one another.
At this point a mournful moan rang through the room, the curtains were
seen to open, and a white figure glided from between them and passed out
through the door.
“Let’s get out of here, the place is haunted!” cried White, rising from
his chair.
“HA! HA! HA!” a ghostly laugh issued from the flowers in the center of
the table, and was echoed by the clock on the mantelpiece.
“HA! HA! HA!”--but the guests could stand it no more, and, scrambling
and struggling, they rushed downstairs, with White at their head.
Panting and scared they did not stop until the hall was reached, when
they stood still, staring at one another in dismay.
“What is the matter?” a sweet voice greeted them. The whole party turned
to find Cargill’s sister standing at the dining-room door, looking from
one to the other in frank amazement. None of them cared to reply. It is
no pleasant thing to tell a pretty girl that you have been afraid.
“The ghost, Dolly,” gasped her brother after a moment, and in a shaky
voice he recounted their mysterious adventures.
“So the silly old ghost would not let you have any tea! You must all
come in here and enjoy yourselves. I believe there is plenty to eat,”
and leading the way Miss Dolly ushered them into the dining-room, where
the table was laid with enough good things to cheer a king.
But when she had shown each of the four friends his seat there still
remained a vacant place at the head of the table.
“Now, gentlemen,” she said with a naughty smile, “as you are all feeling
much braver now, I am sure you will not mind if the Ghost sits down and
has something to eat, too.”
The boys looked at one another and then at her, but Miss Dolly, taking
no notice of their surprise, quietly seated herself in the vacant chair,
passed a plate to White, and said--
“Now, Mr. White, please give the Ghost something to eat.”
* * * * *
After they had all had a good tea, of course Bobbie Cargill and his
sister, the Ghost, had to tell the others how it was done. This is the
gist of what they said:--
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Apparatus for producing ghostly sounds.]
The opening of the door was a very simple matter. A loop was tied in one
end of a long piece of strong cord or string, which was carried across
to the wall by means of staples, to a concealed corner. The loop was
slipped over the door-catch, so that when the other end was pulled this
catch was drawn back, whilst the continued pull on the string made the
door open. This loop was made of such a size, that as soon as the door
had opened to its full extent the string slipped automatically from the
catch, and could then be pulled away and out of sight.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Mysterious hat-stand.]
In the angle formed by the wainscoting and the floor a piece of simple
tubing was placed, one end reaching a room on the ground floor, whilst
the other was carried up behind the hat-stand to the height of about
five feet. To this end a cardboard funnel was fixed, as in Fig. 1,
which, sticking out from the wall, was concealed by a hat or scarf upon
the rack. A similar funnel was placed upon the other end, so that the
voice of any person speaking through the tube from the room was carried
with undiminished force to the hall, thus transmitting the ghostly
messages and weird laughter to the guests.
In most hat-stands the pegs are screwed to the back, and taking
advantage of this, Bobbie Cargill had unscrewed those pegs most likely
to be used by his visitors, putting “fakes” in their place. To all
appearances there was no difference between the “fakes” and the proper
pegs, but in reality the former were simply gummed against the rack,
just strong enough to bear their own weight, but too weak to support a
hat.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Prepared hat-stand peg.]
By the contrivance of a piece of string the fall of the hat-peg was made
to work a kind of booby trap, explained by Fig. 2, which shows the
hat-stand in section. The false peg, A, is lightly gummed to the stand,
B, C, against the hole D, where the real peg is screwed. A bent pin or
nail is driven into this end of the peg, as seen in Fig. 3, the end
bending downwards. A thin piece of string, F in Fig. 2, is fastened
round this pin with a loop, passed through the hole D, and supports at
the other end a tin, G, filled with bits of broken glass, marbles, and
such like.
Naturally, when White hung his hat on the peg the strain brought the peg
away from the stand, in its fall releasing the string and causing the
tin to clatter to the floor. So simply was the whole thing arranged,
however, that Bobbie Cargill had fixed it up in less time than it has
taken to describe.
The absence of lights in the house served a twofold purpose. In the
first place, it made the mystery and eeriness more marked, whilst at the
same time it concealed several little matters which had to be hidden in
order to insure success.
It will now be necessary to glance at the arrangement of the “Den,”
shown by Fig. 4. The room was entered by the door A, whilst in the
opposite wall is the fireplace B. The window C is hidden by the two
heavy curtains at D and E. In the center of the room stood the table F,
around which were placed the chairs G, G, G, G. Between the curtains and
the window stood the ghost, who after all turned out to be none other
than Dolly.
Over the center of the table hung the gas, which, being incandescent,
naturally had a burner with a by-pass, and was easily manipulated by
means of a piece of string running up the chandelier, carried across the
ceiling where it was painted white, and down to Miss Dolly behind the
curtains. A weight should be fastened to the switch to make it fall when
not pulled by the string, as in Fig. 5.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Plan of the room of mystery.]
When White opened the door the young lady lowered the gas by means of
her string, and as it was a by-pass the light did not actually go out,
although it went sufficiently low to plunge the room in darkness.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--The weighted by-pass.]
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--An exploding cap.]
It was an easy matter to cause a collision between the visitors. A piece
of cord stretched across the room, at L, L, quickly did its work, and
was then pulled away behind the curtain.
The “Den” had not been fitted up so neatly for beauty alone, and if they
had looked, the guests might have found a couple of strong electric
bells concealed beneath the dainty hangings of a picture by the door.
Dolly had but to push a button and these two bells were set ringing like
an alarm clock, and with a persistence calculated to arouse the Seven
Sleepers.
Handley’s experience required even less preparation. Several good
percussion caps were placed beneath the carpet and covered with a piece
of tin as shown in Fig. 6. In the center of this piece of tin, a hole
was pierced with a nail, making ragged edges on the further side. These
ragged edges were placed over the powder in the cap, with the result
that so soon as Handley trod upon the carpet over the plate the cap was
exploded with a loud report.
Meanwhile Bobbie Cargill, arriving under cover of the darkness, added
to the uproar by banging a tin can with a heavy stick, and performed
this office so lustily that nothing else could be heard.
It is scarcely necessary to remark that sending Jim into the room to
turn on the switch was merely a feint to get him out of the way, and to
plunge him into the fracas.
A signal from Bobbie was enough to make his sister turn on the light and
release the bell pushes, so that when silence was restored, and the
darkness dispelled, there was nothing to show how all the commotion had
occurred.
By adjusting a screw in the gas-burner Bobbie had previously arranged
matters so that even when the gas was turned full on the light was not
very strong. Although sufficient to illumine the room, it was feeble
enough to hide several tell-tale features.
Besides being an ornament to the table, the large center-piece of
flowers served to conceal the end of a piece of tubing which passed
beneath Bobbie’s chair to the far side of the curtain. Amongst the
frilled mats, too, there were one or two other contrivances to be
explained in their turn.
It had been Miss Dolly’s business to make the fake pieces of bread.
Taking a piece of bread and breaking it up into very small crumbs, she
had then added just enough milk to enable her to mold the crumbs into
the shape of a piece of bread again, and had then let the concoction
dry, when it had become sufficiently brittle to suit her purpose.
Concealed by the mat in the center was a small indiarubber tube, one end
pointed directly to the spot where White had dropped his mass of crumbs,
whilst the other ended in a bulb conveniently placed to Bobbie’s hand.
He had nothing to do, therefore, but to press the bulb suddenly, and
laugh as the wind thus caused sent the crumbs flying.
A DECEITFUL MEMBER
The tongue is proverbially a deceitful member, and the one lying before
Bobbie Cargill was no exception to the rule. Indeed, except for its
appearance there was really very little tongue about it. It consisted of
a round tin, in which had been placed a small bar of highly magnetized
iron. By fixing a slice of real tongue to the top of the tin, and
disguising the sides in a similar manner, Bobbie had made such a good
resemblance to the real thing, that it would have been hard to discover
the deception in the subdued light of the “Den.”
It is very easy to see what happened. So soon as the steel knife
approached the dish, the magnet within the faked tongue made the latter
leap up to meet the knife and cling to it. Of course, when the fork was
plunged through the thin outer coating of meat it struck the tin, making
it crack in a strange manner. In Fig. 7 is shown the method of fixing
the magnet, the whole faked tongue being shown in section. A number of
experiments had to be undertaken before the trick could be made to work
satisfactorily, but in the end Bobbie was quite pleased with the result
of his labors.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--The mysterious tongue.]
The whole success of the potato trick depended upon Dolly, who worked
the simple apparatus to perfection. Attached to the handle of the lid
was a strong piece of wire, which the half-light rendered invisible.
This passed through a loop in the ceiling and over to the curtain, to
enable that young lady to pull. A second wire was attached to it that
pulled the cover and the potatoes out of sight. Fig. 8 will show how
this was arranged. A ring C is put in the ceiling A B over the tureen.
From the lid E a wire D passes up through this ring and along the
ceiling to the back of the curtain G. Upon the wire D a ring H is
threaded, whilst attached to this ring is another length of wire F, that
also passes behind the curtain.
By pulling the wire D the lid of the tureen is naturally raised to the
ceiling at C. When it has reached the top, it is only necessary to pull
the wire F, and pay out the wire D, to make the whole lid travel towards
G. Each of the potatoes had been previously attached to the lid by a
wire about ten inches long, with the exception of the small one that
remained in the dish, which had a separate arrangement of thread,
similar to that of the lid, all to itself.
The movement of the bottle upon the table was caused by the inflation of
a little india-rubber bulb beneath the cloth, and worked by the host as
he sat at the table.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--The disappearing potatoes.]
The excitement of his guests having been thus aroused it was a very
simple matter for Bobby Cargill to move the table with his knees, whilst
by dexterously pulling a string Dolly was able to overturn the little
table laden with books (Fig. 4, H). To add to all this confusion Dolly
then began slowly to lower the light, tap the wall by her side, and
utter dismal groans. She then clothed herself in a white sheet, opened
the curtains, and made her way out of the room with all haste. Little
wonder that general consternation ensued!
It only remains to be mentioned that the speaking tube concealed amongst
the flowers in the center-piece was sufficient to carry the laughter
from one of the servants, who, acting under instructions, stood without
the room. It proved the climax, and peace was scarcely restored until
they were all sitting below with the Ghost herself, and partaking of a
real supper without any faked tongue.
As they all agreed, it was not a bad scare for the money, as a very
small sum represented the entire outlay for working The Mysterious
Room.