Nancy Drew Message in a Haunted Mansion

Walkthrough by:

Norma Kuderna, Linda Shaw, and Ozma 38

11/22/00

This walkthrough was written playing the game in the Senior Detective level.   Time passes quickly in the game and you can check to see what time it is by clicking on the pocket watch on lower left side of your screen.  If you get stuck in this game, try changing times on the alarm clock in Nancy's bedroom.  After setting the alarm you will hear some beeps and wake up to a different time. Also, talk with everyone and exhaust all conversations.

Nancy Drew has been asked by Hannah to stay with Rose Green in an old Victorian mansion in San Francisco to find out who or what is behind all the mysterious accidents.  Rose would like to renovate this mansion and turn it into a Bed and Breakfast.

BEGINNING:

You will start the game in your guest room, beautifully decorated with Chinese antiques.  Notice the tapestry and take a good look around the room.

Use the key to open your suitcase and look at your notebook.  You will be refering back to this book often.  Notice the dragon figurine and the symbol for DAUGHTER.  Look at the bed post knob, it is stuck.  After exploring your room head down the hall and knock on Abby's room.  Talk with her about ghosts.  She has something planned later that day.  Go down the stairs and through the double doors to the dinning room and talk with Rose.  She will give you a tile inlay puzzle to solve in the corner.  Place the tile pieces without any white area showing.  You can put the tiles in place when they are highlighted.  Use your right mouse button to rotate the pieces.  Once you finish the puzzle go back and talk with Rose again.  She will give you another chore, removing tiles from the ceiling upstairs in the hall near your room.  First you will have to find a paint scraper.  She also tells you that the work schedule is posted on the hutch.  In the drawer of the buffet you will find a fire insurance policy.  Note the Chinese character for FIRE.  The schedule will give you an idea when you can find these people at their places in the house.  Go down the hall and out the stained glass door.  You will see some scaffolds and paint cans.  Perhaps you will find a paint scrapper there.  It is early and Charlie should be at work in the basement.  go back up stairs and take the door to your left after going through the stained glass door.  That will take you to the basement.  Talk to Charlie and he will ask if you have met Louis.   It is still early, so you may catch Louis in the study, just off the parlor.  The parlor is located to the left of the grandfather clock in the entry where you picked up the paint scrapper.   Check out the Parlor.  That is also where you find the phone to call your friends for advice.   Go through the double doors to the Study to talk with Louis.   It doesn't seem to matter what you talk about, because what ever is important will eventually show up and be discussed.   Go up and talk with Abby again.  After you briefly talk with her you will be at a seance.  After the seance you will end up back in your room and hear some ghostly sounds.

Later that night:

Now that everyone seems to be asleep or gone it will be a good time to start snooping.  Remember that stuck bed post knob?  Maybe you can use your paint scraper to get it unstuck.  You will find a key!  Will that open the door to the attic?  As you leave your room you hear ghostly sounds and see shadows.  It is a nice key, but not the one you need for the attic.  Go down to the basement.  Look in the tool chest and you will find a screwdriver which might come in handy for some other chore.  Snoop around and open the cash register.   Another key!   Look at the panel beneath the table and you will find some sound equipment.  Take the tape.  The seance was a Fake!  Open the piano bench and make a note of the Chinese character for RIVER.  After snooping around the basement you can check out the attic.

ATTIC:

Circle the room, read the E.Valdez (Elizabeth Applegate's) diary.  Pick up the tile, iron, and crowbar.  Use the key you got from the bed post to open the small writing desk.  Look at the music and lyrics for The Bandit's Treasure.  There are 5 notes on the top row that are darkened. Might be important to remember.

Look at the folded sheet of paper and note the Hanzi character for BEGINNING.  As you try to leave the rope handle breaks.  Luckily there is something in the attic you can use to open that door.

Go downstairs and look at the papers on the dinning table that Rose has been working with.  Since everyone seems to be gone or asleep you might as well get some rest too.  Go back to your room and set your alarm for 7 am.  After you wake up go down and talk with Rose.  She will ask you to fix the dumbwaiter in the hall.  Ask her about Charlie and Louis.  Use the iron from the attic to fix the broken rope in the dumbwaiter, then go upstairs to the other dumbwaiter and get the tile.  Make a note of the Chinese character for EYE.

PARLOR/LIBRARY:

Go downstairs to the parlor.  Locate the little cabinet with the flowers on the door.  Inside is a fire extinguisher.  Use the phone to call Hannah, Bess, and Emily.  Your friends will give you a suggestion to play the music to The Bandit's Treasure on the piano.  Ask Emily about the Chinese writing symbols.  She will tell you they are called Hanzi.  Ask her about the Bandit's Treasure.  Enter the library.  To the left of the desk on a pile of boxes is a book with a picture of the fire bird.  On a bookshelf to the left of the pile of boxes is a hot spot where you can find another tile.   Across the room read the book called History of the Piano.  Look at the Mahjong tiles and note the symbol for FOUR.  Above the fireplace you will see 3 tiles missing.  You now have 3 tiles in your inventory.  Place the tiles there and then pull the left iron bird. Quickly go in the secret room that opens up behind the bookcase.  Pick up the lantern and to the right above that move the loose brick and open the panel to spy on Louis.  Look at the picture of the girl and get a close up of the title CHILD and the Hanzi symbol.   Pull the lever and leave the secret room.  Go talk to Charlie and Abby.

ABBY"S:

Ask Abby about the crying that you heard in the hall.  Use the screwdriver to open one of the vents in the upstairs hallway to find a speaker. Go back to see Abby, but she will be gone. Search her room but quickly before she returns! Read about Lizzie Applegate and the bandit El Diablo in Old West Romances.  In the drawer of her dressing table you will find the Hanzi symbol for MOON.  Use the spider from her jewelry box to open the armoire.  Play around with the recording equipment and play the tape you found.  Move the picture on the wall and you will see a two way mirror behind it.  Read "The Zodiac and You".  Make a note about the order in which each of the animals arrived.

If it is after 5pm, Charlie should be gone and you can check to see what is under the grate in the basement fireplace.   Use your crowbar and lantern.  As you go towards the back you can see that Charlie has been living down here.  Pick up the term paper diskette.  Read the history book about El Diego.  Look at the empty Chinese take out container and note the symbol for KING.  Notice the two way mirror that is above the bar.  Exit this secret passageway and talk to Abby about Charlie.  Louis should be gone also, so you might be able to see what he put in his briefcase.  Put the term paper diskette into the computer and click on Maze game.   The maze changes each time you play it.  Wander around the maze until you come to a pattern on the floor.  When you go on the pattern you will exit the maze and have access to the computer files.  If you are having problems doing the maze enter Login: Louis,  Password: Antiques.  Look in the files to find out that in 1888 The Golden Gardenia Hotel was located at 4653 California Lane.    Look under the key symbol for all the passwords and the combination to the briefcase (4653-4868).   Click on the disk symbol and read Charlie's term paper.  Exit the computer and open the briefcase.  The brief case is located over near the Majhong game in the corner of the room.  Read the book "Through Our Own Voices".  The Golden Gardenia was called Gum Bo Fu?  Read all the notes.  There is one about Rick Arlen which mentions Nancy Drew. Since you are near the parlor it would be a good time to call your friends again and ask them if they know what Gum Bo Fu means.  They also suggest you play The Bandit's Treasure, so it would be a good idea!    Go down to the basement and play the notes on the piano.    Left to right number 1-8.  the keys you want are numbers 6, 2, 4, 5, 4.   The piano roll panel opens and you will find the piece of roll that E. left as a key for Valdez. Use this on the Bandit's Treasure lyrics in the attic desk.   Find Diego on stairs.  There are some ornately carved letters on the railing near the stairs leading down to the entry hall and parlor.   Turn them until they spell the word DIEGO.  A secret panel opens to reveal a note and a golden Chinese symbol.

Return to your room.  As you turn around to leave an envelope is pushed under your door with a sinister note.   Someone wants you to leave! Go down to the parlor and you will see smoke coming from the sofa.  Turn around and get the fire extinguisher from the little cabinet with the flowers on the door.  Use it on the fire!  Talk with Rose then go back down and check out what burned in the fire.   Talk with Louis in the study, but don't let him know you found out about Gum Bo Fu from the book you found in his briefcase.  You should bring up the subject of Gum BoFu, but tell him you learned about it from some other source.  Talk to your friends on the phone again and then go up stairs.  You will over hear Abby and Rose having an argument about the fire.   Go down to the basement and talk with Charlie about the fire, the secret room, and Gum Bo Fu.  Go up stairs to see Rose.  She will tell you that you will be alone because everyone is going to the Winter Festival and she took one of the tapestries in your bedroom down to get dry cleaned.  She also tells you that a messenger dropped off a letter for you.  Go up to your room and read the letter from Emily.  Note the Hanzi symbol for GOLD.

Go to where the tapestry has been removed and you will see a puzzle about the Chinese New Year. Click on the animals in order.  See picture above.  The next puzzle is about the Hanzi symbols that correspond to the highlighted words on the tapestry.

Enter them in the order they appear on the tapestry.  To move the dial, move your cursor to the left or right until you get a curved arrow cursor.  Once the Hanzi character you want is below the arrow, click on the arrow.  Once you solve this safe puzzle you will find some interesting papers and a pyramid shaped box.   Use the golden symbol on the pyramid and you will get another puzzle to solve.

You need to change the moons to suns.  Next is a slider puzzle where you make a picture of the fire bird.

After solving the slider puzzle you will get a red jewel.  As you leave your room you will see a ghostly shadow moving down the hallway.  Head down the stairs to the large Entry Hall.  Facing the stairs on the right you will see a bird head on each of the posts and notice that one is missing and eye.  Use the red jewel on the missing eye.  Watch as the lights converge on the Firebird floor design.  Use your crowbar to tear up the boards and discover the treasure.  Louis will hit you over the head.  As soon as you are able to move, go up the stairs to your right and over the landing toward the stairs going down.  On the wall to the left is a hook with a rope wrapped around it holding the chandelier.  Loosen it 3 times to trap Louis.

GameBoomers Walkthroughs and Solutions