THE MYSTERY
OF THE HAUNTED
HOUSE
by
AUTHOR B
Chapter 3
The Chapters
Sitting in the back seat of the car, Joe started to think about the Miller house. He had heard quite a few rumors about the house and had always wondered if they were true. He wondered if Fenton knew anything about them.
“Dad – can I ask you something?”
“Of course you can, Joe!”
“How much do you know about the Miller house? Is it really haunted?”
Frank turned to look at Fenton. “Yeah, why is it considered haunted anyway?”
“I don’t think the house is haunted – it does have a sad history though. Most of the information I know, I looked up in the Bayport Gazette morgue.
Plus, Chief Collig was nice enough to let me read the old case file.”
“He did?!” Joe exclaimed.
“Yes, only because I was investigating a rash of vandalism and the Miller house was one of the homes vandalized.”
“What did you find out?” asked Frank.
“In 1933, Emmett and Rebecca Miller owned the house; they had a large family, five children. Rebecca Miller just had her sixth child and began to behave rather strangely. A week after she gave birth to her last child…she murdered her family.”
Joe and Frank gasped in shock!
“How – how could she do that?” wondered Frank.
“How strange was she?” asked Joe.
“To her neighbors she acted strange. I believe, as do a few other people, that Mrs. Miller was suffering from post-partum depression.”
“Tony’s older sister was diagnosed with post-partum depression after she had her first baby. Tony said that she was taking an anti-depressant; why wasn’t Mrs. Miller given medication?” Frank inquired.
“This was 1933. Frank – not 2006. Times were different then; her doctor probably diagnosed her as ‘having the blues’.”
They had arrived at the Miller house, and Fenton parked the car. As they got out, he continued: “My theory is that Mrs. Miller was probably already suffering from depression. She already had five children under the age of ten – you add a new baby to the mix – “
“How – how did she kill her family?” asked Joe, his eyes wide with shock.
“She drowned them in the bathtub,” Fenton replied sadly.
“No wonder people think this place is haunted!” Frank paused at the bottom step. “Hey – who lit the candles?”
Joe came up behind Frank, carrying two bags filled with chips and dip. “I bet you it was Chet, trying to scare us!”
Frank climbed up the steps and placed his hand on the doorknob. The door opened easily. “I think you’re right, he even forgot to lock the door back up.”
Once Joe was inside, Frank went back to the car to help Fenton with the ice chest. A brown station wagon pulled up, and Fenton noticed the huge grin on Frank’s face. He waved at the man driving the vehicle. Mr. Shaw returned the greeting, then helped Callie out of the car. Callie smoothed her flouncy skirt, and adjusted her small crown. Mr. Shaw hurried over to help the Hardys.
Joe came out of the house and was surprised to see a pretty girl wearing what looked like a frou-frou princess dress. He was even more shocked and surprised when the girl went over to Frank and tiptoed to kiss his cheek. Joe’s eyebrows shot up as his brother blushed a bright pink.
Joe slowly came down the front steps, his costumed feet making a clicking noise. Not uttering a word, he calmly walked past his brother, smirking as he went by. Frank knew he was in for some major ribbing; he sighed with relief when another car drove up: the Mortons had arrived. Chet had come dressed as a hobo; Iola was wearing a gingham dress underneath her red hood.
As promised, Fenton strolled through the house, admiring the decorations. He didn’t see anything unusual; he did pause long enough to remind the teens not to go upstairs. Fenton then told his sons that he would pick them up at twelve-thirty a.m. He left soon after; most of the other parents soon followed. Mr. Hooper and Mrs. Prito stayed to chaperone the party.
It was just past eleven o’clock, and the party was in full swing. Despite Chet’s constant teasing, Joe and Iola were having fun on the dance floor. As Joe’s best friend, Biff made sure to tease Frank. Callie took the teasing in stride; she knew that if she wanted Frank to be her boyfriend that she had to be friends with Joe. And she definitely wanted Frank to be her boyfriend.
A haunted maze had been set up in the two back rooms of the house. The two rooms were connected by a doorway. Iola wanted to check the maze out, and Joe was only too happy to go with her. Taking his hand, Iola led the way.
Walking hand in hand, they entered the first room….
Frank was getting a cold drink for Callie when Chet appeared by his side.
“Have you seen Iola?”
“No, but just look for Joe and I’m sure she’ll be right by his side.”
“That’s just it – I can’t find Joe either.”
Frank placed the canned drink back on the table. “What do you mean, you can’t find Joe?”
“Tony told me he saw Joe and Iola go into the haunted maze but when I went in…they weren’t there.”
“They have to be – how long ago was this?”
Chet thought for a minute before replying. “Well, when I asked Tony if he had seen them – he saw them ten minutes before they went into the room. I’ve been looking for about another fifteen minutes after that.”
“Twenty-five minutes…if it were anyone else but Joe I wouldn’t worry, but…”
“I was hoping you wouldn’t say something like that,” sighed Chet.
“There you are, Frank!” Callie smiled up at him, then she noticed the worried _expression on his face. “Is something wrong?”
“Chet can’t find Iola and it looks like Joe is missing as well.”
“Well then, we should start looking for them,” said Callie.
The three teens headed for the back rooms.
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Disclaimer
The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.