Haunted Mansion - Chapter 12

We go down and down. This must go to the cellar and not the first floor like I had thought. It looks like it's walled in at the bottom. There is a jutting stone that I press on and the end of the wall slides open to reveal a large cellar. There is some old furniture they must have stored when replacing it with higher quality furnishings after Harry became famous. There is a beautiful hobby-horse that looks suspiciously out of place. I feel that it must have been Harry's.It must have been the one the angels told him he could ride into Heaven on.
 
The spirit points ahead, to a solid wall. I know well enough now to realize that something's on the other side of this wall.
 
Now, let's see if I can find what this opens into.
 

Chapter 12
 
By my light, I see instead, a door at the end. The door opens to my touch and I enter through. There are rows of shelves lined with jars of home canned food on both ends of the small room. So this is the root cellar Elizabeth mentioned in her diary. The floor looks like it has never been disturbed. If Robert buried Harry down here, he sure hid him well. The ghost is unsettled and hovers back and forth like he is pacing. I think he is trying to tell me something.
 
I look at him and he points to the shelves on the opposite side, then to a stone in the adjoining wall. I feel that I am now getting pretty good at reading his sign language, so I move toward the stone he has selected. I push it but it does nothing. I push the center. I push the edges, when I push the top left corner, the wall of shelves on the far end pivots and discloses a hidden passage.
 
The ghost enters and looks expectantly at me. I follow him inside. We are in a long narrow tunnel with a door immediately to my right. The door looks heavy and solid. The apparition hovers, but the door does not yield to my persistence. I suddenly remember the key that I found in the hidden room under the church.
 
Good, I still have it in my pocket. I insert the key and it unlocks with ease. I see a stocked room full of  Harry and Elizabeth's valuables. The walls are entirely made of stone.
 
My lamp is turned low to conserve what remaining oil I have left. I see a closed container of what looks to be lamp oil. I open it and it seems to be a high quality oil. I use my pocket knife to dig a small hole in the dirt floor. I take the candle from my pocket. and light it from the lamp, then place it into the hole for stability. I put out the lamp, fill it from the oil supply I found and relight it again. Good, with the lamp refilled, I'm able to turn it up brighter. I put out the candle and return it to my pocket.
 
No wonder Robert wanted his hands on the valuables. There is a fortune down here. There are gold candlestick holders, gold table place settings, and expensive crystal, just to name a few. I spy a large jewelry box. I open it to a haunting melody similar to the one I heard playing upstairs in the elegant bedroom. Inside I see cascading pearls, gold necklaces, diamond and exotic stone rings. There are loose jewels including rubies, emeralds, pearls and diamonds. There were also numerous gold nuggets. Wow!!!
 
I close the jewelry case, pick up my lantern and notice the ghost has disappeared again. I exit the room making sure I lock the door behind me. I turn away from the cellar to see where the tunnel will take me.
 
It is a long tunnel, I'm about ready to turn and retrace my steps back to the mansion when I see a closed wall ahead. This probably opens by a hidden mechanism also, as did the others. I have no luck this time. Try as I might, I cannot find a way to open it.  I turn....
 
 ~Janice~
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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