house on haunted hill

8/10/2019 House on Haunted Hill

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HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL

(a stage play of the public domain film)

Written by Robb White

Adapted by Ali Bernstein

Revisions by Tyler Manning

HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL Character List

WATSON PRITCHARD: Late fifties, Watson is a timid, moody man, given to consoling himself for his many failures.

FREDERICK LOREN: Late forties, handsome, distinguished. A pleasant man with humorous eyes and a good mouth. Married to Annabelle Loren.

LANCE SCHROEDER: A rugged handsome man in his late twenties with an imperturbable quality in his face.

RUTH BRIDGERS: Handsome, tailored woman in her middle thirties.

DOCTOR DAVID TRENT: Early forties, intelligent-looking and is somewhat arrogant in his appearance.

NORA MANNING: Early twenties, young and pretty with a shy and sensitive expression but underneath this shyness is an outgoing personality.

ANNABELLE LOREN: Fourth wife of Frederick Loren.

MRS. SLYDES: Old blind caretaker of the house with her husband.

MR. SLYDES: Old caretaker of the house with his wife.

HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL

SCENE 1

(The screen projection turns off. This darkness continues until a loud woman's scream breaks the silence and over lapped by a haunted laughter by a man. The projecter comes up again WATSON PRITCHARD approaches center stage)

PRITCHARD: The ghosts are moving tonight. Restless … hungry. May I introduce myself? Watson Pritchard. In a minute I’ll show you the only really haunted house in the world. Since it was built a century ago, seven people, including my brother, have been murdered in it. Since then I’ve ownedthe house. I’ve only spent one night there. When they found me in the morning I was almost dead.

(Pritchard exits and FREDERICK LOREN wanders on stage.)

FREDERIC K:I ’m Frederick Loren and I’v e rented this house on haunted hill tonight so my wife can give a party – a haunted-house – party. She’s so amusing … There’ll be food and drinks and ghosts – perhaps eve n a few murders, and you are all invited. If any of you will spend the next twelvehours in this house I’ll give you each ten thousand dollars – or your next of kin, in case you don’t survive. Ah, here come our other guests …

(Video of a hearse followed by five black cars, appears moving slowly up a deserted road at night)

It was my wife’s idea to have our guests come in funeral cars. Her sense of humor is, shall we say, original?I dreamed up the hearse. It’s empty now but – after a night in the house on haunted hill, who knows?

(Video of the interior of the first car where we see LANCE SCHROEDER)

This is Lance Schroeder – a test pilot – so, no doubt, a brave man, but don’t you think you can be much braver if you’re paid for it? And I happen to know that Lance needs the ten thousand I’ll give him – if he’s brave enough to stay all night.(Video of the interior of the second car where we see RUTH BRIDGERS)

This is Ruth Bridgers. You’ve no doubt read her column in the newspapers. She says her reason for coming to the party is to write a feature article on ghosts. She is also desperate for money … gambles …(Video of the interior of the third car where we see PRITCHARD)

FREDERICK (cont.): You’ve already met Watson Pritchard … A man living in mortal fear of a house and yet is risking his life to spend another night here. I wonder why? He says for money …(Video of the interior of the fourth car where we see DOCTOR DAVID TRENT)

This is Doctor David Trent, a psychiatrist. He claims that my ghosts will help his work on hysteria, but don’t you see a little touch of greed there around the mouth and eyes?(Video of the interior of the fifth car where we see NORA MANNING)

This is Nora Manning. I picked her from the thousands of people who work for me because she needed the then thousand more than most – supports her whole family. Isn’t she pretty. The party’s starting now and you have until midnight to find the house on haunted hill; after that you won’t be able

to join us. So hurry, won't you?!

(The lights fade and come up again)

END SCENE

SCENE 2

(PRITCHARD, RUTH, LANCE, TRENT, AND NORA enter the courtyard)

RUTH: I always imagined Frederick Loren living in a modern mansion, not a strange place like this.

PRITCHARD: Oh, Mr. Loren doesn’t live here. He rented the house from me for the one night.

RUTH: Is this where you live?

PRITCHARD: No one could live in this house. I spent a night here once – a long time ago. I’m lucky to be alive.

LANCE: What happened?

PRITCHARD: I had heard it was haunted but I didn’t believe it. So when the walls started in on me I –

LANCE: When what did what?

PRITCHARD: The walls. I was in a room and the walls started moving. Not fast … slow. Very slow. It took hours.

LANCE: All the walls?

PRITCHARD: Just the two side ones.

NORA: Couldn’t you get out?

PRITCHARD: No. There was no way out and they kept on moving – all night – coming closer and closer. I tried to stop them but I couldn’t. They almost crushed me.

TRENT: Were you conscious the whole time?



PRITCHARD: No. When my bones began to break I passed out.

TRENT: And when you came to where were the walls?

PRITCHARD: Back where they belonged.

TRENT: The imagination can play strange games, Mr. Pritchard.

(RUTH shakes TRENT’S hand)

RUTH: A doctor?

TRENT: Psychiatrist.

RUTH: Don’t tell me you believe in ghosts?

TRENT: Of course not. But I was intrigued by the invitation.

RUTH: How were you invited?

TRENT: Well, I’m ashamed to say I had never heard of Frederick Loren so when I got a letter from him I was inclined to ignore it. However, he seemed genuinely interested in my field – I’m doing some research on hysteria – (laughs) and the whole idea rather amused me – having a group of totalstrangers spend a night in a so-called haunted house.

RUTH: Are we all strangers to each other? (To LANCE and NORA) Don’t you two know each other?

LANCE: (To NORA) I don’t even know your name.

NORA: I’m Nora Manning.

LANCE: Lance Schroeder – glad to meet you.

RUTH: (To LANCE and NORA) Is Frederick Loren a friend of yours?

LANCE: I’ve heard about him but I’ve never seen him.

NORA: I work for one of his companies but I’ve never seen him.

RUTH: This is delightful! I’ve never met the man either. Just a phone call. He must be fascinating. (To PRITCHARD) You’re the only one of us who knows him.

PRITCHARD: I don’t know him. All the details about renting this house were done by mail.

LANCE: How much does it rent for by the night? I know some people who need haunting.

PRITCHARD: (Beat) I don’t think I should divulge that.

LANCE: I was just kidding.

( Ruth wanders around t he room)

RUTH: What a perfect setting! You know, people will do the weirdest things to get their names in the papers but Fred Lore n had done it so amusingly I won’t mind giving him a whole column. And his invitation didn’t ask for a thing. Just come to a haunted house party.

TRENT: He’s quite wealthy, isn’t he?

RUTH: Loaded. Just the other day he inherited another ten million!

TRENT: What does he do?

RUTH: Do? Fred Loren? He does nothing – with the greatest of ease.

TRENT: And five wives isn’t it?

RUTH: Four I think – so far.

LANCE: Is Mrs. Loren going to be here?

PRITCHARD: I think so.

LANCE: Is she as good looking as her pictures?

RUTH: This must be the party to end all of Fred Loren’s goofy parties.

TRENT: A fifty thousand dollar party for only five people is a little steep even for a millionaire.

RUTH: Doctor, I’m afraid you’re not up on your café society gossip. Only last year Fred Loren chartered an ocean-liner for a party, it lasted a month.

LANCE: How do we get in here? Where is everybody?

NORA: It isn’t a very warm welcome, is it?

PRITCHARD: (gloomily) Only the ghosts in this house are glad we’re here.

(The large metal door opens by itself. They all make their way into the entrance hall. Projector shows the chandelier.)

LANCE: If I were a ghost, this would be the house I’d haunt.

PRITCHARD: Wait until you see the rest of it.

LANCE: Real spooky, eh?

(PRITCHARD nods. The Chandelier begins to sway as the doors slam shut)

LANCE: (To PRITCHARD) you own this place, you ought to know which door.

PRITCHARD: Well, it depends on where Mr. Loren is. This house is full of doors.

NORA: Aren’t there any lights?

LANCE: Doesn’t look like it. (To PRITCHARD) Maybe there’s no one here.

PRITCHARD: Someone is always here.

(The Chandelier sways more violently with every door slam. The front door begins to close until it slams shut.)

NORA: Who closed the door?

(LANCE goes to and tries to open the door but it won’t budge. The chandelier suddenly falls where NORA stands. LANCE lunges forward and pushes her out of the way just as the chandelier crashes to the floor.)

(The lights fades down and come back up)

END SCENE

SCENE 3

(FREDERICK and ANNABELLE’S bedroom. ANNABELLE sits her dressing table. FREDERICK enters and stands behind ANNABELLE)

FREDERICK: That’s a very fetching outfit, darling, but hardly suitable for a party.

ANNABELLE: I’m not going to the party.

FREDERICK: This spend-the-night ghost party was your idea, remember? Since it’s costing me fifty thousand dollars, I want you to have fun.

ANNABELLE: Why didn’t you think of that when you invited the guests? It was my party until you stepped in and invited all the guests. Why these total strangers? Why none of our friends?

FREDERICK: Friends? Have we got any friends?

ANNABELLE: No, your jealousy took care of that.

FREDERICK: I had a reason for inviting each of our guests. I wanted a cross-section – from psychiatrist to typist and from drunk to jet pilot. They share one thing, they all need money. Now let’s see if they’re brave enough to earn it.

ANNABELLE: And you call this a party?

FREDERICK: Could be.

(FREDERICK goes over to grab a bottle of champagne. ANNABELLE looks on as FREDERICK begins to shake the bottle.)

ANNABELLE: Why do you always do that? It ruins the champagne.

FREDERICK: Maybe it’ll explode.

ANNABELLE: They never do.

(FREDERICK removes the cork wire)

FREDERICK: Will you guarantee that?

(He lowers the bottle so that it is pointing at her back.)

ANNABELLE: That isn’t funny, Frederick.

FREDERICK: It would make a good headline. Playboy kills wife with champagne cork. (He now pulls the cork out, wine foaming over, and picks up a glass.) Join me?

ANNABELLE: No, thank you.



(FREDERICK pours a glass and he offers it to ANNABELLE.)

FREDERICK: Just a sip? Might improve your humor.

ANNABELLE: My humor is fine, thanks. And I haven't poisoned it.

FREDERICK: That’s always good to know. Here have some. You’ll enjoy the party more.

(ANNABELLE drinks the bubbly)

ANNABELLE: Your trust is so touching. And I am not going to your party.

FREDERICK: Of all my wives you are the least agreeable …

ANNABELL: But still alive …

FREDERICK: Would you go away for a million dollars, tax free? (ANNABELLE shakes her head) You want it all, don’t you?

ANNABELLE: I deserve it all. Your jealousy isn’t tax free and your possessiveness is maddening.

FREDERICK: If ever a man had grounds for divorce …

ANNABELLE: But no way to prove them.

FREDERICK: The time’ll come You’ll slip up one of these days.

ANNABELLE: Think so?

FREDERICK: If I live long enough … Remember the fun we had when you poisoned me?

ANNABELLE: Something you ate, the doctor said.

FREDERICK: Yes – arsenic on the rocks. (Beat) Annabelle, you’d try again if you thought you could get away with it.

ANNABELLE: Darling, what makes you think that?

FREDERICK: Something about you – (Beat) Hanging is uncomfortable, I hear – in case you have any more ideas. (FREDERICK begins to leave) Don’t let the ghosties and the ghouls disturb you, dear.

ANNABELLE: Darling, the only ghoul in this house is you.

FREDERICK: And don’t sit up all night thinking of ways to get rid of me. Makes wrinkles.

(FREDERICK exits the room as the lights go down and fade back up)

END SCENE

SCENE 4

(PRITCHARD, LANCE, RUTH, TRENT, and NORA stand in the center of the room. The group is gathered around P RITCHARD who is holding a large, heavy butcher knife.)

PRITCHARD: … and this is what she used on my brother and her sister. Hacked them to pieces. We’ve found parts of them all over the house in places you wouldn’t think, but the funny thing is that the heads have never been found. Hand and feet and things like that, but no heads.

TRENT: The wife, probably in a rage, threatened her husband with a knife and then, carried away by hysteria, took a swing at him and simply went from there.

LANCE: She certainly went on. How many people did she kill, Mr. Pritchard?

PRITCHARD: Only two. Her husband and her sister No one else was here.

LANCE: So there are two loose heads drifting around in here somewhere?

PRITCHARD: You can hear them at night. They whisper to each other and then cry.

RUTH: Since our host isn’t here, would anybody care to mix me a drink?

TRENT: Certainly. What will you have?

PRITCHARD: Shouldn’t you say, “Name your poison?”

(FREDERICK enters mysteriously)

FREDERICK: I’m your host, Frederick Loren. Since we’re all strangers to each other let’s get acquainted with a drink.

(FREDERICK goes over to the bar table)

PRITCHARD: I advise you to call off this party now, Mr. Loren. The ghosts are already moving. That’s a bad sign.

(FREDERICK smiles tolerantly at PRITCHARD and begins to mix drinks as the various members of the group say, “Scotch and Water”, “Bourbon and Soda”, “Have you any Vodka?”, etc. Nora alone does not want a drink. With drinks fixed, FREDERICK now turns to the group.)

FREDERICK: Let me apologize for my wife. She’ll join us later. Now, before the party begins, let’s go over the details. The caretakers will leave at midnight, locking us in here until they come back in the morning. Once the door is locked there’s no way out. The windows have bars a jail would be

proud of and the only door to the outside locks like a vault. There is no electricity – no phone – no one within miles so – so way to signal for help.

PRITCHARD: Like a coffin.

FREDERICK: (Smiles) So, if any of you decide not to stay for the party, you’ll have to let me know before midnight. Of course, if you leave I can’t pay you anything.

TRENT: I’m interested in your reasons for this – er – party, aside from the pleasant company.

FREDERICK: Ghosts, Doctor... (beat) I think everyone wonders what they’d do if they saw a ghost, and now my wife has given us all the opportunity to find out.

TRENT: Amusing! Ghosts, et cetera, being only creations of hysteria, you party should be a success.

FREDERICK: Pritchard here, guarantees genuine ghosts.

PRITCHARD: Seven now, maybe more before morning.

FREDERICK: That’s cheerful.

PRITCHARD: (Beat) Four men have been murdered in this house, and three women.

TRENT: You planned your party very well, Mr. Loren Four of us are men, three are women. A ghost for everybody.

FREDERICK: Pritchard, why don’t you take us on a tour of the house and let’s see what happens?

(The lights go down and when the lights come back up, the group is in a hallway of the house. They are all observing a bloodstain on the ceiling)

PRITCHARD: See those stains? Blood! You can scrub them off, but they always come back. No matter what you do – paint over them, scrub them, even treat them with chemicals – they come back. A young girl was killed here and whatever got her wasn’t human. (PRITCHARD suddenly hurries

over to where RUTH is standing) Don’t stand there.

RUTH: What do you mean – where?

(At that moment, a drop of blood appears on RUTH’S hand)

PRITCHARD: Too late. They’ve marked you.

(Ruth dabs at the blood with a handkerchief)

RUTH: What do you mean? What is it?

PRITCHARD: Blood.

RUTH: Blood? From where?

PRITCHARD: From the … young girl murdered here.

TRENT: Ridiculous! The roof probably leaks.

RUTH: But it is blood.

TRENT: A little less imagination and a little more logic. Water stained by rust as it came through the plaster.

RUTH: That must be what it is. Who would want to haunt me?

FREDERICK: I should say any self-respecting male ghost.

PRITCHARD: (Inspecting RUTH’S hand) Did you get it all off?

RUTH: Sure. I guess so.

PRITCHARD: I hope it doesn’t come back.

RUTH: Come back?

PRITCHARD: The way it does on the walls and ceilings.

TRENT: Mr. Pritchard, you’re the life of the party.

FREDERICK: Oh, he hasn’t started yet. Wasn’t there a man who put his wife in a wine vat or something?

PRITCHARD: Oh, that was known in the cellar (Starts walking) there’s been a murder almost everyplace in this house.

(The lights go down and when the lights come back up, the group is just entering the wine cellar. As PRITCHARD begins to speak, he walks away from the group and towards a rope that is tied to the wall.)



PRITCHARD: All this used to belong to a Mr. Norton who didn’t die here. He was electrocuted later. (PRITCHARD no unties a rope from a cleat and begins to pull on it. The rectangular cover no begins to open) Mr. Norton did a good deal of experimenting with wine but his wife didn’t think

it was any good so Mr. Norton filled the vat with acid and threw her in. She was supposed to stay down but the bones came up. (Beat) Funny thing, none of the murders here were just ordinary – just shooting or stabbing. They’ve all been sort of wild and violent – different …

(PRITCHARD puts the rope on the cleat leaving the cover half open. PRITCHARD rejoins the group as they all stand at the edge of the vat looking down. NORA leans near the acid and almost looses her balance. LANCE catches her, pulling her back from the vat)

PRITCHARD: Thank goodness you didn’t fall in.

NORA: You mean there’s still acid in there?

(PRITCHARD looks around and finds a rattrap with a large dead rat caught in it. He picks this up and returns to the vat. He now holds the trap out over the dark liquid and opens the spring of the trap. When the dead rat strikes the surface of the liquid, thick fumes rise around it

and there’s a hot hissing sound. As the fuses and ripples die away, we see that the liquid has completely destroyed everything but the bones of the rat which now lie on the surface. The group backs away in horror. PRITCHARD now lowers the cover on the vat as he talks)

PRITCHARD: It destroys everything with flesh and hair, just leaves the bones. Sure is dry and dusty down here …

FREDRICK: I'm sure there is a cure for that upstairs, come along. (Gestures towards the already moving PRITCHARD)

(As the group turns to exit, NORA is the last to turn away from the vat. Lance drops back beside her)

LANCE: (Whispers) Walk slowly.

(NORA looks up at him surprised, but is reassured and walks more slowly. Everyone exits but LANCE and NORA)

LANCE: How’d you get invited to this party … I mean, what’d he tell you?

NORA: Mr. Loren said everybody would get ten thousand dollars.

LANCE: But nothing about being locked in? (NORA shakes her head) On the phone, he just made a deal – but nothing about having to stay.

NORA: Aren’t you going to stay?

LANCE: And loose the ten thousand?

NORA: I’m going to stay, too … Ten thousand … dollars!

(LANCE takes her arm and they begin to explore the cellar)

LANCE: You believe in ghosts?

NORA: (Beat) I don’t know.

LANCE: I agree with that Doc – you can spook yourself. I’ve done it in planes – seen things that weren’t there – or, were they? What are you going to do with the ten thousand dollars if you get it?

NORA: What do you mean if I get it? Won’t he pay us if we stay?

LANCE: Oh, sure he will. Ten thousand is no more to him than a nickel is to us.

NORA: We were in an automobile accident and now I’m the only one in the family who can earn any money.

LANCE: I never saw so many doors.

(They go together toward one of the doors and LANCE pulls it open and looks in)

LANCE: Closet.

(They go to another door and again LANCE opens in and looks in)

LANCE: Bottles.

(LANCE closes the door and they wander on to a third door which he opens and peers in. LANCE slowly walks into the room as NORA stands in the doorway peering in.)

NORA: Does it go anywhere? (She waits for a few seconds but there is no answer) Lance?

(The door almost slams in her face. NORA recoils from this. Now, evidently afraid, she slowly reaches out to the knob, turns it jerkily and pushes against the door. The door does not open or give so she beats on the door with one hand)

NORA: Lance! Lance!

(MRS. SLYDES enters and floats across the stage past NORA. After MRS. SLYDES exits, NORA runs out of the last door) (Lignts down and Lights up) (Living Room. PRITCHARD is at the bar pouring a fresh drink. RUTH, TRENT, and FREDERICK are in a small group around

the sofa. NORA runs into the room)

NORA: Help! Help! (They all turn to stare at her and she runs to TRENT and begins to pull his arm) Lance! Gone! And there’s a ghost.

TRENT: (To FREDERICK) See what I mean?

NORA: (Tugging) Come on! Come on!

(NORA turns and runs out through the door and the group begins to hurry after her)

RUTH: Did she say Lance was gone? Gone where?

PRITCHARD: (Walking more slowly at the end of the group) I didn’t think they would do it so soon.

(Lights downs, Lights up in the Cellar. NORA comes running into the room and then the rest of the group follows. She runs to the door and beckons FREDERICK, RUTH, TRENT, and PRITCHARD to join her.)

NORA: It’s locked, we’ll have to break it down.

(As she says this, she finds that she is now able to easily open the door. TRENT steps past her and peers in. We see LANCE lying on the floor. He groans as he begins to sit up. He has a bad cut on his forehead and blood is streaming down his face.)

FREDERICK: Are you all right?

LANCE: Nothing money won’t cure. (He starts to get to his feet but TRENT and FREDERICK help him and he stands for a moment dazed) Must have bumped my head.

(Trent inspects the empty room)

TRENT: The only way you could bump you head in here is to run head-on into the wall. You didn’t do that, did you? (Lance looks around the room and then slowly shakes his head) Let’s put a bandage on that.

(He takes LANCE’S arm and helps him towards the door. FREDERICK and TRENT help LANCE walk towards the exit as the rest of the group follows)

PRITCHARD: I wonder why they didn’t kill him?

RUTH: Who?

PRITCHARD: You saw the place. He didn’t bump his head. They hit him.

RUTH: “They?”

(PRITCHARD makes a hopeless, all-embracing gesture to explain “they” as the group turns out of the Wine Cellar) (Lights down)

END SCENE

SCENE 5

(Lights up. Living Room. TRENT is just finishing bandaging LANCE’S head. PRITCHARD is by the bar, pouring another drink, while FREDERICK and RUTH look on sympathetically)

FREDERICK: (To NORA) When you came in, Nora, you said something about a ghost.

NORA: There was something.

FREDERICK: What did it look like?

NORA: It was wearing a black thing that went all the way to the floor.

TRENT: (Closing up his doctor’s bag) Weren’t you a little frightened at the time? (NORA nods) That, Mr. Loren, is hysteria.

FREDERICK: How do you explain what happened to Lance? Was that hysteria, too, Doctor?

TRENT: (Thinks for a moment, then shakes his head. To LANCE) Better get that checked in a day or so.

LANCE: (Leans over to NORA) Wait for me in the hall.

(TRENT exits carrying his doctor’s bag. FREDERICK moves over to the bar table and PRITCHARD makes his way towards him)

PRITCHARD: The ghosts are coming closer, Mr. Loren.

(As FREDERICK talks, NORA makes her way out of the door)

FREDERICK: You really believe in your pet ghosts, don’t you, Pritchard?

PRITCHARD: Before the night’s over you will, too.

(LANCE begins to make his way towards the door)

FREDERICK: (To LANCE ) Would you like a drink, Lance?

LANCE: No. Thanks very much.

(RUTH gets up and joins FREDERICK)

RUTH: I’d like one. Scotch and soda.

(As FREDERICK mixes her drink, LANCE wanders aimlessly around)

RUTH: Mr. Loren, are you really going to pay anyone who stays all night?



FREDERICK: Of course. Ten thousand.

RUTH: Will there be much red tape – delay?

FEDERICK: In a hurry, dear?

RUTH: Frankly, yes. Or – frantically.

(TRENT now comes back into the room and over to FREDERICK and RUTH. As he joins them LANCE moves towards the door going into the hall. As he passes the table on which there are some unlit candles and stands, LANCE takes two of the candles and puts them in his jacket

pocket. LANCE now goes out of the door and closes it quietly behind him. FREDERICK pauses as he hands RUTH the drink, evidently having seen LANCE leave)

FREDERICK: There you are, my dear.

(Lights down)

END SCENE

SCENE 6

(Lights up. The Wine Cellar. LANCE and NORA enter and walk rater swiftly to the room where LANCE got hit. They go in. Holding their candles high, they look around the empty room)

LANCE: I want to find out who hit me. Somebody or something was here when I came in … Where? And, if the door was locked how did it get out? What you saw might have been a ghost, Nora. But what was in here with me was no ghost.

NORA: I don’t know. I was so scared – I just don’t know.

(LANCE goes over and begins to tap with his knuckles on the wall and look for any opening in the stone floor but finds nothing. At the side wall, however, he taps longer)

LANCE: Doesn’t this seem to have a different sound to you?

(NORA nods. He stands thinking for a moment and then motions for her and they go out. LANCE begins pacing off the distance between the door of the room in which he was hit, to the next door in the wall)

LANCE: Twelve feet …

(LANCE and NORA go into it. This room is also bare walled and empty, but it is narrower than the other room and much longer. LANCE now begins to pace off the distance from the door to the side wall. When he reaches the wall, he turns around and looks significantly at NORA)

LANCE: Six. I’m going to knock on the wall and when you hear me, you knock on this wall.

(NORA nods and LANCE goes out. She stands facing the wall and listening. In a moment, there is a fairly sharp knock. NORA now taps on the wall in reply and off stage we hear LANCE)

LANCE: (Off stage) Tap lower down.

(NORA begins to tap lower but after a moment gets up to see MRS. SLYDES. NORA who lets out a blood-curdling scream. MRS. SLYDES exits as NORA continues to scream. LANCE enters just as MRS. SLYDES exits and NORA, seeing him, stops screaming and runs into

LANCE’S arms)

NORA: I saw it again!

(LANCE finds nothing)

LANCE: Where did it come from, Nora? (NORA points) If it ran out of here I’d have seen it.

NORA: It doesn’t run – just floats along.

LANCE: But why didn’t I see it?

NORA: (Moving away from him) You don’t believe me.

LANCE: Sure I do.

(NORA takes her candle and begins to walk toward the exit)

LANCE: Wait a minute. I’m just trying to figure this thing out.

(NORA exits angrily) (Lights down)

END SCENE

SCENE 7

(Lights up on the hallway as NORA realizes that LANCE is not following her. She becomes afraid and begins to walk towards the entrance hall. ANNABELLE walks onstage just behind NORA, who turns, gasps, and starts away)

ANNABELLE: I’m sorry I frightened you. I’m Annabelle Loren. You must be Miss … Manning? (NORA is still too upset to do more than nod) You’ve been crying. What’s the matter? (NORA shakes her head) I realize that this a most unusual, and I’m afraid very dull party. Come on, you need tofreshen up.

(ANNABELLE leads NORA to a door and they walk in)

ANNABELLE: This is your room. Depressing isn’t it?

NORA: I doubt if I spend much time here.

ANNABELLE: (looking out the window) It’s going to rain. Perfect atmosphere for my husband’s party. (She turns back to NORA) Why did you come here?

NORA: He said he would give me ten thousand dollars.

ANNABELLE: Why did he pick you?

NORA: I don’t know. My supervisor just came and told me that I’d been invited.

ANNABELLE: How long have you known my husband?

NORA: I just met him tonight.

ANNABELLE: So? Why you? (Beat) What were you doing wandering around by yourself?

NORA: Well – I was in the cellar with Lance … Mr. Schroeder – and I just left that’s all.

ANNABELLE: Don’t do it again. Don’t go anywhere in this house by yourself. Now fix your face. I’ll come by for you in a few minutes.

NORA: But …

ANNABELLE: You’re in danger. We all are.

NORA: But who … ?

ANNABELLE: I hope, for your sake, you never find out.

(ANNABELLE opens the door quietly and, with a warning look at NORA, slips out of the room) (Lights down, Lights up on the hallway as ANNABELLE closes the door on NORA’S room. ANNABELLE moves rather swiftly away from the door as LANCE enters. He is startled to see

her)

ANNABELLE: I’m Annabelle Loren. Were you looking for something?

LANCE: Well – not exactly.

ANNABELLE: You’re the doctor?

LANCE: No. I’m Lance Schroeder.

ANNABELLE: The pilot? You’ve hurt yourself.

LANCE: Just bumped my head …

ANNABELLE: I think this is your room.

(ANNABELLE opens a new door)

LANCE: Yeah, that’s mine. Thanks, Mrs. Loren.

ANNABELLE: (Seductively)Annabelle, Lance.

(Unsure of how to react to this, LANCE moves toward the open door. As he goes in, ANNABELLE follows. ANNABELLE closes the door carefully and turns. LANCE is unsure as to how to handle the situation)

ANNABELLE: You were with that young girl in the cellar. Why was she crying?

LANCE: Was she?

ANNABELLE: (Nodding) And you don’t look like the type to bump your head. What really happened, Lance?

LANCE: I don’t know. Nora thought she saw a ghost but I didn’t see anything.

ANNABELLE: She was just frightened then.

LANCE: (nods) And mad at me, I guess. I kidded her about it.

ANNABELLE: I wouldn’t joke about anything else that happens here tonight.

LANCE: Are you taking all this seriously?

(Almost as a caress ANNABELLE touches the bandage on LANCE’S head)

ANNABELLE: Aren’t you?

LANCE: I’d like to find out what hit me.



ANNABELLE: (Takes his hand in both of hers) If I need help, can I count on you?

LANCE: Why sure, I guess so. But what’s going on here? I mean, what’s with this party bit?

ANNABELLE: This is no party. He’s planning something.

LANCE: Your husband?

ANNABELLE: (Nodding) I wish I knew what it was.

LANCE: It must be something big to lay out fifty thousand.

ANNABELLE: The money doesn’t mean anything. But he’s got a reason for getting us all into this dreadful old house.

LANCE: What for? We don’t even know him.

ANNABELLE: Perhaps that’s exactly why you’re here.

LANCE: But what can he get away with?

ANNABELLE: Money – big money like his – can get away with anything. You know, of course, that I’m his fourth wife. His first simply disappeared. The other two died. (Beat) I don’t want to join them, Lance.

LANCE: You mean he …

ANNABELLE: (Interrupting) His doctor said they died of heart attacks. Two girls in their twenties?

LANCE: What can he do?

ANNABELLE: My husband is sometimes insane with jealousy. Nothing matters to him then, not even human life. So be careful.

LANCE: Would he hurt you?(ANNABELLE goes slowly to the door, then she turns and looks at LANCE)

ANNABELLE: (Quietly) He would kill me if he could.

(She slips out of the door and closes it behind her. ANNABELE walks slowly along the corridor till she hears footsteps. At the sound, ANNABELLE hurries into her own room where she sits in front of her mirror and quickly begins to brush her hair. FREDERICK enters, closing the

door.)

FREDERICK: Annabelle, you’re missing all the fun. Nora Manning was almost killed by a falling chandelier, and the pilot bashed his head in.

ANNABELLE: Is he badly hurt?

FREDERICK: The saturnine psychiatrist bandaged him up. (Beat) Don’t you want to console him? – as you do most men … in your fashion.

ANNABELLE: You’re so clever, Frederick.

FREDERICK: I lie awake at night wondering why I married you. Rather a mistake.

ANNABELLE: You didn’t marry me, dear. I married you! Unpleasant but no mistake.

FREDERICK: (Stepping closer to ANNABELLE) Hurry up darling.

ANNABELLE: Frederick, for the last time I am not going to your party.

(FREDERICK gently takes a mass of hair in his hand and just holds it as she pauses, brush in hand. They now stare at each other via the mirror)

FREDERICK: And, for the last time, it is your party, not mine, and you are going.

ANNABELLE: I am not.

(FREDERICK now closes his hand on her hair and begins to pull it with steady pressure, this slowly forces her head back until he can stand and look down at her)

FREDERICK: Ready, dear?

ANNABELLE: (In pain) No!

(FREDERICK applies more pressure, until she is in agony)

FREDERICK: Ready, dear?

ANNABELLE: Yes. Damn you.

(FREDERICK holds her like this for a moment longer)

FREDERICK: Would you adore me as much if I were poor?

(ANNABELLE is in too much pain to speak. And answers by trying to shake her head, no)

FREDERICK: All you want to be is a lovely widow.

(He abruptly turns her hair loose and strolls across the room, looking at his watch as he does)

FREDERICK: Almost time to lock the house. Then your party really begins. (Beat, looking at the audience) I wonder how it will end?

(He goes to the door and out. He goes directly to LANCE’S door and knocks)

FREDERICK: Midnight, Lance.

(LANCE comes to the door, his clean shirt on but not yet buttoned up)

LANCE: Okay, be down in a minute.

(LANCE closes the door and FREDERICK goes on to the next one and knocks)

NORA: (Off stage) Who is it?

FREDERICK: Your host, my dear. (NORA opens the door) Almost midnight. We’re all going to get together in the living room.

NORA: All right, Mr. Loren. I’ll be down right down.

(We follow NORA back into her room as she goes over to her overnight case and opens the lid. Inside the case is a woman’s severed head. NORA begins to scream as she whirls in terror and runs blindly to the door, snatching it open, and running out into the corridor. Panic

stricken, NORA backs away from the room. JONAS SLYDES enters behind her as she backs toward him. JONAS reaches out with his hands: one clamps over NORA’S mouth and the other holds her arms rigidly.

JONAS SLYDES: (Low, sibilant) Come with us … come with us … before he kills you.

(NORA tries to break free and cannot until suddenly JONAS releases her and she runs while screaming, stumbling and almost falling away from JONAS who now vanishes back into the darkness) (Lights down)

END SCENE

SCENE 8

(Lights up. Living room. FREDERICK, RUTH, and PRITCHARD are all in the living room and in a moment LANCE comes hurrying in. He looks around at the group)

LANCE: Where’s Nora … Miss Manning?

(Before FREDERICK can answer the door opens, slamming back, and NORA comes running panic-stricken into the living room. When she sees where she is, she stumbles to a stop and looks frantically around at the people. LANCE hurries over beside her)

LANCE: Where have you been?

NORA: I don’t want to stay here.

LANCE: What happened, Nora?

(Nora begins to responds as JONAS and MRS. SLYDES enter only a few paces into the room and stand waiting side by side. NORA is speechless with fear but raises her arm and points. FREDERICK now looks in the direction that NORA is pointing and he comes to NORA)

FREDERICK: That’s Jonas Slydes and his wife. They’ve been caretakers here for years. She’s blind, you know.

NORA: (She turns from gazing and now looks first up a FREDERICK and then with a beseeching look up at LANCE) I’m not staying here.

(TRENT now enters and joins the group)

TRENT: Hope I’m not late. I was reading.

FREDERICK: Well it looks as if we have a case of hysteria on our hands.

(FREDERICK nods towards NORA. NORA backs away from FREDERICK getting as close as she can to LANCE. TRENT looks at NORA and smiles sympathetically)

TRENT: I think she’s just a little upset. Not hysterical.

(ANNABELLE enters)

ANNABELLE: Good evening.

FREDERICK: (Turns and goes to her) Hello dear. These are our guests. Ruth Bridgers, Nora Manning, Dr. Trent … you know Watson Pritchard, of course, and this is Lance Schroeder.

(As the group moves toward ANNABELLE, NORA holds LANCE back)

NORA: Let’s get out of here.

LANCE: What about the then thousand?

NORA: I don’t care. He wants to kill me.



LANCE: Who wants to kill you?

NORA: (Whispering) Mr. Loren. (LANCE slowly shakes his head) That old man told me so.

FREDERICK: May I have your attention please? (FREDERICK moves center stage) I think you remember the bargain we made if you stay all night. Ten thousand apiece. If any of you don’t survive – fifty thousand dollars will be divided between the rest. If I should die (beat) you will be paid bymy estate. When the caretakers lock the door from the outside we’ll be forced to stay in this house until morning. If any of you decide not to stay you must leave with the caretakers now. You can’t change your mind later because there’ll be no way to get out.

(During his monologue JONAS and MRS. SLYDES exit)

NORA: (Whispering to LANCE) I’m not going to stay.

(NORA starts towards FREDERICK but LANCE grabs her by the arm)

LANCE: (Whispering) Wait!

(NORA shakes her head and pulls herself free of LANCE’S gr ip and starts again to move towards F REDERICK. As she does (There is suddenly a loud clang of metal on metal. FRED ERICK’S expression turns anger as he goes out of the room. FREDERICK furious ly turns back

and walks up to PRITCHARD)

FREDERICK: It’s not midnight yet. Who told them they could leave?

PRITCHARD: (Cowering slightly) They never leave before midnight.

FREDERICK: Well they’re gone.

(PRITCHARD shrugs helplessly. FREDERICK stands glaring down at him. Gradually FREDERICK’S face becomes again smiling and charming)

FREDERICK: I was going to ask you whether you wanted to stay here, but the caretakers made the decision for you. We’re all locked in now.

NORA: But I don’t want to stay.

FREDERICK: I’m sorry, my dear, but it’s too late now.

ANNABELLE: (Confronting FREDERICK coldly) Haven’t you had enough of this silly game, darling? Get some cars up here and let these people go home. But pay them first.

(FREDERICK, smiling down at her, puts an arm affectionately around her shoulders with a little more violence than the gesture calls for)

FREDERICK: This is your party, remember?

(ANNABELLE stares up at him coldly and wrenches herself out of his embrace. FREDERICK stands for a moment smiling down at her and then walks over to a table. On this table are seven identical black miniature coffins)

FREDERICK: In spite of my wife’s faith in my ability to do the impossible, there’s no way to get out of this house before 8 o’ clock in the morning. BUT we have some party favors for you.

(Now FREDERICK reaches down and begins to open the coffins one by one. In each coffin is a standard Cold 45 Automatic. FREDERICK picks up one of the guns and holds it with familiarity in his hands. FREDERICK gestures with the gun in his hand at the ones in the boxes as he

speaks)

FREDERICK: This is my wife’s idea, although I think it’s rather dangerous. I suppose you know how to operate these things but in case you don’t you just press this side down with your thumb and then … (He points the gun across the room) … pull the trigger.

(FREDERICK pulls the trigger and a gunshot is heard as a vase across the room shatters. FREDERICK then puts the gun in his pocket)

FREDERICK: You see, they’re loaded.

PRITCHARD: (Looking gloomily at the guns) These are no good against the dead, only the living.

(FREDERICK picks up a gun and hands it to PRITCHARD. PRITCHARD takes it and turns away. FREDERICK now gives TRENT a gun, which he puts in his coat pocket. Next RUTH takes a gun from FREDERICK rather hesitantly and is evidently surprised at its weight.

FREDERICK now gives LANCE a gun and turns to NORA, who is shaking her head)

LANCE: (Quietly) Take it.

(NORA now reluctantly take the gun from FREDERICK and now FREDERICK picks up the last gun and turns to ANNABELLE who is just starting to turn away)

FREDERICK: (Holding the gun out to ANNABELLE) Here’s yours, dear.

ANNABELLE: I don’t need it.

FREDERICK: (Almost forcing the gun into her hands. Smiling pleasantly) It was your idea. Who knows, you may want to use it on me before this night is over.

(PRITCHARD goes to the bar and mixes himself a drink, then turns and looks somberly at the group. He reaches into his pocket and takes out the gun and rather drunkenly drops it on the bar table)

PRITCHARD: Throw these things away. They won’t do you any good.

TRENT: I agree with Pritchard on that point, at any rate, although not for the same reason.

ANNABELLE: You don’t approve of our party favors, Doctor?

TRENT: Suppose Nora, here, had had a gun when she mistook the blind woman for a ghost?

RUTH: I don’t think anyone else is going to walk around in total darkness.

ANNABELLE: Oh, I’m sure we’re not going to run about the house shooting each other, aren’t you?

TRENT: Who knows? … Fear makes people do amazing things.

(NORA walks to PRITCHARD)

NORA: You said your sister-in-law killed a man and a woman here and cut them up? (PRITCHARD nods) Would you like to see one of the heads? (Everyone stares at NORA. She points at PRITCHARD) Would you?

(PRITCHARD slowly nods his head and now LANCE comes up beside NORA)

LANCE: What are you talking about?

NORA: (Ignoring LANCE) Well, then, come on.

PRITCHARD: Where?

NORA: (Turning away from him) Just come on.

(As NORA walks steadily across the room, the other members look uneasily at each other and then at NORA. LANCE now hurries over and catches up with her while PRITCHARD walks unsteadily but with purpose along behind her. Now NORA suddenly stops and turns back to

PRITCHARD)

NORA: You’d better take a drink with you, too, because you’re not going to like what you see.

(PRITCHARD nods and holds up the drink he has in his hand. NORA turns and walks out the door. The group follows her but ANNABELLE stops FREDRICK before he can leave.)

ANNABELLE: (handing him the gun) Darling, I really don't need this…

(FREDRICK takes the gun and returns it to the box. ANNABELLE and FREDERICK now follow) (Lights down)

END SCENE

SCENE 9

(Lights up. Bedroom. At the door, NORA stops and lets PRITCHARD come in. behind NORA and PRITCHARD, we can see the other members of the group crowding around)

NORA: (Pointing) Just go look in my suitcase. That’s all. Just go look.

(PRITCHARD walks unsteadily toward the suitcase. He looks into the suitcase. There is a pause as he stares at it. PRITCHARD eventually turns and looks rather bewilderedly at NORA. Now he shrugs. NORA marches over to the suitcase and lifts it up so the audience can see that it

is now empty of the severed head)

NORA: It was there! A woman’s head.

PRITCHARD: In your suitcase, you mean?

(Nora nods. PRITCHARD looks at her for a moment and then nods significantly. TRENT now goes over to NORA)

TRENT: (Consolingly) Nora, I think you’re a little upset. Would you like a sedative?

NORA: (Furious) Get out! Get out! All of you!

(TRENT and PRITCHARD hesitate for a moment, TRENT looking gravely at NORA, and then they both turn and go slowly to the door. There TRENT turns again and gazes at her but NORA flings her arm up in a gesture to get out – and they step out in the hall. NORA runs now to

the door, slams it shut and locks it. Everyone stands in the hall on the other side of the door recovering from the surprise of NORA’S out burst)

FREDERICK: (To TRENT) Do you think it’s all right to leave her by herself, Doctor?

TRENT: (Shrugs and nods) But I wish she’d taken the sedative.

RUTH: What do you suppose she thought she saw?

PRITCHARD: They’re closing in on her.

LANCE: (Worriedly) Don’t you think someone ought to stay with her?

PRITCHARD: There could be a million people around her but if they wanted her they’d get her.

(PRITCHARD turns and stalks with drunken haughtiness towards offstage)

ANNABELLE: What if he’s right?

FREDERICK: He’s too drunk to know what he’s talking about.

ANNABELLE: I wonder.

(The group now begins to move towards off stage but ANNABELLE pauses)



ANNABELLE: I’ll join you in a minute.

(ANNABELLE goes into her room and closes the door. LANCE now joins RUTH)

LANCE: Do you think it would do any good if you went in and talked to Nora?

RUTH: Do you think there really was a – head in her suitcase? (LANCE shrugs “don’t know”) A thing like that would put me right over the edge.

LANCE: Would you stay up here? I mean, just in case she needs help?

RUTH: All right, I’ll be in my room. Just call me if …

(LANCE thanks her with a smile and goes back to his bedroom and goes in. Ruth goes into her bedroom, leaving only TRENT and FREDERICK in the corridor)

TRENT: Are you sure there’re only seven people in this house?

FREDERICK: (Smiling) Positive – except for ghosts.

TRENT: I don’t believe in ghosts – nor – in frightening women. (FREDERICK looks at him questioningly) Fun’s fun, but, in Nora’s case, it has gone far enough – perhaps too far.

FREDERICK: What do you suggest we do about it, Doctor?

TRENT: Don’t frighten her anymore.

(The two men now stand for a moment looking at each other and then TRENT goes into his bedroom. FREDERICK then goes offstage) (Lights down)

END SCENE

SCENE 10

(Lights up) (LANCE’S bedroom) (LANCE paces restlessly up and down. Now he stops and goes over to the wall which separates his room from NORA’S and stands listening. He tries a door in the wall and it opens into NORA’S bedroom)

LANCE: Nora?

(There is no answer so now he opens the door wider and goes into the adjoining room. NORA has gone and the door to the hall is wide open. LANCE is surprised for a moment as he looks around the room)

LANCE: (Calling softly) Nora! It’s me – Lance.

(There is again no answer, so LANCE goes across the room where a door is standing a little ajar. He taps on it lightly)

LANCE: Nora?

(There is no answer so LANCE pulls the door open. In the shadows the same head is hanging by its hair from the lintel of the closet door. LANCE stands there and stares at the head for a moment. With distaste on his face he reaches out and jerks the head down and carries it out of

the room, holding it by the hair at arms length from his body. He is almost running down the corridor)

LANCE: (off stage) Nora! Nora!

(Lights down. Lights up in the Living Room. The room is deserted except for PRITCHARD who is sitting in a chair holding the butcher knife his brother was hacked to pieces with. LANCE enters the room and walks up to PRITCHARD holding the head directly in front of him)

LANCE: What do you know about this?

PRITCHARD: (Mumbling) They’ve taken her. In a little while she’ll be one of them.

(LANCE now drops the head at PRITCHARD’S feet, and stands over him)

LANCE: Where’s Nora?

PRITCHARD: (Mumbling) It’s too late … too late. You’ll never find her again.

(LANCE now reaches down and pulls PRITCHARD out of his chair)

LANCE: (Menacingly, holding the limp man up) If you know where she is – tell me – now!

PRITCHARD: (Mumbling) She’s gone – gone with them. There’s nothing you can do.

(LANCE almost flings PRITCHARD back into the chair and then stands over him for a moment. Then as LANCE starts to turn, off stage a woman screams. It is not a scream of simple fear but of a mixture of fear and strangulation. This screaming rises almost to a crescendo and

suddenly stops. LANCE whirls and runs toward the door. As LANCE slams out of the door, PRITCHARD lumps in the chair, nodding his head in a drunken sad victory) (Lights down)

END SCENE

SCENE 11

(Lights up) (Bottom of the Staircase) (LANCE enters and begins to climb the steps. At the top, we see the feet of a woman suspended in space. These feet swing slowly and gruesomely back and forth and twist from side to side although the feet themselves do not move at all)

LANCE: (Whispering strickenly) Oh, Nora!

(TRENT enters running from his bedroom and as he sees the woman hanging, he stops for a moment staring and then reaches up toward her but cannot touch her feet. Now he looks around to a rope belayed to the banister of the stairs. LANCE now joins TRENT and TRENT points

to the rope)

TRENT: Let her down.

(LANCE goes to the banister and unties the rope. He slowly lowers her into TRENT’S outstretched arms. TRENT carries her across the stage to a guest bedroom and he places her on the bed with the bed curtains concealing her face. LANCE follows him and sees who the woman

is. FREDERICK then hurries into the room as LANCE and TRENT stand looking at each other, at the sound of FREDERICK’S arrival they both turn and look at him. FREDERICK hurries across the room to them and is about to speak when he notices the woman lying on the bed)

FREDERICK: (Worried) Nora?

(TRENT moves aside so that FREDERICK has room to go past him and to the bed. FREDERICK now pushes the curtain aside a little and reveals the dead woman to be ANNABELLE. For a moment, it looks as though FREDERICK cannot stay upright but as he gains control of

himself, he reaches slowly in and with one hand, touches ANNABELLE’S arm)

TRENT: She’s dead, Mr. Loren. Your wife hanged herself.

(FREDERICK slowly turns, and it is apparent that he is genuinely stunned as he stands for a long moment staring vacantly into space.) (Lights down)

END SCENE

SCENE 12

(Lights up) (Corridor) (As LANCE comes out of the guest room he is looking for NORA but still doesn’t know now where to look. He starts toward the staircase and then turns slowly around and walks back in the other direction into the darkness of the long corridor. Suddenly

NORA enters beside him and touches his ha nd. He stops dead in his tracks)

NORA: Lance! Hide me! Hide me!

(The two hustle into NORA’S bedroom. NORA stands in the center of the room, shaking violently, her eyes wild as she stares at LANCE. LANCE goes over to her and leads her to a chair. NORA sits down with the obedience of a child and stares helplessly up at him)

NORA: He tried to kill me. (LANCE goes to a crouching position in front of her, his hands on the arms of the chair) He caught me and choked me and put me in that room. He shut the door and went away and left me.

LANCE: Who?

NORA: I thought I was dead.

LANCE: Who?

NORA: (Staring at him as if he were stupid) Mr. Loren!

LANCE: Are you sure about this?

NORA: (Backing up) It was dark, but it must have been him.

LANCE: (Getting up from his seating position, paces for a second, then turns back to NORA) Has anybody seen you since he left you?

NORA: (Shakes her head) I heard people in that room but I went by and nobody saw me.

LANCE: (Nodding, quietly) Mrs. Loren is dead. (NORA looks up at him with deep fear, her eyes ask “how”) Trent said she committed suicide but I think somebody killed her.

NORA: (Whispering) Him?

LANCE: I don’t know.

(LANCE now goes to the door and locks it. Then he goes to the window and pulls the drapes aside and feels for a lock in the window sash, but there is none. He now opens the window, reaches out to the heavy bars and shakes them. They are solidly set in the stone wall. As he turns

away from the window and starts to close it footsteps are heard offstage. LANCE freezes, listening, as the footsteps go on, then stop. Making a gesture of silence with finger across his lips to NORA he runs silently through the door to his bedroom. As he enters his room, there is a

knock at the door. LANCE opens it to find TRENT who steps in a pace or two)

TRENT: I’m sure you’ve come to the same conclusion I have. (LANCE nods in agreement) Let’s all have a meeting – discuss what to do. (LANCE nods again) The living room?

LANCE: (Nodding) In a minute.

(As TRENT goes out LANCE closes the door and hurries back toward NORA’S room. As LANCE comes in NORA looks anxiously at him)

LANCE: I’ve got to go downstairs. Lock the doors and don’t let anybody know you’re in here. (NORA looks at LANCE with fear and LANCE gives her a reassuring pat on the shoulder) If he thinks you’re dead he won’t come here. I’ll be back as soon as I can.

(LANCE goes over to a table and picks up her pistol, showing it to her, then puts it back. NORA nods but is not happy)

LANCE: You’ll be all right.

(He goes to the door, and stands for a moment listening. He then unlocks the door and peers out into the corridor. Apparently, all is clear, for he turns and smiles at NORA who tries to smile back at him) (Lights down)

END SCENE

SCENE 13

(Lights up) (Corridor) (LANCE walks down the corridor until he reaches the stairs and exits. Now the door to FREDERICK’S bedroom opens and FREDERICK comes out into the corridor and walks down to the room where ANNABELLE is. We see him open the door and enter.

FREDERICK comes quietly into the room, closes but does not lock the door. The curtains on the bed are drawn. FREDERICK moving slowly, goes to the bed, and slowly pulls the curtains aside so that ANNABELLE is revealed in exactly the same position as she was in before.



FREDERICK stands looking do n at her)

FREDERICK: So beautiful and – so greedy. So cold … so …

(PRITCHARD enters casting a shadow on ANNABELLE. FREDERICK whirls around. PRITCHARD is drunk and weaving as he stares vaguely past FREDERICK at ANNABELLE. FREDERICK grabs PRITCHARD by the coat front and jerks him close)

FREDERICK: (Furiously) What are you doing here?

PRITCHARD: (Gasping) Wait – nothing – wait.

FREDERICK: (Shakes PRITCHARD violently and then throws him away) What do you mean coming in here?

PRITCHARD: I didn’t want them to take her away.

FREDERICK: Nonsense, man!

PRITCHARD: They will, if you don’t watch her.

FREDERICK: You’re drunk.

PRITCHARD: They have before.

FREDERICK: (Grabbing him again) Come on, out with it! Why’d you dome into this room?

PRITCHARD: (With drunken dignity) Because I’m the only one who understands.

FREDERICK: Understands what?

PRITCHARD: (Pulling free – adjusting coat) Your wife isn’t there anymore. (He points to ANNABELLE) She has already joined them.

FREDERICK: Pritchard, I’ve had enough of your spook talk. (FREDERICK now whirls PRITCHARD around so that he is facing the door and then FREDERICK shoves him forward) Get out, you sot! And don’t come back in here.

(PRITCHARD staggers out of the room. FREDERICK walks back to the bed, pulls the curtains shut, and exits, closing the door) (Lights down)

END SCENE

SCENE 14

(Lights up) (Living Room) (PRITCHARD comes in the door and goes directly to the bar. He is mixing a drink as FREDERICK enters. FREDERICK ignores him as he goes over to one of the big chairs and slumps down, staring at the floor. Now, as TRENT, LANCE, and RUTH

come in FREDERICK does not even look up at them. RUTH goes over to FREDERICK)

Ruth: We are all so sorry. Is there anything we can do?

(FREDERICK raises his head slowly and for a long moment looks at her with a strange, cold expression)

FREDERICK: No, nothing. (FREDERICK turns his attention to TRENT) As a doctor what would you report as the actual cause of my wife’s death?

TRENT: Hanging can cause death by strangulation, by breaking the neck, by suffocation or hemorrhage of the brain.

FREDERICK: You don’t know exactly?

TRENT: Only an autopsy can determine exactly.

(FREDERICK nods listlessly and looks away. For a moment he seems to have forgotten the people around him but now he raises his head and looks at the group. The group stands, upset and nervous, waiting. PRITCHARD looks around a little vaguely but with drunken purpose)

PRITCHARD: Where’s what’s-her-name – Nora?

(LANCE watches FREDERICK’S reaction, waiting. FREDERICK, however, appears to be surprised by NORA’S absence)

TRENT: I didn’t disturb her since I don’t think this concerns her. (FREDERICK nods in agreement) Mr. Loren isn’t there some way to get out of this house now?

(FREDERICK looks at him and then makes a gesture as though turning the question over to PRITCHARD)

PRITCHARD: No. None at all.

LANCE: We could try breaking out.

PRITCHARD: The only door to the outside is made of steel. The bars at the windows are set in solid stone. We’ve got to stay. Stay until they finish with us.TRENT: (Looking around at the others) I’m not afraid of your ghosts, Pritchard, but I am … afraid. When we came here a few hours ago, the only thing we had in common was the ten thousand dollars we would get. Now, however, we share something else. There death of Mrs. Loren. So fartonight, one of us was almost killed by a falling chandelier; one of us was mysteriously slugged; one of us has been driven to the brink of absolute hysteria, and one of us is dead. (Beat) Were these accidents, suicide? (Beat) And we must stay in here for six more hours!

PRITCHARD: Six hours? Six of us. Time enough.

TRENT: Who will be next? And how will it happen?

FREDERICK: Let me ask you a question, Doctor. You were the first to see my wife there. Did you also see anything she should have climbed up on and then jumped?

TRENT: No.

FREDERICK: Did any of you? (They shake their heads) There was nothing. How then did she get up there … so high?

TRENT: Exactly, Mr. Loren. How? She couldn’t have pulled herself up there. She couldn’t have dropped from the ceiling. (Beat) Do you think your wife killed herself?

FREDERICK: (Shaking his head) She was murdered by – one of you.

TRENT: Or you, Mr. Loren … (TRENT stands in front of FREDERICK) to deliberately kill someone you must have a reason.

LANCE: (To FREDERICK) We were all strangers to your wife. You alone could have had a motive to murder.

FREDERICK: What husband hasn’t at some time wanted to kill his wife? And what husband hasn’t had a thousand opportunities to do it in such a way as never to be suspected? I’m not quite so stupid as to hang my wife from the ceiling by a rope.

TRENT: The fact remains that you, or one of us, murdered your wife. And that’s a matter for the police.

PRITCHARD: (Plaintively) Why won’t you believe me. None of us killed her. They did it. The ghosts.

TRENT: (Coldly) Nonsense.

LANCE: Ok. So how do we get the police.

PRITCHARD: The police won’t find out anything, they never have. Seven murders. Eight now!

TRENT: (To LANCE) That’s my point. We can’t until morning. What began all as a silly party given by an eccentric with too much money has now involved us all in a murder.

LANCE: For once, Pritchard may be right. If another murder is in the works let’s stop it now.

RUTH: Another murder?

LANCE: Why not? Suppose one of us saw too much.

RUTH: (Now very upset) Oh why did I come here?

TRENT: (Coldly) You came for the money. Like the rest of us … (Beat) Why would even a millionaire give each of us then thousand dollars to spend one night in a gloomy old house. Just to see some ghosts? Have a party? (Beat) No!

FREDERICK: (He is smiling a little but his voice is bored) Have you finished trying me Doctor? And is your verdict guilty of murder?

LANCE: This isn’t getting us anywhere. Somebody killed Mrs. Loren, we know that. Somebody’s guilty but the rest of us are innocent. Okay. What we’ve got to do for the next six hours is protect ourselves from … each other.

RUTH: Do you really think –

LANCE: (Interrupting) I don’t think anything. I just know that I’m going up to my room and if anybody comes in I’ll shoot him … or her.

TRENT: Good idea. If we all stay in our rooms until morning we’ll be safe because the innocent will have no reason to leave his room and the guilty would admit his guilt if he – or she, does.

LANCE: And we’ve all got guns.

FREDERICK: Agreed?

(Everyone nods in agreement)

RUTH: (To FREDERICK) Is there a key – I mean –

FREDERICK: Certainly, my dear. All the rooms can be locked.

RUTH: Oh, I wish this night was over.(As the group, each suspicious of the other, move slowly to the door)

PRITCHARD: Rooms – guns – I tell you it doesn’t make any difference. They aren’t through with us yet.

(Lights down.) (Lights up in the Corridor. As the group enters, PRITCHARD is weaving a little and looks quite drunk. At his door he stops, his hand on the knob)

PRITCHARD: (Drunkenly) What’s the use saying goodnight?

(He goes into his room. Now TRENT reaches his door. The group hesitates and TRENT looks at each of them. Then without speaking, he goes into his room. The group moves on to RUTH’S door where RUTH stops)

RUTH: Well – goodnight.

(LANCE and FREDERICK nod as she enters the room. Now FREDERICK and LANCE walk to LANCE’S door where they both stop. LANCE looks at FREDERICK with open suspicion and walks in. FREDERICK stands alone for a moment in the corridor and then goes back to his

room) (Blackout)

END SCENE

SCENE 15



(Lights up) (LANCE’S Bedroom) (LANCE stands close beside the door listening for a moment before he hurries across he room and knocks softly on the door leading to NORA’S room)

LANCE: (Whispering) It's me Nora. Lance.

(He hears the door being unlocked and it swings open. LANCE hurries silently into the room)

LANCE: You okay?

(NORA nods. LANCE now goes across the room to the hall door and stands close to it, facing it and listening)

LANCE: (Over his shoulder) They’ve all gone to their rooms. Locked themselves in.

NORA: Lance, I’ve been thinking. It was so dark down there maybe it wasn’t Mr. Loren…

LANCE: (Glancing at her over his shoulder) It was him, all right. He tried to kill you and he did kill his wife.

NORA: How can you be so sure?

LANCE: His wife tried to warn me. She asked me to help her. (Turning away from the door and facing NORA) The doctor thinks he’s going to try and kill one of us. There must be a way out of this house, and I’m going to find it and get to the police before he does.

NORA: I’m going with you.

LANCE: (Shaking his head) If he finds out you’re alive … (Beat) Nora, you’re safer here than anywhere. Just lock the door and keep quiet. If anyone does break in …

(He gestures toward the gun lying on a table in the center of the room. LANCE goes back to the door and leans toward it, listening. NORA slowly follows him ad stands looking up at him)

LANCE: If I can find a way out I’ll come back and get you. (He pats NORA with affection) You’ll be all right.

(LANCE now opens the door silently, peers out for a moment and then exits into the Corridor. LANCE looks down the long dark corridor and moves cautiously down toward the far end. When he gets there, he stops at the dead end. He stands for a moment baffled but just as he

begins to turn, the end wall of the corridor starts to slide open. At the sound, LANCE turns and looks into the darkness. Now he walks two or three paces into the darkness and then suddenly with a rush and crash, the panel slams shut) (Lights down)

END SCENE

SCENE 16

(Lights up) (NORA’S Bedroom) (NORA is standing at the hall door listening. The faint sound of the storm’s wind is heard. NORA turns rather vaguely and glances around the room and then back at the door. Now she begins to pace nervously back and fourth, stopping occasionally

to listen at the door. The sound of the wind increases steadily during this scene. Now she goes again to each door on one side of the room and ties them to be sure that they are locked and now, about in the center of the room, she starts to cross to the other wall when she suddenly

stops as though something had hit her and she is standing there staring out the window. NORA begins to walk slowly toward the window. Suddenly, something white being blown by the wind flickers in the window and NORA freezes staring at the window. Suddenly, ANNABELLE

comes into view floating outside the window, the noose still around her neck. She hangs there for a moment, her hair and clothes whipping in the wind. NORA backs up her face too frozen with fear even to scream. She bumps into the table behind her and shakes the gun whose rattle

catches her attention. She grabs the gun, fumbles for a moment finding how to fit it into her hand, then raises it, aiming at the window. There is nothing in it. For a few seconds NORA just stands staring, the gun hanging from her hand, then suddenly she whirls and runs to the door.

Without caution, she yanks the door open and runs out into the corridor. She suddenly becomes cautious and stops running and goes over to creep along the wall. Suddenly, a shadow of legs and feet fall over NORA. She stops and looks with terror as she sees ANNABELLE hanging

where she was found before, her body swinging slowly. NORA stands there and screams until, from behind her, an apparently armless, claw-like hand comes toward her and clamps over her mouth cutting off her scream. NORA, suddenly violent with fear, tears loose from the hand

and races toward the living room, frantically screams “Lance! Oh, Lance!” NORA, weak with fear, enters the Living Room and close the door then slump with her back again st it as she fearfully looks around the empty room. There is no sound except her sob bing and no movement

anywhere. There is an old fashioned organ that suddenly begins to play a monstrously loud rendition of the hymn “Danse Macabre.” NORA stares at the organ for a moment and then runs out, slamming the door behind her. NORA finally finds her way into the Wine Cellar where

the door closes behind her and locks itself. She tries the door but to no avail and backs further into the Wine Cellar. Now she stands there helpless. She is on the brink of breaking up, as she trembles, hardly able to hold the gun. Suddenly, the moan of a dying person is heard

growing louder and louder. NORA screams) (Blackout)

END SCENE

SCENE 17

(Lights up) (Corridor) (Trent is knocking on FREDERICK’S door. In a moment FREDERICK opens it and stands looking sardonically at TRENT)

FREDERICK: An admission of guilt, Doctor?

TRENT: (Coldly) Certainly not. There is either someone else in this house or one of us has left his room. You didn’t hear anything?

FREDERICK: (Frowning, as he recalls) Organ music?

TRENT: That and someone walking.

(FREDERICK goes back in his room and comes out in a moment with a gun in his hand. He shows it quickly to TRENT)

FREDERICK: You’ve got yours? (TRENT pats his pocket) Ready?

TRENT: You look downstairs and I’ll look up here.

FREDERICK: Why not together?

TRENT: There may only minutes – seconds – left of someone’s life. Why waste time?

(FREDERICK nods in agreement and they split. FREDERICK goes towards the stairs while TRENT goes in the other direction. FREDERICK goes offstage. TRENT watches him go and turns and goes to the Guest Bedroom door where he silently goes in. TRENT comes in the

bedroom where ANNABELLE lies dead. It is silent in here. The curtains of the four-postered bed are drawn shut so that nothing can be seen of the dead woman. For a moment he stands listening at the door and then turns and goes directly to the bed. There, he pulls the curtain

aside and we see the body of ANNABELLE lying exactly as it was before with the noose still around her neck. But now her hair lies across her face almost completely concealing it. For a moment, TRENT stands looking down at her, and then slowly and deliberately he leans down

toward her)

TRENT: It’s almost over, darling.

(He straightens back up. Gradually and shockingly, she begins to come to life again. She raises her hands slowly and pushes aside the hair over her face and then she opens her eyes and at last begins to turn her head a little, painfully)

TRENT: Every detail was perfect.(ANNABELLE sits stiffly now and swings her feet down to the floor)

ANNABELLE: What’s happening?

TRENT: We’ve done it. The perfect crime. Beautiful!

ANNABELLE: Has she killed him?

TRENT: Not yet, but she will.

(As ANNABELLE moves she winces with pain)

ANNABELLE: Get me out of this thing.

(TRENT stands so we cannot see exactly what he is doing as he works on some sort of harness which is strapped on ANNABELLE’S back. As he does this they talk)

ANNABELLE: Why is this taking so long? What time is it?

TRENT: At first I couldn’t make NORA want to protect herself with the gun, but after you appeared at the window everything began to work just as we planned. You were wonderful. Just the touch that finally drove her into complete hysteria.

ANNABELLE: I practiced long enough. Where’s Nora now? What’s happening?

(TRENT has now removed the harness and the rope. When he turns we can see some sort of rig which he drops on the floor)

TRENT: Down in the cellar, so scared she’ll shoot the first thing the moves.

ANNABELLE: Where’s Frederick?

TRENT: (Smiling) On his way to the cellar – in a few minutes now – (He shrugs in a gesture expressing all will be over)

ANNABELLE: David, are you sure none of them will suspect us?

TRENT: Of what? A hysterical girl accidentally shoots somebody? Who would suspect that we planned it that way – that we drove her to it.

ANNABELLE: How about my suicide?

TRENT: Just a ghost party gag. We’ll claim it was a dummy since I’m the only one who touched you.

ANNABELLE: What about Nora herself? She’s not stupid, you know?

TRENT: Darling, believe me. Everything we planned is working perfectly. Nora is sure Frederick murdered you. She thinks Frederick attacked her in the cellar – not me. And right now Nora is almost out of her mind with hear. I tell you when Frederick walks in there where she is, she’ll shoot him.

ANNABELLE: It’s taking too long. You ought to be there, David.

TRENT: (Going to the door) When you hear the shot come on down to the cellar.

(ANNABELLE nods as TRENT goes out) (Lights down)

END SCENE

SCENE 18

(Lights up. FREDERICK moves cautiously towards the cellar door and cautiously opens it. FREDERICK enters the room, leaving the door open behind him. NORA stands motionless and now silent. NORA’S face is a mask of terror. When she sees FREDERICK come into the room,

almost without thinking she raises the gun aiming it at him. When FREDERICK sees her, his face shows some fear)

FREDERICK: Wait, Nora. Don’t! –

(The explosion of the gun cuts his sentence off. FREDERICK staggers back, his face going blank and then falls, evidently dead, to the floor. NORA stands for a moment horrified and then, silently, she runs past FREDERICK toward the door. In her panic she doesn’t even see the

dark shadow of a man standing motionless against the wall. She rushes past him and on out the door, leaving it open. As the shadow moves silently across the cellar, it is revealed to be TRENT. He goes to the wall and begins to raise the lid of the acid vat. When it is open he belays

the rope and then returns to FREDERICK and half lifts him so that he can drag the body along the floor. As TRENT drags FREDERICK toward the open vat, the lights dim until TRENT has dragged FREDERICK to the edge of the vat. A splash is heard in the darkness) (Blackout)

END SCENE

SCENE 19

(Lights up) (Wine Cellar) (ANNABELLE enters the cellar. The lights are still dim. She sees nothing and she hears nothing)

ANNABELLE: (Whispering) David? David?

(There is no sound, no answer. ANNABELLE now turns toward the door and as she does so it slowly begins to close, but it cannot be seen what closes it. When it is closed, the bolt of the lock is heard sliding. She is becoming really frightened now)



ANNABELLE: David. It’s me, darling.

(Only silence answers her. Her attention is caught by the open vat. Loathing to go near it, she cannot help herself as she goes step by step over to it and at last, looks down into it. The surface is dark and tranquil. She stares at it a moment longer and turns away)

ANNABELLE: (Voice now sounding her fear) David? David?

(And she listens and as she does he silence is broken by the sound of the surface of a viscous liquid being broken. ANNABELLE whirls toward the vat. A human skeleton rises out of the vat as ANNABELLE lets out a strangled scream. She stares at it for a moment, frozen by fear.

Then she whirls around and runs to the door and wrenches at the knob but cannot open it. Now she beats futilely against it sobbing. At last, defeated, she stands leaning pressed against the door. She turns terror-stricken and screams. The skeleton is moving towards her shambling

along. As it comes closer and closer she begins to back away)

ANNABELLE: Oh, David, save me! Save me!

FREDERICK’S VOICE: (As the skeleton shambles relentlessly forward) At last you’ve got it all. Everything I have. Even my life. (Diabolical laughter) but you’re not going to live to enjoy it – come with me murderess – come with me.

(ANNABELLE continues to be driven back by the skeleton towards the vat of acid. She reaches the brink, totters screaming, and now, looking over her shoulder at the acid, the skeleton gives her the final push) (Blackout) (There is a splash. Lights come back up. FREDERICK is

leaning against the wall while, with a large reel; he is reeling in some wires. The skeleton, pulled by the wires, comes to FREDERICK. He now takes the skeleton in one hand, and walks slowly over to the vat. He looks in, then with a slow deliberateness, he holds the skeleton over the

vat and lets it fall)

FREDERICK: Good night, Doctor. Good night, Annabelle. The crime you two planned was indeed perfect, only the victim is alive and the murderers are not. It’s a pity you didn’t know when you started your game of murder, that I was playing too.

(He stands gazing somberly down at the vat) (Blackout)

END SCENE

SCENE 20

(Lights up) (Corridor) (NORA, RUTH, and PRITCHARD are at the end of the corridor with the sliding panel which closed on LANCE. LANCE is pounding on the inside of the panel as the other three look frantically for a way to open it)

NORA: There must be a way … some way to get in here.

PRITCHARD: It’s along here somewhere.

(As he feels along the edge of the panel. Now the panel opens and LANCE comes out. NORA rushes to him)

NORA: Lance, I shot Mr. Loren. He’s down in the Wine Cellar.

LANCE: Alive?

NORA: I don’t think so.

(LANCE takes her by the arm and the group hurries away) (Lights down) (Lights up) (The group comes to the door to the Wine Cellar, only to find it locked. They begin pounding on it. In a moment, FREDERICK opens the door. They crowd into the room and at the sight of

FREDERICK, stop and almost huddle together)

NORA: (Pointing) It’s him! He’s alive!

FREDERICK: (Nodding) You didn’t shoot anyone, my dear. I loaded your gun with blanks. I can tell you now that my wife and Trent were planning to kill me. They failed… (He gestures toward the vat) Trent tried to throw me into it – my wife stumbled and fell. (Beat) I’m ready for justice todecide if I’m innocent or guilty.

(FREDERICK turns and walks slowly away into the darkness. As NORA gazes at FREDERICK, she reaches and finds LANCE’S hand and looks up at him. PRITCHARD goes over to the vat and stares down into it)

PRITCHARD: Now there are nine … (Beat – as he turns to face the audience) There will be more – many more. They’re coming for me now – and then … (Looking straight out at the audience and pointing his finger at them) They’ll come for you.

(Blackout)

END OF PLAY

house on haunted hill

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