Mystery of the Haunted Boxcar

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

  “Oh no, I just remembered,” said Violet, “we told Claire we’d come by when we got home.”

  “Now it’s too late,” said Henry. “We can stop by there tomorrow.”

  “But let’s not tell her about the diary yet,” said Jessie.

  “Why not?” Benny asked.

  “I would rather show it to Grandfather first,” Jessie said. “We’ll see what he thinks before we tell anyone else.”

  The others agreed.

  That night the children decided to sleep in the house. Even Benny was now convinced that the strange things in the boxcar probably weren’t caused by a ghost. Also, they were tired from their long bike ride to Silver City and wanted the comfort of their own beds.

  “Can you read me some of the diary?” Benny asked Jessie as she tucked him into bed.

  “In the morning,” Jessie said. “I’m too tired now. Besides, we shouldn’t read it without the others.” She shut Benny’s door behind her.

  In his room, Henry was just getting into bed when a light in the backyard caught his attention. He went to the window and raised the shade.

  “Benny was right!” he said to himself.

  CHAPTER 8

  The Light Returns

  From his window, Henry could see a light that seemed to float across the yard. He raced down the stairs and opened the back door as quickly as he could, hoping to catch the “ghost” before whoever it was disappeared.

  The light stopped bobbing across the yard and suddenly went out. In the darkness, Henry could make out the figure of a person in the middle of the yard. Suddenly the figure began to run, and Henry could hear the sound of pounding footsteps as the person faded into the darkness.

  “Hey! Stop!” Henry called out. But whoever it was had disappeared.

  A moment later, Jessie appeared on the stairs in her robe. “What happened?” she asked. She joined Henry in the open doorway.

  “Someone was sneaking across our yard,” Henry said. “I saw a light moving toward the boxcar. But as soon as I opened the door, whoever it was turned the light off and ran away. I guess I surprised him.”

  “Him?” Jessie repeated. “So you don’t think it was Amelia? Remember, she had that flashlight in her car!”

  “Maybe,” said Henry. “Except for one thing. The person ran off toward the Murrays’.”

  “Really?” Jessie said, her eyes wide. “So you think it was Claire or Professor Murray?”

  “I don’t know,” said Henry. “It was too dark to see for sure. But it definitely wasn’t Claire — the person I saw was an adult.”

  Henry and Jessie stood looking out at the dark yard together. After a little while, they stepped back into the house and shut the door.

  “I don’t think he or she will come back tonight,” Henry said.

  “We can tell the others in the morning,” Jessie said. “No point in waking them now. They had a long day.”

  “So did we,” said Henry. “Let’s go back to bed.”

  The next morning Henry told Benny and Violet what he had seen the night before.

  “What would Professor Murray have been doing in our yard in the middle of the night?” asked Violet.

  “He was going to the boxcar again,” said Benny. “But why does he want to see it in the middle of the night?”

  “And why doesn’t he just ask our permission?” said Violet.

  “Maybe we were right before, maybe he’s trying to scare us so we will give away the boxcar,” said Henry.

  Jessie frowned at her brother. “I can’t believe that.”

  “Should we do something?” Violet asked.

  “Let’s see if everything is okay in the boxcar,” Jessie suggested.

  As they ran across the lawn, Watch joined them.

  “Come on, boy,” Benny said.

  The boxcar door was shut. When they rolled it open, everything inside was in its place.

  “No harm done,” Henry said. “I have a feeling that whoever it was, I scared him or her off last night. They were moving pretty fast.”

  “Do you think this has anything to do with the diary?” asked Jessie.

  “How could it? No one even knows about the diary,” Violet pointed out.

  “But maybe someone does. … ” Jessie said.

  “Speaking of the diary, can we read the rest of it?” Benny asked. “I want to know what happened to Isabel.”

  “Yeah, me too,” said Henry and Violet.

  “I’ll go get it,” said Jessie.

  The other children settled down on the floor of the boxcar. Watch lay down beside Benny.

  Jessie came back a few minutes later with the diary. She sat down and opened it. Flipping the pages, she mumbled, “Now where were we? Oh, here.”

  Jessie read about how Isabel and Rebecca had played together during the hot summer days. One day they found a tiny kitten in the woods. “She’s black with a white line down her nose and a white tummy. Her paws are white. I’m going to call her Mittens. Mama says I can keep her.”

  “She found a kitten, and we found a dog!” said Benny, rubbing Watch’s belly.

  “Remember when we found Watch?” said Jessie, looking up from the diary. “He had a thorn in his foot.”

  “You removed it,” Violet recalled. “And he’s been our pet ever since.”

  Jessie turned the page. “This entry is dated August 15. Hey, it’s good news!” She read aloud, “Papa has found a job! We are so happy. Mama has found us a small apartment and soon school will begin again.”

  Jessie read on. The next entry was from the following day. “We are packing up our things and leaving this cozy boxcar. I’ll miss it.”

  “We missed it, too,” said Benny. “We were so glad when Grandfather moved it here.”

  Jessie continued reading, “I’m going to leave this diary here, because this part of my life is ending. Mama says I’m getting too big to play with dolls, so Rebecca is going to stay here, too. Louis will help me make her a special hiding place with some wood we found. I’ll bury the diary and put a note in Rebecca’s pocket. I hope some day someone else will live in the boxcar and find Rebecca. She will lead them on a mystery.”

  “That’s just what happened!” said Benny.

  Jessie read the last line. “I hope other children will enjoy the mystery I’ve left behind.” Jessie closed the diary.

  “Is that all there is?” asked Benny.

  “Yes,” said Jessie.

  “But what happened to Isabel’s family? Were they okay?” Benny wanted to know.

  “I think so,” Jessie said. “Her father found a new job and the family left the boxcar for a new home — just like we did.”

  The children all thought about Isabel and her family.

  “I wish we could find out what happened next,” Benny said, frowning.

  “Well,” Henry said thoughtfully. “Maybe there is a way.”

  “How?” the others asked.

  “We could go ask Professor Murray,” he said.

  “Professor Murray?” Jessie repeated. “You really do think he knows about the diary!”

  “No, it’s not that,” said Henry. “He’s a historian. His job is studying the past. Remember he said he’s in Greenfield to do research. Maybe we could go to the library and do our own research — about Isabel.”

  “But she wasn’t famous,” said Jessie. “They wouldn’t have a book about her.”

  “No, but maybe Professor Murray might have some ideas about where else to look for information,” Henry said.

  “Yes, he might,” Jessie said. “Good idea, Henry.”

  “And maybe while we’re there, we could ask Claire to play with us,” Violet suggested.

  The Aldens told Mrs. McGregor where they were going, and a few minutes later they were ringing the bell at the Murrays’ house.

  Florence Murray opened the door. “Hello!” she said, a big smile on her face. “I’ll go get Claire.”

  She started up the stairs, calling for Claire.

&n
bsp; Jessie said, “And is Professor Murray home, too?”

  Ms. Murray turned around. “Yes, why do you ask?”

  “We have a question for him,” Henry said.

  “He’s on the phone, but I’ll tell him you’re here,” Ms. Murray said. “Why don’t you sit down in the living room?”

  “Thanks,” said Henry.

  Henry, Jessie, and Benny went into the living room while Violet waited for Claire at the foot of the stairs. After a few minutes, Claire came down the stairs slowly, a shy smile on her face.

  “Hi!” said Violet.

  “Hello,” Claire replied.

  “Want to play some soccer?” Violet asked.

  “Sure,” Claire said.

  Violet told the others she and Claire would be outside.

  As they walked toward the Aldens’, Violet said, “We’re going to the library later if you want to come.”

  “Thanks,” said Claire, “but I was there yesterday with my dad. My aunt took out a bunch of books for me.”

  They went into the garage to get a ball.

  “I love to read,” Violet said.

  Claire smiled. “I know.”

  Violet was surprised by her comment.

  Claire stammered, “I mean, I do, too.” Then she paused. “I bet your boxcar is a great place to read.”

  “Yes, it is,” said Violet. She frowned slightly, still wondering what Claire had meant when she said, “I know.”

  But before Violet could say anything else, Claire had picked out a soccer ball and was dribbling it into the backyard.

  “Come on!” she called to Violet.

  Meanwhile, at Florence Murray’s house, Professor Murray had just finished his phone call.

  He came down the stairs and into the living room. “Hello,” he said to the Aldens. “Florence said you wanted to see me?”

  Henry said, “We’ve come to ask your advice.”

  “About giving that boxcar to the museum?” he asked, looking pleased.

  “No, actually, it’s not that,” Henry said.

  Professor Murray frowned.

  “We want to learn about someone who lived a long time ago,” Henry explained, “but we’re not sure where to look.”

  “Who?” the professor asked.

  “Nobody famous,” Henry said quickly. “Just a local woman. How would we get information about her?”

  “Try the local library,” Professor Murray said. “Ask the librarian to look her up, see if there are any records of her or her family. If that doesn’t work, you can always look at old newspapers and see what you find.”

  “Old newspapers!” said Jessie. “That’s a great idea.”

  “Thanks, Professor Murray!” said Henry. He led the others outside.

  They found Violet and Claire playing soccer in the Aldens’ backyard. They joined in and played a lively game until lunchtime.

  “I guess I’d better head back to my aunt’s,” Claire said.

  “See you later!” the Aldens called.

  After a bite to eat, they told Mrs. McGregor they were going to the library to see what they could learn about Isabel Wile.

  “I can’t wait to see what you find,” Mrs. McGregor said.

  “Neither can we,” Benny said with a grin. “It’s like another treasure hunt!”

  CHAPTER 9

  Going Back in Time

  When the aldens arrived at the library, they put their bikes in the bike rack and went inside. They walked straight up to the librarian’s desk.

  A woman with brown hair approached them. “Hello,” she said with a big smile. “I’m Mrs. Shumate. May I help you?”

  “We’re looking for information about someone who lived in this area a long time ago,” Henry said. “Her name was Isabel Wile.”

  “She may have lived in Silver City,” said Jessie.

  The librarian pulled out a large book and flipped through it. “What years did she live here?”

  Jessie told her the date that was in the diary. “That’s when she was a child.”

  “I don’t see anything in the town record,” said Mrs. Shumate.

  The Aldens were very disappointed.

  “Now we’ll never know what happened to her,” said Benny.

  “Wait a minute,” said Jessie. “Professor Murray mentioned old newspapers also.”

  “Oh, yes,” said Mrs. Shumate. “We have the last fifty years of the Greenfield-Silver City Gazette on microfilm.”

  “Microfilm?” Benny repeated. “What’s that?”

  “I’ll show you,” said the librarian.

  The children followed Mrs. Shumate to a strange-looking machine. It had a large glass screen and some knobs down below.

  “If we kept newspapers from a long time ago, the paper would turn yellow and start to crumble,” Mrs. Shumate explained. “So we take a picture of every page. Those pictures are side by side on rolls of film. To look at them, you put the roll on this viewer.” The librarian snapped a roll into place and flipped a switch on the machine. The front page of the Greenfield-Silver City Gazette appeared on the screen.

  “Wow!” said Benny. “Neat.”

  “Look how old that newspaper is,” said Jessie. “There’s a horse and carriage in that picture.”

  “This is the year you asked for,” said Mrs. Shumate.

  “So that’s what the town was like when Isabel was a little girl,” Violet said, her eyes widening as she looked at the screen.

  “I feel like we’ve gone back in time!” said Benny.

  “To get to the next page, you turn this knob and the roll of film moves forward,” the librarian explained.

  “We’re interested in what happened that spring and summer,” said Jessie.

  “I’ll just push this knob,” Mrs. Shumate said. The pictures on the screen whizzed by in a blur. When she stopped pushing the knob, a page came into focus. “March,” she said.

  “Great,” said Jessie. “We’ll start looking there.”

  “If you want to make a copy of a page, just press this button,” Mrs. Shumate explained. “It will print out over here.”

  “Thanks,” said Jessie.

  “Let me know if you need anything,” Mrs. Shumate said with a smile and walked off to help someone else.

  “What exactly are we looking for?” asked Violet.

  “The diary starts in June. Mr. Wile must have lost his job a few months before, since they’d run out of money,” Jessie said. “Maybe we can find out what was happening in town then and why Mr. Wile lost his job.”

  “Good thinking,” said Henry.

  The children looked at the front page of the first newspaper in March.

  “The mayor was sick,” said Violet, reading a headline.

  “The garden club had a meeting,” Henry said.

  Jessie turned the knob, and the pages flicked past. There were lots of interesting articles, ads, and pictures. “I don’t see anything that gives us clues about the Wile family.” She sounded frustrated. “I hope these newspapers are going to tell us something.”

  “I think they’re pretty neat,” said Violet. “Look at that ad for shoes! Those don’t look anything like what we wear today.”

  “But I want to learn something about the Wiles.” Jessie frowned and turned to the next week’s paper.

  That newspaper had a huge headline on the front page. “I think we may have found a clue,” said Henry.

  The headline read, FIRE AT GREENFIELD FACTORY.

  “You think the fire has something to do with the Wiles?” Violet asked.

  “Look at the smaller headline below.” Henry pointed.

  HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE OUT OF WORK, it said.

  “So maybe that’s why Isabel’s dad lost his job!” said Violet. “He might have worked at that factory. When the building burned down, he lost his job, along with many other people.”

  “How sad,” said Jessie. “That’s why they had to move out of their house and live in the boxcar.”

  “But he found a new j
ob,” said Benny “Remember the end of the diary?”

  “Yes, he did,” Jessie said. “Let’s print this page, and then we’ll keep looking.”

  The Aldens scanned through the next few weeks of newspapers. They didn’t find anything that helped explain what had happened to the Wiles. But they did find out what Greenfield and Silver City had been like a long time ago.

  They had come to the middle of August when there was another large headline: NEW FACTORY OPENS IN SILVER CITY.

  “I wonder if that’s where Mr. Wile found a job,” Jessie said. She read the article aloud. It was about a new clothing factory that opened and provided lots of jobs. Jessie printed a copy of that page, too.

  The Aldens looked through a few more newspapers until they had reached September. They were growing tired of looking at the old papers on the screen.

  “I guess we’ll never know for sure what happened to the Wiles,” said Henry. “But it looks like Isabel’s dad might have gotten a job in the new factory, and that’s good.”

  They rewound the microfilm and returned it to the librarian’s desk. Jessie folded the pages they’d copied and tucked them carefully into her backpack.

  As they rode home on their bicycles, Jessie said, “I wish we could know for sure what happened to Isabel.”

  “Me too,” said Violet. “But at least now we know that Professor Murray was right— the boxcar is haunted.”

  “What?” said the others, surprised.

  “Oh, not by ghosts,” Violet said quickly. “It’s haunted by the happy memory of the Wile family, who made it their home.”

  Later that afternoon, Violet went to put Rebecca in the boxcar. “It’s where she belongs,” Violet told the others.

  Entering the boxcar, Violet saw immediately that someone else had been there. “Not again!” she said.

  Violet ran back to tell the others, who came out to see at once.

  “Looks like just this one chair was knocked over,” said Jessie, picking it up. She also picked up a book that was lying on the floor. It had a plastic cover and the words GREENFIELD LIBRARY stamped on the front.

  “Whose is this?” she asked, holding up the book.

  “Not mine,” said Benny.

  Henry and Violet shook their heads, too.

  “None of you took this out of the library?” Jessie asked.