THE BOXCAR CHILDREN MYSTERIES
THE BOXCAR CHILDREN
SURPRISE ISLAND
THE YELLOW HOUSE MYSTERY
MYSTERY RANCH
MIKE’S MYSTERY
BLUE BAY MYSTERY
THE WOODSHED MYSTERY
THE LIGHTHOUSE MYSTERY
MOUNTAIN TOP MYSTERY
SCHOOLHOUSE MYSTERY
CABOOSE MYSTERY
HOUSEBOAT MYSTERY
SNOWBOUND MYSTERY
TREE HOUSE MYSTERY
BICYCLE MYSTERY
MYSTERY IN THE SAND
MYSTERY BEHIND THE WALL
BUS STATION MYSTERY
BENNY UNCOVERS A MYSTERY
THE HAUNTED CABIN MYSTERY
THE DESERTED LIBRARY MYSTERY
THE ANIMAL SHELTER MYSTERY
THE OLD MOTEL MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY OF THE HIDDEN PAINTING
THE AMUSEMENT PARK MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY OF THE MIXED-UP ZOO
THE CAMP-OUT MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY GIRL
THE MYSTERY CRUISE
THE DISAPPEARING FRIEND MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY OF THE SINGING GHOST
THE MYSTERY IN THE SNOW
THE PIZZA MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY HORSE
THE MYSTERY AT THE DOG SHOW
THE CASTLE MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY OF THE LOST VILLAGE
THE MYSTERY ON THE ICE
THE MYSTERY OF THE PURPLE POOL
THE GHOST SHIP MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY IN WASHINGTON, DC
THE CANOE TRIP MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY OF THE HIDDEN BEACH
THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING CAT
THE MYSTERY AT SNOWFLAKE INN
THE MYSTERY ON STAGE
THE DINOSAUR MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY OF THE STOLEN MUSIC
THE MYSTERY AT THE BALL PARK
THE CHOCOLATE SUNDAE MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY OF THE HOT AIR BALLOON
THE MYSTERY BOOKSTORE
THE PILGRIM VILLAGE MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY OF THE STOLEN BOXCAR
THE MYSTERY IN THE CAVE
THE MYSTERY ON THE TRAIN
THE MYSTERY AT THE FAIR
THE MYSTERY OF THE LOST MINE
THE GUIDE DOG MYSTERY
THE HURRICANE MYSTERY
THE PET SHOP MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY OF THE SECRET MESSAGE
THE FIREHOUSE MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY IN SAN FRANCISCO
THE NIAGARA FALLS MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY AT THE ALAMO
THE OUTER SPACE MYSTERY
THE SOCCER MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY IN THE OLD ATTIC
THE GROWLING BEAR MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY OF THE LAKE MONSTER
THE MYSTERY AT PEACOCK HALL
THE WINDY CITY MYSTERY
THE BLACK PEARL MYSTERY
THE CEREAL BOX MYSTERY
THE PANTHER MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY OF THE QUEEN’S JEWELS
THE STOLEN SWORD MYSTERY
THE BASKETBALL MYSTERY
THE MOVIE STAR MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY OF THE PIRATE’S MAP
THE GHOST TOWN MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY OF THE BLACK RAVEN
THE MYSTERY IN THE MALL
THE MYSTERY IN NEW YORK
THE GYMNASTICS MYSTERY
THE POISON FROG MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY OF THE EMPTY SAFE
THE HOME RUN MYSTERY
THE GREAT BICYCLE RACE MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY OF THE WILD PONIES
THE MYSTERY IN THE COMPUTER GAME
THE HONEYBEE MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY AT THE CROOKED HOUSE
THE HOCKEY MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY OF THE MIDNIGHT DOG
THE MYSTERY OF THE SCREECH OWL
THE SUMMER CAMP MYSTERY
THE COPYCAT MYSTERY
THE HAUNTED CLOCK TOWER MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY OF THE TIGER’S EYE
THE DISAPPEARING STAIRCASE MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY ON BLIZZARD MOUNTAIN
THE MYSTERY OF THE SPIDER’S CLUE
THE CANDY FACTORY MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY OF THE MUMMY’S CURSE
THE MYSTERY OF THE STAR RUBY
THE STUFFED BEAR MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY OF ALLIGATOR SWAMP
THE MYSTERY AT SKELETON POINT
THE TATTLETALE MYSTERY
THE COMIC BOOK MYSTERY
THE GREAT SHARK MYSTERY
THE ICE CREAM MYSTERY
THE MIDNIGHT MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY IN THE FORTUNE COOKIE
THE BLACK WIDOW SPIDER MYSTERY
THE RADIO MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY OF THE RUNAWAY GHOST
THE FINDERS KEEPERS MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY OF THE HAUNTED BOXCAR
THE CLUE IN THE CORN MAZE
THE GHOST OF THE CHATTERING BONES
THE SWORD OF THE SILVER KNIGHT
THE GAME STORE MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY OF THE ORPHAN TRAIN
THE VANISHING PASSENGER
THE GIANT YO-YO MYSTERY
THE CREATURE IN OGOPOGO LAKE
THE ROCK ’N’ ROLL MYSTERY
THE SECRET OF THE MASK
THE SEATTLE PUZZLE
THE GHOST IN THE FIRST ROW
THE BOX THAT WATCH FOUND
A HORSE NAMED DRAGON
THE GREAT DETECTIVE RACE
THE GHOST AT THE DRIVE-IN MOVIE
THE MYSTERY OF THE TRAVELING TOMATOES
THE SPY GAME
THE DOG-GONE MYSTERY
THE VAMPIRE MYSTERY
SUPERSTAR WATCH
THE SPY IN THE BLEACHERS
THE AMAZING MYSTERY SHOW
THE PUMPKIN HEAD MYSTERY
THE CUPCAKE CAPER
THE CLUE IN THE RECYCLING BIN
MONKEY TROUBLE
THE ZOMBIE PROJECT
THE GREAT TURKEY HEIST
THE GARDEN THIEF
THE BOARDWALK MYSTERY
THE MYSTERY OF THE FALLEN TREASURE
THE RETURN OF THE GRAVEYARD GHOST
THE MYSTERY OF THE STOLEN SNOWBOARD
THE MYSTERY OF THE WILD WEST BANDIT
THE MYSTERY OF THE SOCCER SNITCH
THE MYSTERY OF THE GRINNING GARGOYLE
THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING POP IDOL
THE MYSTERY OF THE STOLEN DINOSAUR BONES
THE MYSTERY AT THE CALGARY STAMPEDE
THE SLEEPY HOLLOW MYSTERY
THE LEGEND OF THE IRISH CASTLE
THE CELEBRITY CAT CAPER
HIDDEN IN THE HAUNTED SCHOOL
THE ELECTION DAY DILEMMA
JOURNEY ON A RUNAWAY TRAIN
THE CLUE IN THE PAPYRUS SCROLL
THE DETOUR OF THE ELEPHANTS
THE SHACKLETON SABOTAGE
THE KHIPU AND THE FINAL KEY
THE DOUGHNUT WHODUNIT
THE ROBOT RANSOM
THE LEGEND OF THE HOWLING WEREWOLF
THE DAY OF THE DEAD MYSTERY
NEW! THE HUNDRED-YEAR MYSTERY
NEW! THE SEA TURTLE MYSTERY
Copyright © 2019 by Albert Whitman & Company
First published in the United States of America in 2019 by Albert Whitman & Company
ISBN 978-0-8075-0748-3 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-8075-0749-0 (paperback)
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
THE BOXCAR CHILDREN® is a registered trademark of Albert Whitman & Comp
any.
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 LB 22 21 20 19 18
Illustrations by Anthony VanArsdale
Visit the Boxcar Children online at www.boxcarchildren.com.
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Contents
1. Will There Be Ghosts?
2. Curiouser and Curiouser
3. Cold Clues and Warm Cookies
4. A Dangerous Climb
5. The Only
6. MOO-ving Day
7. Secrets in the Attic
8. The Paperboy’s Clue
9. AJ’s Treasure
10. The Fight for the Manor
Will There Be Ghosts?
Ghosts, ghosts, ghosts. Will there be ghosts? Six-year-old Benny Alden biked far behind his brother and sisters. Usually he pedaled the fastest, leading the way. Not today. Not where they were going.
Benny could see the others far ahead. Fourteen-year-old Henry was in front. Twelve-year-old Jessie and ten-year-old Violet biked close behind. The curvy bike path led away from Greenfield. The Aldens had never followed this path before. They never had a reason to go this way. Until now.
Will there be ghosts? Benny shivered. He fell farther and farther behind. Ghosts, ghosts, ghosts. That’s all he’d thought about since breakfast—since what Grandfather had said.
This morning at breakfast, Benny had talked and talked and talked about his hundred-day project. Everyone at Benny’s school needed to collect one hundred of something, or make one hundred of something, or do one hundred somethings. But Benny couldn’t think of one hundred of anything that wasn’t boring.
He’d tried a bunch of things. Gluing one hundred pennies on ping-pong paddles? Bor-ing. Stringing one hundred pieces of popcorn? Bor-ing. Bending one hundred pipe cleaners into animal shapes? Bor-ing. His best idea had been to collect one hundred worms. For two days he dug all around the backyard. But he only found ten worms. He set them free.
Then, at breakfast, Grandfather had asked, “How would the four of you like to take a tour of Wintham Manor?”
“Isn’t that the giant gray house on the hill?” Jessie asked.
“That’s Wintham Manor, all right,” said Grandfather. “No one’s lived there for a hundred years.”
“Why not?” Benny asked.
Grandfather wiggled his eyebrows and said, “That is one of the many mysteries of Wintham Manor. My friend Ella leads tours there and said you’re welcome to come. She told me the Manor will be one hundred years old next month.” Grandfather smiled at Benny. “With all your talk of one hundred this and one hundred that, I think a hundred-year-old house is a perfect place to visit.”
“But,” Benny said, “I can’t carry a whole house to school for my project.”
Grandfather had laughed. “No, I expect not. But Wintham Manor might give you a helpful idea or two. Besides, the four of you have been wanting to bike to someplace you’ve never been before. Today seems a perfect day for a new adventure.”
Henry, Jessie, and Violet had all liked Grandfather’s suggestion. So now the children were biking to visit the mysterious old house. What bothered Benny was why no one had lived in Wintham Manor for a hundred years. He could think of only one good reason. Ghosts. People were afraid to live in Wintham Manor…because it was haunted!
In the distance, Henry and the girls biked up a hill past a group of tall rocks. Benny shuddered. The rocks looked like giant fingers reaching up out of the ground. A few minutes later he got to the rocks and stopped. They didn’t look as scary close up. Benny noticed something strange on the tallest finger. Someone had carved marks near the bottom. The markings were old and worn. They sort of looked like words, but different.
What if it’s a warning? Benny wondered. What if it means “danger”? Benny jumped on his bike, pedaling as fast as he could until he caught up with the others.
As the sun moved higher in the sky, the bike path took a sharp curve along a creek. That’s when the children saw the manor. The dirty stone building stood like a castle on the next hill. Henry stuck his right arm out and down. It was their signal to stop. The Aldens stared at the giant house. A dark cloud passed over it. Benny’s heart thumped as the house fell into the shadow of the cloud.
One corner of Wintham Manor was a huge stone tower. Violet pointed to the top. “Look at that big window,” she said. “It’s like the tower where Rapunzel let down her hair.”
“The whole house looks like something out of a fairy tale,” said Jessie.
“Or a scary movie,” said Benny, “with ghosts.”
“Wintham Manor is not scary,” said Jessie. “It’s just old.”
“How do you know?” Benny asked.
“Because,” said Jessie, “Grandfather would never send us anyplace like that.”
Henry smiled. “I wouldn’t let anything hurt my favorite little brother. Not even some old ghost.”
Jessie knew how to move Benny’s mind away from ghosts. “I could use some water and a snack before we bike up that hill,” she said.
“Me too!” said Benny, opening his backpack. He still wasn’t sure about ghosts, but he was sure he was hungry. Benny unwrapped a fig bar and started talking about his hundred-day project…again.
Jessie sighed. “Benny, you’re really going to have to choose a project soon.” She tore open a small bag of pretzels. “Maybe it won’t be perfect, but it has to be something.”
Benny stuck out his jaw. “It’s not my fault I was sick when the hundred-day project started,” he said. “By the time I got back to school, all the good ideas were taken.” Benny folded the entire cookie into his mouth.
“I tried to give you one hundred buttons,” said Jessie, “and Violet offered a hundred colored pencils, and Henry said you could pick out a hundred nails.”
“Mgshwidlfhst.” Benny tried to speak, but his mouth was too full.
Henry laughed. “What did you say?”
“Benny,” whispered Violet, “you should finish chewing before you talk.”
Benny chewed and chewed. Then he swallowed. “I want my project to be something really, really different,” he said finally.
The children ate their snacks in silence. This was going to be one project Benny would have to figure out for himself. When they finished, Jessie collected their garbage into a bag to throw away later. She looked around at the blue creek and the green trees and the big manor on the next hill. It gave her an idea. “If we have time,” she said, “I’d like Violet to take a few photos for my blog.”
Jessie’s blog was called Where in Greenfield? Every week she posted a photo of something around town—a tree house, a playground, a statue. Her readers sent in guesses about where in Greenfield the photo was taken. The next week, Jessie blogged the answer and posted a new photo. She thought the creek would be the perfect place for this week’s entry.
Henry checked his watch and said, “Okay, let’s meet back here in fifteen minutes.”
Violet pulled her camera from her bike basket. Jessie took out the notebook and pen she always carried in her pocket. As the girls went exploring, the boys took off their shoes and socks and waded into the creek. A swarm of tadpoles darted away. “I could bring one hundred tadpoles for my project,” said Benny.
Henry laughed. “You would have to catch them first.” He picked up a flat stone and skipped it across the water. The stone skipped five times. He found another stone for Benny. “Hold it sideways, like this,” said Henry. He moved Benny’s fingers around the edges. Benny’s first stone sank. But after a few tries, Benny could skip a stone two and three times.
For a while, Benny forgot about the project. But when they stopped skipping stones, the thoughts came back. “I’ll never have a good idea,” he said. “Never, ever, ever.”
“Sometimes,” said Henry, “when I have a p
roblem I can’t solve, I just stop thinking about it.”
“Huh?” said Benny.
“I know it sounds strange,” Henry said. “But when I ignore my problem, I get busy doing other things.”
“Like what?” asked Benny.
“Like building that new doghouse for Watch or fixing Grandfather’s record player or going for a long run. Pretty soon the answer to my problem sneaks up on me. The more I ignore it, the closer it comes. Then, one day, the answer jumps in front of me and shouts, ‘Here I am!’”
Benny thought about this. “So, I should stop worrying about the project?” he asked.
“That’s right,” said Henry. “Let’s go to Wintham Manor to see what a hundred-year-old house looks like. I bet watching out for ghosts makes you forget all about your problem.”
Henry lay back on the bank of the creek and closed his eyes. Benny lay back and watched puffy clouds change into different shapes: a dog, a bear, a shoe, a snowman. He liked listening to the sound of water in the creek. He liked feeling the cool ground under him. This place reminded him of when the children lived in the woods.
After their parents died, the Alden children had run away from home. They had been afraid to go and live with their grandfather because they thought he would be mean. The children searched and searched for a place to live. Then one night, they took shelter in an old railroad car in the woods. They decided to make that boxcar their home. They even found a dog named Watch and kept him as their pet. The children had many adventures in the boxcar. They even played in a creek just like this one. Then they met Grandfather, who had been searching for them. He wasn’t mean at all! Now the children lived with Grandfather in Greenfield. They used the boxcar as their clubhouse.
Just as Benny was starting to relax, Violet and Jessie came back.
“Time to hit the road,” said Henry.
This time Benny kept up with the others. He still wasn’t sure he wanted to meet ghosts. But, together, he knew the four of them could face whatever was waiting for them at Wintham Manor.
Curiouser and Curiouser
The Aldens climbed the stone steps and stared at the manor door.
“This is strange,” said Henry. The doorway was so low that anyone taller than him would have to bend to enter. Henry gripped the heavy door knocker and banged it once. The sound echoed through the old house.
“Nobody’s home,” said Benny. “Let’s go.”
“Hang on,” said Henry. “Grandfather’s friend is supposed to be here.” Henry knocked again. Still no answer. He knocked a third time.