Message in a Haunted Mansion is the third entry in Her Interactive’s Nancy Drew mystery game series. It takes place in an old historical house in San Francisco, where restoration efforts have been met with mysterious incidents. The game is based off Nancy Drew book #122 The Message in a Haunted Mansion. Its a short game, coming in around 3-5 hours on average. As this was the first Nancy Drew game I ever played, it is naturally one of my favorites. Let’s see if its yours, too!
Full Walkthrough for Nancy Drew Message in a Haunted Mansion
There are a few things to note before we dive in. Whether you are playing on Junior or Senior detective, the steps in this walkthrough will remain the same. The main difference between these modes is that you’ll get more hints on Junior Detective. Also, there is a time mechanic in this game. You can check the time on the “ND” clock in the bottom left side of your screen. You can change the time in-game via the alarm clock in your room by clicking Alarm and adjusting the time to when you want to wake up. This will matter, as some events are only triggered during the day or night.
Another thing to note about this game is that there are various cut scenes and “spooks” that can be triggered throughout the adventure. Many aren’t necessary but there are several events that are required to move the game forward. If you get stuck at any point, you can try talking with all the suspects and moving the time of day around via your alarm clock to access areas without the suspects. I’ll describe how I’ve triggered the important events in this guide.
Initial Interviews and Introductions
Rose Green is the new owner of a fabulous Victorian mansion in San Francisco and has been having some trouble with various accidents occuring while doing renovations. First thing to do is explore Nancy’s room.
Look through everything you can in here. Unlock your suitcase with the key in your inventory and read the journal. Nancy will take her case notes in here. Look at the footboard on the bed, which has a couple of dragons. There’s a column on your bed that is stuck – we might find something in the game to open it. Read the wall tapestry poem too! Smells like an important clue.
Look close at the jade statue above the fireplace, which says “女 DAUGHTERS of diligence earn the gold of nine dragons”. These Hanzi symbols will be good to note! FUN FACT: apparently this symbol (女) is supposed to mean “daughter”, but a little birdie told me it actually means “female”.
Exit Nancy’s room, go forward and right to see a grand staircase in the foyer. The banisters in the center spin but we’re not sure what the 5 letter code is yet. Turn around and finish exploring the second floor. Go down the hallway that you haven’t seen yet and notice a white window with a dumbwaiter in it. Back up and knock on the door across the hall from the dumbwaiter to meet our first suspect.
Talk to Abby completely. Then continue down the hallway to find a stairway. Go downstairs and you’ll see the other end of the dumbwaiter, the rope is cut. Back up and enter the double doors. Meet Rose and talk to her completely. She asks for help with our first puzzle of the game!
The wooden tile puzzle is behind Rose on the floor. The goal is to fit all the pieces into the empty spaces. To place each piece, it must light up before clicking. The best strategy is to place the larger shapes first. You can rotate them by right clicking, but interestingly, I didn’t have to rotate anything until the final two small triangles. The answer is below.
Explore the rest of the room. There’s a magazine by the window that talks about building four poster beds. Note the clipboard with the schedule. Below that, there’s a drawer you can open. Inside, find a letter from the insurance company regarding the fire insurance that Rose recently bought. Click the Hanzi symbol at the top and Nancy says “When the bird of Fire can see again”. This 火 is the symbol for FIRE.
Talk to Hannah again. She has another task – you’ll need to find a chisel or paint scraper to chip off the broken ceiling tiles in that construction area upstairs. Talk to Hannah about Abby. Leave the room and go in the door to the right to go downstairs and meet Charlie.
Let the Sleuthing Commence
Explore the basement. You can’t open the piano yet but the piano chair has a hanzi symbol in it. 川 means RIVER. You can’t fully explore until Charlie leaves.
According to the schedule, Abby will be out of her room at 3pm. Go to your room and set the alarm for 3pm and check out Abby’s room. Find the hanzi symbol for MOON 月 in her desk drawer. Also read the Zodiac book. There’s a cabinet with a bug indention that we can’t open yet. There are also some interesting reads and a one-way window behind a picture frame on the wall.
Charlie will be gone at 5pm so go set your alarm for 5 and go down to the basement. Check out his work area and grab the screw driver. Go to the fireplace and see a grate we can’t open yet. Look at the old cash register to find a key! There’s something weird going on with the base of the round table too. Go to the stairs and someone slams the door, creepy!
Go out to the foyer, which is through the stained glass door opposite from the double doors to the dining room. Notice the firebird in the center of the floor. Check out the scaffolding to find a paint scraper. You can look close at all the bird banisters on the staircase. One is missing an eye. You should definitely NOT unwind the rope on the stairway, unless you want to make the chandelier crash! If you mess up you can just use “Second Chance” in the menu.
Go to Nancy’s room real quick and see if the screwdriver can open up that banister on the bed. Eureka, there’s another key!
Go up to the area upstairs with all the construction stuff. Might hear some spooky voices… Go up the ladder and use the paint scraper on all the moldy ceiling tiles. There’s a keyhole! Use that key from the cash register and find the attic.
Attic, Piano, Stairs, Oh My!
Explore the attic. Find a crowbar in a wooden crate. Read a few books. Find an old iron inside a small chest. Pick up a square tile on top of the large barrel. Use the key from your bed to open the writing desk. Find a piece of music with a hidden clue. Some of the notes have dark circles around them. Remember “Every Good Boy Does Fine” from music class? The top stanza from bottom to top is EGBDF, the spaces are FACE. You can use this to figure out the code we should play on the piano. I’ll give you that answer below, but try to figure it out! Check out the rest of the desk’s content and find the hanzi symbol for BEGINNING, 元.
When exiting the attic, the rope breaks. Good thing we have a crowbar now! Additionally, we could try using it to open that fireplace grate in the basement. The grate opens to a tunnel BUT WAIT, its too dark. Don’t try going forward or you’ll have to use a second chance. We need a light.
Go to the piano keys and play the code from the music sheet, which is BEGAG. The first playable note on the piano on the left is a D and they keys go D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D. Play B-E-G-A-G and the top of the piano will open up.
Click the piece of music roll which is a cipher. We need to use this on the piece of music we found in the attic. Using the appropriate keys, get back to the music sheet in the desk. On the bottom of the paper, use the cipher from your inventory to find a message. “Find Diego on stairs”. Diego is a 5 letter word… Lets try DIEGO on the staircase railing puzzle
This puzzle is pretty easy, but the best strategy is to turn them each to the correct letter, starting with the right most column. Do the second from the right last because that one spins by itself. Once you set them to say DIEGO, they’ll spin to say COINS FALSE FLOOR. A compartment also opens with a scroll. Grab the gold Hanzi medallion and read the letter.
Louis and the Library
Also there’s one suspect we haven’t met yet: Louis. Set your alarm for a time when he’ll be around (noon to 5pm). You’ll find him in the library, which is off the parlor to the right of the front door of the mansion. Go talk to him.
Louis is an antique dealer who’s giving Rose and Abby advice on the renovations. He claims not to know much about the mansion’s history. Explore the library. Look at the majong set to find the hanzi symbol meaning FOUR 四. Check all the book cases. Find a tile behind some books. The fire place has spots to put all three tiles. Look close at the bird to the left of the fireplace. We need to come back when Louis is gone (after 5pm).
Talk to Rose about everything. She tells you about the dumbwaiter that needs fixing. Curious what to do with the old iron we found? Its a heavy object with a handle. We can tie something onto the handle. What have we seen that uses weights and counterweights? Dumbwaiter. Tie it to the downstairs dumbwaiter, then run upstairs to find another hanzi symbol, 目, meaning EYE. Grab the tile too.
Look around the parlor if you haven’t. Notice a fire extinguisher in the small cabinet. Look at the desk. You can call your friends if you want. There are some letters in the side drawer. There are some spooks and other things to read in here but nothing too important. Go change the time to 5pm to get Louis to go away. At this point you might get a threatening letter under your door saying “LEAVE THE MANSION NOW!” Yikes!
Head back to the library. There might be a fire in the parlor… Well we know what to do! Quickly grab that handy fire extinguisher and use it to save the day. Talk to Rose and find out Louis knows of a buyer who might be interested in buying the mansion. Huh. Make sure you’ve exhausted all the conversation topics with Rose. Go talk to Louis again. Talk to Abby and Charlie too.
Go to the library after 5pm and pull the gold bird by the fireplace and a passageway opens. Enter. Go forward and grab the lantern. Above that there is a brick sticking out of the wall. You can spy on Louis through the peephole. Why’s he being so sketchy? We’ll need to see what’s in that briefcase. Look at the painting plaque and find the hanzi word for CHILD 子.
Re-enter the library and look at the briefcase. It requires an 8-digit combination. Go around to Louis’s laptop. Do the maze game if you don’t know the password. Click with your mouse to go forward and drag side to side to turn. You’re looking for a big blue target on the ground. Check all the icons.
Gum Bo Fu
Briefcase code is 4653-4868. Laptop password is ANTIQUES. Go open Louis’s briefcase and read everything. Nancy reads about “Gum Bo Fu”. Seems like Louis knows more than he let on.
Now that we have the lantern we can go check out that tunnel in the basement. Looks like Charlie’s been sleeping in here! Check the takeout box to find the hanzi symbol for KING 王. Pick up the floppy disk. Glad we have access to a laptop now! Go up the stairs and end up back on the first floor.
Go to the library and use the floppy disk on the bottom right edge of the computer. ELonter the password on Louis’s computer. Username: Louis Password: Antiques. Or you can just do the Maze game again. Read the outline of Charlie’s term paper on the Great Christmas Gold Robbery on the floppy disk.
Go talk to all the suspects (Abby, Charlie, Louis, and Rose and exhaust all the conversation options, using your alarm clock to change the time if you have to.
Go to the parlor and call Emily. Ask about Gum Bo Fu. Talk to her about everything else too. Go talk to Louis and tell him you read about Gum Bo Fu in a magazine NOT a book.
Talk to Abby and Charlie again. Go talk to Rose again and she should mention a letter that came for you and that she took a tapestry from your room for dry cleaning.
Final Puzzle Spree
Go to your room and look at the letter on the chair. See the Hanzi symbol for GOLD 金. Look on the right side of your bed to see some zodiac carvings where that tapestry used to be. Remember that book from Abby’s room? You need to press the symbols in the correct order.
Rat – Ox – Tiger – Rabbit – Dragon – Snake – Horse – Goat – Monkey – Rooster – Dog – Boar.
Now there’s a safe with another combination. Those Hanzi symbols are finally coming in handy! The order is from the poem tapestry. Click the arrow to enter each symbol. The center button resets the puzzle.
Child 子 – Beginning 元 – Daughter 女 – Four 四 – Eye 目 – Fire 火 – Moon 月 – King 王 – River 川 – Gold 金
Read everything. Place the gold hanzi medallion from your inventory (from the staircase puzzle) into the pyramid. Another puzzle, yay! We need to spin all the moons to be stars. Clicking on tile changes all the others touching that tile. Senior and Junior modes are different. In Senior mode, you must move around like a knight in chess (note the book next to Louis’s laptop). Junior mode simply requires clicking all four corners and the middle tile. Next puzzle is a sliding picture puzzle of a firebird. Solve this to get a ruby.
Catch the Culprit and End the Game
Remember seeing the bird with the missing red eye? Go to the foyer and insert the ruby. A crowbar will come in handy next.
Once the scene plays out, you’ll need to avoid the squeaky stairs by going up the right staircase (the one with a missing ruby eye). Then go down the other side to where the rope holds up the chandelier and unravel it.
Congratulations! You’ve completed Nancy Drew: The Message in a Haunted Mansion. Another solved mystery under your belt!
Check out our other Nancy Drew mystery game walkthroughs.
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