Nancy Drew 28: Ghost of Thornton Hall Hints

How do I open the box under the dirt?

  • 1 of 15: After you look at all the pictures on the camera --
  • 2 of 15: -- and dig up the mound of dirt with the trowel, you'll find a locked box. It needs a key, which you won't find until --
  • 3 of 15: -- you get into Charlotte's bedroom.
  • 4 of 15: You'll find the key to this box in the jewelry box, in the top that doesn't require a puzzle to reach. And now you can finally open that box under the dirt --
  • 5 of 15: -- as soon as you solve one more puzzle, that is. Argh!! But wait, does this puzzle look familiar?
  • 6 of 15: This is the same design you saw drawn on the puzzle you found under the floorboards in the parlor. It's finally time to deal with Ethel's Grave.
  • 7 of 15: Now that you have the family tree you found in Jess's backpack, it's easy to find Ethel. And it's also easy to find Ethel's grave in the cemetery; it's the one with no first name and a date of death in 1933.
  • 8 of 15: This is rather obscure, so I'll tell you that what you need from Ethel's grave is her date of death -- month, day, and year. (Even if you think you know, go to the cemetery and look at the actual gravestone to get Nancy to comment on it.)
  • 9 of 15: Now go back to the box under the porch. Can you see what you need to do?
  • 10 of 15: The numbers on the box need to be arranged into the date from Ethel's grave: first the month (as a number), then the day, and then the year. Read to the end of this hint for step-by-step directions on how to do this.
  • 11 of 15: This type of puzzle requires you to think about three steps ahead, which I happen to be very bad at. I tend to flail randomly at the buttons until something works.
  • 12 of 15: For example, both dates end in 1933, so you want to have both 3s at the right, and clicking on the right arrow will put them there.
  • 13 of 15: However, the 9 needs to go in front of the two 3s, so you need to send the 9 in first, and then the two 3s. See?
  • 14 of 15: I tend to punch buttons randomly to solve these kinds of puzzles, but that's not the most efficient way. Here's the most efficient way:
  • 15 of 15: Inside you'll find a plate that will help you open one of the coffins in the crypt.