Chapter 2
Several hours had passed since Velma had gone to bed; she had been asleep for a couple hours when she began to hear some strange and mysterious noises.
Velma then slowly opened her eyes and sat up in her bed; she was confused at first as to what was happening but after some thought something in the logical and detective part of her brain clicked into place as she realized just what was really going on.
"Hmm, that caretaker has to be behind this, what other explanation is there than that; Mr. Collins has to be making these weird noises with some kind of tape recorder or sound effects or something like that" Velma thought to herself.
Like any good detective Velma decided to investigate these strange noises and find out their cause once and for all; she opened a drawer in the night stand next to her bed and found some candles and a book of matches, she then lit the candle with a match and walked out of the bedroom into a cobweb filled and ancient looking corridor.
Velma started to walk down the dark dimly lit hallway looking for any clues as to the strange noises that she had heard; but after a few minutes the noises seemed to subside and she decided to give up and walk back to her bedroom, that is or was what she was going to do until she began to hear the same noises as before.
As she stood in the hall way Velma could hear what sounded to her like chains rattling and ghostly moaning; the young sleuth then shone her candle around the hallway to try and find the source of the mysterious noises, soon the teenage sleuth realized that the noises had stopped once again and she decided to give up and walked back to her room.
"It's just as I figured; those noises were all just a figure of my imagination, nothing more nothing less" Velma thought to herself as she walked back into her bedroom.
She got back into her bed but she couldn't sleep, not just yet; she kept running the events of the last few minutes through her mind wondering why she heard what she heard, being a rational person she figured that somehow Mr. Collins or some one who worked for him was creating all the sound effects that she heard; how he did she wasn't sure yet but one thing was for sure: Velma knew that Dinkley Hall was in fact not haunted at all.
Not wanting to stay up all night and be obsessing about one thing, Velma decided to go back to sleep; she wondered what the rest of her stay at Dinkley Hall would be like and most important of all: would the so-called ghosts return?
The next morning Velma was still fast asleep when she heard a loud knock on the front door; still wearing her bedroom clothing she walked out of her bedroom and went downstairs; the bespectacled teen wondered just who could be visiting her so early in the morning and walked over to the front door to answer it.
She then opened the door and saw two very familiar figures standing there; while she looked through the doorway, her face had a smile that was as wide as the Mississippi River.
"Fred, Daphne! Boy am I glad to see you guys!" Velma exclaimed happily.
"We're glad to see you too Velma, so what's going on? From what Daphne told me you inherited an entire English castle" Fred asked.
"Well sort of Fred, as I already told Daphne I received a package the other day with a bunch of papers and some keys in it; I read one of the papers which was a letter from the local historical society here and it said that I had inherited my family's ancestral home and that I should come right away to England to claim the house and it's contents, so I took a cab to the Coolsville Airport, bought a plane ticket and several hours later I had arrived in England; after that I got a rental car, got directions to Dinkley Hall and here I am" Velma explained.
"Wow Velma, I still can't believe you inherited an entire English castle" Fred commented.
"Yeah, it sure is beautiful" Daphne remarked.
"Thanks guys, it is pretty nice isn't it?" Velma commented.
"Sure is; well now that we're here let's get our things unpacked" Fred remarked.
"That sounds good, come on you guys I'll let you pick out which rooms you want to stay in" Velma replied.
"Sounds like a plan to me" Daphne said.
With that Fred, Daphne and Velma walked through the main portion of the castle, up the stairs and into the hallway that Velma's bedroom was located in.
Fred decided to pick a bedroom that was right down the hall from Velma's room, while Daphne picked a room that was right next to Velma's; both Fred and Daphne walked into their rooms and unpacked their luggage while Velma sat in her bedroom thinking.
She was quite happy that Fred and Daphne had decided to visit her and she was happy that she now had some help in solving whatever mystery Dinkley Hall had, after unpacking Daphne and Fred walked into Velma's room and checked in on her.
"Wow, you guys unpacked already?" Velma asked with a surprised tone in her voice.
"We sure are" Fred replied.
"Likewise" Daphne added.
"Wonderful; now that you two are here maybe you can help me out with a little mystery that I have" Velma said.
"Mystery? What kind of mystery?" Daphne asked.
"Well, why don't we walk back down to the main hall and talk about it" Velma replied.
"Sounds like a good idea to me" Fred remarked.
"Sounds good to me too" Daphne added.
"OK, follow me" Velma said.
The three friends walked down the staircase and back into the main part of the castle; next the three of them walked into the dining area and all three sat down at a large wooden dining room table.
"So Velma, what's this mystery you have for us?" Fred asked.
"Well it's kind of hard to explain, you see when I arrived here at the castle I met the caretaker: a man named Michael Collins, we spoke about how I arrived and I even told him about Mystery Inc. and the careers that the three of us currently have" said Velma began to explain her situation.
"Mr. Collins told me to be careful during my stay because apparently Dinkley Hall is haunted; I actually chuckled a bit and told him that there were no such things as ghosts but he still wanted me to be careful, and listen to this" Velma continued.
"Last night, I began to hear weird noises; it didn't seem to bother me at first but then I decided to go out into the hallway with a candle and investigated, I heard what sounded like chains rattling and ghostly moaning but I figured it was just Mr. Collins trying to scare me so I went back to sleep and that's the mystery" said Velma, finishing her explanation.
"Hmm, this is an interesting mystery Velma; so you think that those noises and the fact that this place is supposed to haunted have something to do with this Collins guy?" Fred asked.
"I'm sure of it; there's no other logical explanation then that" Velma replied.
"Don't worry Velma, whatever mystery is going on here we'll help you solve it" Daphne chimed in.
"That's right, Mystery Inc. is going to crack this case no matter what it takes" Fred remarked.
"Thanks guys, you're the best friends a girl could ask for" Velma replied.
"No problem Velma" Fred commented.
"So what's our plan of action?" Daphne asked.
"Well, I was thinking that we could do a little exploring around this place" Velma explained.
"That sounds like a good plan Velma let's go for it" Fred remarked.
"Cool, now where should we start?" Daphne asked.
"Good question Daphne, this place is so humongous it might take us forever to look through all the rooms" Velma said.
"I doubt it, but one thing's for sure; there do seem to be a lot of rooms" Fred commented.
"Let's try looking in the basement to start with, there might be some clues there" Daphne remarked.
"Good thinking Daph, let's go" Fred replied.
Fred, Daphne and Velma walked down a couple sets of staircases, through a couple of doors until finally the three of them found themselves in the basement; the trio of sleuths looked through the dark and dingy cobweb filled room, looking for any semblance of a clue as to what was really going on inside Dinkley Hall.
"So Velma, any idea what we should look for?" Fred asked.
"Um Fred, why are you asking me this, I thought you were the one who came up with the plans and traps" Velma said with a surprised look on her face.
"Well I figured since it's your family's ancestral castle, you would know what to look for and maybe you would know if we found any clues" Fred replied.
"Good point Fred" the bespectacled teen said.
So with that Velma, Fred and Daphne each looked through a portion of the basement; the trio of detectives hoped to find some semblance of a clue and some idea of just what kind of ghosts or phantoms were haunting the Dinkley family's ancestral castle.
The three determined sleuths searched through every nook and cranny of the basement in the span of several hours, but alas all they could find was dozens of cobwebs, a few old trunks filled with what looked to be mere useless junk, old dresses and clothing which looked to be hundreds of years old, in addition to other miscellaneous knick knacks; having not been able to find a single legitimate clue as to what was happening in the ancient house Velma, Fred and Daphne decided to leave the basement, at least for now.
The three teenage investigators then locked the basement door behind them after leaving and returned back to the dining room to hopefully regroup and figure out what to do next.
"Well gang, I hate to say it but I'm stumped; we checked every inch of the basement and no semblance of a clue, or any rumor of a clue, nothing at all" Fred remarked.
"Yeah I have to say this might be much more difficult than any of our other mysteries; right now we don't have any clues as to whose behind this mystery, or why they're doing whatever they're doing; not to mention we don't have any idea if the ghosts that haunt this place are fake or real" Daphne added.
"Come on you guys, be serious; there's got to be a logical explanation as to why this castle's being haunted and I seriously doubt the ghosts are real, but still..." Velma replied with a curious look on her face.
"Velma, this is really a surprise; almost every single ghost and monster that we've ever faced has been fake, so there has to be a logical reason for the ghosts that are haunting this place, plus we all know that ghosts aren't real" Daphne added.
"I know guys, I know, but don't you think that there are some things in this world that are unexplainable, like maybe there are really ghosts and ghouls out there and maybe this castle is really haunted" Velma replied.
"You can't really believe that can you Velma?" Fred asked.
"Well, I don't really know for sure, but there's always that possibility" the bespectacled girl replied.
"Hmm, I still don't think there are real ghosts haunting this place, but just in case we'll see if we can solve this mystery after dinner" Fred commented.
"Good thinking Freddie, I have to admit I'm kind of starved myself" Daphne added.
"I have an idea, why don't I head into the kitchen and fix something to eat while you guys wait here" Velma explained.
"Velma, you don't have to do that; besides we would be more than happy to help you prepare something to eat" Fred replied.
"No, no you guys are my guests, I'll fix dinner; besides, how hard can it be?" Velma said.
So with that the bespectacled girl headed into the kitchen and started to look through the cupboards, pantry and refrigerator for something to fix for dinner; eventually the teen sleuth found a few things to and started to prepare the items for her friends.
Once the bespectacled girl finished preparing dinner, she brought everything into the dining room and placed several plates of food on the dining room table; Fred and Daphne were quite impressed at Velma's ability to cook and complemented her on her culinary skills; after the trio finished eating they took the dirty dishes, silverware and glasses into the kitchen to wash them.
After doing the dishes the trio of sleuths were all set to get back to solving the mystery of the Dinkley Hall ghosts, that is except for one important detail: the time; each of the three mystery solvers looked at their respective watches and noticed that it was getting quite late so they each decided to head off to their respective bedrooms and hoped that they would be able to get back to solving the mystery in the morning.
After Fred and Daphne took their respective turns in the bathroom brushing their teeth and taking baths, they left and went back to their respective bedrooms; a few moments later after they returned to their bedrooms, each of the sleuths got back into their beds and went to sleep.
Meanwhile after she went into the bathroom, took her shower and brushed her teeth, Velma walked back into her bedroom, climbed into her bed and drifted off to sleep.
After a few hours in bed the bespectacled girl began to hear the same noises as the previous night; as Velma heard the peculiar noises she decided to put on her glasses and sat up in bed.
"Not this corny routine again, that Mr. Collins just doesn't give up; well I'll put a stop to it" Velma thought to herself.
She took out another candle from the nightstand next to her bed and lit it with a match, next to she shone the candle around the bedroom wondering where the sounds were coming from; she didn't find anything in her bedroom and decided to walk into the hallway.
Once again Velma failed to find anything in the hallway and decided to head back to sleep; she walked back into her bedroom and climbed back into bed; she fell asleep rather quickly but it was rather short lived because she once again heard ghostly noises.
"Oh this is ridiculous, this place is not haunted and there are no such things as ghosts" Velma said to herself.
She was just about ready to close her eyes and go back to sleep when she noticed a white blotch of something by the door; when she put her glasses back on she noticed that the blotch became clearer, whatever this thing was in the bespectacled girl's room it started to come closer and closer to her bed which made her both curious and a little nervous as she wondered just what this thing was.
Suddenly the blotch took the shape of what looked to be a man dressed all in white, the man looked to be in his mid 30's or 40's and continued to approach Velma's bed, all the while the bespectacled girl looked on in both amazement and shock as she speculated on just why he was in her bedroom.
"Jinkies! Who are you and what are you doing in my room?" Velma asked with a bewildered tone in her voice.
"Aaah!" the man screamed as he caught sight of Velma.
"Huh? What's going on, why did you scream?" she asked him.
"Oh, sorry about that I'm just a little jumpy" he answered.
"Jumpy?" Velma asked.
"Yes, I always get a little jumpy and nervous when I see a strange person in one of the rooms here" the man replied.
"Strange person? You walked into my bedroom in the middle of the night and scream at the top of your lungs and you call me strange!" Velma said to the man, almost screaming at him as she spoke.
"Walked into? What do you mean walked into your room, I walked through the door into your room" he answered.
"Walked through the door? What do you mean you walked through the door?" Velma asked.
"Just what I said, I walked through the door" the man replied.
"That's ridiculous, nobody can walk through walls; except for ghosts that is" Velma commented.
"Exactly, that's what I am: a ghost" he answered.
"A Ghost? Give me a break; there's no such things as ghosts, you must be some kind of projection, a hologram or something like that" Velma replied.
"No such things as ghosts? Boy I've never heard that one before" he wondered.
With that Velma then decided to get out of the bed and walked over to the ghost; the spectral figure was quite unsure of just what this girl was going to do and nervously backed away.
"Hey, where are you going?" Velma asked.
"Easy, somewhere where nobody will find me" he answered.
"Come on now, if you really are a ghost then I should be able to put my arm right through you" Velma remarked.
"I g-guess that's true" he replied nervously.
Velma then walked over to the ghost and reached for his face.
"This will be the easiest mystery ever; I'll just reach for this so-called ghost's face, unmask him and I'll discover that it will be Mr. Collins, then I'll tell the gang and we can leave" Velma thought to herself.
So Velma reached for the ghost's face, only to have her hand go right through it.
"Could you please not do that again, it's kind of annoying" he said.
"Jinkies, my hand just went right through him, which means he's a real ghost!" Velma said with a shriek.
Velma gasped and then screamed as she ran back to her bed and jumped back under the covers, she cowered under the sheets not expecting to meet an actual ghost, not to mention how the ghost got into her room.
"Could you please not scream like that, it makes me kind of nervous" he replied trying to calm her down.
Hearing Velma's scream, Fred and Daphne ran from their bedrooms over to her room; Fred knocked on the door and wondered why there was no answer.
"Fred I think Velma's in trouble; we've got try and get the door open to help her" Daphne said.
"You're right Daph, here I'll use the key that she gave me" Fred commented; he placed the key in the lock and the door opened, unfortunately the ghost happened to be standing behind the door when Fred opened it; he went right through the door and stumbled backwards.
"Velma, Velma are you alright?" Fred asked; when he and Daphne entered the room they didn't see Velma but they did see a figure shivering under the bed sheets.
Fred and Daphne walked over to the bed and lifted up the covers only to find Velma nervously shaking.
"Velma, what's the matter?" Fred asked.
"Th-that!" Velma pointed at the door.
Fred and Daphne turned and saw the same ghost that Velma had seen earlier; as soon as he saw the two of them however he quickly disappeared.
"Jeepers, was that what I think it was?" Daphne asked.
"If you mean that ghost, I'm not sure" Fred remarked.
The two of them walked back over to Velma's bed and wondered why she was under the covers and also what was going on.
"Velma, why are you hiding under the covers? That's really unlike you" Fred said.
"Oh yeah? Well you would do that too if you saw a ghost in your room!" Velma explained.
"Jeepers" Daphne remarked.
"That's impossible Velma, it was probably someone trying to scare you" Fred commented.
"Well if that's what it was they sure did a good job" Velma replied.
"One thing I can't understand though" Fred thought.
"What's that Fred?" Daphne asked.
"Why did the ghost leave after Daphne and I entered the room?" Fred wondered.
"Good question Fred, I just wish I knew what happened" Velma replied.
"I wouldn't find out what's happening around here myself" Fred commented.
"I do know one thing though" Velma remarked.
"What's that?" Daphne asked.
"If this place really is haunted, then I inherited the first haunted house I know of that has a ghost that reminds me of Shaggy and Scooby" Velma remarked.
"Why's that Velma?" Fred asked.
"Because of several things; first he screamed when he caught sight of me, second he seemed kind of jumpy and nervous not to mention right after I put my hand through him to see if he was real, he disappeared" Velma explained.
"Hmm, that certainly is strange; why would a ghost do all of those things?" Daphne wondered.
"Maybe he's not your average run-of-the-mill ghost" Fred said.
"Maybe, maybe not" Velma remarked.
"Well, now what should we do?" Daphne asked.
"Hmm, well with a ghost running around this place going back to sleep might not be such a great idea" Velma thought.
"True, maybe we should do some more investigating around this place to see if we can find out more about our cowardly ghost" Fred explained.
"Good idea Fred, maybe we should start with the attic this time" Velma replied.
"Good thinking Velma, let's get going" Fred commented.
With that Fred, Daphne and Velma walked down the hallway and up a few flights of stairs; after several minutes of walking the three of them came upon a large door, Fred tried to open it but he discovered that it was locked, Velma then walked up to the door and used one the keys on her key ring to open it.
After opening the door Fred, Daphne and Velma walked into the dark and dusty looking room; the three of them began looking around the attic for any sign of a clue.
Within a few moments Velma had found an old trunk filled with all manner of books, family mementos and other items and began looking through it.
While she was searching she found a brown leather bound book that looked quite old, Velma thought that this might be an important clue and called over to Fred and Daphne.
The two of them then walked over to where Velma was standing and wondered what she had found.
"What's that Velma?" Fred asked.
"I don't know yet, but it might be related to my family's history" Velma replied.
"Well, let's take a look at it and see" Fred remarked.
Velma opened the book and began to leaf through it; it was indeed a book describing the family's history, included within it's pages were a history of the Dinkley family, pictures of the various generations of her family and miscellaneous other items.
She came to a page in the middle of the book and did a double take after looking something that was written on it; Velma then gasped as she came to something that was quite shocking to her.
"What's wrong Velma?" Fred asked.
Velma pointed out an old picture in the book to the two of them.
"I don't understand, what's so scary about an old picture?" Fred asked.
"Well, the scary part of it is that I think this is a picture of the ghost" Velma replied.
"Hmm, mind if I see that book Velma?" Fred asked.
"Sure Fred" Velma replied.
Velma handed Fred the leather bound book and he began to read the text that was underneath the picture.
"Captain Alexander Dinkley, born 1430, died 1470; Captain Dinkley was the skipper of the S.S. Cartsdale, a merchant ship which sailed the English seas for nearly twenty years" Fred began to read.
"That's strange, if my math is correct he died when he was forty; but there's one other thing though, why would the ghost of an English sea captain be haunting my family's ancestral family home?" Velma asked.
"Got me, but this also says he was a bit of a chicken and was always the butt of practical jokes that his shipmates would play on him" Fred continued.
"Jinkies, why would his shipmates do that and why wouldn't he fight back?" Velma asked.
"I don't know, but I guess according to this because of his cowardice he was cursed to haunt this castle for the rest of his days, that is until he performs one act of bravery for or to assist any of his ancestors, then if I'm reading this right, the curse will be broken and his spirit will be free" Fred said as he finished reading.
"Terrific, I inherit my family's ancestral castle, then I decide to live here; then I find out the place is haunted and for some reason the ghost is one of my ancestors not to mention the fact that he's a scaredy cat" Velma remarked.
"I guess that's about the gist of it Velma" Daphne replied.
"I sure wish had thought twice about coming here" Velma remarked.
"Why's that?" Fred asked.
"Because this is without a doubt one of the weirdest mysteries that I've ever encountered" Velma replied.