Mystery #27: Claudia and the Lighthouse Ghost
As someone from New England — and Maine, at that — I will just state up front that, yes, all lighthouses are haunted. Just so we all understand that before delving into this Kishi mystery.
Okay, so. Kristy has a pretty nice sum-up of the facts, which I’ve included here. The Hatt family, who left Stoneybrook in some kind of disgrace a while back, have now returned and are staying with the Kishis until they find a place of their own. They own the dilapidated old lighthouse in town (is Stoneybrook on the coast???) and as soon as they’re back they start getting threatening messages. Claudia’s scared shitless and annoyed by the Hatts and wants them out of her damn house.
Of course, the BSC is on the case because Stoneybrook’s middle school students are more effective than their police department. As part of their investigation, they find out that years ago a kid died after falling from the lighthouse — and not just any kid, but the son of the angry man who lives next to the lighthouse and is always yelling at Mr. Hatt. (I guess we know why he’s angry — he thinks Mr. Hatt locked his son inside the lighthouse, forcing him to escape by falling.) The article is below and I know it’s a sad and tragic topic but I can’t help but think of Ben Wyatt from “Parks and Rec” whenever ice is involved.
Mr. Hatt lets his son Steve (who has been having a flirtmance with Janine, much to the chagrin of her boyfriend Jerry) have a big holiday party at the lighthouse, and at this party someone tries to mess everything up and take the Hatts down. It turns out it’s the brother of the late Adrian Langley, who’s still very angry. It’s not until after he attempts his crimes that the BSC clues him in to the fact that Adrian was locked in the lighthouse by a Stoneybrook High School gang called the Gargoyles (yeah I just rolled my eyes) and not by Mr. Hatt. So the harassing culprit has finally been found… but the BSC is still pretty convinced that the lighthouse is haunted AF, and they’re right.
