Kristy and the Haunted Mansion is the ninth book in The Baby-Sitters Club Mystery series.
Back Cover Summary[]
Kristy and her all-star softball team, the Krashers, are coming home from a game when suddenly there's a huge storm. At first, the thunder and lightning is exciting. But soon it's raining so hard that Kristy's older brother can hardly drive their van.
Then the bridges wash out, leaving Kristy and the kids stranded on a dark road. There are no phones in sight, everyone's wet and hungry, and the only place to stay looks... haunted.
Will Kristy and the team survive a night in a spook house?
Main Plot[]
Kristy, Bart Taylor, and their Krashers baseball team are on their way home from a baseball game when a big storm occurs. While Charlie’s driving them, he misses the turn to head back to Stoneybrook & everyone finds themselves trapped on an unfamiliar road between two washed-out bridges. There is a large, spooky old house nearby and Kristy & Charlie knock on the door to the caretaker’s cottage to ask to use the telephone. The old man answers the door and tells them he doesn’t have a phone and the power’s out, but he agrees to let everyone stay the house overnight & he gives them blankets, flashlights, and a little bit of food.
As everyone explores the house, it turns out to be quite cool. There is a lot of old-fashioned furniture, pictures, and even bells on the wall that were used to signal servants back in the olden days. Even though Kristy, Bart, Charlie, and the kids have a great time exploring the house, they’re creeped out of the fact that the house hasn’t been lived in for a long time, but there’s no dust or mustiness & the house appears to be well kept up. Jackie Rodowsky (after hearing a story from Shea about the house) is convinced that the house is haunted.
When Kristy takes Karen and a Bashers player, Patty up to one of the bedrooms that caught their attention earlier, they discover a diary which belonged to a person named Dorothy Sawyer, who lived in the house until she was 18 years old. The diary ends the day before Dorothy had planned to run away and marry a man that her father didn’t approve of. They later find some newspaper articles that indicate that Dorothy never met up with her fiancee and was presumed drowned in a storm that occurred on that same day. They also find pictures of Will Blackburn, the man that Dorothy was supposed to marry and the kids think that the man looks quite familiar.
The next day is nice & sunny; as the kids are getting ready to go home, Buddy Barrett finds out who Will Blackburn reminds him of; it’s the caretaker. When Kristy approaches the caretaker and calls him Mr. Blackburn, it is really him. Will never got over Dorothy’s death and he kept the house the way it was when she lived there.
The BSC hosts a slumber party at the Brewer mansion to celebrate Kristy’s safe return home. Karen wanders in that evening and tells the girls that she can’t stop thinking about Dorothy. She took a picture of her from one of the photo albums that they looked at & Karen is convinced that Dorothy reminds her of somebody she knows. As the girls pass the photo around, Mary Anne recognizes Dorothy as the woman who owns the sewing shop she goes to.
The next day, the girls & Karen go over to the sewing store to confirm it and the woman is in fact Dorothy Sawyer. Dorothy faked her own death because as much as she loved Will, she knew that she would have the same overprotected life as his wife that she’d have as her father’s daughter. Dorothy ended up spending her life traveling & doing things that she wanted to do, but she had been lonely. In the end, Dorothy decides to visit Will.
Sub Plot[]
Characters in this book[]
Kristy's Family
- Elizabeth Thomas-Brewer
- Watson Brewer
- Nannie
- Charlie Thomas
- Sam Thomas
- David Michael Thomas
- Karen Brewer
- Andrew Brewer
- Emily Michelle Brewer
BSC Members
Kids
- Krashers: Jackie Rodowsky, David Michael Thomas, Karen Brewer, Jerry, Patty, Chris
- Buddy Barrett
- Jake Kuhn
- Hannie and Linny Papadakis (mentioned)
- Jordan, Adam, Byron, Vanessa, Nicky, Margo and Claire Pike
- Matt and Haley Braddock (mentioned)
- Charlotte Johanssen
- Lucy and Jamie Newton (mentioned)
- Marnie and Suzi Barrett (mentioned)
- Patsy and Jake Kuhn (mentioned)
Teenagers
Adults
- John and Dee Pike (mentioned)
- Lisa and Seth Engle (mentioned)
- Mrs. Newton
- Natalie Barrett
- Mrs. Rodowsky
- William Blackburn
- Dorothy Sawyer
Places in this book[]
- Redfield - town three miles from Stoneybrook.
- Sawyer House
- Renwick's (mentioned)
- Pike House
- Newton House
- Stoneybrook Public Library (mentioned)
- Stoneybrook Middle School
- Greenvale (mentioned)
- Brewer/Thomas House
- Sew Fine
Pop Culture and Real Life References[]
- The Little Mermaid
- We're off to see the Wizard and the Wizard of Oz
- Jingle Bells
- Moonlight Sonota
- Little Women
- President Roosevelt and the great depression
Continuity and Inconsistencies[]
Continuity
Inconsistencies
Trivia[]
- Kristy is scared of lightning
- This is the second time a club member goes missing, the first time being in Baby-sitters' Island Adventure.
- The Pike Triplets know how to speak backward.
- Sam likes anchovies on his pizza.
- Mallory gives Dawn the idea to write a book with ghost stories.
- Cokie Mason believes that Kristy felt a cold slimy hand as the clock struck twelve.
- Sew Fine is mentioned again sporadically in other books.
Gallery[]
