Ghost Chasers

Synopsis

Ghost Chasers is an escape room that puts players in the role of paranormal investigators. The room has plenty of puzzles, fun theming, and multiple developments in the plot. When creating the puzzles for this room, I incorporated ideas from actual tools used in paranormal investigations. Whether you believe in them or not, it is fun to pretend.

The game is divided into two spaces. The first space features a dining table with place settings. A dining area is perfect for this space. The second space represents the spirit world. It should be a dark space with spooky lighting and decorations. Black lights and Halloween decorations work well here. The flow diagram and setup are at the end of this page. The setup also has materials you can use to help you build the puzzles. Also at the bottom is an audio quick reference that you can use as a game master to have audio cues available to play at events.

Scenario

You (the players) are paranormal investigators. Yesterday, a desperate voice on the phone called you to a mansion on the outskirts of town. When you arrive, the door pushes open when you knock, but your host is not there to greet you. When you step inside, the door slams shut and latches behind you. A moment later, candles flicker to life on their own. The room looks normal, but the lack of living people is unnerving. You can feel that there is something wrong.

It is time to get to work. Collect the tools of your trade and investigate what spirits may be infesting this site.

Living Space (Room 1)

The players start in the normal living area of a home. The space is intended to be the area of a house where one might meet guests. A dining room works well for this space.

The room should contain a table with several place settings of plates, glasses, forks, knives, etc.

Start Tool Collection (Box 1)

The players get together their ghost hunting tools. This first box collects items for opening up the tool boxes.

Suggested Puzzle Mounted on one wall is a sequence of digits. Mounted on the opposite wall is a mirror. The players need to solve a reflected code puzzle by positioning themselves to view the digits in the mirror. The mirror reflection has the correct code to open the lock.

Ectoplasm Reveal Tool (Box 2)

The players collect some tools they need for their task. The first tool on the list is an “ectoplasm reveal tool.”

Suggested Puzzle The cutlery in the place settings on the dining table look normal. But on the underside of the knives are letters. The letters will make little sense at first, but the knives can be put together in a stick word grid. The words spell out a message that points to a location for players to find a key where they normally would not look. I made the message “look under chairs”.

The key opens a box that contains, among other things, an “ectoplasm reveal tool” (an ultraviolet light). It will be used later to reveal secret messages.

EMF Tool (Box 3)

Another tool the players collect is an electromagnetic frequency (EMF) detector. An EMF detector reads emissions that come from electric power lines and electric devices. Some paranormal investigators believe that ghosts can emit electromagnetic radiation and use EMF detectors to attempt to find ghosts.

Suggested Puzzle Create an imitation EMF that contains a map of the room that points to the location of a hidden object. The item might be a key, which is easy to hide, that opens a larger box.

I created the map as a simple web site that imitated the EMF tool and provided the map. There are straightforward tools for publishing web sites even for users with no such experience. An even easier solution is to drop a map image as an online document.

A QR code is used to direct players to the online map. I used a QR Cube, but any QR puzzle would work.

EVP Tool (Box 4)

The players search for an electronic voice phenomenon (EVP). EVP is a real thing that paranormal investigators do. The idea is to do an audio recording in a quiet room. Then you play back the recording and listen for stuff in the background static. (Our pretend tool will work better than in real life.)

Suggested Puzzle The first step is to have a QR construction puzzle that will make a players phone EVP recorder. Here is a fold back QR puzzle from box 1 with a QR code that will take players to an EVP simulator.

In the EVP simulator, players first have to hit the “Record” button and then wait for the recording. Players will then be able to play back the recording. They will first have to hit the “Vol Up” button until the volume level is high. Once they do, they can play the following audio.

If the players listen carefully, in the static they can hear the numbers six-six-four-three, which form the combination to the box’s lock.

The box contains an encoding for astrological symbols, which will be used in a later puzzle. The encoding can be embedded in its own symbol algebra.

The answers to this puzzle ♉-3, ♑-5, ♐-2, ♍-1. If you don’t think the players will enjoy doing math homework, you can alternatively just give a straight lookup.

Research (Box 5)

The players collect some research materials. In particular, they find an article about dream analysis that will be useful later.

The players also find an enigmatic list of phrases.

Suggested Puzzle Players have to find printed messages underneath or on the underside of the plates in the place settings. The message initially does not mean anything, but a further clue is revealed with the UV flashlight (ectoplasm tool).

There are at least two ways to set up this puzzle. If you have a word lock, print a single word under each plate to form a meaningless phrase, and then circle one of the words with an invisible ink pen. The players must reveal the word with the UV flashlight and use that word on a lock.

If you prefer to use a number lock, print a single digit under each plate and place them in random order. In invisible ink, write numbers to indicate the order of the digits to form a code for a lock.

Summon Lizzy (Box 6)

The players use the tools at hand to summon the spirit that is haunting this house. The players are contacted by a spirit who identifies itself as “Lizzy.” In the box have a picture of Lizzy. (The picture can be of any innocent looking girl. Find a random picture on the internet or that comes with a photo frame.) The picture comes with the following message.

After the players open this box, you can play this audio file (for example, from a smartphone) to reinforce the situation.

Additionally, players find an excerpt from Lizzy’s diary.

Suggested Puzzle The players summon Lizzy with a Ouija board. You can simulate this by shining the UV flashlight (ectoplasm tool) on a provided Ouija board. The revealed ink shows the path of the entrance code word.

You could probably construct this puzzle with a store-bought Ouija board. But if you are cheap, like me, you can just print the pattern of a board on a piece of paper. When I originally did this, I first attempted to print an image of a board. This, however, did not work because the invisible ink pen smeared the printer ink just enough to make out the path of the ink. Instead, you can use this replica of a Ouija board with a blank background so you can draw in the blank space between letters.

Learn Reiki (Box 7)

The players discover Reiki healing movements helpful for their goals. Reiki is an alternative medicine technique based on energy flows through the body. Part of Reiki involves moving your hands in various patterns to manipulate these energy flows.

This box has several Reiki patterns for the players’ reference.

Reiki is really a healing technique, not something that meant to unlock doors. But I think it is safe to say it works equally well for either.

Suggested Puzzle This box opens up with a code-word lookup puzzle. First, Lizzy’s diary (from box 6) has several words with odd capitalization: Day, Lips, Eyebrows, and Knife. The players need to match these with the word lists in the paper from box 5. These words translate to the numbers 4 4 8 2.

Spirit World (Room 2)

The second room represents the spirit world. This room should be spooky and contain ghostly decorations. Decorating this room is a chance to be creative. Halloween decorations can work well here. Making the room dark matches the theme, but make sure there is enough light to see the puzzles and avoid any tripping hazards.

Suggested Puzzle Of the symbols provided in box 7, one of them is labeled “open dimensions.” This is a clue that this symbol is used to open the portal (i.e., door) to the spirit world.

The symbol has ordered arrows giving the proper directions to replicate this symbol. The players must replicate these directions on a directional lock to open the door. This is a form of the sketch directions puzzles.

Astrology Reading (Box 8)

The players consult astrological charts to help them in their quest.

(I am unaware real paranormal investigators using astrology, but I think it meets the theme well.)

Suggested Puzzle Inside the spirit world is this map of the night sky with astrological symbols on it.

This map should be printed as large as possible (either on a poster or on multiple pieces of paper) to see its small features.

This map combines with the list of items in box 5 to form a grid lookup puzzle. The items in the list are “Be Loving”, “Reap Compassion”, “Laugh Madly”, and “Murder Kindly”. Focusing on the first letter of each phrase, we get B-L, R-C, L-M, and M-K. If we look up these pairs on the map (looking at columns first), we see that they point to the astrological symbols ♉, ♍, ♑, and ♐.

This still does not provide the code. These astrology symbols must be turned into numbers using the clue provided in box 4. This box either directly has the conversion of symbol to number or has a symbol algebra puzzle to assign a number to each. In the numbering provided in the examples above, these symbols translate to the code 3152.

Banishment Potion (Box 9)

When the players open this box, they find the instructions to create a banishment potion. When the players open this box, they get a potion recipe like this.

Suggested Puzzle The banishment potion box can be opened with a code provided by the tea light message puzzle. The tea light is placed on the table in the first room and is lit as the players walk in. By the time the players open the second room where this box is, the code should be visible in the candle. The players just have to find it.

Lizzy Unchained (Box 10)

The players free the trapped soul, Lizzy, who pleaded for help (box 6). However, as soon as the players succeed in releasing Lizzy, she reveals herself as a malevolent spirit intent on committing evil.

When players unlock this “box,” a horrible figure drops from the ceiling. (The puzzle is set up as a hanging boss. A Halloween decoration of a ghost works well for the figurine of Lizzy.) When Lizzy unfurls, a note is also dropped revealing her true nature.

When Lizzy is revealed, you can also play an audio file to pump up the drama.

Also dropping from Lizzy is a list of potion ingredients. This is a long list of weird ingredients, each with a random digit next to it.

Suggested Puzzle The clue to unlocking Lizzy unchained is provided by the EMF tool (box 3). I used the groovy blocks puzzle. This is a tricky puzzle, but providing the blocks early in box 3 will give players some more time to work it out.

Spirit Box (Box 11)

A spirit box in another device that paranormal investigators will use. It is an electronic device that makes a cyclic static sound and occasionally barks out words. What the spirit box is doing is quickly cycling through FM radio channels. It’s basically a digital FM radio with the tuner up button held down. As the radio scans through frequencies, it occasionally picks up a sound. Some people think this is spirits trying to communicate. (Others think it is a radio making sounds like radios do.)

Suggested Puzzle Like the other tools, the spirit box is emulated on a player’s phone and accessed through a QR code. Thus, a QR construction puzzle is appropriate. You can use a jigsaw QR puzzle here. The following QR code with the suggested cutout pieces works well.

These puzzle pieces come from box 8 (and possibly others).

Lizzy Defeated (Box 12)

The players concoct a banishment potion and apply it on the evil spirit Lizzy. On solving the puzzle, the players unlock the second part of the hanging boss. Lizzy falls to the ground, defeated. When Lizzy falls, you can play this audio file.

After Lizzy falls, players find a shopping list.

Suggested Puzzle The banishment potion from box 9 and the list of potion ingredients from box 10 are combined in a variation of the code-word lookup puzzle. The ingredients of the banishment potion are Pus, Sneezewort, Urine, Tubeworms, and Cockroaches. Looking these up in the list of potion ingredients, we see these are associated with the digits 1, 2, 5, 9, and 0, respectively.

But this is not the correct order of the digits. Each ingredient has a quantity containing a number. The ingredients need to be listed in the order of these numbers: 1-Urine, 2-Pus, 3-Cockroaches, 4-Sneezewort, 5-Tubeworms. This order yields the correct code: 51029.

Escape House (Exit)

With Lizzy defeated, the players must close the connection to the metaphysical world and unlock the door to the outside world. Then they can emerge from the house victorious.

Suggested Puzzle The spirit box from box 11 plays a sound:

Within this sound, words can be discerned: Evil, Gore, Blood, Pickles. In another variation of the code-word lookup puzzle, these words are cross-referenced in Lizzy’s shopping list from box 12. This provides the digits 8, 3, 1, and 4, which form the proper code 8314.

Flow Diagram

The materials and suggested puzzles of this escape room follow the following flow diagram.

graph TB;
  R1[Room 1: Living Space] --> B1 & B2 & B3
  style R1 fill:#fee,stroke:#b66
  B1(Box 1: Start Tools) --> B4
  B2(Box 2: Ectoplasm Tool) --> B5 & B6
  B3(Box 3: EMF Tool) --> B10
  B4(Box 4: EVP Tool) --> B8
  B5(Box 5: Research) --> B7 & B8
  B6(Box 6: Summon Lizzy) --> B7
  B7(Box 7: Reiki) --> R2
  R2[Room 2: Spirit World] --> B8 & B9 & B10
  style R2 fill:#fee,stroke:#b66
  B8(Box 8: Astrology Reading) --> B11
  B9(Box 9: Banishment Potion) --> B12
  B10(Box 10: Lizzy Unchained) --> B12
  B11(Box 11: Spirit Box) --> E
  B12(Box 12: Lizzy Defeated) --> E
  E(Exit: Escape House)
  style E fill:#fee,stroke:#b66

Equipment and Setup

Here is a list of equipment you will need if setting up your escape room in the same way as described above. This is organized by the items in the flow diagram above. Where possible, I have provided material for you.

• Room 1: Living Space
  • Contains a dining table with place settings and other possible aristocratic props.
  • Items:
    • Clue 1.0.1: Tea light with tea light message hidden in the wax. Light the candle as the game starts.
    • Clue 1.0.2: Plates with messages and invisible ink hidden underneath or on the underside.
    • Clue 1.0.3: Blunt knives with letters hidden on the undersides.
    • Clue 1.0.4: Mirror, mounted on wall.
    • Clue 1.0.5: A numeric code, mounted on wall (visible as a reflection in the mirror).
    • Clue 1.0.6: A cube puzzle with a QR code attached to one face and then jumbled.
    • Clue 1.0.7: A ouija board with invisible ink markings.
    • Clue 1.0.8: A key taped to the underneath a chair.
    • Clue 1.0.9: A key hidden elsewhere in another unfair hiding spot.
    • Boxes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
• Box 1: Start Tools
  • Puzzle: reflected code
    1. View Clue 1.0.5 (numeric code) in Clue 1.0.4 (the mirror) to reveal a different code.
    2. Answer: 8512
  • Items:
    • Clue 1.1.1: Fold-back QR code
• Box 2: Ectoplasm Tool
  • Puzzle: underside + stick word grid
    1. A close inspection of Clue 1.0.3 reveals letters on the underside of the knives.
    2. The knives are arranged to spell “knife”.
    3. The remainder of the letters spell the message “LOOK UNDER CHAIRS”.
    4. Taped under one chair is Clue 1.0.8, a key that opens the box.
  • Items:
    • Clue 1.2.1: An ultraviolet flashlight (referred to as an ectoplasm detection tool).
• Box 3: EMF Tool
  • Puzzle: QR Cube + map
    1. Unscramble Clue 1.0.6 to properly arrange the QR code.
    2. Scan the QR code to an online page or document containing a map of the room pointing to the location of Clue 1.0.9 (a key).
    3. Use the key to open a box.
  • Items:
    • Clue 1.3.1: Groovy blocks, which can be 3D printed with this model or cut into wood with a table saw and this pattern.
• Box 4: EVP Tool
  • Puzzle: fold back QR
    1. Fold back the edges of Clue 1.1.1 to align the edges of the QR code on the opposite side of the paper.
    2. Scan the QR code to go to the EVP simulator.
    3. Click the Record button.
    4. Click the Vol Up button until the volume level reads high.
    5. Play the audio file to hear the code.
    6. Answer: 6643
  • Items:
    • Clue 1.4.1: Astrological Symbol Algebra —or— Clue 1.4.2: Astrological Symbol Lookup.
• Box 5: Research
  • Puzzle: underneath or underside + invisible ink
    1. Find messages underneath or on the underside of Clue 1.0.2.
    2. Shine Clue 1.2.1 on the messages to reveal the secret code.
  • Items:
    • Clue 1.5.1: Research paper on interpreting dreams.
    • Clue 1.5.2: Phrases for life.
• Box 6: Summon Lizzy
  • Puzzle: invisible ink
    1. Shine Clue 1.2.1 on Clue 1.0.7 to reveal a path.
    2. Answer ghost
  • Items:
    • Clue 1.6.1: A note from Lizzy asking for help.
    • Clue 1.6.2: An excerpt from Lizzy’s diary.
• Box 7: Reiki
  • Puzzle: code-word lookup with odd capitalization:
    1. Identify words in Clue 1.6.2: Day, Lips, Eyebrows, and Knife.
    2. Find words in lists in Clue 1.5.1 and convert to numbers.
    3. Answer: 4482
  • Items:
    • Clue 1.7.1: Reiki symbols with path directions.
• Room 2: Spirit World
  • Puzzle: sketch directions
    1. Note that one of the symbols in Clue 1.7.1 is labeled “Open Dimensions”.
    2. Also note that the symbol has numbered arrows noting the order and directions of the path.
    3. Enter these directions into a directional lock.
    4. Answer: → ← → ↑
  • Items:
    • Clue 2.0.1: Map of night sky with astrological symbols.
    • Boxes 8, 9, 10
• Box 8: Astrology Reading
  • Puzzle: grid lookup + symbol algebra + symbol substitution
    1. Note the first letters of each phrase in Clue 1.5.2: B-L, R-C, L-M, M-K
    2. Use each pair of letters to find the corresponding grid component in Clue 2.0.1 based on the reference grid letters around the outside.
    3. Note the astrological symbol in each of these grid components: ♉, ♍, ♑, and ♐.
    4. Solve the algebra in Clue 1.4.1 (if provided) to find a numeric value associated with each symbol.
    5. Convert the map symbols to numbers with the algebra solution (or Clue 1.4.2 if provided instead) to reveal the code.
    6. Answer: 3152.
  • Items:
    • Clue 2.8.1: QR jigsaw pieces
• Box 9: Banishment Potion
  • Puzzle: tea light message
    1. Over time, a code appears in Clue 1.0.1. (Make sure the candle stays lit until the code is found. If the players blow it out, relight it and say the candle relights on its own.)
  • Items:
    • Clue 2.9.1: Banishment potion
• Box 10: Lizzy Unchained
  • Puzzle: groovy blocks + hanging boss
    1. Stack the Clue 1.3.1 blocks correctly to reveal to code on the side.
    2. Answer: 8347
  • Items:
    • Clue 2.10.1: List of potion ingredients.
    • Box 12 (the second half of the hanging boss).
• Box 11: Spirit Box
  • Puzzle: jigsaw QR
    1. Assemble the pieces of Clue 2.8.1.
    2. Scan the QR code.
  • Items:
    • Clue 2.11.1: Web page for spirit box.
• Box 12: Lizzy Defeated
  • Puzzle: code-word lookup
    1. Look up the ingredients from Clue 2.9.1 to get the associated number in Clue 2.10.1. This gives the digits 1, 2, 5, 9, and 0, respectively.
    2. Reorder these numbers based on the quantity listed in Clue 2.9.1.
    3. Answer: 51029
  • Items:
    • Clue 2.12.1: shopping list
• Exit: Escape House
  • Puzzle: code-word lookup
    1. Listening to Clue 2.11.1, 4 words are discernable: Evil, Gore, Blood, Pickles.
    2. Look up these words in Clue 2.12.1.
    3. Answer: 8314

Audio Quick Reference

As the players progress in the game, there are some audio files you can play at certain events to add ambience. Here is a quick reference tyo play each file.

Box 6: Summon Lizzy opened (Lizzy asks for help)
(Download)

Box 10: Lizzy Unchained (Evil Lizzy is revealed and threatens players)
(Download)

Box 12: Lizzy Defeated (Lizzy is defeated and falls to the ground)
(Download)