Title: Im Haus dem Henkers (In the Executioner's House)
Book: #180
Radio Play: #182
Author: Marco Sonnleitner
Summary
Official SummaryJustus, Peter and Bob are sitting on the bus and are on their way to the junkyard when a young man gets on. Pale as a sheet and trembling, he pulls out his cell phone and dials 911. But what happens next is something the three Investigators couldn't have imagined: the seemingly harmless man confesses to robbing a jewelry store! When an old acquaintance is drawn into the matter, it is clear that something is not right here! The Three Investigators dark places and get into the company of shady characters... Description
After watching a scary movie, the Investigators, tired from their outing decides to return back home with the bus. The bus itself is filled with people from the Rocky Beach County Fair. A nervous young man who seems to be acting strangely. They observe him for a bit and after a few stops, the young man calls 911, introducing himself as 'Rudy Carlisle', giving his address, and claiming that he had robbed a jewelry store. Shocked by the sudden confession, Jupiter manages to discretely get the bus to stop and for everyone to get off, arranging for the police to show up, who arrest Carlisle.
The next day, the trio are cleaning up and fixing an old box of toys at the scrapyard. Suddenly they receive a phone call from Inspector Cotta, who wishes to take their statements of yesterday's incident. After meeting up with Cotta, the three see through his façade as he actually wanted their expertise the the case. Cotta reveals that Carlisle wasn't the only one to confess a crime, in fact he is the third. Jupiter realizes that Matthew Crouch, a friendly acquaintance of theirs, is one of the perpetrators, but Cotta refuses to share the file with them.
Troubled that the friendly and gentle Matthew was involved in such crimes, the three decide to investigate further to see if they can exonerate him from the crime. They decide to visit the Crouch home, were Mrs. Crouch tells them a bit about what happened. Apparently, Mathew returned home completely despondent and depressed, which is uncharacteristic of him. And when the police came to arrest him the next morning, Matthew didn't resist at all and continued to insist that he did the robbery. Hearing this, the detectives offer her their services and she accepts.
After the visit, the Investigators discuss the strange behavior of both Matthew and Carlisle, whom they realize is acting very similarly: dazed and zombie-like. They decide to visit the stores that had been broken into, but the only have luck with Edna Shinefield. She tells them about the burglary and that there was definitely one man, who was tall and huge. They take a look around the store and near the safe, Jupiter finds a plastic coin with the image of a black, hooded executioner on it and surmises that it could have come from a fairground.
Armed with this knowledge, the three decide to head to the carnival to do some research. Upon arriving, the detectives split up to cover more ground. Bob encounters a tall hulking executioner who asks him if he's alone. Meanwhile, Jupiter meets up with a fortune teller, who correctly claims that he was an orphan. She warns him of great danger. The two meet up with Peter, who also had an encounter with a strange man, like Bob, who told him to 'go away'. They spot the strange figure in the crowd who disappears into a ghost train.
With only enough money for two tickets, only Peter and Bob will be entering while Jupiter waits outside. There, the two find that the plastic coins they are using for the ghost train is exactly the same as the one Jupiter found in Shinefield's jewelry store. Ahead of them in the line, a nervous young man buys a ticket as well.
Peter and Bob enter the ride, taking through many spooky scenery, Peter in particular is quite terrified. In one of the scenes, they spot the executioner, the same one on the plastic coin, who appears to attack them. Before they can get grabbed, Peter manages releases the lock on the safety bar, but the ride also accelerates away from the man. They eventually get to the end of the ride, where they meet up with Jupiter. They tell him about the scary encounter, Peter insists it was a real attack while Bob is slightly more skeptical and thinks it could be part of the ride. They decide to call the police, but are unable to find a phone or policeman on duty. Strangely, the young man who went in before on the ride reappears now, acting much like Carlisle and Matthew.
Back at the scrapyard later that day, the three discuss what had happened where they are interrupted by the call for food While eating, Titus turns up the TV as something is happening on the news. The Investigators are shocked to see the young man that had entered before, Quentin Hay, was on the news for burglary as well and turned himself in. They call Cotta who indirectly confirms that Hay really did turn himself in, but tells them to stay off the case. They also call Mrs. Crouch, who confirms that Matthew had been alone at the fair. After determining that Matthew must have gotten his hall of mirrors picture souvenir for his mother from a camera, they decide to go back to the carnival.
At the fair, they find the hall of mirrors, they make a deal with Daphne, the attendant, to become volunteers for cake toss if she showed them the Hall of Mirror footage. They don't find anything in particular, other than Carlisle coming out of Madame-Au-Dela's tent, looking spooked. Jupiter and Bob make the observation that Carlisle and the other victims seemed particularly sensitive people.
This time, Jupiter and Peter were going to go on the ghost train: Jupiter wanted to see the executioner himself and Peter because he had managed to open the safety bar in the last ride. Jupiter had also brought pepper spray with him just in case. With Bob waiting outside, the two board the ride again. After making it to the same room the executioner was, they find that he's not there.
Peter works to get the safety bar open and he does. Jupiter is able to exit the vehicle, but Peter's expensive jacket gets caught in the mechanism, forcing him to stay on the ride alone. Suddenly, Peter is taken to a different location, where he hears his name being called and 'Nosferatu' being chanted. A swirling red and black light appears before him and spins around him and a strange figure emerges from the ground, appearing to reach for him.
Jupiter is wandering around the inside of the ride, trying to contact Bob with their walkie-talkie, but is unable to get through to him. Eventually, he manages to make his way to the exit after about twenty minutes and meets up with Bob. Strangely, Peter, who had gone ahead of him, had not emerged and the two become worried. They ignore Madame Au-Dela, who tries to warn them of the danger, for Peter who had finally come out of the ride. The two meet up with their friend who is acting both dazed and ill, unable to explain what happened inside. Peter, who says he is tired, wants to return home alone, but Jupiter and Bob decide to take him home. On the way, Peter continues to grow more nervous and despondent. Upon reaching his home, Peter runs inside without another word.
To keep their agreement with Daphne, the two return to the fair, along the way they discuss what seems to be wrong with their Second. Determining that something must have happened to him, they decide to continue their investigations until their promise with Daphne. They look into Luther Litti, who is the managing director of the ride. They try to talk to him, but notice that he has a rather expensive looking ring on his desk which he quickly hides. After participating as targets for cake toss, Jupiter and Bob are approached by one of the executioners who tells them to 'go away and never return'.
Suddenly, Jupiter gets a call on his mobile phone from the police station. He answers, thinking it's Cotta, but it's actually Mrs. Shaw, Peter's mother, who tells him that Peter had just been arrested for robbing a store. Shocked, the two make their way to the police station, where Peter's parents tell them about what happened. A tearful Mrs. Shaw tells them that Peter had left the house after they left and returned after an hour, even more exhausted and confused. A short while after he went to bed, the police showed up and arrested him, and like Matthew, he did not resist and continued to claim that he had robbed a jewelry store. Mrs. Shaw begs Jupiter for his help, but seeing that Inspector Kershaw was on duty, there was nothing they could do right now.
Jupiter and Bob return home to get some sleep, but end up talking in the headquarters unable to. The next day they arrive back at the police station where Peter's parents are already there. Inspector Cotta finally returns and is shocked to find out that Peter had been arrested. He pulls some strings and manages to arrange a visit between Peter and his parents and friends.
They arrive the cell to find Peter looking even worse than he did yesterday, despondent and hopeless. He still seems out of it and is unable to answer their questions about the burglary, claiming that he doesn't remember, but continues to insist that he had done it. While trying to figure out what's wrong, Bob mentions 'Nosferatu' and upon hearing the name, Peter goes into a seizure.
A little while later, Jupiter, Bob and Peter's parents are waiting outside the cell while the psychologist tends to Peter, who is unable to determine what was wrong with him. Mr. Shaw continues to insist that Peter is sick and he and his wife re-enter to talk with Peter, who has recovered somewhat, but is unable to remember what scared him. Jupiter and Bob tell Cotta about their lead at the carnival and that Peter had started acting strangely after riding the ghost train. Cotta is reluctant to investigate, but promises to do all he can for Peter. Determined, Jupiter decides they should go back to the carnival before it gets dismantled.
Back at the carnival, they return to Litti's trailer, where Bob manages to pick the lock with his driver's license. With bob standing guard, Jupiter manages to find the ring, but two people enter. He overhears them talking about 'candidates' and that they were still looking for another one for Malibu. Jupiter escapes and lets Bob know about what he overheard, but the two are seen by the two vampire attendants.
The two run for it and eventually take cover by going into the ghost train. Jupiter fails to get into the vehicle, but Bob continues riding forward. Jupiter makes his way through the attraction, eventually running into Bob again, who had been caught and gagged followed by a guard with a gun. Jupiter follows them and Bob is taken into a room with strange swirled paintings. While wondering what to do, Jupiter is seen.
Jupiter creates a distraction and Bob manages to disarm his guard and they both flee the scene, running in different directions. While Bob finds a hiding spot, Jupiter is trying to outrun the people chasing him, but is caught by the executioner. He is about to be turned into Litti, who wants to call the police though Ronny wants to take care of Jupiter himself. Suddenly, Cotta shows up with two cops, who had finally decided to look into the ghost train after looking into Jupiter's claims.
With all five perpetrators having rode the ghost train and then completed their crimes, Cotta asks them for an explanation, though Litti insists that he wasn't part of the scheme. Jupiter tells them about how Ronny almost did something to Bob, who they find hiding in a fake iron maiden. After getting him out, the box he was standing on breaks open, revealing all the stolen jewelry. Litti continues to insist that that he has no idea what's going on, but Ronny makes a break for it.
Jupiter then correctly deduces that Litti is only leasing this attraction and that the real owner is Kiera Caldwell, otherwise known as Madamne Au-Dela. He reveals that she, Kyle Caldwell, and Ronny were the jewel thieves. They try to make their escape, but accidentally run into George, who claims he was quitting.
A week later, Matthew, his mother, and the Three Investigators are having some of Aunt Mathilda's cake as they recap the events. Jupiter explains that the two Caldwells and Ronny had conducted a the whole hypnotism scheme to make young men take the blame for their burglaries because they were in dire need of money. Litti was not part of it at all and had only bought the wring for Caldwell because he wanted to marry Loreen, one of his staff.
Both Matthew and Peter are doing better, thanks to therapy, and are told that there should be no lasting effects from the hypnotism; all the other victims have been released as well. When Jupiter teases Peter about potential lasting damage due to his memory being at max capacity, Peter jokingly calls 911 and confesses that he murdered Jupiter.
The next day, the trio are cleaning up and fixing an old box of toys at the scrapyard. Suddenly they receive a phone call from Inspector Cotta, who wishes to take their statements of yesterday's incident. After meeting up with Cotta, the three see through his façade as he actually wanted their expertise the the case. Cotta reveals that Carlisle wasn't the only one to confess a crime, in fact he is the third. Jupiter realizes that Matthew Crouch, a friendly acquaintance of theirs, is one of the perpetrators, but Cotta refuses to share the file with them.
Troubled that the friendly and gentle Matthew was involved in such crimes, the three decide to investigate further to see if they can exonerate him from the crime. They decide to visit the Crouch home, were Mrs. Crouch tells them a bit about what happened. Apparently, Mathew returned home completely despondent and depressed, which is uncharacteristic of him. And when the police came to arrest him the next morning, Matthew didn't resist at all and continued to insist that he did the robbery. Hearing this, the detectives offer her their services and she accepts.
After the visit, the Investigators discuss the strange behavior of both Matthew and Carlisle, whom they realize is acting very similarly: dazed and zombie-like. They decide to visit the stores that had been broken into, but the only have luck with Edna Shinefield. She tells them about the burglary and that there was definitely one man, who was tall and huge. They take a look around the store and near the safe, Jupiter finds a plastic coin with the image of a black, hooded executioner on it and surmises that it could have come from a fairground.
Armed with this knowledge, the three decide to head to the carnival to do some research. Upon arriving, the detectives split up to cover more ground. Bob encounters a tall hulking executioner who asks him if he's alone. Meanwhile, Jupiter meets up with a fortune teller, who correctly claims that he was an orphan. She warns him of great danger. The two meet up with Peter, who also had an encounter with a strange man, like Bob, who told him to 'go away'. They spot the strange figure in the crowd who disappears into a ghost train.
With only enough money for two tickets, only Peter and Bob will be entering while Jupiter waits outside. There, the two find that the plastic coins they are using for the ghost train is exactly the same as the one Jupiter found in Shinefield's jewelry store. Ahead of them in the line, a nervous young man buys a ticket as well.
Peter and Bob enter the ride, taking through many spooky scenery, Peter in particular is quite terrified. In one of the scenes, they spot the executioner, the same one on the plastic coin, who appears to attack them. Before they can get grabbed, Peter manages releases the lock on the safety bar, but the ride also accelerates away from the man. They eventually get to the end of the ride, where they meet up with Jupiter. They tell him about the scary encounter, Peter insists it was a real attack while Bob is slightly more skeptical and thinks it could be part of the ride. They decide to call the police, but are unable to find a phone or policeman on duty. Strangely, the young man who went in before on the ride reappears now, acting much like Carlisle and Matthew.
Back at the scrapyard later that day, the three discuss what had happened where they are interrupted by the call for food While eating, Titus turns up the TV as something is happening on the news. The Investigators are shocked to see the young man that had entered before, Quentin Hay, was on the news for burglary as well and turned himself in. They call Cotta who indirectly confirms that Hay really did turn himself in, but tells them to stay off the case. They also call Mrs. Crouch, who confirms that Matthew had been alone at the fair. After determining that Matthew must have gotten his hall of mirrors picture souvenir for his mother from a camera, they decide to go back to the carnival.
At the fair, they find the hall of mirrors, they make a deal with Daphne, the attendant, to become volunteers for cake toss if she showed them the Hall of Mirror footage. They don't find anything in particular, other than Carlisle coming out of Madame-Au-Dela's tent, looking spooked. Jupiter and Bob make the observation that Carlisle and the other victims seemed particularly sensitive people.
This time, Jupiter and Peter were going to go on the ghost train: Jupiter wanted to see the executioner himself and Peter because he had managed to open the safety bar in the last ride. Jupiter had also brought pepper spray with him just in case. With Bob waiting outside, the two board the ride again. After making it to the same room the executioner was, they find that he's not there.
Peter works to get the safety bar open and he does. Jupiter is able to exit the vehicle, but Peter's expensive jacket gets caught in the mechanism, forcing him to stay on the ride alone. Suddenly, Peter is taken to a different location, where he hears his name being called and 'Nosferatu' being chanted. A swirling red and black light appears before him and spins around him and a strange figure emerges from the ground, appearing to reach for him.
Jupiter is wandering around the inside of the ride, trying to contact Bob with their walkie-talkie, but is unable to get through to him. Eventually, he manages to make his way to the exit after about twenty minutes and meets up with Bob. Strangely, Peter, who had gone ahead of him, had not emerged and the two become worried. They ignore Madame Au-Dela, who tries to warn them of the danger, for Peter who had finally come out of the ride. The two meet up with their friend who is acting both dazed and ill, unable to explain what happened inside. Peter, who says he is tired, wants to return home alone, but Jupiter and Bob decide to take him home. On the way, Peter continues to grow more nervous and despondent. Upon reaching his home, Peter runs inside without another word.
To keep their agreement with Daphne, the two return to the fair, along the way they discuss what seems to be wrong with their Second. Determining that something must have happened to him, they decide to continue their investigations until their promise with Daphne. They look into Luther Litti, who is the managing director of the ride. They try to talk to him, but notice that he has a rather expensive looking ring on his desk which he quickly hides. After participating as targets for cake toss, Jupiter and Bob are approached by one of the executioners who tells them to 'go away and never return'.
Suddenly, Jupiter gets a call on his mobile phone from the police station. He answers, thinking it's Cotta, but it's actually Mrs. Shaw, Peter's mother, who tells him that Peter had just been arrested for robbing a store. Shocked, the two make their way to the police station, where Peter's parents tell them about what happened. A tearful Mrs. Shaw tells them that Peter had left the house after they left and returned after an hour, even more exhausted and confused. A short while after he went to bed, the police showed up and arrested him, and like Matthew, he did not resist and continued to claim that he had robbed a jewelry store. Mrs. Shaw begs Jupiter for his help, but seeing that Inspector Kershaw was on duty, there was nothing they could do right now.
Jupiter and Bob return home to get some sleep, but end up talking in the headquarters unable to. The next day they arrive back at the police station where Peter's parents are already there. Inspector Cotta finally returns and is shocked to find out that Peter had been arrested. He pulls some strings and manages to arrange a visit between Peter and his parents and friends.
They arrive the cell to find Peter looking even worse than he did yesterday, despondent and hopeless. He still seems out of it and is unable to answer their questions about the burglary, claiming that he doesn't remember, but continues to insist that he had done it. While trying to figure out what's wrong, Bob mentions 'Nosferatu' and upon hearing the name, Peter goes into a seizure.
A little while later, Jupiter, Bob and Peter's parents are waiting outside the cell while the psychologist tends to Peter, who is unable to determine what was wrong with him. Mr. Shaw continues to insist that Peter is sick and he and his wife re-enter to talk with Peter, who has recovered somewhat, but is unable to remember what scared him. Jupiter and Bob tell Cotta about their lead at the carnival and that Peter had started acting strangely after riding the ghost train. Cotta is reluctant to investigate, but promises to do all he can for Peter. Determined, Jupiter decides they should go back to the carnival before it gets dismantled.
Back at the carnival, they return to Litti's trailer, where Bob manages to pick the lock with his driver's license. With bob standing guard, Jupiter manages to find the ring, but two people enter. He overhears them talking about 'candidates' and that they were still looking for another one for Malibu. Jupiter escapes and lets Bob know about what he overheard, but the two are seen by the two vampire attendants.
The two run for it and eventually take cover by going into the ghost train. Jupiter fails to get into the vehicle, but Bob continues riding forward. Jupiter makes his way through the attraction, eventually running into Bob again, who had been caught and gagged followed by a guard with a gun. Jupiter follows them and Bob is taken into a room with strange swirled paintings. While wondering what to do, Jupiter is seen.
Jupiter creates a distraction and Bob manages to disarm his guard and they both flee the scene, running in different directions. While Bob finds a hiding spot, Jupiter is trying to outrun the people chasing him, but is caught by the executioner. He is about to be turned into Litti, who wants to call the police though Ronny wants to take care of Jupiter himself. Suddenly, Cotta shows up with two cops, who had finally decided to look into the ghost train after looking into Jupiter's claims.
With all five perpetrators having rode the ghost train and then completed their crimes, Cotta asks them for an explanation, though Litti insists that he wasn't part of the scheme. Jupiter tells them about how Ronny almost did something to Bob, who they find hiding in a fake iron maiden. After getting him out, the box he was standing on breaks open, revealing all the stolen jewelry. Litti continues to insist that that he has no idea what's going on, but Ronny makes a break for it.
Jupiter then correctly deduces that Litti is only leasing this attraction and that the real owner is Kiera Caldwell, otherwise known as Madamne Au-Dela. He reveals that she, Kyle Caldwell, and Ronny were the jewel thieves. They try to make their escape, but accidentally run into George, who claims he was quitting.
A week later, Matthew, his mother, and the Three Investigators are having some of Aunt Mathilda's cake as they recap the events. Jupiter explains that the two Caldwells and Ronny had conducted a the whole hypnotism scheme to make young men take the blame for their burglaries because they were in dire need of money. Litti was not part of it at all and had only bought the wring for Caldwell because he wanted to marry Loreen, one of his staff.
Both Matthew and Peter are doing better, thanks to therapy, and are told that there should be no lasting effects from the hypnotism; all the other victims have been released as well. When Jupiter teases Peter about potential lasting damage due to his memory being at max capacity, Peter jokingly calls 911 and confesses that he murdered Jupiter.
Tropes
- Adaptation Deviation: In the radio play, Mr. Shaw is absent and only Mrs. Shaw is allowed to visit Peter in jail. Also, the significance of 'Nosferatu' is completely absent, as Peter's section where is hypnotized as been cut and he doesn't go into a seizure because the trigger word was never found.
- Circus Episode: Well, actually a carnival, but in a similar vein. Technically also a Vampire Episode, due to the theming of the ghost train itself, though the vampires don't play a big part in this story and are just flavor theming.
- Clear Their Name: After Peter randomly commits a burglary at a jewelry store and is shown to be acting strangely both Jupiter and Bob work to try clear his name. Turns out neither Peter or the other victims were at fault and were hypnotized into taking the blame; they didn't even commit the crime. Bob and Jupiter were able to prove their innocence by catching the real thieves and they were all released and even put into therapy to recover from the violent hypnotism.
- Convulsive Seizures: Peter goes into one after Bob mentions 'Nosferatu', which is an after effect of being so badly hypnotized with the figure.
- False Confession: What the hypnotized victims of the ghost train were supposed to do to cover the burglary committed by the real thieves.
- Foreshadowing: In the third chapter, Jupiter tests one of the toys they are fixing: a spinning top with a red spiral on top. Peter follows the spiral with his head and remarks how it makes his head 'fuzzy' and even talks about how there are even more sophisticated tops with flashing lights and sound effects. Lo and behold, after he gets stuck in the ghost ride, Peter experiences a large scale version of this and gets hypnotized.
- Fortune Teller: Kiera Caldwell, AKA Madame Au-Dela, works as one at the fair and was also responsible for the horrific hypnotism that five victims went through. She specifically cherry-picked victims that were sensitive and did her trick in the ride.
- Mind Rape: Downplayed, at least in method. Caldwell blasts a series of spinning spiral screens, repetitive language, and a dummy of Nosferatu at chosen victims for about twenty minutes so they can be psychologically programmed to do the series of tasks she assigned. However, the after effects of this experience is more closely mirrors victims of this trope: their minds are essentially broken and they have lost all sense of will or self preservation, being despondent and zombie-like. They are unable to remember anything other than they did the crime and even shows signs of physical illness. Peter even goes into a seizure at the mere mention of the trigger phrase. Thankfully, this experience is recoverable and Peter, Matthew, and the other victims will make a full recovery.
- Nepotism: How Peter's parents, Bob, and Jupiter were able to get their visit with Peter, who had been arrested. Mrs. Crouch was barely able to visit her son, Matthew, who had also been arrested. Initially, Peter's parents and the two Investigators were unable to meet Peter without Cotta's help.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Peter comes out of the ghost train ride completely dazed, confused, and a sickly. Matthew and the other victims are also described to be acting strange this way, which seemed notably unnatural.
- Red Herring: Litti was suspected to have been part of the scheme, but it turns out he had no idea and had only leased the attraction. He bought a stolen ring from Caldwell as an engagement ring to Loreen, one of the other staff members. George, one of the executioners who kept telling the Investigators to 'stay away', was not part of the plot either, he was just playing his character.
- Sensory Overload: How Caldwell was able to overwhelm victims and make them susceptible to being mind programmed.
- Taking the Heat: The whole point the entire hypnotism scheme was conducted was so that either Caldwell or Ronny could rob jewelry stores and use random young men as a scapegoat for the crime.
- Trigger Phrase: Peter and the other victims had 'Nosferatu' drilled into their heads. Then they were supposed to go to a place alone to avoid having an alibi while the burglary took place then upon receiving a text message with the picture of Nosferatu, they were supposed to call the police and make the confession. Peter also went into seizure upon accidentally hearing the trigger word again from Bob.
- Weak-Willed: The reason why the first victim, Matthew Crouch, Rudy Carlisle, and Quentin Hay were chosen as victims was because they were all very sensitive people who would be susceptible to hypnotism and they had to be men so they can take the blame for Kyle Caldwell or Ronny. Peter, who like the other Investigators, was only targeted because he was snooping and just happened to fit into the mold so he was incorporated into the scheme as the fifth and final victim. Jupiter declares that the Investigators as a whole needed to train to become more resistant to these kind of things.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: It isn't clear how Kiera Caldwell knew that Jupiter's parents were deceased at the beginning of the story. Even by the end of the story, Jupiter still wonders how she could known, making it unclear if she was just really good at reading people or if she really did have mindreading powers.
