40 Fun Facts About Skeleton Creek

What is the name of the ghost said to haunt the abandoned dredge in the woods outside Skeleton Creek?

Old Joe Bush is said to be a worker who died in an accident there years ago. Sarah's night-time footage claims to catch him on camera.

What injury leaves Ryan housebound after his night-time accident at the dredge in Skeleton Creek?

A broken leg puts Ryan in a cast and under his parents' eye, so he writes everything down while Sarah keeps exploring with her camera.

The New York Times called Skeleton Creek one part X-Files and one part which found-footage horror film?

Blair Witch Project is the obvious cousin of Sarah's shaky clips from the dark woods, which other reviewers also likened to that film's handheld frights.

The first Skeleton Creek video password, houseofusher, points to a sinking-house story by which American author?

Edgar Allan Poe haunts the whole series: his pit and pendulum, his cask of Amontillado and his tell-tale heart all turn up as later passwords.

In which US state does Patrick Carman set the small former mining town of Skeleton Creek?

Oregon is home ground for the author, who was born in its capital, Salem, and modelled his haunted town on a real one there.

Which bird at his window does Ryan obsess over in Skeleton Creek, giving one of the videos its password?

A raven at the glass unsettles Ryan badly, and the clip it unlocks became one of the most popular videos in the whole series.

The Skeleton Creek video password mistersmithers borrows a recurring character from which long-running animated TV show?

The Simpsons is an odd one out among the passwords, most of which point to ghost stories, old poems and classic horror films.

The printed pages of Skeleton Creek use ruled paper and a typeface designed to look like what?

Handwriting sells the idea that readers are holding Ryan's own notebook, complete with printouts that look pasted onto the pages.

How does Sarah get her video clips to Ryan while he is confined to the house in Skeleton Creek?

By email, Sarah sends links to a private website, where each clip stays locked until Ryan types in a password.

The Skeleton Creek video password maryshelley honours the author of which classic novel about a man-made monster?

Frankenstein was begun when its author was only 18, not much older than Ryan is in the books.

Which relative does Ryan discover is one of the last living members of Skeleton Creek's secret society?

His father, Paul McCray, belongs to the group sworn to protect the dredge, which is why Ryan ends up spying on him at home.

What is the name of the secret society sworn to protect the dredge in the Skeleton Creek series?

The Crossbones later give the third book its title, when the trail of their secrets leads far beyond the town.

Which man is finally unmasked in the second Skeleton Creek book as the one disguised as the dredge's ghost?

Henry, the villain of the first two books, staged the hauntings himself, and the truth only comes out at the very end of the story.

What do Ryan and Sarah finally discover hidden inside the dredge in the second Skeleton Creek book?

A fortune in gold, worth millions of dollars, had been sitting inside the rusting hulk all along.

Which Skeleton Creek character joins the parents in keeping a close watch on Ryan and Sarah?

Ranger Bonner and the parents all want the two friends kept apart after Ryan is hurt, so the investigating has to carry on behind their backs.

What does Ryan secretly disable on his computer so he and Sarah can keep in touch in Skeleton Creek?

Monitoring software stood between the two friends once contact was forbidden; with it switched off, Sarah's videos could keep reaching Ryan in secret.

What do Ryan's parents threaten to do if he contacts Sarah again after his accident in Skeleton Creek?

Move the family away is no small threat: the plan would take Ryan clear across the country from his best friend.

The first Skeleton Creek book ends on a cliffhanger with Ryan and Sarah trapped where on the dredge?

In a secret room is where the printed story stops, so readers had to wait for the sequel to learn how the pair got out.

Which sequel, published in the same year as Skeleton Creek, finishes the story left hanging by the first book?

Ghost in the Machine was billed as the conclusion of the mystery, yet three more books and a run of spin-off videos followed.

Which three real scientists' discoveries help unravel the mystery of the dredge in the second Skeleton Creek book?

Hooke, Boyle and Newton were all 17th-century fellows of the Royal Society, and the official teaching guide suggests a class presentation on any one of them.

Which publisher released Patrick Carman's Skeleton Creek in 2009?

Scholastic had already published the author's first novel, and it sold the new book as a story told half in print and half on screen.

Which real town, home to a huge preserved dredge, is the model for Patrick Carman's Skeleton Creek?

Sumpter's old dredge comes with a ghost legend of its own, which the author borrowed for his story.

According to legend, what does the ghost of the real-life dredge that inspired Skeleton Creek leave on the decks?

Wet, bare footprints, flickering lights and doors that open by themselves were all blamed on the ghost, though one old worker said the tale began as a joke.

Skeleton Creek author Patrick Carman also wrote The Black Circle, the fifth book of which multi-author adventure series?

The 39 Clues was shared among a team of children's authors, and his entry came out in the same year as the first two Skeleton Creek books.

Which fantasy series, opening with The Dark Hills Divide, did Patrick Carman write before Skeleton Creek?

The Land of Elyon made his name: its books were New York Times bestsellers before he turned to ghost stories.

In the Skeleton Creek Investigations videos, Sarah explores the legend of phantom Night Marchers in which US state?

Hawaii's Night Marchers are said to be ghostly warriors roaming the islands, one of the urban legends Sarah chases from coast to coast.

Which Pennsylvania battlefield town does Sarah visit in the Skeleton Creek Investigations ghost-hunting videos?

Gettysburg is billed in the series as one of the most active paranormal battlegrounds in the world.

Lucy Westenra, who lends Skeleton Creek the password lucywestenra, is the vampire's first English victim in which novel?

Dracula preys on Lucy soon after he lands at Whitby, and her name is one of nine passwords that unlock the videos in the first book.

The Skeleton Creek password miltonarbogast names the private detective in which Alfred Hitchcock film?

Psycho sends Arbogast snooping around a creepy motel, and the series compares Ryan and Sarah to him: hunting for answers in a strange setting.

The Skeleton Creek password jacktorrance comes from which Stephen King story about a writer coming apart?

The Shining was chosen with Ryan in mind: like Jack, he is a writer who grows more and more disturbed as the story goes on.

The Skeleton Creek password peterquint, from The Turn of the Screw, points readers to which storytelling device?

An unreliable narrator is the link: the password asks whether Ryan, who keeps admitting he is paranoid, is telling readers the truth.

The Skeleton Creek password leonardshelby names the tattooed, memory-less hero of which Christopher Nolan film?

Memento follows a man with no memory who reads the notes tattooed on his own body to work out what happened to him.

The Skeleton Creek password tanginabarrons names a ghost-seeing psychic from which 1980s horror film series?

Poltergeist's Tangina is the clairvoyant called in to clear a haunted family home, a fitting guide for two teenagers chasing a ghost.

The Skeleton Creek password georgelutz names the homeowner behind which famous haunted-house story?

The Amityville Horror, built on the Lutz family's claims about their Long Island house, is a story the Skeleton Creek author admits he finds very scary.

The Skeleton Creek password melaniedaniels names the heroine of which Hitchcock film about a town under attack?

The Birds is one of two Hitchcock films the series raids for passwords; this one turns up in the fourth book.

The Skeleton Creek password edwindrood refers to the unfinished final novel of which Victorian author?

Charles Dickens died in 1870 with The Mystery of Edwin Drood half written, so its murder mystery has never been officially solved.

The Skeleton Creek password fatheraristeus nods to which secretive old practice at the heart of the series' mythology?

Alchemy is described by the series itself as a major part of its mythology, which is how thinkers of the 1600s end up in a modern ghost story.

Before writing fiction, Skeleton Creek author Patrick Carman ran an ad agency and created what kind of products?

Board games came before a dotcom that he built and sold, and only then did he settle on writing for young readers.

Sarah hunts a legend of lost treasure in the Superstition Mountains of which state in Skeleton Creek Investigations?

Arizona's Lost Dutchman State Park is the setting, named for a fabled mine that searchers have never managed to find.

The Skeleton Creek password theancientmariner comes from a seafaring poem by which English Romantic poet?

Coleridge's mariner kills a great seabird and is dogged by terrible luck afterwards, in a poem written in 1797 and 1798.