Skeleton Creek
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40 free Skeleton Creek trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Skeleton Creek is the book that sends its readers to a computer. Patrick Carman's 2009 mystery is split in two: Ryan writes down what he knows in a journal, while his best friend Sarah films what she finds, and each of her clips sits online behind a password hidden in the text. Together the two halves tell one ghost story about a small town and the rusting dredge in the woods that nobody wants to talk about. This quiz covers the story from Ryan's accident to the cliffhanger ending and on into the sequels: the people keeping watch on the two friends, the society guarding the town's past, the meaning of the video passwords, the place and the legend the author borrowed, and the man who wrote it all. It suits students who have just finished the book and want to check what they remember, teachers and librarians looking for a quick review or a printable set of questions, and fans of the series who watched every video. Each answer comes with a short explanation.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the name of the ghost said to haunt the abandoned dredge in the woods outside Skeleton Creek?
Old Joe Bush
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.
Q 02What injury leaves Ryan housebound after his night-time accident at the dredge in Skeleton Creek?
A broken leg
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.
Q 03The New York Times called Skeleton Creek one part X-Files and one part which found-footage horror film?
Blair Witch Project
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.
Q 04The first Skeleton Creek video password, houseofusher, points to a sinking-house story by which American author?
Edgar Allan Poe
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.
Q 05In which US state does Patrick Carman set the small former mining town of Skeleton Creek?
Oregon
Oregon is home ground for the author, who was born in its capital, Salem, and modelled his haunted town on a real one there.
Q 06Which bird at his window does Ryan obsess over in Skeleton Creek, giving one of the videos its password?
A raven
A raven at the glass unsettles Ryan badly, and the clip it unlocks became one of the most popular videos in the whole series.
Q 07The Skeleton Creek video password mistersmithers borrows a recurring character from which long-running animated TV show?
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an odd one out among the passwords, most of which point to ghost stories, old poems and classic horror films.
Q 08The printed pages of Skeleton Creek use ruled paper and a typeface designed to look like what?
Handwriting
Handwriting sells the idea that readers are holding Ryan's own notebook, complete with printouts that look pasted onto the pages.
Q 09How does Sarah get her video clips to Ryan while he is confined to the house in Skeleton Creek?
By email
By email, Sarah sends links to a private website, where each clip stays locked until Ryan types in a password.
Q 10The Skeleton Creek video password maryshelley honours the author of which classic novel about a man-made monster?
Frankenstein
Frankenstein was begun when its author was only 18, not much older than Ryan is in the books.
Q 11Which relative does Ryan discover is one of the last living members of Skeleton Creek's secret society?
His father
His father, Paul McCray, belongs to the group sworn to protect the dredge, which is why Ryan ends up spying on him at home.
Q 12What is the name of the secret society sworn to protect the dredge in the Skeleton Creek series?
The Crossbones
The Crossbones later give the third book its title, when the trail of their secrets leads far beyond the town.
Q 13Which man is finally unmasked in the second Skeleton Creek book as the one disguised as the dredge's ghost?
Henry
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.
Q 21Which publisher released Patrick Carman's Skeleton Creek in 2009?
Scholastic
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.
Q 22Which real town, home to a huge preserved dredge, is the model for Patrick Carman's Skeleton Creek?
Sumpter
Sumpter's old dredge comes with a ghost legend of its own, which the author borrowed for his story.
Q 23According to legend, what does the ghost of the real-life dredge that inspired Skeleton Creek leave on the decks?
Wet, bare footprints
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.
Q 14What do Ryan and Sarah finally discover hidden inside the dredge in the second Skeleton Creek book?
A fortune in gold
A fortune in gold, worth millions of dollars, had been sitting inside the rusting hulk all along.
Q 15Which Skeleton Creek character joins the parents in keeping a close watch on Ryan and Sarah?
Ranger Bonner
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.
Q 16What does Ryan secretly disable on his computer so he and Sarah can keep in touch in Skeleton Creek?
Monitoring software
Monitoring software stood between the two friends once contact was forbidden; with it switched off, Sarah's videos could keep reaching Ryan in secret.
Q 17What do Ryan's parents threaten to do if he contacts Sarah again after his accident in Skeleton Creek?
Move the family away
Move the family away is no small threat: the plan would take Ryan clear across the country from his best friend.
Q 18The first Skeleton Creek book ends on a cliffhanger with Ryan and Sarah trapped where on the dredge?
In a secret room
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.
Q 19Which sequel, published in the same year as Skeleton Creek, finishes the story left hanging by the first book?
Ghost in the Machine
Ghost in the Machine was billed as the conclusion of the mystery, yet three more books and a run of spin-off videos followed.
Q 20Which three real scientists' discoveries help unravel the mystery of the dredge in the second Skeleton Creek book?
Hooke, Boyle and Newton
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.
Q 24Skeleton Creek author Patrick Carman also wrote The Black Circle, the fifth book of which multi-author adventure series?
The 39 Clues
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.
Q 25Which fantasy series, opening with The Dark Hills Divide, did Patrick Carman write before Skeleton Creek?
The Land of Elyon
The Land of Elyon made his name: its books were New York Times bestsellers before he turned to ghost stories.
Q 26In the Skeleton Creek Investigations videos, Sarah explores the legend of phantom Night Marchers in which US state?
Hawaii
Hawaii's Night Marchers are said to be ghostly warriors roaming the islands, one of the urban legends Sarah chases from coast to coast.
Q 27Which Pennsylvania battlefield town does Sarah visit in the Skeleton Creek Investigations ghost-hunting videos?
Gettysburg
Gettysburg is billed in the series as one of the most active paranormal battlegrounds in the world.
Q 28Lucy Westenra, who lends Skeleton Creek the password lucywestenra, is the vampire's first English victim in which novel?
Dracula
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.
Q 29The Skeleton Creek password miltonarbogast names the private detective in which Alfred Hitchcock film?
Psycho
Psycho sends Arbogast snooping around a creepy motel, and the series compares Ryan and Sarah to him: hunting for answers in a strange setting.
Q 30The Skeleton Creek password jacktorrance comes from which Stephen King story about a writer coming apart?
The Shining
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.