I am Uncialle, your spirit guide. Follow me. We are going on a treasure hunt in the dark.

It is the witching hour, the hour after sunset on Halloween. Everything is ready for the party. The gravestones are placed and the Reaper stands near the apple tree with bony hands clenched upon the handle of his scythe. Pole heads with glowing eyes leer down from the hill at arriving guests. Soldier ghosts fight off a phantom menace. Amon-ratep the Mummy lies in state in the Expedition tent; nearby torchlight flickers on the tall Egyptian obelisk. Across the way, a ring of skeletons sits brooding around a fire. Gramps and the Dead Dudette haunt their trucks. Edith Needles, the resident witch, presides over her foggy cauldron. Jack o' lanterns are everywhere: on the ground, gently swinging from tree branches, glaring from fenceposts, glowing on the spiral stairs. Everything is in place.

But what is left for the guest to do? In his eagerness to get to the house and food, however, the party guest might miss things. Will he find the Voodoo Graveyard? Will he locate path to the Altar of the Necronomicon? Will he discover Dracula lying in his coffin? Will he understand the significance of Baron Samedi's top hat? The answer to all is YES, because he is on a quest.

When Uncialle's guests reach the stronghold, they must stop just inside the gate to obtain their Guides from the rotting treasure chest owned by the Red Death. The treasure hunt booklet, called the Legend, will explain each eerie exhibit they will see, and tell them what to do to begin the Treasure Hunt. (The Legend is also an evocative souvenir of this evening of fire and darkness.) Following signs, guests drive to a dark place 150 yards from the cottage. Legend booklets and flashlights in hand, they begin their quest for a drop of Dracula's Blood. They are looking for words on stones. (Each year the color of the treasure tokens changes; last year guests searched for green witches' tears.)

The Legend leads them to each exhibit in turn. At many exhibits, the guest will find a stone, and on the stone, strange creatures have painted a single word. If the guests succeed in finding all the stones, then they must fashion a sentence from the words. This arcane sentence tells them the location where drops of Dracula's Blood wait coldly in a pool of chill water (see the top of the page). Plunging hands into the icy water, guests retrieve each a drop of blood (a ruby-colored flattened marble) to give to Uncialle when they enter the house. Uncialle then gives the guests a prize each, something in itself eerie. When the guest goes back outdoors to drift among the exhibits once more, he will be wearing something that will add to the dark strangeness of the night. This year, we may add a Drawing of the Runes for a special prize.

Before Uncialle, Magnus, and J instituted the Treasure Hunt, many guests came straight to the door without experiencing all the chilly thrills lying in wait for them around the property. Now instructed on the party invitation to dress warmly, to bring a flashlight, and to stop inside the gate to pick up the Legend from the Red Death, the night has become a fine small adventure, not merely a setting in which people mingle and talk. Set up your own Treasure Hunt! Even an all-indoors party can have a good Treasure Hunt.