Jessica looked at her phone - 11:46 PM. "Can anyone else hear strange echoes in their area?" she texted to her friends in their group chat. Dark shadows danced on the walls as she shined her flashlight on the Ancient Egyptian displays.
The museum's special overnight event had seemed exciting when she and her two teammates won the Future Archeologists Science Fair. But in the deep of the night, she now felt a sense of unease.
"I'm in the dinosaur section," Mark texted back. "I just heard what sounded like footsteps and a kind of moaning sound. But the security guard told us we were the only ones in the building." As he turned, he saw a dinosaur’s shadow move across the far wall. Mark hurried out of the room.
Sarah, who was looking at the old armor displays, sent a message: "You need to come and see this. One of the suits of armor is facing a different way now. I'm sure it has moved!"
Earlier, the three friends had decided to split up to see more of the museum during their overnight event. They kept in touch by phone while taking pictures of different displays for their university project. But in this late hour, the empty museum suddenly turned haunted.
"Let's meet at the art section," Jessica texted. "Take pictures if you see anything strange." While walking through the Ancient Egypt area, she heard a loud scratching noise and a thumping sound coming from behind a large ancient coffin. Her hands were shaking as she made a video.
Mark sent another message: "I think someone is following me."
“Hurry up!” Sarah texted back.
When they finally met up in the art section, they shared what they had each seen and heard.
"We should go back and investigate each section, but this time, we stick together," Mark said. “Let’s start at the Ancient Egypt section.”
At the Ancient Egypt section, they followed the noise, slowly inching towards it, arm in arm. When they looked behind the coffin they laughed as they discovered what was making the noise. It was the museum's robot vacuum. It was stuck in a corner, hitting the wall over and over again.
“Well that explains that,” Sarah laughed.
“Yes, but what about the other things?” Mark asked.
"I think it would be easier to ask the security guard to let us see the security footage,” said Jessica.
They went to the security guard and asked to see the security videos.
“I can save you the trouble,” said the security guard with a sly grin. “It was all me," he confessed.“What?” said Mark.
“Your professor called and asked me to prank you. He wanted to be sure you had a memorable visit,” the security guard laughed.
“Oh, just wait till we get back to campus,” said Jessica.
“Pay back time!” said Sarah.
“And I’ve got just the prank in mind,” said Mark. “Let’s get to planning.”