Case No. 1 · Printable cold case

The Lantern Room

A sheriff called it an accident before sunrise. Ten exhibits, five suspects, and a stopped watch everyone trusted. Can you prove him wrong?

30–60 minutes
Solo or up to 6
Instant PDF

The Dahl Files are fiction. Written with AI and tested for a single fair solution.

A manila case folder from the Ostrander County Sheriff's Office labeled 'Pruett, H. — 10/17/87 — Accidental', stamped CASE CLOSED, with a contents list of ten exhibits and the note 'Never sat right. — R.D.'

The case

His watch stopped at 11:25 when he fell.

October 1987. Harold Pruett, who has lit the lantern on his inn’s tower every night for 26 years, is found dead at the foot of the tower stairs. His watch stopped at 11:25 when he fell. Sheriff Ray Dahl closes the case as an accident before dawn.

Almost forty years later, his case files turn up on the Historical Society’s back step, with a note in green ink: “I got some of these wrong.”

You get the file: the incident report, the coroner’s findings, witness statements, a newspaper clipping, a photographer’s log, a gas receipt, a map, and a torn note no one could read in time. Some of it arrived after the case was closed. Sheriff Dahl never looked at it again. You will.

A clipping from the Vesper Lake Ledger, June 6, 1985, headlined 'The Lantern Keeper of Pruett's Point': every night at eleven for nearly 24 years, one man has climbed a tower to light a lamp for someone who isn't coming home. — Exhibit 3: a clipping from the Vesper Lake Ledger, June 6, 1985.

From the file

Ten exhibits. One of them was never read in time.

Exhibit 5

Deputy Mertz's hand-drawn map of Pruett's Point: the lantern tower at the north tip, the Lake Room, the kitchen and kitchen garden, the dock on Vesper Lake, the shore path and a boathouse. — Deputy Mertz’s map of Pruett’s Point.

Exhibit 9

A torn sheet of lined notepaper written in green ink, deliberately blurred here so it can't be read. — Oil-soaked paper from the lantern room. Blurred here, because it gives too much away. You’ll get the real thing.

Four questions to answer: Was it an accident? Who did it? When did Harold really die? Why?

What you get

Everything you need is in the file.

The 18-page case file: 10 exhibits, a timeline worksheet and an answer sheet
A separate sealed solution that scores your reasoning, not just your guess
Fair play. No outside knowledge and no trick questions. A script checks that exactly one suspect fits all the evidence.
Instant PDF download. Print at home, or read on a tablet.

30–60 minutes. Solo, as a couple, or with up to six friends.

Get The Lantern Room$12

The Dahl Files are fiction. Written with AI and tested for a single fair solution.

Solved it? Check your answers online.

Questions

Is it scary?

No. It’s a cold case on paper: an inn, a lantern tower, and a death the sheriff called an accident. Nothing graphic.

Do I need any outside knowledge?

No. Everything you need is in the file, and there are no trick questions. A script checks that exactly one suspect fits all the evidence.

Can I play on a tablet?

Yes. It’s a PDF, so read it on a tablet or print it at home on letter-size paper.

How do I know if I got it right?

Open the sealed solution, which scores your reasoning, not just your guess. Or check your answers online: it tells you what’s right and gives a hint for anything that isn’t, without giving the answer away.

Do I need to play the free case first?

No. Every case stands alone.

Case No. 1 of the Dahl Files

Who is writing in green ink?

Every case stands alone. Each one also hides a piece of a larger mystery: someone else has been through Sheriff Dahl’s files, and they know which cases he got wrong.

The Case Club sends a new case every month. Members who join now start with The Lantern Room.

See the Case Club

Index card · found on top of the first box

I got some of these wrong. — R.D.