Midnight. Rose Cottage is covered in darkness, yet at one window the yellowish glow of a lightbulb can be seen. If we come closer, we can see that it's the lamp on Ida's desk, and that she is busy writing her English essay. Every now and then she looks up a word in a huge dictionary, strikes through a line which she had already written and starts over again.
She looks at the clock on the wall and yawns. Perhaps the rest should wait till morning.
But then, just as she is about to switch off the light, there is a crackling sound and she's surrounded by darkness.
" Ah well", she mutters," never mind. Will fix that tomorrow."
She stumbles towards her bed, trying to avoid the obstacles. Since everything is now pitch black, she has to be careful.
Then, suddenly, there's a loud bang downstairs, as if someone dropped a pile of dishes.
Hound starts barking and as Ida picks up her torch and carefully goes down the stairs, she sees the beams of some other flashlights.
" What happened?"
" Hound must have bumped into something", Kirsten's voice suggests.
" Stupid dog. Can't he just sleep at night?", says Markus' voice.

Hans is already climbing the second stairway.
" Quiet!", he snaps at Hound and the dog seems to calm down at the familiar scent of the master.
" Can someone bring a flashlight?"

Ida comes down and her torch casts its light across the corridor. All doors are closed and there's nothing that seems to have been damaged. She opens the door to the living room and she shivers, for it appears someone left the window open and a cold wind blows through the house. Then she sees the splinters of a vase, scattered on the floor and, as she walks towards the window, she notices the curtains moving in the chilly breeze.

" It's the wind", she says to her father," someone left the window open and the vase was blown over."
" I'm sure the window was closed when I went to bed."
" Well, it's open now."

The next morning there was another rumour in the Village. Someone had attempted to break into the Andersens' house. He had been so clumsy to break a vase though, and as the family was woken by the noise, he had ran off without taking anything. The burglary had been reported to the police, which was taking the matter very seriously.
In the pub the customers were discussing the events of that night.
" What's this place going to?", Fred asked, and he shook his head.
" Burglars in the Village. It was to be expected with all those new people", Mad Tom said,
" Strangers from the Town I'm sure."
" Well, as long as they pick other strangers, I don't mind", said Crazy Tom.
" Ah come on! They're trying to adapt. And am I not a foreigner as well?", said father Gerald," besides, I do not buy that burglar story. It's the ghost I say!"
" The ghost?"
" Rose Cottage is haunted. Never wondered why it was to let so long, have ye?"
" Come on father, you of all people. How can a priest believe in ghost stories? Old women's talk!"
" Old women know more than ye give them credit for, Fred. Believe me, the trouble is only after beginning!"