Readers Guide for A Box Full of Darkness

Long Island 1989

Violet works for a company that clears out the homes of people who died. The landscaper at her parents’ house terminated her contract after his employees saw “strange things.” Violet is stunned that one of those things is the ghost of a young boy who said “come home.”

Violet’s brother Vail works for the VUFO (Volunteer UFO Society). He’s studying a man who either has psychosis or is being tracked by aliens. Violet calls to tell him about the little boy, who she thinks is Ben, their missing brother.  Vail calls Dodie.

All three siblings head to Fell. Violet recalls the death of her childhood friend Alice at age twelve from a heart defect. She and Vail discuss getting Ben’s police report. Vail wants to search the woods.

Violet doesn’t find the police helpful. The original detective on the case, Gus Pine retired and his replacement died. But Pine agrees to meet with her. 

Vail tells Dodie that they have to go back to the beginning.

Violet reads a newspaper article about the town’s Sun Down Motel and a dead woman named Cathy Caldwell. Gus Pine says he was on the Caldwell case.

Violet demands Ben’s case file

Gus says he took it as the police often threw cold case files away. His son, Bradley Pine, will take her to get it.

When Dodie gets out of the shower, she sees tiny wet footprints in the hall that end at the door to the attic.

Violet had a crush on Bradley in high school but he doesn’t even remember her name. At Gus’s storage unit Violet steals the pages inside the file. Both Bradley and Violet get attacked by someone who says “Sister sent me.”

Vail discovers that in the attic, someone has set up all Ben’s toys.

There was a body in the storage unit. Violet fainted and Bradley threw up and had to break a window to get to a landline. Violet tells him she can see ghosts and he thinks it’s funny.

Dodie wants to leave. She feels guilty about Ben’s death, as she’d pranked him the day of his disappearance by taking his favorite hide and seek spot. She dreams of Ben, who says ”find me.”

Vail tries to talk to Ben but an angry spirit grabs him and says “wake up,” also writing it in crayon.

Violet and her siblings read the police file and learn that they were all suspects

But then the file says that no one outside the family has seen Ben. That he has no school or medical records, and no photos.

Dodie tells Vail they need to go in their parents’ room to search for evidence. They discuss the fact that maybe Ben wasn’t their brother. 

While being treated at the hospital, Violet sees lots of ghosts

When she describes one of the ghost, Bradley tells her it’s the ghost of Martin Peabody, a classmate who took his own life. She tells Bradley that she thinks a ghost lived in her bedroom. She also sees the ghost of Cathy Caldwell from Sun Down Motel.

Dodie and Vail sneak into the Thornhill house next door.  They find a picture of the couple with a boy they don’t recognize. 

In the hospital ladies room, the ghost of Violet’s friend Alice McMurtry tells her that Sister wants her gone. But Violet can make Sister go away and they will help her. When Violet asks where to find Ben, Alice says to go back to the beginning. She also says “three of you went into the house and only two will leave.” After Martin shows up with another threatening message from Sister, Bradley shows up and carries her out.

Bradley tells Violet that there are only hospital records for the births of Violet, Vail and Dodie. Violet agrees that Bradley can ask his father about a missing baby born in the summer of 1963.

The siblings are skeptical that their parents would have stolen a baby. Could Ben have been their Dad’s child from an affair?

Dodie and Vail discuss their nightmares. His was bright lights and hers was water. 

Violet finally goes in the attic. She asks Ben to talk to her and notices a bag of marbles.

Violet calls her teenage daughter Lisette and tells her about Ben for the first time

Vail invites Charlotte, a parapsychologist, to the house and tells her about Ben. Charlotte wants to exorcise the house. They find a book from a prior inhabitant of the house: Anne Whitten and her brother Edward.

Meanwhile, Bradley and Violet research town history. The Esmie’s house is on the former Whitten estate. Anne died by suicide at the age of 21, and her brother Edward died a year earlier, at age 6.

Dodie and her ten year-old neighbor Terri are riding bikes. Terri tells Violet the Whittens are buried in the woods. They find the graves of Anne and Edward.

A Box Full of Darkness: The Ending Explained

Violet’s theory is that Anne killed Edward

Violet’s ex-husband Clay calls Violet to say that their daughter Lisette is missing. Lisette shows up at the house in Fell.

In the middle of the night, Ben shows up. He tells Violet that Annie is angry at him because he ruined everything. Ben must be the ghost of Edward, Anne’s son. Sister comes for Violet. Lisette can see Sister too.

Ben gets into bed with Vail. Annie comes to Vail and says she will show him ducks.

Dodie dreams of water again and then wakes up and sees Lisette and Violet. Vail tells them that Anne drowned her brother in the cellar. Violet thinks the murder site must be the abandoned house across the street.

Violet believes that Anne was Edward’s mother. Because Anne was an unmarried teenage, her family had to pass Edward off as her brother. Because he was male, he was also the heir. So not only could Anne not get married, she would have no money.

The siblings and Lisette go across the street to the house with the flooded basement. Anne is in the water. She grabs Violet and drags her under. Dodie hits Anne with the shovel  and Violet chopped off her head.

One year later

Dodie asks Ethan on a date. Vail fixed the house up and is living there. Lisette visits Dodie in New York City. Violet moved to Vermont and started her own estate cleaning business. And is dating Bradley.

Vail managed to claim the land where Edward and Anne were buried. He intends to leave the house to Lisette. He’s writing a book. 

My Questions About A Box Full of Darkness

I don’t read a lot of paranormals, so help me out!

So everyone in the Esmie family thought Ben was real? Did he appear to the Esmie family as a baby or at the age of six (the age at which Edward died and Ben disappeared.) Did their parents really think that this was normal? Was Ben with them for six years? Did he age? How do ghosts work?

Why did the Esmie family call the police? If no one else in the family had seen Ben and he never went to school or the doctor, did the parents know he wasn’t real? Did only the kids see him?

Why did Ben disappear (and then reappear?)