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Mystery Endings by Students

As part of the contest for solving the Episode Three mystery, we invited mystery readers to use their own creativity and imagination to write part of the mystery's ending. We asked:

  • What do you think is written on
    the last page of Perdita's diary?

  • What might Lieutenant Harding
    have thought when he left camp?

Here are some of the replies we received.


Dan Vecchi & Bryan Augustyniak
Staples High School
grade: 11

What do you think is written on the last page of Perdita's diary?
I have decided that since everyone, including Captain Torvey, has lost their mind I will accompany Lt. Harding on his journey to find the locals in hopes that they will help us at least make a life in this cursed land. I have bid everyone farewell but I believe that nobody realized or comprehended what I was saying.



Jennifer Hatrick
De Anza College
grade: college
What might Lieutenant Harding have thought when he left camp?
I am heading southwards across the ice. My only hope is to find an encampment of the native peopel, who seem to know the secret of living in this harsh environment. I have a rifle and will live on seal meat, if I live at all.

I tried to get Perdita to join me but the poison is in her brain and with great sadness I am forced to leave her behind.



David Muraskin
Germantown Freinds School
grade: 9
What might Lieutenant Harding have thought when he left camp?
I been trying to find the north pole for days now, no one joined me they all think that I am crazy but, I am sane sane I say !!! They're the ones who are crazy. They don't want to find the way out but I do I do!!

What do you think is written on the last page of Perdita's diary?
We have been dropping like fly's the last few days I have lost track of time I get dizy eveyday now. I and I keep on see my fiends back home. Yesterday I saw one of the crew men as a ckicken and tied to stap him with a fork. This is the las tentry in her Diary



Julie Megan Gunderman
Presque Isle (Maine) High School
grade: 11
What might Lieutenant Harding have thought when he left camp?
I am leaving camp. Those poor fools do not know what they are being subjected to. Even if I were to tell them, they wouldn't understand. They are already so far into madness. I will go back to the ship, where the white cross (mast) hangs. I will be safer there.

What do you think is written on the last page of Perdita's diary?
I am leaving camp to find Lt. Harding. I have noticed changes in everyone around me. Father speaks with discombobulated thoughts. I fear for our crew, but I must leave if there is any chance of my survival.



Tyler J. Walea
Many High School
grade: 11
What might Lieutenant Harding have thought when he left camp?
I am sorry to leave my company, but Captain Torvey will be the death of us all if I don't. I've tried to tell him that the mercury vapor from his compass will kill everyone, but he insists that someone is stealing it. No one will listen to me but Perdita. I have to get away from here...I keep thinking I see smoke on the horizon. Perhaps it some other expedition, or maybe the Inuit, but I must find out, because here there is only death. Tomorrow I will leave with enough provisions for myself, and hope for the best.

What do you think is written on the last page of Perdita's diary?
I have been terribly sick. Even now I don't think clearly, but my health seems to be improving. Lieutenant Harding has told me that my father's bath compass was the problem. It seems impossible that such a simple thing could cause so much destruction and death. I tried to get my father to go with me, but he just sits and stares at his bath compass. There are only eight of the men left now, and since they refuse to listen to myself or to Lieutenant Harding, I feel that I must leave them. May God forgive me...

An Access Excellence Science Mystery sponsored by Genentech, Inc.
Copyright © 1997 Genentech, Inc.; all rights reserved.