"HAUNTED HOUSE"

“Haunted House”


Laura goes into a haunted house when Nellie dares her to do it. She becomes a friend of the old man that lives there, Mr. Pike. She finds out that he is waiting for his wife to return. After Laura learns that Mrs. Pike died years ago, she helps Mr. Pike cope with the death of his wife.















I think this is a very good episode. I like the friendship that Laura forms with Mr. Pike. Here you have a young girl full of life and an old man who has closed himself to the world. Laura is the perfect girl to bring Dr. Pike back to the world. The scene where Laura told him about his wife being dead was emotional, she had grown to love Mr. Pike and you could see it hurt Laura to see him suffering. The ending was just awesome… what a great relief it brought him to know that he will see his beloved again. Two thumbs up!

Sad Episode But i like it

i liked it... and when pike called laura a snippity snapp

charles ingalls wrote:

i liked it... and when pike called laura a snippity snapp

Yeah, that was funny :haha:

No; I actually likes this one. But only now that I'm a grown up woman of 35! When I was a little girl, it would scare me to death .Mr. Pike was really scaring for a little child's views. Now, I can see other things in the epie and found very moving the deep love this man had for his sweet wife and how Laura wants him to trust God again.

But I also saw other things there: How could Charles let Laura go to stay ALONE with a man who was considered as weird for almost all Walnut Grove citizens?

Vanesa.

Vanesa wrote:

But I also saw other things there: How could Charles let Laura go to stay ALONE with a man who was considered as weird for almost all Walnut Grove citizens?

Vanesa.

Good point Vanesa. I guess they were more trusting back then. Now, forget it.... that would NOT happen.

It's been a while sense I've saw this one and have a question. Did Mr. Pike know about the death of his wife and in denial about it or did he really not know? I like this episode even though it's sad.

I think he knew, he just denied it to himself, b/c he prefered the idea that she could come back.

I liked the episode, but isn't it frustrating when they introduce a new person, and then they either die, or you never see them again? And is that the house they used for Laura and Almonzos' boarding -house? I know that they used props and people over and over again, but i'm just curious!!

I really like this episode. For some reason, I've only seen it twice (once recently) since I rediscovered the show close to a year and a half ago now. Yes, it was sad that Mr. Pike was in denial about his wife's death for 20 years, but it had a happy ending -- not only did Mr. Pike come around but he and Laura got to play a joke on Nellie and Willie. BTW, I've noticed a trend -- if Laura cries in an episode, it's generally a great episode.

Not one of my favorites,but still like it.

nice esp..she is kind hearted gal...nice she made a friend

sweetheart wrote:

nice esp..she is kind hearted gal...nice she made a friend

yes. The ending is great!

fredsredhead66 wrote:

I liked the episode, but isn't it frustrating when they introduce a new person, and then they either die, or you never see them again? And is that the house they used for Laura and Almonzos' boarding -house? I know that they used props and people over and over again, but i'm just curious!!

Yeah...I think it's the same house over and over and over...As I've said to Alex in other thread, it seems that there was only one big house in Walnut Grove and all rich people living in the town owned it for a while... Some institutions as Mary and Adam's College for the blinds settled there too...Until it was burned to ashes. But wait...It was not the big-eternal house ending yet! They re-build it again, exactly like it has been before and give it to the old widow that lived there for some years until she also gave it to Laura and Almanzo and they used it for a boarding-house...

Vanesa.

If you look at the front of the house, compared to the front of the house Laura and Almanzo lived in, the windows are different; but then again, the looks can be altered to give it a different look. I am sure the house was used over and over again, but when people move in and out of Walnut Grove, a house will be lived in by different people.....

I just watched this episode last night. It took a while before I was drawn into the episode.

The episode itself is good and has some good food for thought. I really miss seeing the regular cast.

This is an episode that's good to watch just once in a while. I would never choose this episode to watch when I'm in an LHotP mood. This is one that gets watched upon rewatching the entire season.

I just watched this episode tonight. I like it, although it is very sad at parts. Yet, at the end it is quite uplifting.

Someone asked if Mr. Pike knew his wife was dead. Well, at least at some level he did, because she had apparently died at his house, not in Mankato. Her grave was there at his house, and it seemed that he felt responsible or guilty for her death. It was kind of like how Mr. Edwards felt about his family dying, I think. But Mr. PIke definitely knew his wife's grave was there. Wasn't there even a part where Laura wanted to do something outside, maybe with a garden, but then Mr. Pike rejected that idea? I assume it was because he knew that the grave was there.

I felt really sorry for Mr. Pike. I am glad Laura befriended him, although it is kind of weird because it seems similar to her befriending Mr. Sprague. I guess Laura just is the kind of friend that cranky people need.

I also see the "Abandoned Sisters" sign at the theater that I believe was used in MA'S HOLIDAY.

Doesn't the distance to Mankato gradually get shorter and shorter? Now it is only three days, but I thought originally it was six days. And then later doesn't it seem even shorter? Do you think they kept improving the road or maybe made new roads....or maybe just were inconsistent?

Yes: Laura was the kind of friend that cranky people needs! I've also noticed that her friendship tended to go much more toward older men than women. Mary was just the opposite: the perfect friend for an elderly, sweet lady like Mrs. Whipple.

Vanesa.

Regarding the distance to Mankato, yes, it seems the distance gets shorter, or at least the time to get there gets shorter. In "Four Eyes", Mary asks Charles how long it takes to get to Mankato, and Charles says three days. Yet, later in the series, it's implied that one can get there the same day. I think this is just another case of inconsistent writing. I don't think the roads would have changed much back then, as they were all dirt roads. Only in the automobile era, did roads start to slowly improve.

The road back then would probably have roughly followed the route of modern day US 14. According to Google maps, it is 81.7 miles from Walnut Grove to Mankato via US 14, a trip that takes 1 hour and 34 minutes. I'm not sure what the average speed was on rural dirt roads in the 1870s, but it does seem somewhat feasible one could get from Walnut Grove to Mankato in one day if you left at the crack of dawn.

But I think they said it took six days back in MA'S HOLIDAY!

This is my least favorite episode. This scares me, when I was little girl. I saw this episode not too long ago. It's a sad episode.

Yeah,I guess this would freak out little children.

I would guess back then with dirt roads and a buggy.It would take longer to get to places.Then when using a car.

I know it takes longer, but what is strange is that there seems to be a lot of inconsistency even within the show about how long it takes to get places, and I don't think the roads improved all that much within just a short time. Oh well, it is poetic license, I guess. I don't think the writers expected us to be analyzing every minute detail of the episodes, even though I enjoy doing that. I like to find the inconsistencies, but I don't let them ruin the show for me.