- [first lines]
- Victoria Winters: [voiceover] My name is Victoria Winters. There are sections of Collinwood that have been closed off for more than fifty years. Dusty rooms and dark, haunted corridors. Rooms that no one ever sees. No one but a tormented boy. A boy who has taught me that a secret hiding place can be more than just a child's playroom. It can also be a prison.
- Sam Evans: Money? Ha! The Collins family has money, and what has it got them? Tell me that, Burke, old friend. Now what has it got 'em?
- Burke Devlin: Ghosts.
- Sam Evans: Ghosties and ghoulies and long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night. I can sense their presence every night when I look up to that house on Widows' Hill.
- Burke Devlin: What about a night like this, Sam? Don't you think the ghosts are out like mad tonight?
- Sam Evans: In droves. Like, like herds of buffalo. Frightening everything in their path.
- Burke Devlin: Good!
- Sam Evans: Good?
- Burke Devlin: Can't you just see it? A whole herd of ghosts just trampling through the front hall at Collinwood?
- Sam Evans: [chuckling] Who needs a herd? I only need one.
- Burke Devlin: Alright, just one. One to terrify them. To scare them like they deserve to be scared.
- Ghost of Bill Malloy: Wake up, wake up, Miss Winters. Wake up, wake up, there isn't much time.
- Victoria Winters: [jumps out of bed, startled] Who is it?
- Ghost of Bill Malloy: Get away before you're killed. Get away before you're killed. Get away, Miss Winters, before you're killed, killed...
- [the apparition turns and fades away]
- Victoria Winters: I must be dreaming! I know I'm dreaming!
- Burke Devlin: Well, I tell ya, there's one person up there I wouldn't want to scare.
- Sam Evans: And who would you spare, Burke, in this crusade of yours?
- Burke Devlin: Vicky Winters. I wouldn't want to scare her. I like her more than anyone on that hill.
- Sam Evans: Oh, I wish ol' Bill were here, sitting right in this chair having a little drink with us.
- Burke Devlin: Maybe he is.
- Sam Evans: You're drunk.
- Burke Devlin: Oh, no, no. The ghosts are out tonight. I heard you say so yourself.
- Sam Evans: Like herds of buffalo!
- Burke Devlin: Hey, tell me something, Sam, tell me something.
- Sam Evans: What?
- Burke Devlin: Do you really believe that Bill Malloy was murdered? You do, don't you?
- Sam Evans: Yes.
- Burke Devlin: Well, why then wouldn't his ghost be out tonight, trying to find out who killed him?
- Sam Evans: You're right, Burke, you're absolutely right.
- Burke Devlin: Of course I am.
- Sam Evans: May he find whatever he's after.
- [stands up and raises his glass in a toast]
- Sam Evans: To Bill Malloy.
- Burke Devlin: To Bill Malloy.
- Sam Evans: [begins to sing, Burke soon joins in] What do you do with a drunken sailor? What do you do with a drunken sailor?...