The numerous windows lit up at odd intervals, suggesting all sorts of activity that we could only guess at the nature of. It was more ominous than outright spooky. Since this was the “Mystery” Screensaver, it made sense that the mansion was less Munsters, more Clue. If you remove the house, I’m pretty sure this was where Jade and Smoke played peekaboo in Mortal Kombat II. The mansion might not have seemed so creepy if it wasn’t situated in the middle of some gothic wooded hell, full of dead trees, fallen leaves, busy bats and pale moonlight. There were enough noises to make listening a part of the fun, but those noises were still scattered enough to make each one hit you like a jump scare. Upon deeper reflection, it was a world of wonder that let you write whole novels in your head.īeginning with a burst of pipe organs that sounded like the bark of a Jersey shore dark ride, the screensaver would then fall mostly-silent, save for the occasional creaking door or solicitous owl. On its face, this was a simple animated mansion with enough spooky elements to create a haunted ambiance. You guys can keep your Doom mazes and waterpark pipes. I’m not 100% sure that it hadn’t debuted prior to Windows 98, but that’s where I met it, and judging by what I see online, that’s where almost everyone else met it, too.
Many were auditioned, but in the end, I always came back to the Mystery Screensaver.Īs I recall, the screensaver was part of a theme set for Windows 98.
(I hated how the audio dropped out before the reverberations completed.)
I can still hear the Undertaker’s gongs alerting me to new arrivals on my AOL Buddy List. By the time I was through, I don’t think there was a single default sound still in play. It was hardly the first computer that I’d messed around on, but it was the first one that was all mine. Back in the late ‘90s, I bought my first computer.
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