

Two youths in the town, Ryan McCray and Sarah Fincher, attempt to investigate the dredge and its ghost, while being closely watched by their parents and Ranger Bonner who are trying to keep the two separated after Ryan breaks his leg on the Dredge which leads to Sarah and Ryan not being able to communicate with each other at all.


It is haunted by the ghost of "Old Joe Bush", a man who died in an accident on The Dredge, a large mining machine. The story takes place in a small town called Skeleton Creek, that was formerly a gold and silver mining town. The second is Ghost in the Machine (published in 2009), the third is The Crossbones (published in 2010), the fourth is The Raven (published in 2011), and the fifth is The Phantom Room (published in 2014). Skeleton Creek is a 2009 children's horror mystery novel by Patrick Carman, the first of a continuing series.
