Whispers from the Hall of Pharaohs
Characters:
- Narrator 1: An observer setting the eerie scene.
- Narrator 2: An observer tracking John's mounting tension.
- John: An experienced museum curator working late on Halloween night.
- Officer Davis: The building's nocturnal security guard over the two-way radio.
Narrator 1: October thirty-first, eleven forty-five at night. The grand limestone corridors of the Metropolitan History Museum stand plunged in shadow, illuminated only by emergency exit signs casting long, blood-orange rectangles across the polished marble.
Narrator 2: Inside the curator's conservation office, John clicks his desk lamp off. He adjusts his thick glasses, retrieves a small leather-bound notebook, and records his daily log under a solitary beam of flashlight.
John: (Speaking aloud as he writes) "Log entry: Halloween evening. The exhibits are finally vacated. All visiting school groups departed hours ago, leaving behind sticky fingerprints on glass display cases and an oppressive, ringing silence. My duty tonight is strictly cataloging the newly acquired Dynasty Twelve relics."
Narrator 1: A sudden scratching sound scrapes along the ventilation shaft overhead. John freezes, pen suspended midway across the parchment.
John: Did the temperature just plummet, or is the central heating malfunctioning again?
Narrator 2: John reaches for the radio clipped to his belt, thumbing the transmit button.
John: Davis, are you running the ventilation fans near the eastern wing?
- nocturnal:
- Active or occurring during the night.
- vacated:
- Left empty or unoccupied.
- antiquities:
- Valuable objects or relics surviving from an ancient historical period.
- sarcophagi:
- Stone coffins, typically adorned with sculptures or inscriptions, used in ancient civilizations.
- sentinels:
- Guards or lookouts whose job is to stand watch and maintain security.
- dais:
- A low raised platform at the front or center of a room or hall.
- vitrine:
- A glass display case used for showing fine art, artifacts, or delicate museum specimens.
- cadence:
- A rhythmic flow or repeated sequence of sounds or movements.
More sheets from this passage
Built from the text itself â answer key included where it counts.
vocabulary worksheet
Match the passage words to their meanings, then fill the missing words back into real sentences.
writing prompts
Two writing tasks that build on the passage, with plenty of lines to write on.
- All 3 sheets as one workbookPro
One PDF with a cover, contents page and every answer key at the back.
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About this reader's theater passage for Middle School
âWhispers from the Hall of Pharaohsâ is a reader's theater reading passage about Egyptian artifact mystery at night, written for Middle School. It takes about 4 minutes to read (632 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.