Whether from a candle or an oil lamp, there is no light within each of the rooms. Instead, in the halls there is a sturdy tripod with a brazier of fire that stands outside each window, and the flames from this brazier send light through the tinted glass, thereby illuminating the rooms, but in a distorted fashion.

And thus there were produced a multitude of gaudy and fantastic appearances. But in the...black chamber, the effect of the firelight that streamed upon the dark hangings through the blood-tinted panes was ghastly in the extreme....

While there are distorted images in each of the rooms, within the black room there are grotesque shapes; therefore, very few of the guests feel themselves brave enough to set foot into this last, dark chamber. Draped with somber color and blood-tinted glass, this penultimate room is ghastly in presence, And, when the grandfather clock tolls the hour, everyone stops. Nevertheless, they continue after this brief, but disconcerting pause.