Boo's Mansion

Boo's Mansion is the home of some Boos in Paper Mario. Lady Bow and Bootler live here, as well as many other Boos. Mario needs to go through Forever Forest to get here. Down the road from Boo's Mansion is a windmill, Gusty Gulch, and Tubba Blubba's Castle.

The mansion consists of puzzles and traps that Mario must solve and get through to even greet Lady Bow. It has three floors.

In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Boo's Mansion (though referred to only as "the mansion") is briefly mentioned by Bow, who appears (alongside Bootler) at Poshley Heights after the game is beaten. Apparently, it was a prolonged amount of time spent at the mansion that inspired Bow to take her vacation to Poshley Heights.

The concept of a mansion haunted by ghosts and filled with puzzles has been used in other Mario games as well, most notably Super Mario World and Luigi's Mansion. Also, the Ghost House featured in Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix looks extremely similar to Boo's Mansion, including similar Boo portraits and chandeliers.

History
At the beginning of Chapter 3, Mario is invited to the mansion by Lady Bow through Bootler. After traveling through Forever Forest and arriving at the mansion, he is told to see Lady Bow on the third floor. However, the stairs in the lobby only lead to the second floor. Mario must solve a series of tricks and puzzles to get to Lady Bow's room:
 * get the Record
 * use the Record to lure a Boo away for the Weight
 * use the Weight in the lobby to open the door to the basement
 * get the Super Boots in the basement
 * use it to land on the bookshelves and find Boo's Portrait
 * put the Boo's Portrait in the empty frame. This allows Mario to go to the third floor.

In the highest room in the mansion, Lady Bow explains to Mario that the Boos are under attack from Tubba Blubba. She wants Mario to defeat the monster, and promises to release Skolar, the Star Spirit Mario is trying to save, as a condition. Lady Bow also says that Mario needs her help to defeat Tubba Blubba, and after an argument with Bootler, joins Mario's party. The two then set off for Tubba Blubba's Castle. After Lady Bow joins Mario's party, Franky appears in the lobby, telling Mario that he can use the shop in the basement before setting off to fight Tubba Blubba. Bootler continues to worry about Lady Bow's safety and remains waiting in the third-floor room.

After Tubba Blubba is defeated in Gusty Gulch, he spits out the Boos he ate. Lady Bow decides to accompany Mario for the rest of the game as well as handing the Star Spirit over to him. Once the Boos are freed, the background music in Boo's Mansion is replaced with a cheerful tune. Later in the game, the Boos in Gusty Gulch write a thank you letter to Bow, greeting "everyone at Boo's Mansion". There are also two sidequests (one from Koopa Koot, one being letter delivery) that involves Franky. Using the pipe in Toad Town Tunnels is a fast way to revisit the mansion as well as the areas behind it. At the end of the game, Lady Bow returns to Boo's Mansion, and receives an invitation letter to Princess Peach's Castle.

Boos in the mansion are crazy for Lady Bow. One of them even goes to Toad Town and scribbles on the notice board for this purpose. At the party at the end of the game, one Boo from Boo's Mansion comes just to see Lady Bow in her finery.

Areas
Boo's Mansion is located at a branch in the northwest of Forever Forest. It is a big house that has three floors, each with some windows outside. There is a piece of clearing in front of the mansion with stones and bushes. To the southwest of it is Forever Forest and to the northeast of it is Gusty Gulch. In the clearing, there is a ? Block containing a Volt Shroom and a bush growing Strange Leaves. There is also a pipe from Toad Town Tunnels, which can be unlocked later in the game. Finally, in front of the mansion are a Save Block and a Heart Block.

According to a Boo, the mansion is passed down through the years by Lady Bow's ancestors.

The mansion has three floors, each with two doors. In the lobby there is a sofa that shoots Mario to the chandelier. An underground Star Piece can be found near the sofa. However, there are only stairs up to the second floor, at the end of which is an empty frame. According to the frame, Mario must find whatever is missing in it to get to the third floor. "Bow is such a harsh Boo, testing her guests like this..."

East room on the second floor
To begin with, Mario must go to the east room on the second floor. The room is almost empty, with three cabinets by the west wall. Mario must check the middle one, and play the "guess who holds it" game with the Boos that come out. Once he picks the correct Boo, they will give him the Record. The other cabinets are traps.

After Mario gets the Super Boots, he can return here and find a Star Piece under a hidden panel at the center of the room.

West room on the second floor
In the west room on the second floor is a phonograph. There is also a Boo guarding a treasure chest. By playing the Record with the phonograph, Mario is able to lure the Boo away and get the Weight inside the treasure chest.

West room on the first floor
The west room on the first floor is blocked by a glass case, which can be moved by attaching the Weight to the chandelier in the lobby. The treasure chest in the room is a trap. Mario must go down the stairs by the left wall. There is a clock beneath. In front of the clock is an underground Star Piece. The wall on the right of the clock area can be blown up and leads to a library room. The door on the south leads to a pair of storage rooms.

The first storage room has some crates on the ground, one of which contains a Super Shroom. There is a one-way door to the right, leading to another storage room.

The second storage room a big treasure chest containing the Super Boots. Mario must play the same game with the Boos that come out. Once he gets the boots, the Boos disappear, and another Boo appears and ready to inform Mario how he can use the boots to get underground Star Pieces. In the room there is an underground Star Piece in front of the Boo. There are also crates containing a glass of Maple Syrup. To exit the room, Mario must use Spin Jump on the wooden plate on the ground and fall to the area even lower. In this lower area is Boo's Shop run by Igor. The shop remains closed for Mario until Lady Bow joins his party. There are also switches, pressing which will reveal the stairs that lead to the first storage room.

East room on the first floor
The east room on the first floor has a vase as well as several crates where Apples can be found. By breaking the wooden floor on the ground with the Super Boots, Mario is able to land on the bookshelves in the library room mentioned earlier. Above the bookshelves is the Boo's Portrait. Mario can also jump from on the bookshelves to the stacked crates nearby and break them, where he can find a Star Piece.

Lady Bow's room
The big, royal-looking room can be accessed with either door on the third floor once Mario gets there with the Boo's Portrait. It is where Lady Bow and Bootler live, and where the Star Spirit Skolar is temporarily imprisoned. Lady Bow wants Mario to defeat Tubba Blubba as a condition to give him Skolar. She also says that Mario needs her help to do so and joins Mario's party. Bootler intends to follow and protect Bow, but Bow insists that he waits here for her return. Bootler can be seen worrying about Lady Bow's safety in the room for the rest of the chapters.

The room is seen again at the end of the game, this time with Bootler giving Lady Bow an invitation letter to the party at Peach's Castle.

Items Found
Several items can be purchased from Boo's Shop run by Igor. Other items found in this area include:

Area Tattles

 * ''It's Boo's Mansion. Great name for a haunted house, don't you think?
 * ''What a magnificent mansion! Being haunted must hurt the real estate value, though. I like the old-fashioned yet eerie style. The chandelier and the display case look like they're valuable antiques. Even the sofa in the foyer looks like it's pricey, even though it's a bit worn. I love antiques. I wouldn't mind taking a good look at those things.
 * ''Wow! What a gorgeous chandelier! If they actually cleaned it, it would brighten this place up.
 * ''Hey, that strange contraption at the back of the room is a phonograph. You know, a machine for listening to records. Have you seen any records around here? I wouldn't mind doing a little adventuring to the timeless classic, "Mario's Theme"!
 * ''The blue light is spooky in here, but you can tell that this room is really nice. It feels like something is watching us. It feels like that everywhere. It's almost as if this haunted mansion is...haunted.
 * ''A storage room... isn't it? You'd think those candles would provide a bit more light.
 * ''Another storage room, I guess. Not a whole lot here, as far as I can tell. Hey, incidentally, what happened to the door...?
 * ''This room does have a lot of space, but it's still a shame to use it for storage. That pot and those wooden boxes look suspicious... There's also a weakened spot on the floor. Look...under the chandelier. Hey, check it out! A real old rocking chair! These things rule! It rocks back and forth when you sit on it. I love napping in these.
 * ''There certainly seem to be a lot of books. I didn't know Boos liked books.
 * ''This is the highest room in the mansion. I'm guessing it's Bow's room. She seems like the type to live in a huge room. When you look at this room, it's pretty obvious that Bow was raised by a really wealthy family of Boos.

Trivia

 * The right room on the first floor contains a vase. If Mario is to jump into this vase, he will pop back out as an 8-bit sprite. This lasts until Mario jumps back into the vase or leaves the room, and it is worthy of note that playable 8-bit characters are somewhat of a running joke in Mario RPGs, having additionally been featured in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Super Paper Mario and Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (which predates Paper Mario). However unlike Super Mario RPG in which it could only be performed once, in Paper Mario 8-bit Mario trick is repeatable.