What Lies Over the Cuckoo's Nest?

> Penetrate the asylum, free the Darkling and empty the hospital building.
>
> -Objective

> Penetrate the upper floors and defeat the Nether Spirit.
>
> -Beta Objective

**What Lies Over the Cuckoo's Nest?** is the last level of Act 3 and the finale of the base game without the bonus scenario. It takes place in the Hospital previously seen in Phantom of the Operating Room but with the upper floors now available. We haunt this place in order to free the Darkling.

## Restless Spirits

* Darkling
* Daydreamer (Returning)

## Recommended Ghosts

* Harriet
* Stormtalon
* Black Crow
* Tricia
* Sparkle
* Blue Murder > Maxine Factor > Terroreyes > Stonewall
* Hypnos
* Scarecrow

This is an interesting choice of a team for this level as while it allows you to finish the puzzle, there are simpler ways of doing so. Tricia and Harriet serve the purpose of infiltrating the upper wards, but this can be done way easier by replacing both for Lady Rose as she possesses Trojan Gift from the start which allows you to bind both Hypnos and Stormtalon to one gift instead of two which Harriet & Tricia would need to do. Speaking of Stormtalon, he is necessary to finish the puzzle, although he can be replaced with any other ghost with Surge such as Hogwash or Electrospasm. Hypnos is an interesting case as he is quiet useful in the puzzle, as you need to get Bruce Elm out of his cell, but can be replaced if Daydreamer has not been freed previously/on revisit with a ghost that can free Daydreamer such as Moonscream giving you more choices when team building. Black Crow can also be used to free Bruce from his cell, either by using Possess or Tremor in the room the patient is in while also being a good scaring ghost in general. Alternatively, you can free the inmates of the asylum by creating a storm by using Stormtalon's Typhoon and Black Crow's Rain. The rest of the team as well as the empty spot freed by Lady Rose can be replaced with whatever you want as the final step of this mission is a scare all. Every ghost that was useful for scaring in Phantom of the Operating Room will also prove useful here.

## Layout

The layout of this levels is the same as Phantom of the Operating Room, with an addition of two extra floor which were not accessible in the afore mentioned level. The two floors consist of an asylum ward and "pure hell" laboratory in which Darkling is located and both are covered by a red ward. The asylum ward consists of two staff areas leading to the patient wards and a circular control room. Pure hell has the same layout as the asylum floor, but instead of staff amenities, the corridors contain experimental equipment with human parts in them and the ward section houses Dr. Krauss' lab.

BasementGround FloorFirst FloorSecond FloorThird Floor
## Cut Content

Originally the mission would have been the ending to a cut subplot centering around the Nether Spirit. He would have been stationed in the upper areas of the hospital just like Darkling in the final version is and the Ghost Master's goal would have been to defeat him once and for all by somehow using the Darkling once the Ghost Master had scared away all mortals in the level. Following the Nether Spirit's defeat, Darkling would have been captured once again by the MIB and taken to their secret base where the events of Ghost in the Military Machine would take place.

## Trivia

* The level is a reference to the 1975 Drama/Comedy movie, *One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest* and a 2000 psychological supernatural horror movie *What Lies Beneth*.