The Girl in the Window Vampire Painting and Safe Code
Four offerings, one pinboard, a randomized glyph string. This is the last lock.
The safe behind the vampire painting is the last mechanical barrier in The Girl in the Window. It is also the puzzle that fills comment sections: “vampire code,” “painting lock,” “what order for garlic.” The answer is always the same sentence: lift the newspaper clippings, then feed the portrait in that order.
You cannot start this puzzle at minute five. You need the four offerings and a screwdriver. Get them via the walkthrough or the checklist on tools.
Items you must hold
- Mirror — early bookshelf cupboard (symbol lock)
- Cross — cut from the armchair cushion with the knife
- Garlic — under the loose floorboard after the metal rod
- Goblet of wine — wine bottle from the last TV-cabinet door, combined with the goblet
- Screwdriver — same cabinet door as the wine, hexagonal key after the mouse-in-pipe trick
If any of those are missing, stop and hunt. The painting will not reveal a full code with three items.
Opening the safe panel
Face the boarded-door wall. Tap the vampire painting. Use the screwdriver on the two screws. The painting swings like a cabinet door and shows a four-symbol (or four-digit, depending on roll) safe. You do not know the combination yet. Close the painting so you can see the vampire again. Offerings are used on the portrait, not on the steel box.
Reading the pinboard
Rotate to the armchair wall. The cork pinboard has newspaper stories — titles such as Horror in Hidden Town, Horrible Crime, Unsolved Murder Case. Tap each clipping to lift it. Underneath are icons: mirror, cross, garlic, wine (goblet).
Read left to right, top to bottom unless your board is laid out in a single row. Four common example orders from documented runs:
- Mirror, Cross, Garlic, Wine
- Cross, Garlic, Wine, Mirror
- Wine, Mirror, Garlic, Cross
- Garlic, Wine, Cross, Mirror
Yours will be one of these shapes, not necessarily these exact four. Copy what you see, not this list.
Feeding the vampire
Return to the portrait (panel closed). Combine wine and goblet if you have not. Use the four items in pinboard order. Each successful offering flashes a glyph on the painting. Write those four glyphs down in the order they appeared.
Open the painting again. Enter the four glyphs on the safe. A click means you can take the lever. Pull it. The front door unlatches. Story beats after that are on the ending page.
Failures that are not bugs
- Using items in inventory order instead of pinboard order
- Leaving the painting open so the vampire cannot be offered objects
- Forgetting to fill the goblet
- Entering plant digits (5364) on the safe
- Copying glyphs from a 2024 video
The notebook’s vampire page only tells you which four items. It does not tell you order. Order is always the pinboard. That split is why this lock sits at the top of the puzzle tier list.
Why a vampire in a ghost story
It is kitsch on purpose: garlic, cross, mirror, wine are folklore tools. The house is full of pop-horror leftovers that still work as inventory verbs. You are not fighting a vampire boss. You are completing a ritual the siblings left in paint. After the lever, the folklore stops mattering and the family story starts — see Mia and Dan.
After the click
There is no second safe in the main chapter. Premium’s secret scene may add more riddles; it does not replace this lever. If the door is open and you are still clicking the painting, you are done with codes. Walk out.
Write the glyphs on paper. The close-up eats your memory. The randomized puzzles page is the reminder you will want on a second run when the pinboard shuffles again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common questions.
What is the vampire order?
Whatever is under your newspaper clippings, read in board order. Examples on this page are not universal.
The safe does not accept my symbols.
Offer items on the closed portrait first, write the glyphs it shows, then open the panel and enter those glyphs.
Where is the screwdriver?
Last TV-cabinet door, after the mouse pushes the hexagonal key from the cracked pipe. See the walkthrough.