Not long into Madison, you’ll come across a well in grandpa’s house, and you must enter the correct crime scene lock puzzle solution to continue with the story.

After choosing the correct symbols, you’ll then have to open the crime scene well, which is a mini-puzzle in its own right.

We’ve covered the solutions to both of these puzzles inside grandpa’s house in Madison below, to help you through this tricky section of the game as quick as possible.

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Madison crime scene lock puzzle solution explained

After solving the generator puzzle and exploring the area a bit, you’ll come across a red door in the basement. Once you take a picture of the red door, you’ll gain entry to a strange area covered in yellow crime scene tape. At the back of this room is a well with three locks holding a slab of concrete over its entrance.

  • Madison crime scene lock puzzle solution explained
  • How to open the crime scene well in Madison

The first step in opening the well and continuing with the story is to enter the correct symbol for each of these crime scene locks, and you might actually have the solution to the puzzle at your disposal already.

If you’ve been taking pictures of the black polaroid photos scattered about the two houses, check the photo pile in your inventory for your picture of the pentagram drawing found on the wall near the TV and newspaper clippings of Madison’s crimes.

If you didn’t take a picture of this pentagram drawing, you’ll have to go back to the room containing it, but it shouldn’t take long to backtrack. Head to grandpa’s kitchen and then through the door by the dining table. Turn right and you’ll see the drawing on the wall beside the TV.

To reveal the solution to the crime scene lock puzzle in Madison, take a picture of the pentagram drawing on the wall. Shake the polaroid to develop it, then check the photo for the three symbols that appear inside of circles in the polaroid of the drawing, but not on the wall itself.

We would have provided you with the exact three symbols to save you some time backtracking, but like a lot of puzzles in Madison, the symbols are randomised for every playthrough.

Once you know the correct three crime scene lock symbols for your playthrough, go back to the well behind the red door in the basement.

Input the bottom-left symbol in your picture for the left-hand crime scene lock, then the bottom-right for the right-hand crime scene lock, and finally enter the top symbol from your picture in the crime scene lock on the back of the well.

To summarise, here’s how to get the correct crime scene lock puzzle solution in Madison:

  • Go to the TV room with newspaper clippings on the wall
  • Take a picture of the pentagram drawing on the wall
  • Go to the crime scene well behind the red basement door
  • Input the bottom-left symbol in your picture on the left-hand lock
  • Input the bottom-right symbol in your picture on the right-hand lock
  • Input the top symbol in your picture on the lock at the back of the well

You’ll know you’ve input the correct symbols for all three locks when you can no longer interact with them.

How to open the crime scene well in Madison

After following the steps above and solving the crime scene lock puzzle, you might be asking yourself just how to get into the well.

You can cycle through your inventory and try to put an item on top of it, but nothing you try to put on the well will actually work, despite the prompt annoyingly letting you try.

Thankfully, there’s no more backtracking, as all you have to do to open the crime scene well in Madison is take a picture of the well.

As soon as you take the picture, the slab on top of the well will explode and create an entrance. All you have to do next is climb down the ladder to continue with the story.