I have studied a few more pictures and cannot determine any other place in the home for the tacky white shelving unit stacked with trophies.
otg, whatcha think about the wall that is to your right when you enter the master bedroom suite from the hallway where the spiral stairway is located? I have been unsuccessful in locating a photo of an angled ceiling on the second floor.
http://hellhole_photos.tripod.com/thirdfloor.htm
It is difficult to imagine Patsy placing that white unit with the trophies on it in her bedroom. However, I recall reading about JonBenét telling a little playmate who commented on one of her trophies: "Oh, those belong in my mother's room" or "Those are my mom's."
The significance of the trophies that were discovered fallen over, for me, is to help determine where the initial altercation may have started. Without a smoking gun, everything becomes significant.
DeDee, even though we don’t always necessarily agree on our deductions, I have to say that I admire your diligence and tenacity. For that, I’ll do whatever I can to assist you.
As for those who are questioning the reason for all this speculation, it is possible that one of the trophies might have been what caused the head blow. If one of them had a curved surface (especially if it had the curvature of a 5/8” diameter cylinder), it might fit the depressed fracture better than any other speculated weapon (baseball bat, Maglite, golf club).
The short answer to your question is that IMO the shelves shown with JonBenet’s trophies were located against the wall shown in the
attached floorplan (at the bottom of this post) in green. I don’t see how that photo of the shelves could have been taken anywhere else in the house. While I wouldn’t call this a “children's play area” (as Schiller seems to have), I can see how its being just at the top of the stairs coming from the 2nd floor “Children’s Playroom”, they might have stored things there for the kids to have access. This wall area (sans the shelves) can be seen in this photo:
(Oops! See second attached photo. Looks like tripod didn't like the hotlink.)
The longer answer (with what I took into consideration) follows:
Here’s how I read (my comments in
red) your quotes from Schiller’s book,
PMPT:
Page 82
(describing JonBenet’s room):
"JonBenet's closet was stuffed with clothes. A small TV set with a built-in VCR sat on a shelf inside her closet. Other shelves had dozens of cartoon and Shirley Temple videos (this all describes what we see in the photo). To the right of the closet stood a pageant trophy as tall as the light switch (Seen in the far right of the photo. See Note 1*). Another trophy was even taller (This one is not shown in the photo, but is probably the one that was found lying down). There was a floor-to-ceiling Christmas tree in the room, too. In her bathroom hung an original pastel, called 'Tea for Two' by a Boulder artist."
Page 83
(describing the 3rd floor master bedroom):
"The third-floor master bedroom had a cathedral ceiling (See Note 2*) and a view of the Flatirons. A framed print of red flowers hung over the fireplace (We can see this in the photo of the master bedroom fireplace, although the flowers look more yellow to me). The king-size bed had a 4-foot-high hand-carved headboard. A rider workout machine sat beside an exercise bicycle. A corner desk held a computer. Displayed on the floor and shelves were twenty-three of JonBenet's pageant trophies. In a children's play area stood a 5-foot-tall pageant trophy next to one that measured 8-feet-1 (This would most likely not stand up in rooms on the 2nd floor. See Note 3*)."
(*Note 1):
In the US, 48” is the typical light switch height.
(*Note 2):
There is a difference between
vaulted and
cathedral ceilings. Both vaulted and cathedral ceilings make small rooms appear bigger by altering the ceiling. A
cathedral ceiling is two equal, sloping sides that are parallel to the pitch of the roof. The two sides slope and meet at a ridge that runs across the length of the room. A
vaulted ceiling does not have two equal, sloping sides that are parallel to the roof's pitch. It can have unequal sides, sloping sides, one sloping side, or a curved sloping side. Trusses are used to frame the ceiling. Looking at photos of the Ramsey 3rd floor, the master bedroom had a
cathedral ceiling, as correctly described by Schiller. Because the 2nd floor ceilings would not be in contact with the roof, there would most likely be no slanted walls as appears in the photo of the trophy/game shelves.
(*Note 3):
In the US, the standard length for studs (the vertical boards that sustain a wall) is 92-5/8". In making a wall, the studs are fastened to 2 x 4 sill plates at the bottom, and a doubled top plate at the top. The top and bottom plates, all 2 x 4's (in most cases), are nominally 1.5" in thickness. That makes the total thickness of the plates 4-1/2 inches.
The sill plate is attached to the floor, and the ceiling joists rest on the uppermost top plate. So, from floor to ceiling, in a framed structure, the distance is 92-5/8" plus 4-1/2 inches, giving a total of 97-1/8 inches.
96 inches is 8 feet, which is considered the standard distance from floor to ceiling. But, in framing, consideration is given to additional ceiling and flooring materials which will be used.
Most bedrooms will have carpet, and gypsum board covers the ceiling. The gypsum board (sheetrock) is 1/2 inch thick, and carpet and padding is usually 3/4 thick. Adding these together, you have 1-1/4 inches that will be subtracted from the original framing height, to give the finished height of a typical modern ceiling.
Since the framing height is 8 feet and 1-1/8 inches, the typical height of a conventional residential home's ceiling will be 1/8" shy of eight feet, or
seven feet and seven-eighths inches (over an inch shorter than the 8’-1” tall trophy).
Therefore (or should I say, “and hence”
, the trophy that Schiller says “measured 8-feet-1” would be too tall to stand up anywhere else but on the 3rd floor. So perhaps this is the one Schiller described in JonBenet’s bedroom as “
even taller” than the one that was 4 foot tall? Maybe... but I would think if he was describing that one, rather than saying it was “
even taller”, he’d instead have described it as “
twice the height of the other one”.
Attached floorplan and wall photo: