Well, it's a classic case of whodunit.

And we're here at the miss, thehistory museum in South Bend.

I have Goren with me.

This is an exciting thingthat you guys are doing because you do thisjust one time of year.

Is that right?

Yeah, that's right, we do.

We're doing the mysteryat the mansion.

Yes, yes.

So there's two performances,but only once a year.

And October is the time.

For the first time,I see the spooky stuff starting to come out here.

Yeah.

We have the, mansiondecorated for the season, as we do for, Christmas as well.

But October is especially a fun time to getsome spooky decorations out.

Definitelysome fall vibes as well.

So definitely it's readyfor mystery at the mansion.

Happening later this month.

All right.

Mysteryat the mansion.

You guys have gotto get your tickets.

And this is like, a classic.

I heard so many peopletalk about this over the years.

You guys have a, would you say a followingof people who come to this?

Yeah, I would say so.

We we have some regularswho come each year.

We have a lot of, friend groupswho like to come together.

Sometimes they even like todress up in theme for the event.

I love that, we have familieswho come with their kids.

So is it all ages?

It is all ages.

So.

Okay.

No, I will sayit's a little harder for really young kidsbecause it's kind of long.

It's about an hour long.

And you have to walk upstairs.

But we would say probably ageseight and above.

It's, suitable for, but technically all agescould come just it might be a little more difficultwith younger kids.

Okay,so for anybody who hasn't been to a murder mystery kindof thing, tell us how it works.

Because you are part of theof the performance.

Yes, yes.

So you'll be,walking around, scene to scene, listening to individualcharacters talk about, their side of the storyand what they saw happen at the, during the mystery.

And they'll be talking, at you,the audience.

And at the end of the event,you'll be asked to fill out a game card, to saywho you think did the crime.

And then you can submit it,and then you'll if you got it right,you'll be entered into a raffle to win a prize.

Oh, fantastic.

So this is a challenge now, for those of youwho like a good challenge.

And what I love about this, you guys have been doing thisfor a number of years.

How long has it been now?

Well, I don't know the exactfirst year, but it's been over 20 years.

It's been a whileor maybe not quite 20.

I think it startedin the early 2000s actually.

It's been a while,but it's been a while.

Yes.

And why do people loveto come and participate in this?

I think for several reasons.

And I think it differsby the person.

But one of the big reasons,obviously, being able to see and experiencethis wonderful mansion, you know,we have guided tours every day.

But this is seeing itin kind of a new context.

And a new space.

But also it's justlike a fun thing to do that, you there's not really a lot ofopportunities like it, around.

Obviously we have playsput on by the wonderful South Bend Civicand at, DeBartolo at Notre Dame.

But this type of moreinteractive, experience isn't as common.

And I think it's just a really fun thing to doif your family, it's a new story each year, anew story is written each year.

I love, so it's justa really great experience.

Let's go check outsome of the areas that people are going to explore.

Can we do that?Yes.

All right, let's go.

All right.

Corn, where are we at now?

We are in the libraryof the mansion.

Okay.

Which was essentiallythe family's living room.

Back then, obviously there wasno TV or anything like that.

This is their entertainment.

This was their entertainment.Okay.

Yes, I love that.

So when people get to explorethe areas, obviouslythings are still blocked off because we want to keepthe integrity of everything that iswithin the home, correct?

Yes, correct.

So, we're actually in the spacethat normally we couldn't walk in and guestswon't be allowed to back here, but we do things like handsare we do, place, mats down during the night of the performance so the actorscan be in the actual rooms.

And then the, audience will bebehind, the rope section.

So they'll be lookinginto the rooms at the actors.

Okay.

Okay, now let's talkabout the theme for this year.

Yes.

So the themethis year is shipwrecks.

Specifically Great Lakesshipwrecks.

It's, looselytied to our current exhibit, Great Lakes shipwrecks,which you can view, before or after the performance.

Oh, good.

Okay.

That'll be open for people to,And it's basically a, wealthy.

This is a fiction, of course,but, a wealthy Chicago, factoryowner in 1910 is holding, a party on his,luxury boat on Lake Michigan.

But it's a little controversial because his factories arecurrently in protest and strike.

Oh, interest,which is loosely based off the real life 1910 garmentworkers strike in, Chicago.

Okay, but basically, during his party,this wealthy factory owner ship sinksand he passes away, but almost everyone else escapes the ship,and it's ruled sabotage.

Oh.

Done it.

Yes.

So now you have to, essentially interrogatethe guests and the workers on the ship and see which one of themmight have done the crime.

And I love the to correlate it kind of back to the exhibitthat you guys are doing to and bringing itall together in that way.

And we do have we haveconnected it to another exhibit.

We currently haveour biggest exhibit right now.

Knute Rockne life and legacy,or I should say, Ka-Newt Rockne, which is the right wayto pronounce it?

Really?

Really.

Okay.

Fun fact today, and hedoes make a brief appearance in the play to kind of connectedto that exhibit as well.

And I have to say,for those of you who don't know, I just found outbefore we got started that you actually wrote this book.

I did write this.

I wrote last year's script, and this year's scriptI took over for our long time writer, Roger Chrastil,who had written there for many, many yearsbefore that.

He is also a local writer, butthis is a locally written play which is even more phenomenal.Yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah, I mean, you.

Yeah, you.

And so how did you come upwith that story idea, can I ask?

So we do, try to come upwith the story ideas as a group.

So we havea little committee of people, where we suggest ideas down.

We try to connect it to eithera current exhibit or one of our permanentexhibits.

We do try to connect itto something that's on display at the museum I love it.

Let'sgo check out another space.

All right, all right.

All right.

Now we are in the kitchen.

Which people will get to explorein here too.

Yes, yes.

So this is actuallyone of the later scenes.

So you start on the first floor, you go to the second floorand third floor and then come back downand finish your, the play on the first floor.

Okay.

So the kitchen ison the first floor.

It's one of the lastthree scenes in the performance.

Oh my gosh.

And you'rejust moving people through because I know everybodyneeds to get their tickets.

How do they get their tickets?

So, they can purchase ourtickets, online on our website.

Or they can go to the ticket portal through our Facebookevent page, as well.

Tickets are $25each for the general public, but our members get a discountfor a $20 another.

Okay.

So if you're a member,you got to make sure you get your ticket for this.

And I knowthere's lots of volunteers who are putting thison.

Right?

Yes.

So we're very thankfulto our volunteer actors.

We have a lot of volunteer actorswho have done this, performance, almost every yearfor like 20 years.

Or actors who, you know,maybe can't do it every year, but come back pretty sure,we have a lot of people who also act at the SouthBend Civic will help us out.

Just.

Or people who just actingis their passion, and they just haven't been ableto do as much as they'd like.

So we get a lot ofvolunteer actors.

But we also have, a bunch ofvolunteer docents the night of.

So between each scene, docentwill lead you from one room to the other.

Okay.

And they'll actually tell youa little historical fact about the Olivermansion in the room.

So this event is really,you know, the staff is here, but this event would not happenwithout but volunteer actorsand volunteer docent.

So we're very thankfulto all of them.

And if anybody wants toget involved in the future, they can get in touchwith you guys too.

Yes.

Yes, they can get in touchwith, myself.

Or you can find our, volunteercoordinators information on our website.

Well, this is a great event.

You can't miss that.There's only two nights.

And is it the same performanceboth nights?

It's the same performanceboth nights.

Okay.

All right, well, we will see you here for mysteryat the mansion.

WHOOOOOOOOO