The murder mystery party was a success! We ended up with twelve people. The costumes were great and I am sure my neighbors are still wondering what happened at my house that evening. Those in attendance were: Barnaby Johnson (Ken), the Ringmaster and owner of Big Johnson’s Circus; Madame Mama (Christina), his wife and the fortune teller; Promethia (Leslie), the Fire Breather; Kay-Boom (Nikki), the Human Cannonball; Rapier Montana (Sean), the Sword Swallower; Vigor Deathe (Shawn), the Tattooed Man; Klaus Von Sturgin (Joe), the Lion Tamer; Serpentina (Myself), the Medusa; Chandelier Saint John (Tricia), the Trapeze Artist; Angus Agony (Chris), the Geek; Frank (Debbie), the Bearded Lady; Captain Strongarm McCoy (Kevin), the strongman; and the unnamed, but very important detective (Ken also). Those not attending, but important to the plot anyways, were: Mr. Puddles, the dog-boy; Floppy, the clown of an undetermined gender; and Mel Gibson.
The evening started with a delicious dinner with tons of food—fried chicken, mashed potatoes, baked beans, salad, rolls, and a stuffed beef dish that Shawn cooked up. I have said it before—that boy should be a chef. We all introduced ourselves, got into character, and dinner began. It turns out that Barnaby was going to sell the circus to Mel Gibson. By the end of the meal, after our bleeding heart dessert (another Shawn creation—peach jello with red corn syrup “blood” in the middle), the murder occurred. Barnaby started coughing and gagging, then blood came pouring out of his mouth. He got up and took a few steps before collapsing into the kitchen floor and taking his last breath. His wife, Madame Mama collapsed onto the floor next to him, distraught at the death of her husband. She recovered and was helped into the living room. At this point all of the guests joined her and we began the process of deciphering the mystery.
The body was removed and the detective, who looked an awful lot like the recently deceased Barnaby, came onto the scene. He collected clues and evidence and questioned some of the guests. Among the clues were the fact that Barnaby was anything but faithful to his wife, having affairs with many of the freaks, including Serpentina and Frank. Floppy the clown had killed 27 of his/her brother clowns. Chandelier, who you only saw after extensive shaving and waxing, was actually the sister to Mr. Puddles, and both were the children of Barnaby and Madame Mama. Angus was actually Pierce Montana, Siamese brother of Rapier Montana, who was separated from his brother in an accident and then disappeared. And there were many, many other clues, but those are the ones that I can remember right off.
As the clues were collected, things started getting a little, ummm, shall we say, interesting? The drinks had been flowing freely since the beginning of the party, even beforehand for some of us, so we were all starting to get pretty happy by that point in time. Serpentina and Promethia both were pegged as whores and drunks by the other performers, so we played the parts up. We were coming on to everyone, and at some point the detective was partially stripped by us and a few others. Attention spans were short, so we read off the rest of the clues fairly quickly, and people took their guesses about the murderer. I ended up being the only character with multiple people thinking that I was the murderer. I knew I wasn't, but I played it to make everyone think I was. :) I am not sure if anyone actually got it right. Anywho, eventually it was solved. I don't really remember all the details--something about Madame Mama being the murderer, and Mel Gibson actually being the one who died. I have to check on that yet.
I think the mystery was enjoyed by everyone in attendance. Shawn did a great job with writing it. I kind of wish that not so many drinks had been had before the mystery was solved though. Things might have gone a bit better while trying to solve it. But, we all had a great time and that was the point of the evening anyways.
The party continued well into the wee hours of the morning. We lost Tricia and Joe at about midnight, but everyone else ended up staying the night at my place. Officially, the party ended at five in the morning when we finally crashed. We were up and about, busy with clean up by 9:00. No, I don’t know why we all got back up so quickly; we just woke up. Ken went out and picked up breakfast for everyone, while those of us left at the house tried to put it back in order. It took until 3:00 pm to get it back to normal, but it finally did get there.
That evening most of us went to Ken’s house for a cookout with his family. His dad really knows how to work a grill! We had steaks, bratwurst, stuffed peppers, grilled veggies, garlic bread, croissants, and baked beans. Everything was delicious. We were hanging out after dinner trying to decide what to get into that evening, and it was decided that we would head back to my house to play some cards. It was a much calmer evening than the night before, with things wrapping up about midnight. I think we were all still trying to recover, because very few drinks other than straight Pepsi or water were had.
Unfortunately though, Monday morning meant that everyone had to travel back to their own homes. It was great getting to see everyone and we had a wonderful weekend together. Can’t wait for Ren-fest in a month or so to see them all again!!!
On a side note—I will post some pics as soon as I get some. I couldn’t find my camera, so I am depending on everyone else to share the pics they got! Also, I had a wonderful Labor day, but I will post about it later, hopefully with pics from it too. Until then, have a great day!
