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Wednesday, January 17, 2007

A McMurdor Mystery

**PHOTO UPDATE**

About a month or so ago, I was asked to be a character in a murder mystery. I agreed, not really knowing what I was exactly signing up for. Karen, the woman who wrote the mystery and planned everything, along with my friend Richard, set up some practice times for us to get together. Characters were written for each of us. I was cast as the dead guy's girlfriend, a documentary film-maker here in McMurdo on the artist and writer's grant, named Wanda Erzogit (a play on a famous director's name, if you didn't already guess).

By the night of the mystery, the murder had already happened and 6 teams of 6 were emailed details about the murder the week leading up to the McMurdor Mystery (notice the play on words). The teams each had a theme: Scooby Doo team, Viking horde, CHiPs, Dragnet, Charlie's Angels, and Inspector Gadget. Most of the teams dressed the part. The characters were all grouped to be questioned as suspects. I was in a room with JD, a guy who was friends with the murdered guy but was secretly dating me and had set me up with the dead guy who owned his own country and I was going to inherit it. OK, I hope that made sense. I'm too tired to make sentences right now. So every 15 minutes another group of 6 would come in and question us. At the end of the questioning, we all met back in the Galley as a group to answer 3 final questions from each team. They then had 10-15 minutes to write down who they thought did it, and what clues led them to believe that. Three teams got the murderer right (it was the doctor with the crazy kids), but the Scooby Doo team blew everyone out of the water with something like 13 clues correct compared to other teams with three or four clues. JD (who was actually played by DJ) and I were thought to have been the murderers by one group, which meant we fooled them enough. Here are some photos from after the mystery:

Me, Bill (one of the "detectives" who went from group to group to make sure everything was going smoothly), and Ralph (one of the detectives from Dragnet)

Sandwich (who went around with Bill), me, Bill, and Ralph

Me and Carrie (our photographer who just went around from group to group)

Photos from Karen Hagerman and Sandwich:

The Characters in the McMurdor Mystery 2007:

Wanda Erzogit massaging the shoulders of JD. They were denying anything but friendship.

Bob the Channeler and Zuela (lifting weights) who was a parapalegic suspect.

Moonshore and Rainbow Blossom with their father Dr. Sigmuend Maslow

I had to include another photo that would show just how ugly those gold shorts really are. It's amazing how many events Kris wears them to.

Lena, a crazy artist, and Application #374851 (or some other long number). Application was a grad student who had applied to BE Lena's art project. They did crazy things like a donkey ride around the main building late at night.