Deadly Date Night

Several months ago, after years of talking about it, I booked Hubby and myself a night at the Stone Lion Inn.  It is a beautiful old mansion in Guthrie that is rumored to be haunted.  On the weekends, they host murder mystery parties.  Last night, we packed our gear and headed North out of Norman at about the time that the rest of the planet was headed right into our town (game day).

Romantic, right???

The mansion really was lovely.  It could use a good paint job and some general freshening up but maybe the owners keep it a little run-down looking as part of the old, haunted house shtick.  Our room was lovely and decorated with lots of antiques.  It even had a separate sitting room complete with a small crib filled with creepy dolls.  Again, it was tough to tell if this was part of the "haunted house" vibe or what.  But if you closed the door to the creepy doll room, it was great!  The owner/hostess does a good job of keeping you on your toes; I found myself throughout the night wondering what was real and what was part of the "game."

After settling into our room for a bit, we got dressed for the main event.  So we stepped out of our suburban parent clothes and into the attire of SteveElizabeth and  Watson, society couple ready to schmooze at a dinner party in 1948 with some famous and infamous guests.  The dressing up was fun and really helped us feel more in character, even if we did occasionally have to glance at our name tags before introducing ourselves.

Now Elizabeth is the daughter of a Texas oil baron, a relentless social climber and a bit of a bigot; it's really no wonder Steve is likely cheating on her.  Lovely!  Fortunately for me, the rest of the "dinner guests" had even more glaring personality issues.  Everyone had fun introducing themselves and working on their characters at the pre-dinner cocktail party.  Then it was on to dinner, which was very good, and the unfortunate "demise" of one of our dining companions.  Poor guy didn't even get to finish his entree!

The innkeeper did a great job of keeping everyone in character and moving the evening along.  At the end of the evening all of the guests gather to sort out the complicated web of intrigue and "solve" the murder.  This part honestly dragged a bit, as there were so many people and clues to keep up with.  However, we managed to solve the puzzle and were released for the night with promises of ghost stories over breakfast.  Apparently when she tells them before bed guests tend to choose other lodgings!

Breakfast was also very good and the ghost stories and history of the house was interesting.  Our drinks were served on an actual antique embalming table left over from the home's brief stint as a funeral parlor!  Frankly, the hostess could have shortened several of the stories (nearly two hours for breakfast) but overall it was a fun experience.

For a fun and different evening out I would definitely recommend the Murder Mystery event at the Stone Lion.  If you are looking for a more romantic and relaxing getaway, this might not exactly fit the bill.  Hubby and I both enjoyed the evening, and now we can say that we have slept in a hunted house and lived to tell the tale!