It was Thatcher Magoun with a wrench at Medford Library

It was murder most foul at the Medford Public Library April 11 when an after hours event turned deadly and a slew of detectives were set loose to uncover the culprit in a live action game of Clue.

“You know, when the library closes things do happen after hours,” said Assistant Library Director Sam Sednek to the 100 would-be detectives gathered for the event. “Unfortunately, we did find a body and we really need your help to solve this.”

The rules were simple. Twenty-two teams were sent into the library to question suspects, with the goal of determining who did it, where and with what weapon, just like the classic board game. But the suspects were not quite the traditional Clue line up. 

Program Director Jenna Barry said when they hit upon the idea for the live action game, which married Clue with an Escape Room vibe and a touch of dinner theater, they knew they wanted to create their own characters, who were a little closer to home. 

So rather than Mrs. Peacock, Colonel Mustard and the gang, the list of suspects included Amelia Earhart in the Teen Room, Prince Hall in the Children’s Room, Etienne Trouvelot in the Tech Lab, Fannie Farmer in the kitchen, Thatcher Magoun in the Local History Room and Samuel Crocker Lawrence in nonfiction. 

The characters were played to the hilt by college thespians from Northeastern University’s No Jokes Improv group.

The characters told each team who they were and their connection to Medford and helped the players eliminate pieces of information, not only by answering questions asked to them directly but by also making the players answer trivia questions about them. 

Samuel Crocker Lawrence, the first mayor of Medford, asked what kind of collection he left behind for his beloved town.

“The answer might be in the book of Google,” he suggested.

When a team answered correctly, they were given a clue.

Not unlike a logic puzzle, Sednek encouraged players to keep track of who was telling them what. And the suspects weren’t the only ones offering up clues. Anyone who did a word search, that just happened to be laying around the cafe would learn that one of the characters was lying. And observant players noted clues on the virtual screens scattered around the library.

Kedar Wint kept very detailed notes on the characters her team questioned. She had to because their youngest member was trying to earn her detective’s badge for Girl Scouts.

About an hour into the game two young players Riley and Emelda cracked the code on a locked dictionary, picking up an extra clue and a lot of excitement. 

“We have a lead,” Riley said. “And I think I know the weapon.”

In the end, a number of teams determined it was in fact Thatcher Magoun with the wrench in the true crime section.

But only Team 13 earned the grand prize, the ultimate bragging rights for being the first to correctly report the deed – and a spongy moth printed on the Tech Lab’s 3D printer.

Amateur entomologist Etienne Trouvelot’s dubious claim to fame was introducing the spongy moth, also known as the gypsy moth, to the United States via Medford.

“It was a fun event,” said Courtney Petri, a member of Team 12 who almost got it right.

“We were only one-third wrong,” admitted Jonah Petri. “They had to coax us through it a little.”

“We over-thought it,” said Jen Shagotsky, with a laugh. 

Sednek said it’s the first time they’ve done an after hours event for adults that was just for fun and the interest in it surprised her.

“It filled up a lot faster than I expected,” she said.

“I’m so excited,” Barry said. “I would like to make this an annual event, After Hours at the library.”