(Author's note: I would characterize myself as a social geocacher who likes to find caches with others and enjoys attending events to meet other cachers. I like to travel to places to attend events, but get hung up whether to sit at the pavilion and meet the local caching community or go out and find the event caches.)

I made up my mind that my next event would be a Murder Mystery...and all the attendees would talk to each other... I found out talking to other cachers about this that they felt the same way. People enjoyed my Harriman Pirates & Picnic Event, but they were all out on the trails finding caches; some cachers attended the whole day and never saw each other! When I attended the 2004 NYGO State Picnic, I really enjoyed myself but also felt a tug-o-war between socializing and caching. Now,for some cachers it's easy. They either A) go out and find all the nearby event and permanent caches,or B) stay at the picnic, eating and chatting. But for some people I talked to, it was a really tough choice requiring a sacrifice.

I made up my mind that my next event would be a murder mystery. The event would take place at a park pavilion and all the attendees would talk to each other to share information and figure out who committed the murder of a fictional geocacher.

I wanted to make sure this kind of event would create some interest, so late in August I posted a feeler note in the Northeast forums asking for potential pitfalls or thumbs-up replies. The response was phenomenal, overwhelming, and supportive. Now all I needed to do was to create a fictional murder within a fictional geocaching community!

Asking local cachers for site suggestions, I choose Tourne Park in Boonton for its central location and easy access. I based the event name, Murder Mystery: Tourne Asunder , on the park as well as the fictional murder victim's name, The Olde Tourne. He was a venerable old cacher with a legendary cache called "Hole-Ier Than Thou." The scene was set.

I choose an auction as a theme, and then spent time writing, editing, and rewriting plot lines and personalities, asking the geocaching forum community for help with names . The story evolved, expanded and developed into 75 fictional geocaching characters attending a fictional auction.

Each character had allies, enemies and information all woven together to produce a web of intrigue and deceit. To solve the murder, characters needed to mingle and share information along five major plotlines. By stringing together clues, attendees could cross off suspects from their lists.

November 14th rolled around and I arrived at the Tourne Park pavilion parking lot just after 9 a.m. It was empty. I set up my event props and waited.

By 10:30 a.m., the pavilion began to fill and I gave each geocacher a pre-assigned character envelope containing a character sheet, a film canister cache with log, a pencil, a suspects' sheet, a name badge, a wallet of fake money, and any prop items the character needed.

There were 24 main characters and 50 minor characters in all. Attendees e-mailed me their preferred level of participation beforehand so I knew who wanted major roles and who wanted minor ones. As a side game for the younger geocachers, each character had a film canister cache that other characters could sign.

At 11:00 a.m., I welcomed the 60-strong crowd and explained the rules and guidelines for the murder mystery game. Next, I introduced the fictitious park warden, Smokie Bair, played by JMBella, who described the murder scene and provided detailed background information.

Let the sleuthing begin!!! At first, the crowd behaved nervously and it seemed nobody wanted to look silly by initiating anything. I prompted a couple of nearby cachers by introducing myself by my character name, Bo Gusfinder. People could turn in caches that broke guidelines for a reward and were told that if they spotted any violating caches to contact me. Slowly, the tension eased. HartClimbs, playing Hunt Lysence (from the Department of Fish and Game) leaped up onto a park bench and bravely announced that he wasn't the murderer and that anyone who wanted to log his cache should come forward! This broke the ice, and with lunch ready to be served, the crowd ate and gradually mixed to discuss and share their information.

BMSquared admitted, "At first, I was skeptical about acting in a murder mystery. I had no experience and feared I would botch my characters. I was relieved to see the first five people I exchanged information with also botch their lines."

I walked through the crowd, baiting people, supplying leads and asking them what they had uncovered so far. People mingled and I witnessed countless bribes, extortions, pickpockets and blackmails around the pavilion!

Barry of Gilwell1 said, "It was fun being a total sleaze for a day. As I banker, I do not get many opportunities to cast all integrity aside and extort..."

According to Al of CT Trampers , "I must have had a guilty look on my face or something. When I shared the information I knew, a couple of people did not think I was telling the truth, and a couple of them outright accused me of being the murderer."

Many geocachers came up to me and shared good murder suspect theories. As lunchtime turned to early afternoon, many characters had narrowed the murder suspects to a couple of likely culprits. It was time for everyone to regroup and start the auction.

Three of the Old Tourne's artifacts were modeled by BMSquared and auctioned off, along with bidding for the murder mystery Where's Georges, a hiking staff, a geocaching patch, and an antique compass.

After the auction came the announcement for which guideline would be changed and who would adopt The Olde Tourne's cache.

The Guideline's Queen, Helda Grudge, played by Saylor-n-Crew, decided which banned guideline would be removed. And Miss Phylisa Doption, played by Mrs. Avroair, announced who she thought should adopt the 'Hole-ier Than Thou' cache (who just happened to be the one who bribed her the most).

With the auction and announcements out of the way, it was time to find out who was guilty of murder. Geocachers organized into large groups and discussed and shared information for a final verdict. This was a good way for people to find out what others knew and to do some final detective work before the murderer was revealed.

briansnat commented, "I was not sure how something so intricate could come off as a geocaching event. I was more interested in the social aspect, the event far exceeded my expectations and made me wish I was more involved."

Acting park warden and ex-detective Smokie Bair read the solution sheet and the murderer was apprehended and booked. Murder Solved!