Getaway with Murder at a Gilded Age Mansion
Getaway with murder at The Wilburton's legendary Murder Mystery Dinner Parties - elegant, immersive theatrical experiences where you're not just watching the show, you're in it. Step back in time to the Gilded Age, the Roaring Twenties, or Hollywood's Golden Era as our 1902 mansion transforms into the perfect setting for intrigue, scandal, and sophisticated sleuthing. Dress in period costume, interrogate suspects, compare clues with fellow guests, and solve murders while enjoying three-course dinners and specialty cocktails.
This isn't dinner theater where you sit politely watching actors perform. You'll sleuth through the mansion's grand salon, library, and Billiard Room, dancing, singing, and scheming alongside Broadway talent and local performers. The Boston Globe, AARP, and Broadway World have featured our murder mystery weekends as Vermont's most unique theatrical dining experience. Warning: these evenings are addictive - guests return year after year for new mysteries and the glamorous escape only The Wilburton provides.
Current Mystery: The Runaway Debutante
"A Gilded Age Scandal Comes to Life"
Saturday, November 15, 2025
Inspired by a society scandal that rocked Manchester Vermont and Chicago in 1904, The Runaway Debutante transports you to the completion celebration of The Wilburton itself. Albert Gilbert and his ambitious wife are hosting a fabulous fete to impress financiers for railroad expansion. Their daughter Louise - a former debutante known for beauty and theatrical flair - is expected to make a grand entrance. Her friends and rivals arrive dressed to the nines. Mrs. Gilbert's scheming confidante harbors closet skeletons. The butler polishes silver and sharpens knives. Louise's husband brings his guns - it is hunting season, after all.
Everyone is dying to be invited to this social event of the season. But will this society soiree include getting away with murder?
Dress in your grandest gowns, top hats and tails, or as your favorite Astor or Vanderbilt. Join the scheming society, dance, sing, compare clues, and determine whodunnit before the evening concludes.
What's Included
An Evening of Elegance and Intrigue
Your Murder Mystery Experience Includes:
Three-Course Elegant Dinner: Period-appropriate menu served throughout the evening as the mystery unfolds. Dining becomes part of the theatrical experience.
Specialty Cocktails: Cash bar featuring themed drinks that transport you to the era. Prohibition-era gin fizzes, Gilded Age champagne cocktails, or Hollywood martinis depending on the theme.
Immersive Theater: Sleuth through multiple mansion rooms - grand salon, library, Billiard Room - as scenes unfold around you. You're not confined to one dining room.
Professional Cast: Local and Broadway talent bring characters to life with singing, dancing, and dramatic intrigue.
Society Photographer: Professional portraits of every guest in costume - souvenirs of your evening as a Gilded Age socialite or 1920s flapper.
Interactive Experience: Question suspects, compare notes with fellow sleuths, and piece together clues to solve the murder.
Why Our Murder Mysteries Are Different
The Perfect Setting: Up a winding driveway, perched atop a hilltop, the 1902 Wilburton mansion is Vermont's most authentic murder mystery venue. Like an Agatha Christie novel or the game of Clue come to life, the period architecture, grand rooms, and isolated estate location create genuine atmosphere impossible to replicate in modern venues.
Original Productions: Writer and director Tajlei Levis creates new mysteries annually, inspired by Wilburton and Vermont history. These aren't generic scripts purchased from catalogs - they're sophisticated, researched productions that incorporate the mansion's actual history and regional stories.
Theatrical Quality: With Broadway talent and professional direction, these are legitimate theater productions where dinner is served. The singing, choreography, and performances rival professional theater companies - you're experiencing art, not just entertainment.
Immersive Participation: Unlike passive dinner theater, you actively participate - moving through rooms, interrogating characters, dancing at the ball, comparing clues with strangers who become collaborators.
A Family Legacy of Mystery
30 Years of Whodunnits
The tradition of murder mystery weekends at The Wilburton began 30 years ago when innkeeper Georgette Wasserstein Levis wrote The Brothers Rosenblood - a murder mystery homage to her sister Wendy Wasserstein's Broadway hit The Sisters Rosensweig. That family connection to Broadway and literary excellence established the standard for sophistication and wit that defines Wilburton mysteries.
Since 2013, Tajlei Levis - known for writing vintage literary musicals including Glimpses of the Moon based on Edith Wharton's novel - has created new mystery events each year. Her productions blend historical research, theatrical excellence, and genuine Vermont stories into evenings that entertain and educate. When you attend a Wilburton murder mystery, you're experiencing a Levis family creation - three generations of hospitality meeting theatrical artistry in productions you won't find anywhere else.
Planning Your Mystery Weekend
Make It a Vermont Getaway
Turn your murder mystery evening into a full Vermont weekend. Book lodging at The Wilburton Friday and Saturday nights - wake up in the mansion where you solved last night's murder. Explore Manchester Village's shops and restaurants on Saturday before the evening performance. Sunday, enjoy farewell brunch and recap the mystery with fellow sleuths before heading home.
Many guests make Wilburton murder mysteries an annual tradition, returning each year for new productions. Friend groups plan their calendars around these weekends. Couples make it their November date night ritual. The combination of sophisticated theater, period costume fun, and Vermont's autumn beauty creates weekends that transcend typical entertainment - these become memories and traditions.
Booking and Details - Reserve Your Spot
Murder mystery evenings sell out weeks in advance - book early for best availability. Tickets include the Saturday evening murder mystery dinner party (three courses, cash bar with specialty cocktails, professional photography, and full theatrical experience). Lodging is booked separately - call (802) 362-2500 to coordinate tickets and rooms in one reservation.
Not staying overnight? You can attend just the Saturday evening performance, though we recommend making it a weekend. The Friday arrival and Sunday departure create relaxed bookends around Saturday's theatrical intensity. Plus, solving murders is exhausting - you'll want breakfast in bed the next morning.
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