Staying at this restored Americus hotel is murder

Much like one of Agatha Christie’s stories, a murder has been announced for each of those dates. And the location has been set as well: the Windsor Hotel, a restored 1892 edifice that takes up most of a downtown city block. A troupe of actors from nearby Georgia Southwestern State University will provide the mischief, and the public is invited to participate in capturing the killers.

This month marks the 11th year the Windsor has been the backdrop for such fictional criminal activity. The idea kicked off as a way to draw people to the hotel and the town it sits in, 30 miles west of Cordele and 10 miles east of Plains.

“We’re always trying to come up with new ways to be involved in the community, and this dinner is a way to put Americus on the map,” said Divya Patel, the hotel’s director of sales and marketing. “Every year, we’ve gotten people from other cities and states to come and see what we have to offer. It’s also a great way expose people to the dramatic arts department of our university.”

The annual event draws not only mystery lovers, but guests who bring family and friends to share in the fun. “A lot of people wind up staying for the whole weekend,” Patel said.

The Windsor is atmospherically ideal for this sort of orchestrated mayhem. The restored red-brick edifice oozes an 1890s ambiance, with its towering turret, second-floor balcony overlooking the main street, and an abundant supply of Victorian gingerbread accents.

All of that was restored when the building underwent a $6.5 million renovation in 1991. A dramatic 3-story central hall is lined with golden oak wood paneling and pillars, and lit by chandeliers that, though not original, date to the era of the hotel’s opening. A gleaming marble floor reflects the light of the fireplace, where overstuffed armchairs and sofas are arranged in conversational corners.

Glass blocks in the ceiling hark back to the days when they allowed natural light to filter into the lobby from the oversized windows above them. The second-floor dining room boasts a floor of intricate octagonal tiles, an original fireplace with a mirrored mantel, and a wall of built-in cabinetry displaying an extensive china collection. A spacious ballroom takes up most of the now closed-off fifth floor.

Among the 53 individually decorated guest rooms are six suites; another two — the bridal and Carter Presidential suites — are in the circular turret.

President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, stayed in the presidential suite, and everyone in town knew it, since the Secret Service insisted on having a hook-and-ladder fire truck parked outside the turret in case an emergency arose. But the former president is just one of the many famous faces who have visited. Others include gangster Al Capone, presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan, President Franklin Roosevelt and aviator Charles Lindbergh, for whom a private dining room is named.

Into this setting will come Georgia Southwestern students who have worked on the evening’s storyline as well as their individual roles in the action. Jeff Green, chair of the university’s Theater, Communication and Media Arts Department, said the partnership between the university and the hotel formed after Windsor executives asked for his support in creating the event.

“Initially, we worked with canned pieces,” said Green, referring to the readily available do-it-yourself murder mystery games. “But, once I did four or five, I realized how formulaic they were.”

Green and his students set out to devise their own mysteries, cleverly incorporating local lore and famous hotel visitors into the plots. “We started in the 1890s and developed site-specific dramas,” he said. “We’ve featured different eras and speculated on how events unfolded from one decade to the next. Some stories have included events that happened at the Windsor itself, where there have been murders and notorious guests.”

A cast of about 15 characters keeps the action going, from the opening cocktail hour in the hotel bar through to the final scene in the lobby. Some of the historic characters may appear again this year in the show, set between 1939 and 1941.

“That was the golden age of cinema and the era of big band music,” said Green, who acts as the evening’s emcee. “So our theme is taken from the song ‘You Always Hurt the One You Love.’”

While there will be plenty of twists and turns, not even the cast members will know the final solution until the show gets underway. “But I have told them, if you’re a senior, you can almost count on your character being killed,” Green said with a laugh.

The murder weekend has developed a following of enthusiasts who turn up every year, ready to put their crime-detecting skills to the test. Many come in period costume; others get into the Victorian spirit of the hotel by dressing up as Sherlock Holmes. But not many of the 120 who attend wind up solving the entire mystery.

“Just before the final act, they fill out a ballot with their explanation of who did it and why,” Green said. “Some of their ideas have been so good, we’ve used them in the plot of next year’s show. But only a few people figure it out completely, and they get a T-shirt that says, ‘I solved the murder mystery at the Windsor.’”

The evening doubles as a fundraiser for Green’s department, providing money for students to travel to the annual college theater festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington. It also gives them practical experience. “They really could go off and create their own shows after having done this,” said Green, who hopes eventually to tape the mysteries as a series for the Web or TV.

Something not likely to show up on those tapes, or on the nights of the show, is an appearance by one of the hotel’s resident ghosts. The spookiness of the space has been recounted in many personal stories, including those of the “Ghost Hunters” team from the SyFy channel.

Green himself has had a few eerie encounters.

“There are probably other explanations,” he hurried to add. “But, if there are such things, then I’ve had definitely had some encounters.”