Diners in Akron will trade their forks for magnifying glasses next month as Dinner & Murder in the Mansion returns to Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, sending guests on a multi-course meal followed by a room-by-room hunt for clues inside the historic manor house. The event kicks off at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, with dinner before the mystery unfolds.
The interactive theatrical experience takes place inside the estate's historic manor house, according to cleveland.com. Attendees eat dinner and then follow suspects into the manor house itself to solve a crime, moving from room to room as the plot thickens.
The setting was designed for entertaining: Goodyear co-founder F.A. Seiberling and his wife, Gertrude, envisioned the home as a gathering place for Akron as well as a family residence. They hired architect Charles Schneider, and the family moved into the Tudor Revival estate in December 1915, after construction began in 1912. The Seiberlings’ original plan for community events gives the dinner-and-mystery format a modern echo inside the house. The estate’s history includes those details.
How the Night Unfolds
The story is built as a slow reveal. Attendees begin in the music room, where an opening scene introduces the cast of suspects, and then move through the house questioning characters and piecing together clues, per the same report. The evening wraps up in the manor house reception hall, where light refreshments accompany the final whodunit reveal.
The estate also carries a connection to a much larger story in Akron: On Mother’s Day in 1935, F.A. and Gertrude Seiberling’s daughter-in-law, Henrietta Buckler Seiberling, brought Bill W. and Dr. Bob together at the Gate Lodge to discuss their drinking problems. That meeting led to the creation of Alcoholics Anonymous. The Gate Lodge’s place in the organization’s origins is one of several layers of history visitors encounter across the grounds.
Timing is tight but deliberate: the manor house doors open at 6:30 p.m., with the performance itself beginning at 7 p.m. Dinner service starts at 5:30 p.m., and the whole affair wraps up at approximately 9:15 p.m.
What's on the Menu
Before the sleuthing starts, guests are served a seated dinner featuring assorted breads with roasted red-pepper butter and an apple walnut salad with mixed greens, apples, candied walnuts, blue cheese, dried cranberries and white balsamic. The main course is Roma tomato and basil chicken with tri-color tomato relish and white-wine cream sauce, paired with roasted garlic fingerling potatoes and honey-glazed rainbow carrots, finished with a chocolate mousse topped with mixed berry.
Vegan diners aren't left out: the menu swaps in a mushroom strudel made with duxelle wrapped in phyllo dough and chimichurri, plus a vegan avocado chocolate mousse with mixed berry for dessert, according to the outlet's rundown of the event.
Tickets, Access and What to Wear
The Ohio History Connection has hosted a murder-mystery dinner at Adena Mansion and Gardens in Chillicothe. The Adena event offers a point of comparison with Akron’s.
Dinner & Murder in the Mansion runs $151.08 per ticket, or $141.08 for Stan Hywet members, with registration available through the venue's ticketing site, stanhywet.ticketapp.org. The event is recommended for guests 17 and older, and advance registration is required. Tickets can also be booked through a separate program, Murder in the Mansion, offered without dinner for $55, or $45 for members, on select 2026 dates: Thursday, Oct. 15; Wednesday, Oct. 21; Thursday, Oct. 22; and Thursday, Oct. 29. That no-dinner version still has availability even as some dates sell out, the outlet reports.
Guests are encouraged to lean into the period setting by wearing 1920s-inspired attire. The program does involve extended periods of standing and walking, including stairs, since the billiard room is located up several stairs. The manor house's first floor is wheelchair accessible, and guests unable to reach the billiard room are offered an alternative way to participate in the mystery. Anyone needing accessibility accommodations is asked to contact the ticketing office ahead of time.
The event takes place at Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, 714 N. Portage Path in Akron, with parking available in the estate's main lot.
