Canberra Horror Hang Outs

🩸🔎 MURDER MYSTERY NIGHT 🎃🕯️

As part of the Canberra Horror Groups October Halloween celebrations, Canberra Horror Hangouts is hosting a night of murder, mystery, costumes, food and some very suspicious behaviour.

We’ll be playing Terror in Transylvania, a light-hearted interactive murder mystery set in a haunted castle on a stormy Halloween night.

Players take on the roles of suspicious and suitably ghoulish characters, uncover clues, conceal secrets and try to work out who among them is responsible for the murder.

📅 WHEN

Saturday 17 October 2026
5:00 pm – 9:00 pm

📍 WHERE

Castle Dracula (Downer Community Hall)

We’ve hired the hall for the evening and will be covering the venue cost ourselves.
Your repayment? Bring us some nice food and good company. 🖤

🕵️ THE MYSTERY

"All of the underworld is invited to Dracula's 500th birthday celebration!

As the members of the haunting and haunted gather at the desolate Transylvania Castle, this will be an evening away from the mortals where the supernatural community can come together to celebrate and carouse!

During the night of spooktacular fun, one of the party-goers will end up in a grave they have dug for themselves. Desperate to avoid becoming victims themselves, the ghoulish guests will seek out the culprit in their midst.

Perhaps the murderer will be the bewitching witch with a cross to bear? A sinful servant who needs to keep their connections under wraps? Or possibly a vindictive vampiress who was once bitten twice shy?

What lies ahead is a hauntingly complex night during which the spooky and the spirited collide to solve a mystery designed to leave you spellbound.

It is enough to have the skeletons shaking in their bones."

You’re also very welcome to come along without playing a character. If you’d rather just eat, socialise, watch the accusations fly and enjoy the evening, that’s completely fine.

👉 Please let us know in the event chat whether you would like to play a character or attend socially, as this will help us organise the games.

🎭 CHARACTERS & COSTUMES

Characters will be assigned by random draw before the event.

That means you may be allocated a character who is male, female, or otherwise quite different from yourself — that’s part of the fun. We’ll let everyone know their character ahead of time and give you enough notice to prepare.

👗🧛 Costumes are strongly encouraged but not compulsory.

You can go as simple or elaborate as you like. A few accessories and some questionable acting ability may be all you need. See: http://terrorintransylvania.com/ for costume ideas and a link to an Amazon selection of costumes.

🍽️ POTLUCK DINNER

This will also be a potluck dinner, so please bring something to share.

There is a kitchenette at the hall with an oven and microwave available for reheating food.

We ask that people bring food already prepared rather than cooking from scratch at the venue. Otherwise our murder mystery may be followed by an entirely different mystery: Who is going to clean this kitchen? 🔪🧽

We’ll use the event chat to coordinate what everyone is bringing so we don’t accidentally end up with eight desserts. Although... there are worse problems to have. 🍰

🎃 PART OF OUR OCTOBER HALLOWEEN CELEBRATIONS

This event is part of the Canberra Horror Groups October Halloween fun, with other spooky activities happening across Canberra Horror Hangouts, Canberra Horror Movie Group and Canberra Horror Book Club.

Whether you’re a seasoned murder-mystery player, have never done anything like this before, or just want to come along for dinner and watch your friends accuse each other of terrible crimes, you’re very welcome.

Bring some food, embrace your character and prepare for an evening of deception, accusations and highly suspicious dinner conversation.

After all, everyone has something to hide... 🕯️👀🩸

*****

🎭 A QUICK NOTE ABOUT PLAYING A CHARACTER

Please don't worry if acting or dressing up isn't your thing.
The game is designed so everyone can be as involved as they feel comfortable.

There aren't scripts to perform or lines to memorise. As a character, you’ll be given some background information and clues to share with other people during the evening.

While we would love for people to go all out, you can absolutely do all of that just as yourself rather than putting on a character or acting.

As such, we would like to give each of you a character so you can be included in the mystery. You'll get some introductory information about your character beforehand so you know what to expect.

Most importantly, this is a social night and we want everyone to enjoy themselves, so you can participate at whatever level is fun and comfortable for you.
If you want to dress up and completely become your character, fantastic! If you just want to turn up as yourself, read your clues and help solve a murder, that's equally fantastic.
Plus, we’ll all be in the same boat...
Actually, that's the other event.
We’ll all be in the same room? 🤔😂

No acting ability required, we're having fun and solving a murder, not auditioning for a TV series. 🎬🩸