The Oswego Heritage Council turned its museum into a crime scene the weekend of Oct. 23, inviting participants to solve a mystery alongside a performer playing a Lake Oswego historical figure.
The event, called "Behind Glass," combined live theater with escape-room puzzles at Oswego Heritage House. Participants played the role of visiting museum curators called in after hours to figure out who, or what, broke a ceramic serving dish overnight.
Two performers from Live History guided the experience. One played a museum security guard named Sam. The other portrayed Elizabeth "Bessie" Pettinger, an active community member who lived from 1877 to 1958 and founded the Oswego Women's Club in 1906, according to the Lake Oswego Review.
Pettinger was an advocate for women's issues, including suffrage, and saw Lake Oswego change dramatically during her lifetime, the Review reported. During the event, her character showed off artifacts tied to other local figures, including Clara and Cora Wilmot, twins who made a daily three-hour horse-drawn ride into downtown Portland to sell agricultural goods.
The puzzle trail wound past glass beads on a roll-top desk and a coded message full of codenames before ending in the main sitting room. The culprit? The security guard. It was also his birthday.
The performers, identified only as Jade and Dylan, were in Lake Oswego for the weekend. Live History produces site-specific mysteries around the world, according to the Clackamas County Arts Alliance.
Kathryn Sinor, executive director of the Oswego Heritage Council, told the Review she hopes to repeat the format.
"I think we'll do something like this again … I think it would be really fun to take what was successful and build on that," Sinor said.
Sinor said a future "talking museum" event, with actors pretending to be famous figures from local history, could be fun. No date or details have been announced.
The escape room caps a busy stretch for the Heritage Council. In an October newsletter, Sinor wrote that the Heritage House broke its annual visitor record in 2026. The organization also installed a new exhibit on the history of the Lake Oswego Hunt Club that month.
Sinor presented a "Pints from the Past" program on the Hunt Club at the Lake Oswego Public Library. That free series is supported by the Friends of the Lake Oswego Public Library. Residents can find upcoming events at oswegoheritage.org.
The Heritage House's new Hunt Club exhibit is open to visitors now.
