Elizabeth Pulanco / Winonan

Several houseguests sit amongst each other at a swanky dinner party in the mansion of a millionaire. While socializing, the lights abruptly flicker on and off.

There’s been a murder.

The victim is beloved Winona State University mascot Wazoo.

This “murder” was orchestrated as a part of the Comedy Murder Mystery event hosted by UPAC on Wednesday, Feb. 17.

Using their imagination, students, or houseguests, turned the East Hall of Kryszko Commons into a fancy dining room. As they entered the room, guests were given silly pseudonyms, like “Lady Parmesan” or “Scottish Chainsaw.”

Junior Brooke Klemn was entertained by the different creative details within the event.

“I though the funny names were a cute idea,” Klemn said.

The houseguests based their accusations on suspects they had met while socializing. Individuals would read their accusations out loud to the detectives working on the case.

Once the accusations were read, the detectives gathered information about the possible suspects within the group of houseguests. Once the suspects were chosen, they were interrogated with tough questions and impromptu games of rock, paper, scissors. In the end, the detective narrowed down the number of suspects to three.

As the audience tried to determine which suspect committed the murder, everyone was also debating on the possible murder weapons. After much deliberation, the murder weapons were decided upon were a kazoo, a banana and a feather.

Each suspect was assigned a murder weapon, and as a part of the investigation, different audience members read their interpretation of how the murder happened. As each interpretation was read, the suspect re-enacted the event.

One suspect was a rival mascot, who supposedly killed Wazoo by stabbing him in the eye with a feather in a fit of rage after discovering Wazoo eating his rival’s pet birds. Another suspect was Wazoo’s mistress, who was comically portrayed by a student with a heavy beard and a blonde wig. She allegedly killed Wazoo by stabbing him in the jugular with a kazoo, after he told her how her butt looked big in her jeans.

After much deliberation between the detectives and houseguests, the murderer was revealed to be Wazoo’s French maid, Singing Hologram. The maid, who was pregnant with the mascot’s child, stabbed him in the neck with a banana after an argument in his bedroom.

This event was planned by UPAC’s Special On -Campus Director Erica Kish. The audience engagement is an element Kish found interesting when choosing the event.

“I wanted to find something that would be interactive with the whole audience,” Kish said. “I was looking to something we have never done before.”

This audience interaction was the highlight of the experience for many students, including senior Hannah Nagel.

“It was nice how they include people and got them involved without making you feel uncomfortable,” Nagel said.

When picking out the event, Kish wanted to find something unique and entertaining.

“I wanted to set up something that wasn’t just a typical magician or comedian show,” Kish said. “I think this event will give a different perspective on the kind of events that can be planned campus.”

For more events this semester, Kish has been working with other groups to co-sponsor events. On Wednesday, Feb. 24, UPAC will be co-sponsoring a Slam Poetry Night in the Student Activity Center at 7:00 p.m.