An 1820s British portrait hanging inside the Oklahoma City Museum of Art is about to become the centerpiece of a fictional crime scene. On Thursday, October 22, the museum will host Murder Mystery Night: The Mysterious Death of Kitty Packe, an adults-only interactive evening built around the museum’s own painting of the same name, complete with fictional suspects, a ticketed Case File of clues, and a staged arrest inside the museum lobby.
According to KGOU, the event is designed for guests 21 and older and runs in two tiers. A $40 VIP Case Briefing for members (or $55 for non-members) takes place from 5 to 6 p.m. on the museum’s Roof Terrace, offering a cocktail hour, investigation intelligence ahead of the mystery, and direct conversations with the story’s lead detective while overlooking the downtown skyline. General investigation tickets cost $10 for members and $25 for non-members, with those guests entering the second-floor galleries at 6 p.m. to begin piecing together the case.
The plot, according to the museum’s event listing, imagines Kitty Packe hosting a summer celebration at the museum before being discovered dead the next morning — a crime the storyline places squarely within the museum’s own walls. Every attendee becomes a suspect as the investigation unfolds, and the fictional culprit is arrested at 7:25 p.m. in the museum lobby before the galleries close for the night at 8 p.m.
The Real Woman Behind the Painting
The portrait driving the fictional plot depicts a real historical figure. Kitty Packe, born Kitty Jenkyn Hort, sat for the painting in 1820, according to Austenprose; she married British Member of Parliament Charles William Packe in 1823. The oil-on-canvas painting measures 58 by 45 inches and carries the museum’s collection identifier 2001.007, per KGOU’s event details…