IN THE COMMUNITY
Festivities and frights with Seminole Gulf Railway’s annual ride
All Aboard for Halloween!
Right before Halloween, passengers waiting to board the Seminole Gulf Railway’s Murder Mystery Dinner Train won’t be dressed in their usual attire. Instead, they’ll be decked out like witches and warlocks, skeletons and superheroes, monsters and mummies, each waiting to join the train’s 24th annual Halloween party, where a comical murder-mystery unravels, a fivecourse meal is served and a Halloween costume contest takes place.
The 200-passenger train is four reconditioned railcars― Sanibel, the Marco, the Gasparilla and the Captiva― dating from the 1930s to the 1950s. Murder-mystery excursions first began in 1991, when the Fay family and the Seminole Gulf Railway, which had operated as a freight train, joined forces. The nearly four-hour rides take passengers from Fort Myers, across the Caloosahatchee River and back, all while a murdermystery unfolds. Although the shows vary and no show is exactly the same, thanks to some ad-libbing, there’s one thing that remains consistent. “We always focus on having a good time,” says Wendé Gilmore, the train’s theatrical director.
The murder-mystery plays out in the aisles between meal courses. Guests write down clues and try to solve the question of whodunit.
Although it’s entertaining, the biggest highlight of the Halloween party may come from the costumed guests. “We have winners in each dining car for the scariest, funniest, and most original costume,” says Robert Fay, Seminole Gulf Railway’s vice president. “So come join the fun!” Ann Marie O’Phelan is a Southwest Florida resident and frequent contributor to TOTI Media.