This is what Agatha Christie’s dreams are made of: a train, curious passengers, and murder.
It’s also what Virginians can expect with a ticket to the Virginia Scenic Railway’s Murder on the Menu experience, boarding from the Staunton station—and soon the new Louisa location.
When hopping on the murder-mystery train, guests get the chance to dive into a three-hour immersive experience, with themed beverages, entrées, and desserts. But the top-billed feature? Cold murder.
Mischief Magic and Murder, a local Staunton theatre troupe that writes, produces, and acts in the name of bloody fun, creates and performs custom scripts for these interactive evenings. With the rise of true crime and murder mysteries, Jason Lavallee, manager of passenger excursions at Virginia Scenic Railway, decided to run four shows in 2025. Only they ended up doing 20, each selling out within 4 hours, with a waitlist that topped 100. “It’s been fantastic,” Lavallee says, adding that they’re hoping to do a Murder on the Menu every other weekend in 2026.
Murder mysteries have entertained the world since Edgar Allan Poe first penned “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” in 1841, and now Virginians can get in on the intrigue themselves across the Commonwealth, with experiences like:
Jump Into Mystery
Roanoke | JumpIntoMystery.com
Murder Mystery Dinners with Haunted Historical Entertainment
Williamsburg and Yorktown | GhostColonies.com
Murder on the Menu with the Virginia Scenic Railway
12 Middlebrook Ave., Staunton | VirginiaScenicRailway.com
Sharks After Dark at the Virginia Aquarium
717 General Booth Blvd., Virginia Beach | VirginiaAquarium.com
The Dinner Detective Murder Mystery Dinners
Richmond | TheDinnerDetective.com
This article originally appeared in the February 2026 issue.
