About Us
Before there was Ghost Ship, there were other murder mystery experiences. And we did a lot of them, because, duh, we love mysteries. But the ones we encountered begged a lot of questions:
Why would the murderer not know who they are until the end of the game?
Why would a host find out who the murderer is during set up, and why do they have to do so much damn prep work?
Why are the plotlines either incredibly basic or impossibly convoluted?
Why do so many of the available mysteries feel out of a different time period — with outdated themes and exclusively cishet characters?
Ghost Ship improves upon these problems as we play with other things we love — our That Show mystery riffs off The Bachelor, the Space Smugglers one plays with pop culture phenomena like Battlestar and Firefly. There’s no reason mysteries should be stuffy or silly, and Ghost Ship aims to prove that point.
The Game Makers
Lindsay Carpenter
Co - Founder
Lindsay's been going to murder mystery parties for as long as she can remember — she's played Mafia, One Night Ultimate Werewolf, do-it-yourself party kits, dinner mystery theatre, and a lot of improvised versions (because she has a lot of theater friends...). So one Christmas she decided to write a mystery party of her own, keeping the things she loved from other games and getting rid of the things she loathed, and relying on what she's learned as a playwright and director (www.lindsaycarpenter.com). All she needed was someone at her side, which is where Dylan came in.
Dylan Zwickel
Co - Founder
When Dylan was a little kid, her American Girl Dolls didn't play dress up, they solved mysteries, so you could say this has been a lifelong obsession. Nowadays, however, Dylan's too old to play with dolls, which was pretty sad until Lindsay approached her with a proposal that would allow her to play with real live humans instead, give other people the opportunity to benefit from her 20+ years of mystery storytelling experience, and maybe pay off a bit of that pesky grad school debt to boot (theatre degrees, amirite?). And so Ghost Ship was born, and all of Dylan's childhood fantasies were fulfilled. She couldn't be happier to welcome you aboard, and hopes you enjoy the ride!
The Team
Rachel Schmeling
Representative
Rachel’s bookshelf was mostly comprised of Nancy Drew, The Boxcar Children, and fantasy novels as a kid — no surprise that she loves telling stories and does it professionally now. Give her a chance to figure out a who-done-it and she’ll take it; special skills include trying to puzzle out the plot line of most movies. She’s excited to be a part of Ghost Ship and take this journey together! More about Rachel at www.rachelschmeling.com.
Jamal James
Representative
Jamal's obsession with Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot at a young age influenced his attraction to murder mysteries in all forms, and incessantly trying to solve mysteries before the solution pops up at the end has only made him more interested in how stories are crafted and how stories are told. An actor, singer, writer and improvisor, Jamal is super excited to work with Ghost Ship to bring you all the mayhem, mystery, intrigue, suspense, horror and adventure he tries to emulate in all his days until their final end...DUN DUN DUN!!!!!
Rachel King
Representative
It was a dark & stormy evening when yet another theatre kid joined the Ghost Ship crew. The sirens wailing down the streets of Harlem echoed the cries in Rachel's heart. You see, even for all her years playing Mafia & Werewolf as an adolescent thespian, she was now faced with the biggest mystery to date in her adult life: how to make money as an out-of-work singer/actress during a global pandemic. Leave it to co-founder Dylan Zwickel to solve yet another puzzle and invite Rachel to join Ghost Ship. She is simply delighted and knows that you will be too... if you dare!
Steven Kreager
Representative
Steven discovered murder mysteries in the 6th grade and quickly became obsessed, consuming any detective novel or comic he could get his hands on. That same year, he was forced to redo an English assignment when he wrote a “whodunnit” with his teacher as the murderer (sorry Mr. Albers). He kept writing stories and eventually earned an MFA in Dramatic Writing—no teachers were besmirched during his time there. He has worked at multiple escape rooms, has years of improv/performance experience, and is currently reading through the entire Sherlock Holmes collection.
Sara Hymes
Representative
Sara spent her summers and evenings growing up in rural Ohio reading every R.L.Stine book she could get her hands on and wearing out the spines on her "choose your own adventure" books. Always curious about and drawn to stories of the unexplained and macabre, she followed her passion into adulthood with a BFA in Musical Theatre and an MFA in Acting, and now she is delighted to add Ghost Ship to her rich career of professional storytelling. You can learn more about Sara at www.SaraHymes.com.
Megan Calfas
Representative
Megan has always been drawn to stories - especially those with twists and turns you'd never expect. She spent last summer leading ghost tours in Lake Tahoe and the pandemic convincing her roommates to do yet another murder mystery night. As a writer, improvisor, and storytelling coach, she's delighted to spend her days telling stories of all kinds. At Ghost Ship, she loves to explore the spooky, spirited stories that bring us all together, even if for just one night.
Ben McFadden
Representative
What was it that inspired 11-year-old Ben to go door-to-door handing out homemade business cards that read “Detective for Hire, If you have a mystery I can solve it"? Maybe it was his brand new detective kit or his brother’s collection of The Hardy Boys. Whatever it was, he has been solving problems big and small ever since. He’s still a big kid drama nerd that has yet to grow up and loves puzzles, escape rooms, and a little theatricality.