You can say the clairvoyant baroness did it. You can put the blame on the mysteriously missing Inspector Lestrade. You can say you have no idea who did it, and by the way, where’s the gift shop?

When you get to the end of “Sherlock Holmes and the Clocktower Mystery,” the new interactive-mystery exhibit opening Saturday at the Fleet Science Center, you are welcome to propose any solution your snoopy heart desires. Just don’t say it was Colonel Mustard in the library with the candlestick.

“I’ve gotten that a million times,” sighed Allen Meyer, one of the performers who appears in the Consulting Room at the end of the exhibit, where guests can float their who-dunnit theories before Meyer or one of his fellow consultants reveals the real Sherlock scoop. “I also get some creative answers and some snide answers. Only about 10 percent of the population is able to solve it. All I can say is, ‘Read everything. Period.’”

Along with the accompanying “So Moved: The Art and Science of Motion”exhibit, “Sherlock Holmes and the Clocktower Mystery” plays with your perceptions, messes with your memory and tickles your brain in a most delightful way. Both exhibits will be at the Fleet through early June, so put down your phone and grab your thinking cap and cape. It’s time to get a clue.


Elementary 101

Your Clocktower Mystery adventure starts with an introduction to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author behind the Sherlock Holmes books. Knowledge nuggets abound. Did you know Conan Doyle was a poet and a war correspondent? And a doctor on a whaling ship? And that his second wife was a medium? Dinner at the Conan Doyle house must have been so illuminating.

From there, you enter an immersive experience that plops you in the foggy depths of Victorian London. And we do not mean that metaphorically.

“We are going to have some real London haze in here. We are very excited about that,” Fleet exhibits project supervisor Ashanti Davis said earlier this week, as crew members were busy hanging clue boards and adjusting lights. “Real immersion is a big part of the experience, so it’s more involved than other exhibits. You are going to have to take some time if you want to solve the mystery. You have to slow down and pay attention.”

With Holmes’ trusty Doctor Watson as your literary guide, the mystery unfolds over eight chapters. As you go from chapter to chapter, you move from room to room, each one crammed with vintage furniture, possible clues and carefully crafted distractions.


First the clock tower, where (gasp!) a dead body has been discovered. Then it’s off to the caretaker’s room, where you can hear him being questioned about how he discovered the body, who has keys to the tower, and what about that mysterious woman he saw leaving the scene?

Other chapters take you to the rooming house where an escape artist named the Amazing Enrico lived when he wasn’t immersed in his Tank of Death; the fancy parlor of Baroness Karina von Manntrapp, a clairvoyant with a nose for poisoned potions; and an opium den, where incense is burning and plot twists are bubbling.

Each room comes with a chapter synopsis, a helpful clue board, and an enigmatic “cheat’s guide” that might help and might lead you astray. There are also smells to analyze, sounds to decipher and props to scrutinize. Do it right, and the process could take you 45 minutes, not including your time in the Consulting Room.

And if Sherlock & Co. do their jobs right, you won’t even notice that you’re learning something.


“We use the inquiry method in science, and Sherlock is most definitely an inquiry exhibit,” Davis said. “You become a participant. You have to solve the mystery. There are clues, but there are no answers.”

Rob Davidson uses a magnifying glass to get a closer look at a clue as he follows the mystery along during at a sneak peek party for “Sherlock Holmes and the Clocktower Mystery, " a new interactive exhibit at the Fleet Science Center. (Nancee E. Lewis)

Art, meet science

There are no answers in the “So Moved: The Art and Science of Motion” exhibition, but the questions posed by these works by local artists will keep your brain happily abuzz. What does Earth sound like? What does the feeding call of a humpback whale look like? How long will it take me to recognize a passage from “Brave New World?” How sad is it if the answer is, “forever”?

This new exhibit finds contemporary San Diego artists exploring motion and movement through their art, and you will find yourself thoroughly enthralled.


Best head trip? Belly up to Chris Warren’s “Slow Mirror,” where we can watch our movements being replayed in slow motion. This is probably what a Phish song looks like. The “Project Runway” award goes to Marisol Rendon’s “Dance With Me,” a billowing skirt with embroidery patterns based on such unlikely sources as polygraph readings, an EEG and the aforementioned humpback whale call.

Rendon is also the creative mind behind “Dancing with the Stars,” in which our galaxy is rendered in velvet and gold upholstery nails. If you put your ear up to her piece, you can hear a recording of what Earth sounds like from space.

“I am terrified of darkness and death and the vastness of everything,” Rendon said, as she put some finishing touches on her piece. “This is something I can grasp.”

Speaking of terrifying darkness, make some time for a session of aerobic anxiety, courtesy of Dave Ghilarducci’s “Delayed Gratification.” In this witty installation, peddling on a bike powers up a small screen. After some huffing and puffing, words will begin to appear. Once and future “Jeopardy” contestants might recognize these words as text from Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World.” The rest of us may have to flag down a docent. Or indulge in the fine art of Googling.


The verdict

Did I solve the Clocktower Mystery? I did not. Did it matter? Not a whit. Like the ingenious science-inspired creations from our San Diego artists, Sherlock’s journey through London is less about finding answers than it is about stimulating the synapses. The journey is such a blast, you won’t care where you end up. Just tell them Watson sent you.

Twitter: @karla_peterson

karla.peterson@sduniontribune.com