As I am writing about scavenger hunts, I want to mention one of my favorite movies. “My Man Godfrey,” is a 1936 comedy starring William Powell and Carole Lombard, a comedic, witty film about social inequities of the Great Depression. The opening scenes introduces us to Godfrey, a forgotten man, who is persuaded by Irene, a bored socialite, to be a found object in a scavenger hunt. Godfrey finds himself in a lavish ballroom where people are noisily dragging goats and lamps about and who look appalled at a man dressed in dirt and tattered clothes.
Why am I thinking about scavenger hunts? The Columbia Public Library is offering our own scavenger hunt on Saturday, June 28. You won’t be looking for goats but you will be looking for a murderer! Location clues will take you through the library where you will find clues (hints) to help you determine the murderer, how they did it and where the deed was done.
Who dies? Marianne Librarian!
The 2021 book “STL Scavenger” provides at least 20 photographs for 17 different communities within the greater St. Louis area. Author Dea Hoover offers clues to help you locate the building or structure and there is room to write in the name and address of each. Don’t write in library books! Use one of our three copies to guide your search and take your own images to ‘claim’ your reward!
If you enjoy this sort of geographical hunt, there is an IOS app for waymarking, a cataloging of interesting places around the world. You can create your own scavenger hunt for a vacation, a birthday party or just for fun. Unlike geocaching, which hides things, waymarking highlights things that were always there. Maybe you haven’t noticed them? Columbia’s waymarks are scattered mostly around the MU campus but some folks in Callaway County have ventured out into the county. It’s a great way to learn more about our communities.
“The Beginner’s Guide to Cemetery Sleuthing” is only available as an ebook — no danger of you writing in that one! Use Erin E. Moulton’s suggestions to take your own scavenger hunt and so learn more about the symbols of mortality and resurrection found on gravestones. Take the book with you on a mobile device!
Here is an adventure: Check out “Chasing the Thrill” by Daniel Barbarisi and learn about a world-wide scavenger hunt. In 2010, Forrest Fenn hid a chest full of gold and jewels in the Rocky Mountains. For the next decade, treasure hunters scoured the area, following every clue, working in teams to try to decipher the poem that contained the only hints provided.
Closer to home, you can turn any walk or morning at the farmer’s market into a scavenger hunt with Stacy Tornio’s book “The Ultimate Book to Scavenger Hunts.” Colorful images allow even the smallest person to play along and Tornio has included checklists for vacation locations, camping and aspects of daily life. It will also give you ideas for developing your own family scavenger hunts. And you should. My adult children still remember the ones I made when they were young.
Scavenger hunts are used as a fictional trope and I’ve gathered a number of examples for you to browse through. Some are lighthearted romances and others start with a dead relative. You will find intense research behind a few of these while others only give a nod of the head to the scavenger hunt underlying the plot, so if you like puzzles and adventure, I hope you find something you like.
