Solving a mystery of our town’s history at the Rockwall Escape Rooms

From left: Dick Clark, Mark Russo, Austin Wells, Carolyn Holt and Carolyn Francisco.

(ROCKWALL, TX — August 2, 2018) On July 3, several Rockwall County Historical Foundation Board members and I had a blast as we puzzled our way through clues to solve an age-old Rockwall County mystery inside The Rockwall Rooms at Rockwall Escape Rooms.

For The Rockwall Rooms, we were presented with the following scenario:

“Ms. W, your teacher in your favorite subject, history, has always been fascinated in the story of Texas’s past – but specifically the history of her family’s heritage in Rockwall County. In your opinion, she’s a little too excited about Rockwall County. Your class did reports on Rockwall and learned some cool facts about the city, but nothing too dramatic. You had a substitute teacher in her class today, so being the historian and detective you are, you decide to snoop around her classroom after the final bell rings. Your observation leads you to a time traveling secret, but the custodians lock the school doors in one hour – so you only have one hour to see what Ms. W is up to and what is so intriguing about the history of Rockwall, Texas!”

Before we entered the room, our gamekeeper provided us with a panic button to use if we got stumped or needed a hint. Since we were only allowed three hints during the one hour, we were determined to not use the button unless one of the clues had us completely baffled.

Our first task was to find a key to unlock the door to another room, using clues found scattered throughout the classroom to guide us. It took us a bit to get our bearings and know where to start, but we got the hang of it eventually and soon were having fun exploring the classroom for clues. So much history everywhere we looked! There were class reports on local historic figures, places and events pinned to the bulletin board, as well as a timeline of historic events tacked to one of the classroom walls. We even got to watch a few minutes of a broadcast of a historic Yellowjackets football game to point us to another clue. Our own knowledge of Rockwall history even helped us out of a few jams once in a while, which I thought really added to the whole experience.

Once we were able to find the key to the next room, we were tasked with solving a mystery surrounding the murder of Rockwall’s first elected sheriff, Alexander C. Starks. The room had a very historic feel to it, and even had one of those antique studio cameras in the corner which immediately caught my eye. It turned out the camera was actually the key to unlocking another clue, so I ended up getting to snap a picture with it. It even puffed smoke when it flashed just like cameras did back in those days! Kudos to Rockwall Escape Rooms for the cool effect and attention to detail.

Since it took us nearly all of our time to unlock the second room, we unfortunately didn’t end up escaping in time. But our gamekeeper ever so graciously allowed us extra time to see the whole experience through to the end and solve the mystery, which was awesome!

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at Rockwall Escape Rooms, and I will definitely be back to try my hand at escaping the other two rooms they have available – Museum of Legends and Anastasia’s Escape. Be sure to check them out at rockwallescaperooms.com.

ABOUT OUR EDITOR

I have been the editor of Blue Ribbon News since April 2016. I was born and raised in Heath, TX and I’m the author of Images of America: Heath, a chronicle of historic photographs of my town’s roots.
When I’m not around town covering events, you can usually find me enjoying a good book and a hot cup of coffee.

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