Murder who wrote?
If you’ve ever wondered how police gather and sift through clues at a murder scene, including fingerprints and DNA, then you should make your way to the new bilingual Autopsy of a Murder interactive exhibit at the Old Port’s bright and inviting Montreal Science Centre. You are the chief inspector handling the case, which begins with a four-minute video introducing three suspects in journalist Sarah Melville’s murder – former con and family friend Antonio Colucci, international author Charles Sinclair, and Melville’s jealous boyfriend Tristan Lambert.
Equipped with a police blotter to take notes, you walk through the crime scene where clearly identified clues refer amateur sleuths to eight appropriate interactive laboratories, such as the DNA lab, the ballistics lab, the toxicology lab, the fibre analysis lab, the biometrics (fingerprints) lab and the visually stunning autopsy room. These labs help one figure out who dunnit through the process of elimination. Each lab also documents the history of each police procedure, with authentic laboratory tools on display.
I checked out the exhibit on a weekday when the Montreal Science Centre was filled with hundreds of schoolchildren visiting the IMAX theatre and other activities. The centre – while engaging – is noisy, and adults looking for a quieter experience should go on the weekend. The exhibit is also designed for ages 10 and up, though I think it’s more suitable for ages 12 and up. Even I had trouble deciphering many of the clues, and what is billed as a 45-minute experience took me well over an hour.
When I stepped into the validation module, I discovered that I nailed the guilty suspect. Problem was I did it without the proper evidence, which proves a hunch is useless without proof to back it up – police work is a fine science.
Autopsy of a Murder exhibit at the Montreal Science Centre, to March 28, 2005
4 comments
You know, I remember the days, as a young kid, when I first visited the Ontario Science Center, It was a day filled with MAGIC! Heck, it marked me so, that over 14 years later, I went back to the same science center, and tried to relive that magic… wasn’t quite the same. Now, this experience looks interesting. I didn’t even know that Montreal had a science center. And at a time when television shows such as CSI, CSI:Miami, CSI:NYC, Law and Order etc etc etc are completely en vogue, they couldn’t have picked a better time to bring this exhibit to town. From the pictures and descriptions in this article, to the polished tv ads, it looks like it just might be a hit. I wish my grade school would have taken us on field trips like this…damn, would have made science so much more interesting and concrete. It was always a little too theoretical for my likes. Well, looks like I might have found something to do on a cold weekend coming up, make it a learning experience etc.
I’ve seen reviews, and I’ve seen the commercials on television, and somehow I am drawn into this exhibit. Something tells me that I want to go to this exhibit and see what it’s all about.
Surely, I’m thinking, an exhibit designed for ages 10 and up will be boring. But there is something about it that is fascinating. Maybe it appeals to the romantic idea that I may be able to literally step into somebody’s shoes and experience another life for a brief moment. Maybe it is my need to step out of my own shoes and just be able to exist as a different entity, a different person, for a little while, in an attempt to take a rest from the world.
For certain, though, I think that this marks something innate in human nature – perhaps we all need a rest from ourselves sometimes. Exhibits like this enable us to do that.
Maybe that is why people assume different characters on the internet, make up false identities. It is an easy way to live a different life – be everything you think you could have been in a different situation, if not for the rest of your lifetime, just a short while. When I discovered that a couple of my very close friends had online friends and had created completely different personas for themselves online, I at first found it very strange and incomprehensible, but I think I have come to realize that it is an easy way to take a respite from this at times harsh world.
And perhaps it should be something that is celebrated and not frowned upon, to recognize the need for a break sometimes…
Finally an intelligent exhibition that teaches you something , most people take for granted. How often do we actually get a chance to see how it is a crime is solved. Here we get a chance to see the different steps it takes the police to solve a crime. This is also a good way of showing people the hard work that police do . It opens the public eye to understanding the whole process and how it is a combination of facts and evidence and alot of figuring out to find the answer to the crime. It doesn’t end there because you have to find the criminal after as well. I am happy to see this kind of exhibit and I will take my kids down there and try it out.
If you would like to discover more about criminalistics (or forensic science), the Montreal Science Centre also proposes a website that completes the exhibition:
http://www.montrealsciencecentre.com/autopsy/
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Enjoy!