Lateral Thinking Questions

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ANSWER: L.T.Q. #34  !
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Date: Thu, 07 Mar 1996 15:53:00

Here is this week's question:

While on vacation in Europe, Shadow was touring some of the ancient castles. The tour went up a long flight of stairs, until they came upon a huge wooden door. The guide pulled the door open and shone a light inside. There was a long shaft with four walls ending some 40 meters below. The guide explained that this room had served as a disposal system for those who were out of favour with the castle lord. As the group made their way back down the stairs, they heard a loud scream and a thud. Shadow and the guide ran back to find a suicide note pinned to the large wooden door. They swung the door open and shone a light down the shaft. A woman from the tour lay dead at the bottom. "This was no suicide," declared Shadow, "this was murder." How could he be so certain?

ANSWER:

The door was closed. There was no chance of the woman closing the huge door from the inside since there wasn't any floor for her to stand on.

Jamie made an interesting point, saying "I think it was murder because if it was suicide then she would not have screamed."

Actually, Shadow noticed Ross standing suspiciously close to the door, whereupon Ross said: "How could he be so certain?? Well, he was the Shadow, and only the Shadow knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men. Either that or he realized that there was no way for Ms. Victim to close the big wooden door behind her on her way down to the bottom of the shaft. That's my story and I'm sticking to it."

However, Tigger said, "What, did the woman pin the note on the door, then somehow manage to close it behind her before she fell? As if."
This made me think... The door swings out into the room upstairs. (Remember, "The guide pulled the door open...") The woman could have pinned the note to the door, then grabbing the edge of the door, she ran toward the shaft, and the door swung shut behind her. Which means maybe Shadow concluded to the wrong jump! It could have been a suicide after all.

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