Brain Itch

Easy: Mystery In Therulerania

2005-05-16T05:30:00.000-07:00

One day, while mining in a cave some people came across a dirty note. Upon examination, they found it was a clue to where to find a treasure chest, full of rubber chickens. The clue said this:

"A treasure of rubber chickens
Not a single rubber hen
In a secret spot near a light
Guides those in cloak of night
Near the shore the light be
Near the light a big shady tree
Under the tree is where the treasure be"

Instantly, Trot knew where the treasure lay, and he would claim it this very day. Where was the treasure hidden?

Very Easy: Duck

2005-05-13T05:24:00.000-07:00

Detective Tissue was surveying the scene. A woman, who by many was thought to be eccentric, lay dead in the cave. She kept an animal as a "watchdog" of sorts. Only this animal was, in fact, a duck. She was out to be killed by an unknown man, so she hid in the caves. Not even she knew who was trying to kill her. The duck was well-trained enough to quack if an intruder came nearby, and the thought was, that the sound would echo enough for the woman to hear the duck. The woman was not close enough to the duck to be able to hear it without the echo.

A man was at the crime scene, and he said that he saw someone go inside the cave.

"Well," the man said, "I knew this woman was hiding in these caves. I own these lands, and I allowed her safety. Well, I check up on the duck every now and then, and feed it. I also bring the woman some food, and the duck doesn't quack at me anymore. The woman told me that would happen eventually, and I'm quite proud I'm the only person who is like that besides her. You know, when the duck's echo rings through the walls of the cave, her plan was to escape through the other side. The other side is near a river, and no one can get through it except from within. Special gate I made myself. Anyway, I then realized that the duck's quack doesn't echo. So, I was planning to tell her this, when I see a man walking from within the cave. He was holding a bloody knife, which he dropped when he saw me. He ran away before I could stop him. Poor woman. If only the duck's quack had echoed, she would've had more than enough time to get through the gate."

When Tissue inspected the gate, and found it not to be jammed, he promptly placed the man under arrest. Why?

Very Easy: Bug on the plate

2005-05-04T05:23:00.000-07:00

A man was eating at a restaurant and when his food came his waitress told him that they had run out of their usual fancy dinner plates and had to serve him their only plain dish. The man did not object, but there was a bug on his food. His waitress took it away and said she would bring him a new plate with new food. When she came back the man knew she had only tossed off the bug. How?

Very Easy: The Mailbox

2005-04-30T05:16:00.000-07:00

An executive went away on a long business trip. Before he left he asked his secretary to forward all of his mail. However, he forgot to give her the key to his mailbox. When he realized his mistake, he mailed the key to his office so the secretary could send his mail to him. But, she never did mail it. The executive got angry and phoned his office, planning to fire his secretary. However, she was able to explain to him why she hadn't sent his mail. He quickly realized he was in the wrong and aplogized. What did the secretary say to make the executive realize his error?

Very easy - The Case of the Mischief Maker

2005-04-26T05:07:00.000-07:00

One hot, dry day Nina saw Mr. Bentz shaking his head as he stood by his flowerbed.
"Somebody ruined all my flowers," he said. "I had the hose out watering them. When I went to put it away, somebody tromped through the rows and stomped on my flowers."
"Who'd do a mean thing like that?" Nina asked.
Mr. Bentz sighed. "Somebody who likes mischief, I guess."
"I'm walking to the mall now. Maybe later I can find out who did it," Nina told him. Soon she saw three girls playing hopscotch. She decided to stop and watch how expertly they moved over the chalk marks.
Lindsay had to hop very carefully because one of the straps was broken on her left sandal.
Katie hopped slowly. She wore purple sneakers that looked worn-out. Katie seemed worn-out, too.
Sarah hopped the fastest. The muddy soles of her white jogging shoes hardly seemed to touch the sidewalk as she moved.
"Would you like to play a game?" Katie asked. "I think I'll sit this one out."
"Sorry. I'm going shopping," Nina told her. Then she paused. Suddenly she knew Sarah had ruined Mr. Bentz's garden.

How did Nina figure it out?

Medium: The Case of the Viper and the Dead Doctor

2005-04-24T05:19:00.000-07:00

It is a scorching afternoon in the piercing Texas sun when Detectives Sloan and Penter arrive at the scene of a fatal car accident. It is a one car accident. They are here to gather the facts and to submit a report as to what happened. At this time, there are no witnesses.

The accident has happened just outside of small town Springs Crossing on Hwy 128. The car is a brand new Viper and inside is a very lovely but dead young woman. The car is embedded into a tree and the victim's head is against the steering wheel.

Upon checking the scene, the detectives make some interesting observations. Here is a list of observations and findings that have included in their report:

Crash scene details:
Victim identity: Dr. Rachel Wells of Springs Crossing, Texas. The cherry red car was purchased two weeks before from Regency Dodge in nearby Dallas, Texas. Very few items are found in the car with the victim.

Inventory of Viper:
Trunk contents: Spare tire, car jack, exercise workout bag, small suitcase packed for a short getaway -- possibly to the beach, and her work briefcase. Inside the briefcase, they found patient medical files, a partial box of Elidel samples, an Epi Pen, a partial box of Benadryl, seminar materials and ticket stubs for an allergy conference from last month, a pocket medical reference book, a pocket drug reference book.

Car interior contents: victim's purse (usual purse contents plus Epi Pen and box of motion sickness patches), white Dr. coat with name badge, open tin of gourmet chocolaty chocolate chunk cookies with a signed gift tag attached: Fran's Gourmet Bakery To Rachel - My apologies! Jealousy and bitterness are hard to get over. Enjoy! Try my newest creation -- I made them just for you!! From: Fran. Cell phone is plugged into charger in car.

When the detectives checked the cell phone for messages, they found the following new messages all from 2 days ago:
Message 1: From Dr. Greer of Springs Crossing Family Medical Practice: "Rachel, quit stealing my patients! I don't care that you are a local gal and know everyone. I have been in this town for the last 10 years and you better not even take one more of my patients or else!! I was the Dr. here when you were still in Med. School -- Go away or you will be sorry!!

Message 2: Fran, owner or Fran's Gourmet Bakery:
"Rachel. Hi. Well, I guess that you are back in town after all these years. Have you heard from Jon in all these years? I still can't believe that he broke our engagement to chase you. You always were so beautiful -- all the guys loved you! You would think I would have known that he could not resist - I have known you kindergarten. Alot of good it did Jon! If he would have chosen me, he and I both would have a family by now. Well we need to bury all that from the past. Call me please. Fran"

No skid marks of any kind are present on the roadway. Car appears to be in good mechanical condition with no pre-accident damage to the tires or brakes. Dr. was not taking any medications and her toxin test have come back clear. Dr. was not a diabetic or epileptic and did not have a heart attack or stroke. Falling asleep at the wheel was unlikely cause of accident. Cause of death: impact of head on dashboard during accident.

When the Chief of Detectives read their findings, he turned purple with anger. "You bumbling idiots! How could you miss something so obvious? It is right here in black and white. GET OUT and call in Blake and Jones. Your department is through with this case!

Why is the Chief so angry and what did Sloan and Penter miss in their investigation?

Medium: Timeless Murder Mystery

2005-04-22T05:21:00.000-07:00

The police were checking the place. Outside, Mary, Mr Olson's faithful Secretary, was a mass of nerves. Inspector Will was reviewing the facts:

1. Mr Olson has been murdered. The murderer buried a stiletto through the back of the chair and right through his heart.
2. All the place was a mess, but nothing seems to be lost. Some sheets of his desk had coffee stains, but Mr. Olson was not a coffee drinker. There was no coffee container of any kind in the office. There were a couple of gloves in the floor.
3. Mary had in her visit book just three announcements: Hari Colton (2:35), Louis Williams (3:10) and Joseph Markis (3:45). Mary says that Joseph was the only one to serve himself a cup of coffee in a paper cup.
4. The cup of coffee was found in Mary's wastebasket. She claims that Joseph entered Mr. Olson's office with the cup in his hands, and then he left it in her desk, so she took it and threw it away.
5. The stiletto had no fingerprints at all, but the paper cup was all covered with one type of fingerprint: Joseph's (they had a mobile fingerprint lab).
6. Mr. Olsen's wristwatch was broken, probably due to the fight, and it showed the time: 3:50.

Inspector Will then talked to Mary, to tell her she was under arrest.
Why did he suspect her?

Hard: The wisest son

2005-04-20T04:54:00.000-07:00

One day a father went to his three sons and told them that he would die soon and he needed to decide which one of them to give his property to. He decided to give them all a test. He said "Go to the market my sons and purchase something that is large enough to fill my bedroom, but small enough to fit in your pocket. From this I will decide who of you is the wisest and worthy enough to inherit my land." So they all went to the market and bought something that they thought would fill the room, yet was still small enough that they could fit into their pockets. Each son came back with a different item. The father told his sons to come into his bedroom one at a time and try to fill up his bedroom with whatever they had purchased. The first son came in and put some peices of cloth that he had bought and layed them end to end across the room, but it bearly covered any of the floor. Then the second son came in and layed some hay, that he had purchased, on the floor but there was only enough to cover half of the floor. The third son came in and showed his father what he had purchased and how it could fill the entire room yet still fit into his pocket. The father replied "You are truly the wisest of all and you shall recieve my property." What was it that the son had showed to his father?

Duffus & The Snack Game 2

2005-04-18T05:24:00.000-07:00

Duffus loved potato chips almost as much as he loved his tea. The problem was when he had large family gatherings, all the kids would devour his snacks before he could. His marble game worked for a while but his trick was soon found out. So, Duffus came up with another way to keep the snacks for himself and yet make it seem as though he wasn't the greedy snack hog he was. Duffus took two large bowls, one wood, and one plastic and placed them up high so that the kids couldn't see the contents.

He then said, "One is full and the other, empty. You get whatever is in the bowl you pick. You can pick only once, but you must decipher my clues and explain to me which bowl you think has the chips and why. And no random guessing allowed."

He then gave them these clues:

1. The polyester shirt I'm wearing.
2. A cotton shirt in my closet.
3. A hollow cardboard toilet paper roll.
4. This plastic cup I'm drinking my tea from.
5. The acrylic socks I'm wearing.
6. An empty paper lunch bag.

What do the clues have in common with each other and the bowls?

Easy: A Criminal Among the Village

2005-04-16T05:09:00.000-07:00

There was a village controlled by the all powerful Chief. There was a theft in the village which had occured recently, however no one knew who it was. The police had gathered up 8 suspects and brought them to the Chief. The Chief gave each of them a stick and said, "These are magic sticks. Overnight one stick will grow two inches longer than the rest. The one with the longer stick is the culprit. I want all of you to show up here again tomorrow." The next day, there was one person's stick who was two inches shorter while the other seven were two inches longer. The Chief had the person with the shorter stick arrested. How did he know that he was the culprit?

Easy: Duffus and The Mysterious Prowler 2

2005-04-14T05:11:00.000-07:00

Duffus had been outside for hours raking leaves. As night drew near he made his way indoors. His wife had just prepared some hot chocolate and fresh baked cookies.

"I just love the smell of baking cookies," remarked Mrs. Duffus as she gave him a big plate full.

"Thanks but I can't smell anything with this cold, my nose if stuffed, my back and arms ache and my head is pounding. Thanks dear but I'm going to bed" sniffed Duffus carting along two Kleenex boxes.

Mrs. D had just cleaned up and joined her husband upstairs when there came a loud clatter from the kitchen.
"Oh my it's that prowler I read about in the paper this morning? Duffus, go look," exclaimed Mrs.D with a trembling voice.
Duffus crept down the stairs armed only with a box of tissues, an umbrella and his razor sharp wit.

"I know you're in there and I'm armed," shouted Duffus trying not to sound petrified.
The clatter grew louder and then stopped just as Duffus made his heroic charged into the kitchen in an attempt to impale the intruder with his umbrella. Mrs. D was right behind him to turn on the lights revealing an empty plate of cookies and a disastrous mess left behind by the intruder before he escaped out the open kitchen window.

"I'm calling the police!" Duffus shouted as he furiously shook his umbrella out the window. Grabbing a tea towel to cover her face as she coughed and gagged Mrs.D choked out the words "Don't bother, I know who did this and you will too when your cold clears. Now get me the tomato juice and a mop."

Indeed the next day it became clear not only to Duffus but everyone who came to visit who the mysterious prowler had been. But how did they know who it was since no one had seen the prowler and there was no visible evidence other than the trashed kitchen and the missing cookies?

Easy: Case of a Murdered Wife

2005-04-12T05:15:00.000-07:00

Detective Palumbo had just finished examining the body of Debbie Layne which was lying on couch in her plush living room.

"Mrs. Layne was hit on the back of her head 3 or 4 times with the butt of that pistol," the sleuth said.

The .45 lay on the floor near the body. Sheriff Hobbs was dusting the weapon for fingerprints.

"I've telephoned her husband at his office and only told him to come home, I dislike breaking bad news.Will you do it?", the sheriff said.

"I'll do it," said Palumbo as he watched the body being removed from the scene. Then he took a seat in a lounge chair to wait for Mr. Layne.

The Ambulance drove away just as Mr. Layne arrived. He came into the living room and asked, "Where's Debbie? What's happened?"

"I'm sorry to have to tell you that she was murdered about 3 hours ago," said Palumbo. "Your cleaning lady found the body and called the sheriff."

"I can't find any fingerprints on this gun," said the sheriff. "I'll send it to the lab."

Mr. Layne's face flushed as he got angry and said, "please find the fiend that clubbed Debbie to death, I'll put up a twenty-five thousand dollar reward!"

"Save your money," said Hobbs. "The murderer won't be that hard to find."

Why?

Easy: Troti's Case

2005-04-11T13:10:00.000-07:00

It was an average day, Troti ( The ruler of the Inspectors ) was walking down the street. He heard a gunshot and ran towards it. A nearby restaurant owner had gotten shot.

He ran inside, the owner left a suicide note on top of the gun, which was on the table. He had a bullet wound in his head

The cops came in, and said it was an obvious suicide, his reason was because his restaurant was failing and about to be bankrupt. They had his suicide note, in handwriting that looked like his. But Troti wasn't sure.

What changed his suspicion about the suicide?

Hard: The Missing Pearl

2005-04-09T04:45:00.000-07:00

Inspector Will was reading his email, when an urgent message arrived. It was from his friend, Dr. Mallone, the millionaire.

It said:
"Hi, Will.
I need your help, you see, somebody just stole one of my pearls.
As you recall, I have a very special chest manually crafted by my old friend Delouresse. It is so exclusive, that He only crafted 3 identical chests before his death. Yes, I'm the proud owner of one of the Delouresse Ebony Chests.
In the chest I was keeping my pearl collar, that had exactly 100 perfect pearls. The gold key to the chest I always carry tied to my neck, in a silver chain. I gave a party today, and the chest was in open view because it is a jewel by itself.
Someone then asked me to show her the contents of the little ebony box, and then I tried to open it with the key. To my surprise, the key lock was terribly worn out, like if someone was trying to force it. My key got stuck, and I had no more option than breaking the gold lock. The chest contained my collar, which at first brought relief to my soul. But You know me, I went suspicious, so I counted the pearls twice: there were only 99! The thief managed to open the chest (destroying the valuable lock in the process), took only one pearl, and then closed it. Why?
Please, Will, help me, What can I do?"

Inspector Will searched the internet about the Delouresse Ebony Chests, and from the page showed He wrote 3 names. Then he went to Dr. Mallone's house and He compared each person on the list with the Dr's guest book. And found one that belonged to both lists. Inspector Will thinks that person was the thief.
How did He know that? What was the first list? Why did the thief only take one Pearl?

Hard: The Servant's Wish

2005-04-08T04:38:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time in the West Lake village, a servant lived with his master. After service of about 30 years, his master became ill and was going to die. One day, the master called his servant and asked him for a wish. It could be any wish but just one. The master gave him one day to think about it. The servant became very happy and went to his mother for discussion about the wish. His mother was blind and she asked her son for making a wish for her eye-sight to come back. Then the servant went to his wife. She became very excited and asked for a son as they were childless for many years. After that, the servant went to his father who wanted to be rich and so he asked his son to wish for a lot of money. The next day he went to his master and made one wish through which all the three (mother, father, wife) got what they wanted.

You have to tell what the servant asked the master.

Medium: Go Ahead Shoot

2005-04-06T17:33:00.000-07:00

Pirate Pete had been captured by a Spanish general and sentenced to death by his 50-man firing squad.

Pete cringed, as he knew their reputation for being the worst firing squad in the Spanish military. They where such bad shots that they would often all miss their targets and simply maim their victims leaving them to bleed to death as the generals tradition was to only allow one shot per man to save on ammunition. The thought of a slow painful death made Pete beg for mercy.

"Very well, I have some compassion. You may choose where the men stand when they shoot you and I will add 50 extra men to the squad to ensure someone will at least hit you. Perhaps if they stand closer they will kill you quicker if you're lucky." Snickered the general. "Oh and just so you don't get any funny ideas they can't stand more than 20 ft away, they must be facing you and you must remain tied to the post in the middle of the yard. And to show I'm not totally heartless if you aren't dead by sundown I'll release you so you can die peacefully outside the compound. I must go now but will return tomorrow and see to it that you are buried in a nice spot, though with 100 men I doubt there will be much left of you to bury."

After giving his instruction the general left. Upon his return the next day he found that Pete had been set free alive and well. "How could this be?" Demanded the general. 'It was where Pete had us stand." Explained the captain of the squad.

Where did Pete tell them to stand?

Mind Reading

2005-04-05T19:02:00.000-07:00

Two old friends, Fred and Ted, had managed to work a party piece that no one could figure out. Fred would go out of the room, and Ted would invite the guests to select an item. They were then asked to continue to think of it so that Fred could read their minds. Fred would be blindfolded so that there could be no possibility of visual clues. Ted would then start to ask Fred questions:

On one occasion Ted asked:
"Did we think of the word sock?"
"Absolutely not" replied Fred.
"Well, was it an ashtray?"
"No."
"OK, is it the word plate?"
Again the answer was negative
"So, are we thinking of the word china?"
"No." replied Fred
"Are we thinking of the word carpet?"
"No," replied Fred, " the word you are thinking of is chair."

Everyone gasped. He was right.

How did Fred and Ted work their party piece?

Sherlock Holmes

2005-04-05T18:38:00.000-07:00

One snowy night, Sherlock Holmes was in his house sitting by a fire. All of a sudden a snowball came crashing through his window, breaking it. Holmes got up and looked out the window just in time to see three neighborhood kids who were brothers run around a corner. Their names were John Crimson, Mark Crimson and Paul Crimson. The next day Holmes got a note on his door that read "? Crimson. He broke your window." Which of the three Crimson brothers should Sherlock Holmes question about the incident?