Riddle: I'm alive and I die. When cut, I bleed I do not fear the seasons. I make my home above yet below the land. I'm a friend to man and beastie, yet hunted by both. My bones are always within sight. What am I?
Answer: A Tree.
Riddle: A group of about 50 people are anxiously watching a very animated gentleman who stands before them. The man speaks loudly and very rapidly to the group. He is standing behind an elevated table, and waves a wooden object while frequently repeating himself. The man continues to spew forth his manic repetitions while frequently pointing at individual members of the audience, until finally, he shouts out one word, while pointing directly at a specific member of the group --- sometimes even describing their appearance or the clothes they are wearing. After shouting the word, the man instantly becomes less agitated --- but soon, his manic mood returns to sweep over him. Is this man presently experiencing symptoms of manic-depressive illness with symptoms of rapid, pressured speech, or is there some less extreme reason for his behavior? If so, what exactly is going on here, and what is the one word he shouts which calms him?
Answer: The man is an auctioneer trying to get the highest bid for the objects he is selling. The wooden object he waves about is his auctioneer’s hammer. The one word he shouts which calms him for a short time is, “Sold!”
Riddle: Dorothy has never expressed suicidal thoughts, but whenever she experiences feelings of sadness or depression, she makes arrangements to travel to a very high spot that she has visited on numerous occasions. Once there, she proceeds to jump from that great height. The fascinating fact though is she has never been injured from this leap, and in fact, she tells everyone that she feels much better afterward. If she’s not suicidal, then what is going on here, and why has she never been injured, or even worse, died from her risky actions?
Answer: There are several possible solutions to this brain teaser. Either Dorothy is a parachutist, or a ski jumper, or a hang glider enthusiast. There may be other possible solutions.
Brain Teasers
Riddle: On a certain planet located in one of the outer spiral arms of the Milky Way Galaxy, three life forms are seeking to capture other life forms and incarcerate them in glass prisons. The authorities on this planet have allowed such imprisonments for hundreds of years, despite the fact many of the captured life forms often die within 24 hours of their confinement, either by being accidentally crushed to death or by suffocation, as some of the prison cells do not have proper ventilation to supply needed oxygen to the prisoners. On this planet, hunting for these living creatures takes place after dark. The three hunters mentioned above do not follow any tracks to find their quarry, but instead, rely on these creatures to expose themselves, which they do by emitting short bursts of light. If it wasn't for the Prime Directive, I'm certain Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, or the Federation of Planets would have put an end to this barbaric practice of hunting and imprisoning these life forms long ago. By the way, what form of life were the three hoping to capture?
Answer: The three youngsters were hunting lightning bugs.
Riddle: The following is one of those boy-gets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl romantic stories. This famous couple first met back in 1961 while doing a TV commercial together. The pair instantly became boyfriend and girlfriend and continued dating until Valentine's Day of 2004, when the girl finally broke off the relationship. Rumor had it at the time that the girl (now a grown woman) wanted to get married, but the boy (now a grown man) was afraid of commitment, even after dating the woman for 43 years. However, the man had some plastic surgery done two years later (reportedly to impress the woman), and the couple got back together in 2011. It is incredible to imagine, but since this duo first got together, the man has had 40 different occupations, while the woman has had at least 200 separate careers -- even running for President of the United States at one point! Who are these two lovebirds who have had such a lengthy and interesting relationship?
Answer: Barbie and Ken.
Brain Teasers
Riddle: A young, meek woman travels to a foreign land but accidentally kills an older woman when she arrives there. The young woman is very surprised to hear only cheers and praise from the large group of witnesses to the older woman's death ------ in fact, the entire group honors and thanks her for the killing. But the story doesn't end there, as the young woman later teams up with three males who agree to assist her in attempting to murder the sister of the dead woman. Having developed a taste for blood, the young woman, with the help of her gang of three males, manages to murder the second sister, much to the delight of an oddly dressed battalion of soldiers. This young woman is never tried for either of the killings and eventually, she returns home. What kind of warped justice is this? Two killings ------ one a definite murder, and not even an indictment? What in the world is going on here?
Answer: Your questions will all be answered by watching the classic movie, "The Wizard of Oz".
Riddle: Two houses are on fire. The first one belongs to Mr. Richards–a wealthy, elderly man. And the second one belongs to Mr. Lawrence–an art dealer who just started his business. Which house fire should the police officers extinguish first?
Answer: The police officers shouldn't extinguish either house fire because it's not part of their job! Police officers don't fight fires; that's what firefighters do!
Brain Teasers
Riddle: "I was walking to my local grocery store to pick up some stuff when I saw that my neighbor Rachel's house had been burgled! It was very cold outside, and I saw some frost on the window. I breathed on the glass to get rid of the frost, and I saw that Rachel's safe had been open and that her money was stolen!". That was Hank's story. An officer who was investigating asked Hank, "And where did you hide the money you stole from your neighbor?". How did the officer come to this conclusion?
Answer: Windows become frozen over from the inside, not the outside, so Hank couldn't have wiped off the frost from the window to find the money stolen.
Riddle: In a pond, there are some flowers with some bees hovering over them. If both the following statements are true: 1. If each bee lands on a flower, one bee doesn't get a flower. 2. If two bees share each flower, there is one flower left out. How many flowers and bees are there?
Answer: 4 bees and 3 flowers.
Riddle: An elderly, bearded man drives slowly around many different neighborhoods looking for young children. He often plays a little musical tune from his vehicle to draw these children in close to him. When the children approach, he speaks very sweetly to them, and usually will offer them sweet treats in exchange for something they carry with them. These treats are always wrapped, so no one can see what's inside. When he is done talking 1:1 with each child, he tells them he will be back very soon to visit them, and then he drives slowly off, hunting for more children. Has no one noticed this man creeping along in their neighborhood? Have the police not been alerted to check on this man's activities; or is there some less sinister explanation for these happenings? Just what is this man's occupation?
Answer: He works as an ice cream man, driving his truck to various neighborhoods and selling his cold treats.
Riddle: Marvin is a typical boy who attends a typical elementary school. However, Marvin is considered by some to be a bit eccentric. His teachers have noted he has a habit of carrying some unusual things in his pockets. Some of these items include: onion skins, some toothpaste, a lifeless bumblebee, a steel ball, pearls, some spaghetti, and a small turtle. The most bizarre item he carries in his pockets though, is far more disturbing --- a cat's eye!!! Why haven't the teachers reported this to the authorities? Where are the animal rights activists when you need them? Why hasn't the school psychologist been contacted so Marvin can receive a mental health evaluation? Of course, it is possible Marvin isn't such a strange little boy after all. What do you think? What's going on here?
Answer: Marvin loves to play the old game of marbles. He always carries some in his pockets, some of which include: onion skins (marbles with a swirled and layered design that resemble an onion); toothpaste (marbles with the colors of red, white, blue, black, and orange inside), bumblebee (a yellow marble with two black stripes on the sides), a ball bearing made of steel called a steelie), pearls (marbles with a mother-of-pearl coating), spaghetti (marbles with entwined lines inside them), a turtle (a marble with green and yellow wavy steaks), and a cat’s eye (a marble which closely resembles the eye of a cat).
Riddle: Dorothy and Irene are now model citizens, but in their younger days, when they were in elementary school, they were known as "The Two Lightning Bolts". It was the last day of fourth grade for these two classmates back in 1929, and the two had concocted an evil plot to get back at their fourth-grade teacher, who they did not like. At one point, when the teacher turned his back on them to face the blackboard, Dorothy and Irene each carefully removed loaded guns from their lunch boxes, aimed them at the teacher, and pulled the triggers. Fortunately, they were both poor shots, but they did manage to graze their teacher on his back and head with a few of their repeated shots. As the teacher tried to escape the classroom, he slipped and fell twice on Dorothy and Irene’s loose ammunition, but he managed to make it to the school office to report the shooting attack. However, "The Two Lightning Bolts" received only a two-week suspension, starting at the beginning of the following school year for their premeditated attack on the teacher. I always heard discipline was better and stronger in the past, but these two tried to shoot their teacher with loaded guns, and got off with only a two-week suspension! How can this travesty ok of justice possibly be explained?
Answer: Dorothy and Irene did indeed shoot their teacher while in fourth grade, but the attack was made with their squirt guns. The teacher slipped on the water which had missed him, and he subsequently slipped and fell on the floor during his attempted escape. The school went lightly on the two, because they knew the parents had additional punishments for “The Two Lightning Bolts”.
Riddle: Clayton grew up in a very large, very poor family. With a dozen children(six boys and six girls) to care for, his parents had a hard time providing food and clothing for everyone. Also, as hot water had to first be boiled on the stove to mix with cold water for baths, Clayton and his siblings were lucky to be able to take a bath even one time a month. As he grew older, Clayton was able to obtain a good-paying job, and could afford to move into better housing where he had enough food and clean clothing for himself; but his habit of rarely taking a bath stuck with him. In fact, Clayton now only takes a bath once every two years or so, but no one at his office job(where he has to wear a suit and tie) has ever complained of his having any body odor, or made any negative references concerning his personal hygiene. They say old habits die hard, but this one grew by leaps and bounds!! Refusing to take even a sponge bath, how does Clayton manage to keep his job without offending any of his co-workers?
Answer: Clayton takes a shower every day.
Riddle: One day, as the famous magician and his assistant were rehearsing their act before a small group of newspaper reporters, the magician suddenly stopped speaking and appeared to go into a deep trance. His assistant wondered if she should call 911, as his entire body began to shake, but soon the shakiness diminished and he began to speak, relating the following vision he was seeing: "My house in the country is disappearing before my very eyes! My magical powers have grown too great, and now as punishment, the powers of darkness have engulfed my home and it is slowly vanishing ------ and has now disappeared completely." Suddenly, the magician's mystical trance ended, and he told his assistant and all of the reporters he had to leave immediately to see if any part of this bizarre vision had actually taken place. The curious reporters and his assistant all followed the magician to his home, and everyone was shocked to see the magician's residence had indeed vanished completely! The reporters immediately called in the fantastic story to their respective newspapers, as everyone stood around in absolute shock! How could this amazing disappearance possibly be explained?
Answer: The magician had not even told his assistant about this publicity stunt he had planned, to be assured of absolute secrecy. The magician loved his small, old country home, but he didn't like its location; so he paid a great deal of money to a whole-house moving company to move his beloved house to a location he liked better. Of course, the famous magician was not about to let this publicity opportunity pass, especially when he learned a group of reporters were to be present at one of his rehearsals, so he arranged to have his entire home physically moved to its new location, two days before the planned rehearsal, knowing his next performance would be a complete sell-out when the reporters released their stories of the event. I guess it's like they say when it comes to real estate: It's always about, "Location, location, location."
Riddle: As an April Fool's joke, a prankster, who works in an assisted living facility, created a flyer and distributed one to each room of the facility. Here is what the flyer announced: Attention!!! All residents!!! Several creatures have recently been spotted in hallways and day areas of this facility. The primary creature seen is reported to be warm-blooded, is between 60 and 72 inches in length, and has three legs and three feet. There have even been rarer sightings of several of these life forms having six legs and six feet. Anyone sighting either of these two creatures should immediately notify the receptionist for instructions. What do you suppose the living organisms were to which the prankster was referring in his April Fool's flyers?
Answer: The "creatures" to which the prankster was referring, were the residents who used canes and walkers. Each cane acted as a resident's third leg, with a foot at the base of each cane. The rarer "creatures" were the residents using four-legged walkers with a foot at the bottom of each leg. These sums were added to each resident's physical two legs and two feet which accounted for the description of the "life forms" in the flyers.
Riddle: Four friends– Sam, Evan, Rachel, and Olivia– go out for lunch one Saturday morning. The friends order their food, as well as a big pot of blackberry tea. Sam and Rachel decide to drink the tea, but Evan and Olivia do not; Evan takes a large cup of coffee, and Olivia takes lemonade. After drinking the tea, Sam and Rachel feel sick and pass out. When police officers and paramedics arrive, the officers question Evan and Olivia–why did they order different drinks? Evan says, "I took a large cup of coffee because I didn't sleep well last night, and I needed a lot of caffeine to help me stay awake and alert,". Olivia says, "I took lemonade because I am terribly allergic to raspberries. Even one bite gives me a severe rash!". Who poisoned the tea?
Answer: Olivia poisoned the tea. She said she was allergic to raspberries, but the tea the friends ordered contained blackberries, not raspberries. Olivia lied about her allergy to have an alibi.
Riddle: Mrs. Tatum assigned a massive summer assignment to her students–they each had to learn a new language. It could be any language they wanted to learn, though. After the summer break, Mrs. Tatum asked her students what languages they had been learning, and how it had been going. Christopher said, "I enjoy learning Mandarin!". Anthony said, "I've been learning Brazilian; it was really difficult but interesting!". Gianna said, "I chose to learn German because my ancestors are from Germany!". Mrs. Tatum did not believe one of her students. Who is lying?
Answer: Anthony is lying. He couldn't be learning Brazilian because this "language" doesn't exist; people speak Portuguese in Brazil.
Riddle: Spencer wakes up in the middle of a forest. A few seconds later, a witch and three magic tunnels–a red, a yellow, and a blue–appear in front of the guy. The witch tells Spencer, "Two of these tunnels will make you disappear forever, and the other one will send you back to your house. Listen to these clues VERY carefully,". Clue 1: Choose the red tunnel, and you won't not disappear. Clue 2: It's a lie to say that the yellow tunnel isn't dissimilar. Clue 3: The blue tunnel doesn't have less in common with the red than with the yellow. Which tunnel should Spencer choose?
Answer: Spencer should choose the yellow tunnel. If he chooses the red tunnel, he will not NOT disappear; in other words, Spencer WILL disappear if he enters the red tunnel. We can therefore exclude the red tunnel. If he chooses the blue tunnel, he will also disappear; this is because the blue tunnel doesn't have less in common with red than yellow. In other words, the blue tunnel has more in common with red than yellow, so the blue tunnel will also make Spencer disappear. Choosing the yellow tunnel is the safest option because if it's a lie to say that yellow isn't dissimilar, the truth is that yellow IS different from the red and blue tunnels.
Riddle: Mrs. Harris went to the police station to file a report. She said that someone had attacked her. Here is her story: "I was in the restaurant bathroom, fixing my makeup. Suddenly, a stranger hit me on the head! I didn't see what this person looked like because he approached me from behind!". The police officer refused to file the report and sent Mrs. Harris home. Why?
Answer: If Mrs. Harris was fixing her makeup, she was most likely looking in the mirror (after all, she wouldn't want to ruin her makeup, right?). If someone had approached the woman from behind, she would have DEFINITELY seen what he or she looked like. Therefore, Mrs. Harris lied, and made up the whole story.
Riddle: Leslie bought some ice cream on Friday. She kept all of the flavors a secret from her friends, although she wanted to enjoy it for dessert the next day. When Leslie woke up on Saturday, she didn't find the ice cream; someone had eaten it! The girl decided to ask her friends if they had eaten the ice cream. Geoff said that he was about to leave for work, and hadn't seen anything. Christian said that he was excited to try the new butterscotch ice cream on Saturday, albeit afraid that he was going to miss it. And Margot said that she didn't even know about the ice cream, but was also willing to try it. Who knows something?
Answer: Christian couldn't be sure that there was a butterscotch taste among the ice cream flavors because Leslie kept all of the flavors in secret. Therefore, he knows something about the stolen ice cream.