Riddle: A man rode his horse to the top of a high hill. He tied his horse to a large birch tree, and removed a blanket, a flint and steel for making fire, and a small hatchet to cut down a bunch of green saplings. He then gathered a bunch of dried leaves and took them, along with the green saplings, to an open area near some smaller rocks. Using the flint and steel, he tried to start a fire with the leaves and green wood. As the fire struggled to burn, the man did something remarkable. He suddenly took his blanket and covered the fire with it. Apparently, regretting his actions, he removed the blanket from the smoldering fire; but then, a few seconds later, he placed the blanket back over the fire. Again and again he repeated his actions of throwing the blanket on and off the fire. Was this man an obsessive-compulsive pyromaniac, or was there some kind of method to his madness?
Answer: The man was a Native American Indian in the old West who was sending smoke signals to his tribe.
Riddle: Upon my top there is a golden shop wherein a dollar can't be spent. Along my sides stretch nature's slides which will never relent. At my feet where people meet full of ire, dread and lament. What am I?
Answer: A mountain. On the top one can find clarity and make memories that a conventional shop can't sell. Nature's slides are rivers. At my feet or foot of the mountain is the first step and place everyone has to be to begin the climb, which will be difficult (ire, dread and lament)
Riddle: Every day, pilgrims make the journey to the temple of the wooden soldiers. Upon entering the temple, most of the pilgrims seek out a holey orb with which to do battle against soldiers who are dressed in red and white uniforms. Each orb is used to attack small groups of these passive soldiers — soldiers which have the unique ability to replicate themselves whenever their ranks are assaulted by the pilgrims. The mystic orbs, like boomerangs, have the uncanny ability to return to the hand of each pilgrim when cast at the soldiers during these skirmishes. What kind of a temple is this which promotes violence by allowing people to attack innocent soldiers?
Answer: Temples like this are known as Bowling Alleys.
Brain Teasers
Riddle: You walk into a room and see a bed. On the bed, there are two dogs, four cats, a giraffe, five cows, and a duck. There are also three chickens flying above the bed. How many legs are on the floor?
Answer: There are six legs on the floor. All of the animals are on the bed and no other furniture is mentioned in the room. Four legs from the bed and your two legs because you are standing in the room.
Riddle: One summer evening, as Irene sat on the front porch of her old Kentucky home, she witnessed about a dozen men in two large trucks pull up to an old abandoned farmhouse about a hundred yards from hers. Suspicious, she grabbed her binoculars and observed two of the men approach the old farmhouse --- and set it on fire! After ten minutes had passed, the farmhouse was completely engulfed in flames, but neither Irene nor any of her neighbors in sight of the burning building ever bothered to call 9-1-1 to report any of these events. To make matters even worse, two police cars passed the flaming house but never bothered to stop. What happened to civic duty and responsibility? Has society totally turned its back on the idea of neighbors helping neighbors; or is there an alternate explanation for these events? What exactly was happening here?
Answer: As Irene and her neighbors looked out of their respective windows, they all saw the two large trucks were actually fire engines carrying about a dozen firemen. They obviously had come with permission from the owner of the abandoned farmhouse, to perform a training exercise on fire fighting techniques (Irene and her neighbors had received notification from the fire company of this planned exercise earlier that same week). After the firemen started the building on fire, they proceeded to practice their skills in putting out the blaze. The police cars who passed the fire saw the firefighters were training, as they also had been notified of this planned fire at the start of their shift. The owner of the building got rid of his old farmhouse, and gave the fire company some needed practice, providing a win-win situation.
Brain Teasers
Riddle: It's a little-known fact that one of Batman's deadliest enemies, The Riddler, got married after his days of crime were behind him. The Riddler's wife enjoyed riddles even more than her husband, and she often tried to baffle him with riddles around the house. One day his wife, whose name was Riddlina, saw an opportunity to try to stump her husband with an old riddle she had first heard as a child. "My husband!" Riddlina exclaimed, "We have an extreme emergency! I just discovered we don’t have even one circle with a thousand squares left in the entire house!" The Riddler was shocked, at first, until he figured out what was distressing his wife. Do you know to what object Riddlina was referring to, which caused her emotional outburst? Incidentally, as soon as the Riddler solved his wife's riddle, he immediately got into his car and drove to a local store. What was he planning to get?
Answer: The old riddle his wife used (a circle with a thousand squares) to indicate an emergency item that was missing from their house, was a roll of toilet paper. Needless to say, the Riddler immediately went out to purchase some.
Riddle: A rookie police officer was working his assigned beat, but to make his job a little more interesting, he decided to bring his radar gun along with him. He began testing the gun by pointing it at various moving objects to determine their speed. He noted people were moving between one and three miles per hour; however, when he pointed his radar gun away from the crowd of people there, the gun suddenly read 80 M.P.H. Again he pointed it in the same direction, and he got a speed reading of 85 M.P.H. He continued pointing the radar gun toward the same general area for the next 30 minutes and recorded speeds ranging between 60 and 95 miles per hour. Considering the fact there were numerous people milling about the area he was patrolling, why do you suppose he never once reported any of these high speeds to his department? For the safety of all of these people, shouldn't a speed trap be set up or speeding tickets issued? What exactly was going on here?
Answer: The rookie police officer was assigned to patrol a minor league baseball game. Most of his radar readings came from his pointing the gun at the various pitches the opposing pitchers were throwing during the game.
Brain Teasers
Riddle: Irene is an amazing artist. She can draw anything and everything, and draw them all well. The unique thing about Irene's art is she uses both of her hands to draw her pictures, even though she is not ambidextrous. Holding a round piece of plastic in each of her hands, she is able to create magnificent works of art. Irene, however, has one great fear in her life --- Earthquakes!!! Now, Irene is a mentally healthy person with a stable personality, so why in the world should this talented artist have a constant fear of earthquakes, which rarely happen in the state of Florida where she resides? Does her fear of earthquakes have anything to do with her type of artwork, and if so, exactly what type of art does Irene create?
Answer: Irene is an Etch-a-Sketch artist who keeps her completed pictures on the walls of her home. One good shake from an earthquake, and all of her pictures could be erased.
Riddle: I am typically feared by both women and men. I often come for the old, but also for some young people who are very ill. Many will fight me in vain, and many others live in denial of me. Those who embrace me will lose their fear of me, but they will lose something of themselves in the process. What am I?
Answer: Baldness. (Note that 'death' doesn't fit the last clue. Those who embrace death lose ALL of themselves. Those who shave their head just lose something of themselves. Also, death ALWAYS comes for the old eventually, not just 'often'.)
Riddle: How you describe me is what I am. Poets might hate me, but sailors should love me. I can't give them the sea, but only something that sounds like it. What am I?
Answer: An orange. (Note: orange doesn't rhyme with anything, and it gives sailors vitamin C (a homophone of sea))
Riddle: In fair Verona, love's tale is told, A pair of star-crossed souls, brave and bold. Their families' feud, a bitter strife, Yet love blooms amidst the deadly strife. This tragic hero, youthful and true, His heart ablaze, his love so new. He serenades his Juliet fair, Their passion burns, a love so rare. Though fate conspires against their bliss, In death, their love will forever persist. Which Shakespearean character doth this describe, Whose name lives on, as love's eternal bribe?
Answer: Romeo.
Riddle: Such a slim little stripe in a shiny, round coat! How it grows in the warm sun's bright rays! But its jacket still fits, and it's worthy of note That it isn't so, tall on cool days. Hint: It's not a fishing pole.
Answer: A Thermometer.
Riddle: Hannah became very tired while driving. She decided to stop at a nearby two-story hotel and stay there for the night. The receptionist said that her hotel room number is 604; he even offered to show Hannah where it was. Hannah didn't believe him; she rushed back to her car, hopped inside, and sped away. Why?
Answer: The first digit of a hotel room number usually indicates the floor it is on. Room 604 is supposed to be on the sixth floor, but the hotel only has two floors.
Riddle: What letter comes next? A, B, C, D, _
Answer: It's not E; it's F, because if you put it on the line without removing the line, THEN you'll get an E.
Riddle: A girl walked into a bar and ordered some water. The bartender then threw a big hairy spider at her. A few minutes later, the girl thanked the man and walked out. Why?
Answer: The girl had the hiccups and the man scared them away by throwing the big hairy spider at her.
Riddle: My little circle of friends here, getting bumped off one-by-one, reminds me of Agatha Christie's famous murder mystery "Ten Little Indians", where a small group of people are knocked off, one at a time, until only the killer and one person is left. The main difference is that in Christie's novel, the last survivor was to die by hanging, but in my situation, the sole survivor will be given "The Chair"! Should this person call the police? Is there a life-and-death scenario going on here, or is everyone's safety assured? What exactly is happening?
Answer: The person, along with a small group of their friends, is engaged in a game of Musical Chairs. "The Chair" is always reserved for the last person left.
Riddle: In the home where Mabel resides, she has a reputation for walking very slowly, even though she is only 40 years old. Her slowness doesn't appear to be related to arthritis or to other medical ailments, but is more likely due to heredity, as her parents both had the same condition. Mabel does not use a walker or a cane to move about, and a wheelchair would be out of the question. Mabel is an extreme introvert who basically stays in her home 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Although it sounds a bit strange, you could say, even when Mabel leaves her home --- she stays at home. Although she frequently leaves the front door to her home open, she is easily frightened, causing her to immediately shut that front door when she feels threatened in any way. Mabel's caretakers frequently laugh at her and sometimes point their fingers at her as she struggles to move along. The caretakers allow Mabel only small rations of food and water each day, and they never give her a shower. Where are the abuse investigators? Where is the justice? Or are things not as bad as they appear to be for Mabel?
Answer: Mabel is a Box Turtle who is the house pet of a family with several children. She is well cared for, but instinctively closes the front door of her shell and pulls her legs in if she senses danger, which includes inquisitive children.
Riddle: A certain man who is called "Captain" by his crew, is infamously known for his hatred of a particular group of young boys. He especially dislikes the leader of this group of children, to the extent he would actually kill him if given the chance. This man is neither a basketball player, nor a boxer, nor a fisherman, as his name suggests, but he is the "captain" of a ship called the Sea Devil which flies a black and white flag. This man sails on his ship with his own group of grown men who are a scurvy bunch who enjoy criminal activities. Although he presents himself as being fearless, there is one thing that sends him into a frightened panic -- the sound of a ticking clock! Who is this infamous man, and why haven’t the authorities arrested or imprisoned him and his evil crew?
Answer: The infamous man is Captain Hook, the arch-enemy of Peter Pan and the lost boys. He fears the loud ticking of a clock which a monstrous crocodile swallowed at some point before Peter Pan cut off the captain’s hand during battle, and fed the hand to the beast. The clock now resides in the crocodile’s stomach, and the ticking warns Captain Hook of the creature’s presence, as the crocodile wants to eat the rest of the tasty captain.
Riddle: Shirley grew up in a family that loved desserts ------ especially one dessert! Many arguments occurred during dessert time in Shirley's family, and on a few occasions, these disputes nearly led to blows. The person serving the dessert was usually the one accused of creating the contentious atmosphere. The accusations usually centered around the color distribution allotted to each family member. People were always o.k. with the amount of orange, white, light green, and yellow they received, but the distribution of the red was always a major point of contention. God help anyone who dared to pass out more of the red part of the dessert to any one person sitting at the table, for if they did, all hell would break loose! It's amazing to think a simple canned desert could cause such an uproar, but it did, and in certain families, still does today. What is this common dessert which caused such a commotion in Shirley's family?
Answer: Fruit cocktail. If the red cherry pieces are not evenly distributed, people sometimes get upset. The Del Monte company actually had to add a separate can to their lineup of fruit cocktails to appease their customers due to this problem. They call it Very Cherry, and it contains more cherries than their original can.
Riddle: We first appeared outside in the early 1940s during World War II. Our construction was a simple mixture of glass and aluminum, with a flexible entrance that kept out unwanted intrusions. We were not migratory and never slept -- even at nighttime. The famous movie director, Alfred Hitchcock, once used one of us in his movie "The Birds" back in 1963, which resulted in some shattered glass. A famous "lady" once described us as being, "like a lighthouse on the highway", as we were easily seen at nighttime. In the year 2000, there were more than two million of us in existence, but as of 2020, our numbers have quickly declined, and there are now fewer than 100,000 of us remaining in the United States. We were greatly honored in 2015 when someone nominated us for inclusion into the National Register of Historic Places in the state of Arkansas. Who/what are we?
Answer: We are telephone booths.