# Lateral Thinking Puzzles - third time is best! **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [July 18, 2023, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214 "2023-07-18T13:39:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 104
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/2061 "2024-06-27T17:53:45Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > Did Henry smoke? (as in pipe) > > **NO** > > Was anybody else present? > > **YES** > > Was the accident witnessed? > > **YES** > [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Was it a wooden lighthouse? > > **Base of wood with stone as the main material.** > > Was it the last wooden lighthouse? > > **NO** yeppers ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/2062 "2024-06-27T18:00:18Z")
Was Henry stoking a fire when the accident took place? Was the fire caused by a beam of sunlight focusing through the lighthouse lens? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/2063 "2024-06-27T18:05:09Z")
**NO to both.** ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/2064 "2024-06-27T18:13:00Z")
Okay, is this a correct statement? A lighthouse keeper was inside the lighthouse when an accident occurred where the lighthouse’s normal operating fire started a larger fire which destroyed the lighthouse and killed the lighthouse keeper. There is something about this so unique and bizarre people talk about it to this day. Was something stored at the lighthouse that was particularly volatile in a fire? If the accident wasn’t witnessed, would it have been notable? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/2065 "2024-06-27T18:17:54Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Okay, is this a correct statement? A lighthouse keeper was inside the lighthouse when an accident occurred where the lighthouse’s normal operating fire started a larger fire which destroyed the lighthouse and killed the lighthouse keeper. **YES** - there is obviously more to it. > [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Was something stored at the lighthouse that was particularly volatile in a fire? > > **NO** , though I like the way you are thinking here. > > If the accident wasn’t witnessed, would it have been notable? > > Nothing is notable if no one sees it, but if we could go back and not witness what happened and learn about it magically, we’d find the whole thing very noteworthy. That last question there is hard to answer. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/2066 "2024-06-27T18:21:17Z")
After the fire, there presumably would not have been a lighthouse at that spot, until such time (if ever) as a new one was built. Was this lack of a lighthouse during this time significant? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/2067 "2024-06-27T18:31:21Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > After the fire, there presumably would not have been a lighthouse at that spot, until such time (if ever) as a new one was built. Was this lack of a lighthouse during this time significant?.. Nope. ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/2068 "2024-06-27T18:32:36Z")
In regard to the other person(s) who was (were) there: Was it just one? If this person(s) had not been there, would the accident have happened? Was (were) the other person(s) employed at the lighthouse? A social visitor? A business visitor? A random passerby? ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/2069 "2024-06-27T18:47:19Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > That last question there is hard to answer. I’ll try to clarify. If nobody witnessed the fire while it was burning, and someone came the next day and saw the ruins of the lighthouse, and the deceased victim, would they have thought it a notable event or just a run of the mill building fire? Was the lighthouse itself well known? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/2070 "2024-06-27T19:28:47Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > If nobody witnessed the fire while it was burning, and someone came the next day and saw the ruins of the lighthouse, and the deceased victim, would they have thought it a notable event or just a run of the mill building fire? > > **I presume they would figure he burned to death or died of smoke inhalation, which he didn’t. So, no, wouldn’t have had a clue.** > > Was the lighthouse itself well known? > > **Maybe, but not to me. I think it was a fairly good bit of architecture, but was just a functioning lighthouse mainly. Irrelevant to the puzzle, though. I did see a painting of it, so somone thought it was neat back then.** yeppers ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/2071 "2024-06-27T21:11:05Z")
Did the fire itself directly kill him? Is it on record that someone else was there, besides the victim and a witness? Or that an animal was there? ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/2072 "2024-06-27T21:26:54Z")
Ah I see my first question has been answered: **NO** So, is the unique bizarre thing the way the fire was caused or the way that the fire, indirectly, killed him? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/2073 "2024-06-27T21:32:54Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Did the fire itself directly kill him? > > **NO** > > Is it on record that someone else was there, besides the victim and a witness? Or that an animal was there? > > \*\*There were three total lighthouse keepers, Henry included. All were there at the time. \*\* > > **No animals.** > [@Mijin](#): > > So, is the unique bizarre thing the way the fire was caused or the way that the fire, indirectly, killed him? **The way it, indirectly, killed him. Having said that, I would explore some of the cause of the fire, etc. But he definitely died indirectly and that is really unique.** ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/2074 "2024-06-27T21:58:00Z")
Was the proximate cause of death: Blunt force? Something piercing him? Being crushed? Falling? Something mutilating him? Did he drown? 🙂 (I accept that there’s some overlap of terms so more than one can be true) ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/2075 "2024-06-27T22:13:07Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Was the proximate cause of death: > > Blunt force? > Something piercing him? > Being crushed? > Falling? > Something mutilating him? > Did he drown? 🙂 **No to all.** ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/2076 "2024-06-27T22:23:47Z")
suffocation? burning? blood loss? decapitation? starvation? poison? strangulation? broken neck? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/2077 "2024-06-27T22:37:28Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > suffocation? > burning? > blood loss? > decapitation? > starvation? > poison? > strangulation? > broken neck?. **Nope.** ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/2078 "2024-06-27T23:10:41Z")
disease? old age? natural causes? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/2079 "2024-06-27T23:22:42Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > disease? > old age? > natural causes?. **No, his death was indirectly caused by the fire.** ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/2080 "2024-06-27T23:30:06Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > No, his death was indirectly caused by the fire. A burning giraffe fell on him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=103) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=105)