# Three Minute Mysteries, or How Come? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 27, 2000, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come/15193 "2000-03-27T12:53:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come/15193/21 "2000-03-27T14:40:00Z")
Coldfire asks: Was the writer killed by electrocution? NO aschrott asks: was fire involved? NO Wendell Wagner asks: Did the writer die of starvation? NO ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come/15193/22 "2000-03-27T14:43:00Z")
Is the writer a modern human, i.e. homo sapiens? (Bear with me here.) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come/15193/23 "2000-03-27T14:43:00Z")
Is it useful to know what kind of writer the dead man is? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come/15193/24 "2000-03-27T14:47:00Z")
Coldfire asks: Was the writer killed by electrocution? NO aschrott asks: was fire involved? NO Wendell Wagner asks: Did the writer die of starvation? NO Coldfire asks: Is the writer a modern human, i.e. homo sapiens? (Bear with me here.) YES Wendell Wagner asks: Is it useful to know what kind of writer the dead man is? YES ---
**Author:** ![aschrott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aca169/32.png) [@aschrott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aschrott)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come/15193/25 "2000-03-27T14:53:00Z")
did the writer die of self-inflicted injuries? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come/15193/26 "2000-03-27T14:53:00Z")
Did the writer’s death have to do with the writing project he was working on at the time of his death? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come/15193/27 "2000-03-27T14:55:00Z")
Coldfire asks: Was the writer killed by electrocution? NO aschrott asks: was fire involved? NO Wendell Wagner asks: Did the writer die of starvation? NO Coldfire asks: Is the writer a modern human, i.e. homo sapiens? (Bear with me here.) YES Wendell Wagner asks: Is it useful to know what kind of writer the dead man is? YES aschrott asks: did the writer die of self-inflicted injuries? NO Wendell Wagner asks: Did the writer’s death have to do with the writing project he was working on at the time of his death? YES ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come/15193/28 "2000-03-27T14:56:00Z")
Was he a skywriter? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come/15193/29 "2000-03-27T14:58:00Z")
Coldfire asks: Was the writer killed by electrocution? NO aschrott asks: was fire involved? NO Wendell Wagner asks: Did the writer die of starvation? NO Coldfire asks: Is the writer a modern human, i.e. homo sapiens? (Bear with me here.) YES Wendell Wagner asks: Is it useful to know what kind of writer the dead man is? YES aschrott asks: did the writer die of self-inflicted injuries? NO Wendell Wagner asks: Did the writer’s death have to do with the writing project he was working on at the time of his death? YES Random asks: Was he a skywriter? YES DING DING DING DING! Another cigar, this time to Random. ---
**Author:** ![aschrott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aca169/32.png) [@aschrott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aschrott)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come/15193/30 "2000-03-27T15:03:00Z")
got any more up your sleeve, Bricker? These are great. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come/15193/31 "2000-03-27T15:09:00Z")
I have a few more… A woman is brutally murdered; her bad beaten body discovered hidden behind some shubbery near the outskirts of the small town. There are only two suspects: the husband and the lover. The sheriff arrests them both and holds them in jail. He doesn’t speak to either of them for twenty-four hours. The next day, he lets the lover go free… and charges the husband with murder. How come? ---
**Author:** ![aschrott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aca169/32.png) [@aschrott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aschrott)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come/15193/32 "2000-03-27T15:11:00Z")
is the lover the _woman’s_ lover? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come/15193/33 "2000-03-27T15:12:00Z")
aschrott asks: is the lover the woman’s lover? YES ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come/15193/34 "2000-03-27T15:13:00Z")
Did the lover have an alibi? (duh. not a very good question.) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come/15193/35 "2000-03-27T15:13:00Z")
The shrubbery was poison ivy or poison oak and the husband broke out in a rash from having touched it. The sheriff knew that he had to wait a day to be sure that the rash would appear. ---
**Author:** ![aschrott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aca169/32.png) [@aschrott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aschrott)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come/15193/36 "2000-03-27T15:13:00Z")
and is the husband the dead woman’s husband? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come/15193/37 "2000-03-27T15:16:00Z")
Wendell Wagner, with a cigar and a new land-speed record! DING DING DING DING! ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come/15193/38 "2000-03-27T15:17:00Z")
Are we tired of these yet? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come/15193/39 "2000-03-27T15:21:00Z")
No, not tired of them. I demand another one. See, being a foreigner, I did not know what ‘shrubbery’ was, and with al the speedy replies, I had no time to look it up 😃 plaese do knot uze thees big worts in yur next misterie. * * * **Coldfire** _Voted **Poster Most Likely To Post Drunk** _ * * * _ **"You know how complex women are"** _ - Neil Peart, **Rush** (1993) ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come/15193/40 "2000-03-27T15:27:00Z")
A man is found dead in a field, with a pack on his back. How come? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come/15193.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-minute-mysteries-or-how-come/15193.md?page=3)