Sunday, March 1, 2009

Riddle #44: The dead body

This riddle is a classic. I realized that I've never posted it. Here goes:

You come across a dead body--a man lying face-down with a backpack on his back. Immediately you know how he died. How did the man die?

NOTE: The correct answer has been guessed. To read it, see the comments section.

Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.

6 comments:

  1. He was run over by a car from the rear?

    Does the answer have something to do with the fact that only certain causes of death would cause him to fall in the direction opposite of what gravity and his backpack would dictate, namely, onto his back?

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  2. Did he fall? (my qestion was shorter than yours, Old Fashioned Liberal. How can this be possible?)

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  3. Old Fashioned Liberal,

    No he was not run over by a car.
    No, it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that certain causes of death would cause him to fall in the direction opposite of what gravity and his backpack would dictate. I'm not that familiar with the laws of physics, so I don't really know about which direction he would normally fall.

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  4. Ancient Greek Philosopher,
    Hmmm . . . not sure how to answer. He didn't fall per se, but he was falling. Clear as mud?

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  5. Was he a pilot and did his parachute fail to open?

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  6. Yes, Halfmask, that's it! The backpack is actually an unopened parachute. Good job.

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