Lateral Thinking Puzzle #1
A man and his wife raced through the streets. They stopped, and the husband got out of the car. When he came back, his wife was dead, and there was a stranger in the car.
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Answer: The wife was about to have a baby. They drove to the hospital. The husband left to get a wheelchair, but the baby was born in the meantime, and the wife didn’t survive the birth.
Lateral Thinking Puzzle #2
A man is lying dead in a room. There is a large pile of gold and jewels on the floor, a chandelier attached to the ceiling, and a large open window.
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Answer: The room is the ballroom of an ocean liner which sank some time ago. The man ran out of air while diving in the wreck.
Lateral Thinking Puzzle #3
A man walks into a bar and asks for a drink. The bartender pulls out a gun and points it at him. The man says, “Thank you,” and walks out.
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Answer: The man has hiccups; the bartender scares them away by pulling a gun.
Lateral Thinking Puzzle #4
A man goes into a restaurant, orders albatross, eats one bite, and kills himself.
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Answer: The man, his wife, and a second man were in a ship that was wrecked on a desert island. The man’s wife died in the wreck. When there was no food left, the second man brought what he said was an albatross but was really part of the dead wife. Later they were rescued, and at some point, the first man decides to order albatross at a restaurant. It tastes nothing like what he was told was albatross on the island, which makes him realize he really ate his wife. Unable to cope with the realization, he kills himself.
Lateral Thinking Puzzle #5
A man is returning from Switzerland by train. If he had been in a non-smoking car he would have died.
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Answer: The man used to be blind — he’s returning from an eye operation which restored his sight. He spent all his money on the operation, so when the train (which had no internal lighting) goes through a tunnel, he thinks he’s gone blind again and decides to kill himself. But before he could do it, he saw the light of the cigarettes people were smoking and realized he could still see.
