The "Black Stories" crime riddles thread

[janleht]

No
Did the wife made a note or leave some other evidence on the wood?

Solution:

That's not it.

[Mandle]

Potential Solution:

The stack of wood had been a tree that was somehow special to the man. Maybe his grandfather had planted it or something like that. By accident, or maybe out of spite, his wife had given permission to a neighbor to chop the tree into firewood. When the man found out he killed his wife and then burned down the shed the firewood was in to destroy the evidence that linked him to his wife's murder. I guess he had to burn down the entire shed because it was locked?

[Kweepa]

Was his wife an Ent?

[janleht]

Case#53

A man strangled his wife. After an hour he burned a shed down. What happened during that hour?



YES
Did the man's wife die from the strangulation?
Did the man know that he strangled her?
Did he intend to burn the shed?
Was it someone else's shed?
Does it matter what was in the shed?
Was it literally a shed (i.e. Not a doghouse or something else resembling a shed)?
Was there one thing in the shed that he wanted to get rid of?
If so, was the one thing flammable?
Did he strangle her with his bare hands?
Did the man kill his wife out of anger?
Was the object he wanted to burn already in the shed?
Was he acting in the heat of the moment?
Was the shed near the crime scene?
Was fire the only thing that could reasonably be expected to destroy the object that he wanted to destroy?
Was the thing made of wood?
Was the wooden thing in the shed before he strangled the missus?
Was he aware that it was his wife he was strangling?
Did the man plan to burn the wooden thing as a result of killing his wife?
Did the wooden thing belong to somebody he knew? (At least he knew who owned it.)
Did he think the wooden thing was dangerous? (Well... not the thing itself, but not destroying it would been a serious threat to him)
Did the man burn the wooden thing to cover his crime?
Is it important who owned the wooden thing? (It might help to solve the case.)
Was the shed not his own shed? (It was NOT his shed, to be clear.)
Did he bury his wife's body before burning down the shed?
Did he go into the shed at any time after the murder?
Did his wife know the owner of the wooden thing? (But not very well.)
Was the owner of the wooden thing also the owner of the shed?
Did the man know the wooden thing was in the shed, even before he entered it?
Did the owner of the wooden thing place it in the shed?
Was the wooden thing a block/stack of wood?
Was the wooden thing a stack of wood?



NO
Was his wife's body inside the shed?
Did the shed contain evidence that might convict him of a crime?
Did the man die in the fire?
Was the fire set to provide the man with some kind of alibi?
Has the shed been in possession of one of them?
Was burning the shed part of some sort of funeral ceremony?
Was this a case of euthanasia?
Was the shed empty?
Was he sleeping when he did any of this?
Did the man commit suicide?
Was there someone in the shed?
Had the man's wife been unfaithful to him?
Was it a neighbour's shed?
Was the one thing especially flammable (e.g: gasoline)?
Was the one thing an object he used to strangle his wife with?
Was the one thing a sum of money?
Was the one thing a ladder?
Was the one thing a piece of clothing?
Was the one thing a will?
Did he strangle her with a chain?
Did he strangle her with a rope?
Did the man kill his wife for financial gain?
Was the span of time between the murder and the arson exactly one hour? ("an hour" is an estimate)
Was the woman having an affair?
Was the person she was having an affair with in the shed?
Did the thing in the shed belong to his wife?
Did his wife hide the thing in the shed from him?
Did he kill his wife because of the thing in the shed?
Was the thing in the shed a person?
Was the thing in the shed covered in blood?
Was the thing in the shed evidence that might convict the man of his wife's murder?
Did the man have contact with anyone else during the hour between the murder and the arson?
Was the thing in the shed the reason why the man was angry with his wife?
Did he want to destroy it to keep it from harming others?
Was some sort of insurance scam intended here?
Did the thing belong to him?
Was he annoyed by the thing?
Was the burning of the shed directly related to the murder of his wife?
Was the man suffering from some kind of mental illness?
Did the man plan the murder?
Was the wife pregnant?
Did the man regret his deed?
Did the man plan to burn the shed right after the murder? (Not RIGHT after)
Is this based on a real-life case?
Is this based on a fictional case from film, literature, or other media? (But it's actually based on a script I wrote years ago, now buried deep in my desk drawer.)
Did the man need the hour to travel from the scene of the murder to the shed?
Was burning down the shed an act of revenge?
Was the thing made of paper?
Was the thing made of plastic?
Would the thing fit in a wallet?
Would the thing fit in a backpack?
Would the thing be easy to carry? (At least not as a whole)
Was it some part of the building itself he was trying to destroy?
Was the object some kind of religious item?
Was the item a coffin?
Was the woman already dying?
Is the wooden object rectangular?
Is the wooden object some kind of decoration?
Is the wooden object a piece of furniture?
Was it the box itself that he wanted to destroy? (Box?)
Or was it something inside the box that he wanted to destroy?
Was the shed locked so he burned it instead of the wooden thing alone?
Was the wooden thing a statue or carving?
Does this case involve the supernatural?
Would the man have burned down the shed anyway, even if he didn't kill his wife before?
Did the man fear for his life and therefore wanted to burn the wooden thing?
Was the wooden thing in any way related to his wife?
Did he have to travel for an hour to the location of the shed?
Was the wooden thing a Ouija board?
Was the shed locked?
Was the owner some sort of friend or relative to the man or the woman?
Did the man burn the shed because it would have been too suspicious if he only burned the wooden thing?
Was the wooden thing a boat?
Was the wooden thing a raft?
Did the man use the wooden thing to get away?
Did the man find out about the wooden thing from his wife?
Did the existence of the wooden thing prompt him to strangle his wife?
Was the wooden thing a container?
Was the wooden thing a single block of wood?
Was the wood finished (as opposed to rough)? (Just sawing and splitting done to it.)
Did the wife made a note or leave some other evidence on the wood?
Was his wife an Ent?


Unknown/Irrelevant
Did the man escape conviction of his crime(s)? (The story doesn't go that far)
Did the wife do something to deserve it (in his book)? (Let's say that the man got sick of many years of nagging and finally flipped out.)

Potential Solution:

Incorrect.

[The Last To Know]

Did the wood belong to the man and/or his wife before the new owner received it?
Did the new owner receive the wood from the man and/or his wife?
Did the new owner saw and split the wood himself?
Did the man and/or his wife saw and split the wood?
Was it a special or rare kind of wood?
Was the wood supposed to be used for a fire?
Was the wood supposed to be used to build something?

[janleht]

Yes
Was the wood supposed to be used for a fire?

No
Did the wood belong to the man and/or his wife before the new owner received it?
Did the new owner receive the wood from the man and/or his wife?
Did the man and/or his wife saw and split the wood?
Was it a special or rare kind of wood?
Was the wood supposed to be used to build something?

Unknown/Irrelevant
Did the new owner saw and split the wood himself?

[The Last To Know]

Did the owner of the wood plan to make a fire near the place where the man buried his wife, so that the man's wife could have been found?

[janleht]

Yes
Did the owner of the wood plan to make a fire near the place where the man buried his wife, so that the man's wife could have been found?
(I assume that the word "bury" can be used as a synonym for the word "hide")

[The Last To Know]

Possible solution:
After the man killed his wife in the heat of the moment, he hid her body somewhere.
Then he remembered or learned that there was some kind of event with a big fire planned near the place where he hid her.
He found out where the wood for this fire was stored and then burned the shed to prevent the event from happening.

[janleht]

Possible solution:
After the man killed his wife in the heat of the moment, he hid her body somewhere.
Then he remembered or learned that there was some kind of event with a big fire planned near the place where he hid her.
He found out where the wood for this fire was stored and then burned the shed to prevent the event from happening.

That's not it. The place where the body is hidden is the final piece to the puzzle.

[The Last To Know]

Did he hide her body in a building?
Did he hide her body in the woods?
Did he hide her body under the open sky?
Did he burn her body?
Did he bury her in the ground?
Did he cut her body into pieces?

[janleht]

Yes
Did he hide her body in a building?

No
Did he hide her body in the woods?
Did he hide her body under the open sky?
Did he burn her body?
Did he bury her in the ground?
Did he cut her body into pieces?

[Mandle]

Did he hide his wife's body in a chimney?
Did he hide his wife's body in a furnace?
Did he hide his wife's body in an oven?

[janleht]

Did he hide his wife's body in a chimney? Yes
I consider the case solved!
Well done The Last To Know for leading the way, and Mandle for the final strike.

Here's the whole story:

Solution Case#53
A man and his wife went on holiday. They booked a room from an old house turned into hostel, on a small island. In their room they have a fight and the man strangles his wife in anger. The room is an attic room and there's direct access through the window onto the roof. Man drags the body on the roof and drops it down into the chimney. It's a stormy night and all elecricity is down. Man realizes that the electric heating of the hostel wont work and the staff will probably set fire into the fireplace... and when the chimney hatch is opend, the body might drop down to everyone's sight. Man decides to burn the shed where all the fire wood is kept and hopes he can escape from the island before his wife's body will be found.

Thanks to all the players!

[CaptainD]

I think my head just exploded.

[Stupot]

Whhhaaaaat? We could have done some more guessing.

[Riaise]

I think my head just exploded.

Well done to The Last To Know and Mandle. Some good guesses, there.

[Snarky]

Nice mystery, janleht!

Whhhaaaaat? We could have done some more guessing.

Yeah maybe, but we pretty much had all the pieces. I think we'd either have got it straight away, or just fumbled a bit putting them together. It was basically solved.

[janleht]

Whhhaaaaat? We could have done some more guessing.

Well... You had a chance to ask about the location or the body of the murder, but decided to focus on the shed.
I'll call this case "The secret of the wooden thing".

[Mandle]

It was basically solved.

Indeed.

We knew the man had burned the firewood to prevent his wife's body being discovered somewhere where the fire would be otherwise lit which was the vital point of the mystery.

Everything else is window-dressing unless you are reading the story/ watching the play.

For the sake of a riddle it was solved.

Thanks for the awesome round, janleht!!!