The "Black Stories" crime riddles thread

Gurok · Tue 30/05/2017 09:49:08

Are the sisters nuns?

CaptainD · Tue 30/05/2017 10:31:03

Are the sisters a life form that can be found on earth?
Are the sisters astronomical objects? (As in residing in outer space, not enormous!)

Are they literally sisters?

Mandle · Tue 30/05/2017 11:26:25

Case #35

They were three sisters. One died in an accident. Another died in a war, tending to the wounded. The third lived a long life. What were their names?

Yes
Is "sisters" a metaphor? (Yes, "sisters" is a figure of speech)

No
Were these sisters real human beings?
Is the answer some play on words?
Is this anything to do with Greek mythology?
Are they characters from some work of fiction or legend?
Was one of the sisters named Mercy?
Faith, Hope and Love?
Are the sisters aliens?
Are the sisters animals?
Are the sisters abstract concepts?
Are the sisters nuns?
Are the sisters a life form that can be found on earth?
Are the sisters astronomical objects?
Are they literally sisters? (No, not as in the most common usage of "sisters")

Mandle · Tue 30/05/2017 11:27:58

As you can see, I have flip-flopped on the "metaphor" question as I did find a convoluted way of thinking about it where the term metaphor could apply. In any case, and to avoid confusion: "sisters" is a figure of speech.

Riaise · Tue 30/05/2017 13:27:20

Were their names Titanic, Britannic and Olympic?

Snarky · Tue 30/05/2017 14:51:22

Are the sisters companies, businesses, countries or some other type of organization?
Are the sisters vehicles, machines or machine parts?

(For the record, if the three are not female offspring who all share at least one biological parent, I would say "sisters" is a metaphor.)

dayowlron · Tue 30/05/2017 15:31:53

I bet Riaise has it. that makes total sense.

Mandle · Tue 30/05/2017 16:55:54

Quote from: Snarky on Tue 30/05/2017 14:51:22
(For the record, if the three are not female offspring who all share at least one biological parent, I would say "sisters" is a metaphor.)

Yes, true. The confusing point for me was that they are called "sister ships" as a common term in the English language, but yes, the initial coinage of this term is a metaphor to describe the relationship of the ships, so I found it hard to qualify it as just common language or a metaphor, but in the long run it was a metaphor. Sorry for the confusion on my part. I just decided to go with the safe ground of "a figure of speech".

So, we probably all know by now that Riaise has won the round!!! And well done! I had thought it might play out a tad longer, but someone knows their history!

Solution
Three sister ships:
The Titanic which sank because of an accidental collision with an iceberg.
The Britannic which was refitted as a hospital ship during WWI but sank from hitting an enemy mine. Luckily it was not loaded with wounded at the time or the humanitarian disaster would have been enormous. Almost all of the crew was rescued.
The Olympic served for 24 years if I remember right, which was a long life for a ship launched in 1911, and also had the adventure of ramming and sinking a German U-Boat during WWI while outfitted as a troop carrier.

Over to Riaise if she wants to host the next one...

Riaise · Tue 30/05/2017 21:14:26

Quote from: Mandle on Tue 30/05/2017 16:55:54someone knows their history!

Someone knows how to use Wikipedia!

It was the figure of speech clue that did it. I immediately thought of sister ships, and I knew that Titanic had a sister ship that also sunk, but I hadn't known about the Olympic. So this thread is educational as well as fun!

OK, I'll give the next case a go. This is adapted from an episode of a TV show, so hopefully it will work for this game.

Case #36

A woman comes home one night to find her elderly father laying dead outside their home. Beside him is his beloved pet parrot, still in it's cage. What happened and why?

Yes

No

Cassiebsg · Tue 30/05/2017 21:48:10

Is the parrot relevant to the case?
Did he die of natural causes?
Was he in for an accident?

Riaise · Tue 30/05/2017 22:02:43

Case #36

A woman comes home one night to find her elderly father laying dead outside their home. Beside him is his beloved pet parrot, still in it's cage. What happened and why?

Yes

No
Is the parrot relevant to the case? (It is relevant in that it may help to work out what happened, but is not actually a part of the case itself)
Did he die of natural causes?
Was he in for an accident?

selmiak · Wed 31/05/2017 00:38:11

Did the parrot do it?
how?
Were burglars in the house?

Kumpel · Wed 31/05/2017 00:56:09

Did the parrot say something that made the father go outside while carrying the bird with him?

Mandle · Wed 31/05/2017 01:31:19

Did the bird repeat something it had heard when the man died?
Did the bird repeat the killer's name?
Did the bird repeat something that was incriminating to the killer?

Riaise · Wed 31/05/2017 12:48:13

Case #36

A woman comes home one night to find her elderly father laying dead outside their home. Beside him is his beloved pet parrot, still in it's cage. What happened and why?

Yes

No
Is the parrot relevant to the case? (It is relevant in that it may help to work out what happened, but is not actually a part of the case itself)
Did he die of natural causes?
Was he in for an accident?
Did the parrot do it?
Were burglars in the house?
Did the parrot say something that made the father go outside while carrying the bird with him?
Did the bird repeat something it had heard when the man died? (Theoretically this could have happened afterwards, but it's not part of the case as it is)
Did the bird repeat the killer's name?
Did the bird repeat something that was incriminating to the killer?

dayowlron · Wed 31/05/2017 15:08:41

is the bird alive?
Did they die of carbon monoxide?

CaptainD · Wed 31/05/2017 15:31:38

Did the father die inside?
Did the father die outside?
Was another person responsible for his death?

Riaise · Wed 31/05/2017 15:52:34

Case #36

A woman comes home one night to find her elderly father laying dead outside their home. Beside him is his beloved pet parrot, still in it's cage. What happened and why?

Yes
is the bird alive?
Did the father die outside?
Was another person responsible for his death?*

No
Is the parrot relevant to the case? (It is relevant in that it may help to work out what happened, but is not actually a part of the case itself)
Did he die of natural causes?
Was he in for an accident?
Did the parrot do it?
Were burglars in the house?
Did the parrot say something that made the father go outside while carrying the bird with him?
Did the bird repeat something it had heard when the man died? (Theoretically this could have happened afterwards, but it's not part of the case as it is)
Did the bird repeat the killer's name?
Did the bird repeat something that was incriminating to the killer?
Did they die of carbon monoxide?
Did the father die inside?
Was another person responsible for his death?*

* Yes and no.

Snarky · Wed 31/05/2017 16:30:23

Did the parrot speak (or make some other noise) that caused the man's death?
Did he die of a heart attack?

Mandle · Wed 31/05/2017 17:07:12

Did the parrot say something that caused another person to react in some way?
Did someone hear something the parrot said and take it the wrong way?
Was a neighbor involved?