[Guest]

I don't think this has been posted on the forums yet but I apologise if it has. This is a puzzle I heard whilst at school a few years ago and thought I would share it with you all:

It is raining, Paul falls from his bike near a beach. A car without a driver moves; a man dies. How is this possible and how was foul play not suspected during investigations?

The wording is slightly confusing but I think this is intentional

[Peekay]

The car was being towed and the man died at a hospital!

[Guest]

The car was being towed and the man died at a hospital!

Clever answer, but neither part is correct I will elaborate a little about the death. The man was hit and killed by the car. There was nothing wrong with the car yet it was still able to move without a driver. How? A murder DID take place, I don't think I made that clear enough sorry.

[Guest]

It was raining so it was slippery. There was a truck(car) pull contest and the person pulling the car slipped, fell and then the car ran him over causing him to die. The murder occurred when Paul fell off his bike at the beach. He was shot and killed and thats why he fell.

[Guest]

It was raining so it was slippery. There was a truck(car) pull contest and the person pulling the car slipped, fell and then the car ran him over causing him to die. The murder occurred when Paul fell off his bike at the beach. He was shot and killed and thats why he fell.

Another clever answer, but also incorrect. I love the way you are thinking outside if the box though! I can reveal that nobody was making the car move in anyway - be that pushing/pulling. The car hit a person and it was that person that died.

I think Paul may be some sort of colourful fish - I shall say no more on the matter my dear Watson.

[Guest]

I am leaving work now so will not be online until tomorrow morning to check any answers. Don't worry though, I will not leave this puzzle unanswered.

[Hidden G]

ok,i'm thinking that the car was parked in a way that in let it slip on an obstacled road or something,and Paul was on his bike when he felled at a result of something that he got hit by,so his bike fell on the road and got hit by the car and PAUL was the man that died

NOT actually one of the cleverest of my ideas it was a fast on

[Guest]

Mom thinks:

The car was near the beach, Paul ran into it, moved it a little bit and he died.

I think:

A man was driving a car down a hill, and realized it was impossible to stop because of the rain therefore jumped out and the car kept moving. It hit Paul as he was riding his bike near the beach.

(The whole "he jumped out of his car thing is a bit unrealistic but it's my best guess, unless the car somehow moved from a parking position to rolling down a hill)

[Hidden G]

Tracy your second guess i think it look like mine however more realistic .

and for another time use the spoiler button(i was a newbie like a week ago and they told me that too )WELCOME To BD

[Guest]

there could be strong waves like tsunami which made paul fall from his bike, moved the car and also killed a man

[Guest]

The man who owned the car got a flat tire. He jacked up the car before realizing the spare tire was flat. He leaves it "as is" and goes to fix the tire. Paul comes riding by on his bike slips into the car, knocking over the jack and getting squashed by the car.

Edited May 31, 2011 by Joey D

[Guest]

For clarification, is Paul the one who died?

[Thalia]

1. While riding his bike, Paul falls off because of the slippery road. A man parked his truck on a hill without pulling the parking brake so the truck rolled down the hill as a result of the rain and hit someone- possibly Paul.

2. The truck was rolling down the hill as in #1 toward Paul on his bike. Paul saw this and thought "Oh ****** (insert whatever word you imagine he said)" and tried to get out of the way. . . and failed.

Edited May 31, 2011 by Thalia

[Guest]

Paul is a colourful fish? A real fish?

Is the bike a real bicycle that a real person could ride?

Is the car a proper motor car ie. full sized, could be driven on the road?

Is the man who died a real flesh and blood man?

This sounds like a fair ground.

Was Paul a prize on a fair ground stall?

Was the car on a carousel or other ride?

Or maybe Paul was a target on a shooting stall?

[Guest]

Paul is a colourful fish? A real fish?

Is the bike a real bicycle that a real person could ride?

Is the car a proper motor car ie. full sized, could be driven on the road?

Is the man who died a real flesh and blood man?

This sounds like a fair ground.

Was Paul a prize on a fair ground stall?

Was the car on a carousel or other ride?

Or maybe Paul was a target on a shooting stall?

Time for some answers to your questions

1)This was a slightly cryptic clue and rather unfair of me to include really. A colourful fish = a red herring? Well I liked it anyway and I was hoping somebody would pick up on the Sherlock Holmes reference

2)Would the bike be relevant to a puzzle where the rider is not?

3)The car is a real car. There was nothing wrong with the car yet after a short while of being parked began to move on its own. Nothing pushed or pulled the car to make it move.

4)Yes, a man was killed and it was as a direct result of the car hitting them.

[Guest]

Well done on your guesses guys. Look at post #15 for clarification on some misleading parts of the puzzle.

@Hidden G - Nice idea, but not the one I am thinking of. You are on the right track though when considering how the car was parked

@Tracy - Clever ideas and welcome to BD I can tell you that the car was stationary for some time with nobody touching or entering the car. The car then proceeded to move without the help of anybody.

@Ujwal - There was no natural force moving the car apart from gravity

@JoeyD - I refer you to my reply to Tracy. Nice thinking though

@harpuzzler - And now you are thinking outside of the box

@Thalia - I can confirm that the parking brake/hand brake was not on the car. Only the foot break.

@gresleysteve - Nice thinking, but the car/man/death are all real(figuratively )

[Guest]

Was the car on a cliff which collapsed, causing the car to fall on somebody?

Was the foot break pressed by someone who fell asleep and then released the brake while asleep?

Was the foot break rigged to stay down by something which would release it at some point?

Was the car from Knight Rider, and it decided to kill someone? Or maybe some other self driving car?

[Guest]

@Nana7 - You are drawing ever nearer to the answer here. The foot brake had been rigged in some way which caused the car to later move. It was not parked on a cliff which collapsed and it was not Kit.

[Guest]

My guess is...

The car involved was a train car and that paul is a fish whose bowl was jostled in the train car and fell to the ground, thus killing him? Although about the man that died, and the bicycle, I have no clue.

This is my first post so sorry if it looks a little silly!

Edited June 1, 2011 by Cimorenne

[Guest]

Lets say the bike is not a bicycle but a motorbike, or any sort of bike which has some weight.

Paul (i think he's the murderer), set up a stationary car on a slope where the brakes arent working so he used a wheel stopper or some sort to prevent the car from rolling down.

"fall" off his bike and the bike skied and hit off the stopper, causing the car to roll down hill which crashed into some guy (the victim), causing his death.

sounds logical? making it seem like an accident.

Edited June 2, 2011 by KittyWine

[Guest]

The who died is the owner of the car. he was under the car, fixing it, when unexpectedly the car moved thus he was ran over by his own vehicle. Paul is outside the topic i guess. he was just added in the sentence to make the sentence more confusing and tricky.

[Guest]

1-A piece of ice, big enough to stop the car from moving, was used as a wheel stopper. After some time, the ice melt and car moved forward and killed the man

2-Maybe the car's break oil was leaking and when it was all gone, the break failed and car moved forward killing the person

[Guest]

And we have a winner! Well done sak_iko, the answer I had was that a piece of ice was placed onto the foot brake and after this melted the car slid down the hill and killed the person it was set up to kill. Paul was a red herring, simply there to throw the reader off and I should not have included him I now realise - Sorry!

@Everyone else - Nice try guys, Lemon and Kitty you came close to the answer, you just didn't get the means on how the car moved correct. Cimorenne welcome to BD

[Guest]

The car was on the top of the hill going down to a beach. The car was in nuetral because the owner was on an errand and the car went down the hill and hit the man. The man died on the beach and maybe he hit Paul off the bike by accident.

[Guest]

Sorry I was a little bit late. I haven't been on in a long time.

[Guest]

@teasemybrain - You came pretty close to the answer, look at post #23 if you want to find out the correct one.