The Funeral: R.I.P.

Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for. The conclusion to “The Funeral” riddle. For those of you who weren’t here for the original posting on 12-30-07 click here. The answer to a riddle isn’t much fun if you don’t know the riddle. While there you can compare your answer to the answers of others.

• The answer:

She killed her mother because she wanted to see the mystery guy from the funeral again. Since she saw him at the funeral of a close family member (her father’s) it stands to reason that he might show up at another such funeral.

This riddle is a variation of a riddle I heard years ago. It is my understanding that this riddle was part of a study. When the riddle was asked of the average Joe college students, they rarely if ever got the answer correct. When asked of convicted serial killers they almost always got it right, right away.

If you answered the riddle correctly it is said you think like a psychopath. That’s not to say you could be a psychopath, will be a psychopath, or are a psychopath. Then again it doesn’t rule you out as a psychopath either. Perhaps thinking like a psychopath isn’t such a bad thing. Many convicted serial killers have very high IQ’s in the genius range.

When I first heard the riddle I got the answer wrong. When I heard the answer it seemed some simple and obvious, I couldn’t believe I got it wrong. Then when I heard the story behind the riddle I was torn, relieved that I didn’t think like a serial killer, but saddened that I do think like an average Joe. There’s just no pleasing some people. Dang it.