FILE No.62Unsolved
The snow stopped falling during the night. The next morning, the master of the house was found stabbed to death in a cabin a short distance from the main house.
One person's footprints run straight from the main house to the cabin door. There are no other footprints around the cabin. No footprints lead back from the cabin to the main house. Every toe points toward the cabin.
The cabin has no other entrance, and the culprit was no longer inside. A servant in the main house says the owner of the footprints talked with the master inside the cabin.
Looking closely, every toe points toward the cabin, but the heel marks are unusually deep, and many prints overlap.
How did the culprit return to the main house without leaving fresh footprints?
If you get stuck, open the hints one at a time, in order.
Which way do the toes point?
What do the deep, overlapping heels suggest?
How could someone return without making new prints?
How did the culprit return to the main house without leaving fresh footprints?
Choose the answer closest to the truth.
Walked backwards in the same footprints made on the way in
The answer is: walked backwards in the same footprints made on the way in.
The culprit walked from the main house to the cabin, leaving one line of footprints. On the way back, the culprit walked backwards, carefully placing each foot into the existing prints. The toes still point toward the cabin and there is only one trail, so it looks like a one-way trip.
The deep, overlapping heel marks are where the same spot was stepped on twice, once going and once returning. Do not trust the "direction" of footprints too much.
We assume one line of footprints means one journey, so the missing return trail never seems strange.
The cases on this site are fictional puzzles created for entertainment. Any resemblance to real people, organizations or events is coincidental.
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