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The Newcomer Who Teleports (illustration)
FILE No.1Unsolved

The Newcomer Who Teleports

Difficulty ★★☆about 5 minEveryday MysteriesOverlooked assumptionsFinding one cause
A bellboy thinks the new hire Kume can teleport. One ordinary reason explains both the elevator and the restroom mysteries.

Case Record

Shimura, a bellboy at a high-rise hotel, confided in his coworker Maejima in the break room.

"I think Kume, the new hire, might be able to teleport."

"You’re joking. He walks to work for an hour every morning."

"Yesterday I was waiting for the elevator on the first floor when Kume came. He said, ‘After you,’ so I got on first. I was catching my breath in front of the staff lounge on the 6th floor when he said, ‘Good work,’ behind me. The elevator never opened on this floor in between. And the display stayed on 1 the whole time after I got off."

"He took the stairs. Maybe he’s keeping fit."

"That’s not all. This morning I went into the staff restroom. It was empty, and all the stalls were open. While I was washing my hands, I heard a flush from the back, and Kume was suddenly washing his hands next to me. I was watching the entrance the whole time. Nobody came in."

Maejima thought for a moment. "It’s not teleporting. There’s a perfectly ordinary reason."

Your question

What is Kume’s trouble?

Case Files

Evidence

Diagram

Diagram

Timeline

  1. Shimura meets Kume on the 1st floor. Told “After you,” only Shimura gets on.
  2. Shimura reaches the 6th floor. The door never opens again.
  3. In front of the lounge, Kume speaks to him from behind.
  4. Shimura goes to the restroom. No one there; the stalls all look empty.
  5. A flush from the back. No one has come through the entrance.
  6. Kume is suddenly washing his hands beside him.

Hints

If you get stuck, open the hints one at a time, in order.

Open hint 1

Notice what Kume never did. There is no scene of him riding the elevator.

Open hint 2

He walks an hour to work every morning. Is the staircase only for exercise?

Open hint 3

What do these have in common? Narrow, closed spaces. Think about the stall door not being fully closed.

Solve It

Your question

What is Kume’s trouble?

Choose the answer closest to the truth.

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The Truth

A fear of enclosed spaces

The answer is “A fear of enclosed spaces (claustrophobia).”

Kume finds elevators stifling, so he takes the stairs. That is also why he walks to work. In the restroom, he used a stall at the back with the door left slightly open and unlocked. From the entrance, a stall with a door ajar looks “vacant,” so Shimura assumed nobody was there.

Why he avoids the elevatorThe elevator never carried Kume: he uses the stairsHe walks to work, too: he avoids closed spacesIn the restroom he used a stall with the door left ajarAnswer: a fear of enclosed spaces
Diagram of the solution

Key Points

  • Shimura watched only the entrance, not the inside of the stalls
  • “Nobody is there” rested on how the open door looked
  • Look for one cause behind several odd events

Why people get fooled

The dramatic idea of “teleporting” comes first, so you line up the witness accounts as supernatural events and miss the single ordinary reason.

Similar tricks

  • The “overlooked assumption” trick
  • Explaining several mysteries with one cause

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