Saturday, August 18, 2007

The Ten Mysteries Game



Remember that party game where you picked ten people from history to invite to a dinner? Whenever I played it it I always ended up inviting people like Amelia Earhart so I could ask her what really happened to her. Always a mystery writer, lol. So. . . for our Saturday night breakfast/lunch/dinner party, what if you could wave a magic wand and solve ten real-life mysteries? Which ones what would you pick? They could be personal or public, from your life or somebody else's, historical or current, big or little, your choice. And you don't have to pick ten if you don't want to. Take all day to figure it out, if you want to. And, here, have some more champagne.


19 comments:

Nancy P said...

1. What really happened to you, Amelia?
2. Grandpa, mom says you used to take the horse and wagon to town one Saturday a month, where you'd eat so much candy--because you loved candy--that you'd get sick and lie down in the back of the wagon and the horses would bring you back home. I swear my mother believes this. Grandpa, tell me the truth. Was candy dandy, but liquor quicker?
3. JFK, RFK, & Marilyn Monroe

GhostFolk.com said...

Wonderful idea, Nancy.

There's two ways here, though. Have a person to dinner who can solve/answer the mystery... or have the person themselves...

I know this is so Virgo, but I wonder if Marilyn knows what happened to her. Or Ambrose Bierce.

And do we get the guest after they're dead or at a point in their life... when the end is obvious? I mean, I don't want to eat air rations in the empty seat beside Amelia while, well, you know, the engine runs out of gas...

GhostFolk.com said...

P.S. I don't really think that Ambrose Bierce knows what happened to Marilyn.

GhostFolk.com said...

1,2.: Michael Vick and Hannibal Lecter.

Kelly McCullough said...

Dark matter.
Dark energy.
Gravity.
How on Earth half of American voters could go for George Bush in 2004.
How to get all the dark secrets tucked away in Rove's brain out into the bright light of day.

That'll do for a start.

Nancy P said...

Green, remind me who Ambrose is and what's his mystery?

You can do either, green. You can have the person themself to dinner, or somebody who knows. Although, horse's mouth, and all that. . .

Since Ambrose is dead, he *may* know about Marilyn. Hey, maybe all we have to do is invite one talkative dead person.

Nancy P said...

lol, Kelly, but some things may just be unanswerable. Did you catch up on your email?

Nancy P said...

Oops, green, I wasn't clear. I didn't really mean we have to invite them to dinner. Just, what mysteries would you like to solve? Dinner is extra. :)

katiebird said...

Combining most of this week's conversations, I'd like to know what happened when we turned around and went back home. Instead of moving to Kansas.

AND I wonder if I could make the first chapter of that story as interesting.

But the mystery I'm really curious about is The Shroud of Turin. If it isn't what it's supposed to be, then what is it. And Why. And How.

Nancy P said...

G'morning, kb. Very fine mysteries, indeed.

I'm driving to Liberty to talk to a book club this afternoon. What are you and the Mister up to?

GhostFolk.com said...

Since Ambrose is dead, he *may* know about Marilyn. Hey, maybe all we have to do is invite one talkative dead person.

Good point, Nancy. Hmmm...

Oh and I want dinner anyway. :-) Just so I can do the place cards.

Ambrose Bierce was a satirical writer (/journalist) who seemed to to both extend Twain and anticipate Hunter Thompson. Went to cover Pancho Villa in 1913 and rode along with him a bit. Sent a Christmas letter (Dec 26 1913) from Chiquaqua and was never heard from again.

Nancy P said...

The idea of place cards for, so far. . .

Amelia Earhart, my grandpa, Ambrose Bierce, Marilyn Monroe, John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Jesus, katiebird's parents, Isaac Newton (but only if he can *really* explain gravity to Kelly),certain unnamed future scientists, Michael Vick, and Thomas Harris . . .

makes me laugh a lot. Of course, green, you don't have to have everybody else's mysteries at your table. We may be talking about a small Mystery Convention here.

Nancy P said...

Sorry to be grim, but 4. Jon Benet Ramsey. Which makes me think of Ramses, which makes me think of 5. Sphinx, pyramids, etc.

Kimberly Frost said...

1. Who built the pyramids? Was it really the Egyptians/South American Indians on their own? Or was there, as writer Graham Hancock suspects, a lost civiliation of sea-faring people who traveled and helped indigenous people build them?

2. On Jesus Christ -was the body moved or did he rise up? (I have some friends who are devout, and after years of not really paying attention to religion, I've been exploring faith again. As a scientist, it's in my nature to examine evidence and contemplate it. I wish I'd been able to sit outside that tomb for myself.)

3. Where is Jimmy Hoffa buried? I come from a blue-collar family full of UAW members, so for good or for ill, Hoffa's life/death were or interest.

4. Was there a lone shooter or not on that terrible day in Dallas when JFK died?

5. Where does the compulsion to write really come from? Is it just a fluke in the electrical connections in the brain, too worn in during childhood imaginings, that causes the inability to stop telling stories? Or is there a muse, powerful and relentless, who chooses some that she will ride for all their days?

I love this game, Nancy. :) And this exercise remind me of two things...

1. A quote where someone answered the question: What is heaven like? with "It's the place where all the questions get answered." Wouldn't that be nice?

2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy where they want to know the meaning of the universe and they come back to the all-knowing being at the end, and ask "So what is the meaning of the universe?" And it answers "42." (Hee hee hee.)

GhostFolk.com said...

Since you mention, Turin, Katiebird...

I person I'd like most to meet from history is Judas. I have the idea that Judas and St. Jude might be the very same person.

Nancy, I wanted Hannibal to have Michael Vick for dinner.

Nancy P said...

There goes the coffee onto the computer screen, green!

Hi, Kimberly! (Her account of that first book(s)sale is posted now on yesterday's thread.)

Kimberly Frost said...

In response to Kelly's question...

how did half the voters in 2004 vote for GB?

I had that same question. Then I saw an HBO documentary on electronic voting machines that stunned me. And my question changed from 'how could they?' to 'did they really vote that way at all?'

I think it was called Hacking Democracry or Stealing Democray or something like that. Best to watch it on an empty stomach.

On a lighter note, I saw a bumper sticker the other day which said:

"Frodo failed. Bush has the ring."

Okay, no more politics for me today. Time for a mocha and happy thoughts.

Nancy P said...

Love the bumper sticker. Sob.

Okay, I have to get ready to go. I hope I come back to some fun lists, but it's quiet in the Blog Village this morning. I think a few people are even out of town without their laptops!!! Boran2 and farfetched, I'm talking to you!

Nancy P said...

Back! I had a wonderful time with the book group. Adorable house. Great food. Gracious people. Super fine conversation. Lucky author.

If only I had a cupcake.