Paranormal vs. Artifacts – October 14, 2002
Part Six
Once again, a scene will be taken from an episode of “One Thousand and One Scientific Nights”. In this series, Lanturlu is the servant of the evil vizier Schatzmani. Every morning, the Sultan demands that Schatzmani recreate what he saw in his dreams. Schatzmani then turns to his servant, threatening to have his head cut off if he fails to find a solution. But Lanturlu always manages to do so, thanks to a magic lamp. In the scene below, Schatzmani is tied up as shown; the bonds are impossible to undo. He must get hold of the key located at point C, but his ring at point A simply cannot pass through hole T.
Imagine a scene taking place in a parapsychology research institute. All equipment has been carefully checked, and a “medium” replaces Schatzmani. The lights are turned off; less than a minute later, when the lights are turned back on, the “medium” has managed to “dematerialize” and then “rematerialize” near the key, thereby freeing himself. This time, there’s no doubt whatsoever—there’s no way any tricks could have been used with the ropes, bonds, or handcuffs. So…?
There’s no “trick” involved. In fact, your “medium”, aka Schatzmani, wasn’t truly tied up, topologically speaking. Here’s the sequence showing how he manages to get the ring through:
Just for info: this puzzle isn’t Chinese in origin; it’s actually African. As an aside, I presented this problem to blind mathematician Bernard Morin. He brought this puzzle along to a chamber music concert. While the orchestra played, he struggled hard with the object resting on his knees. Suddenly, having found the solution, he shouted “I’ve got it!” causing immediate chaos among the musicians.
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