The Left Arm in a Package

[Guest Mark Valenti]

Are all of the men friends? Have they known each other since childhood?

[John Simkin]

Were all the parties involved one-armed or two-armed?

I'm thinking it's quite possible for a one-armed person to open a parcel and then re-package it.

They all had only one arm.

Are all of the men friends? Have they known each other since childhood?

They all became friends six months previously. If you can work out how they became friends, you will have a good idea of what was going on.

[Mark Stapleton]

Were they all involved in an accident which resulted in their having only one arm?

Did they become acquainted in hospital waiting for amputations?

Do they all possess a left arm or a right arm?

[Guest Kathryn Foong]

On the same lines as the others with an "accident"

Did the person's left arm, cut it off himself after an accident/incident where all the others lost their left arm because of something he did (and he felt guilty about it).

Either that or he made a bet/deal with all of them that they would all lose their arm because of something.

[John Simkin]

Were they all involved in an accident which resulted in their having only one arm?

It was an incident rather than an accident. All but one lost their left arm. He lost his later.

Do they all possess a left arm or a right arm?

The all had a right arm.

[John Simkin]

Did the person's left arm, cut it off himself after an accident/incident where all the others lost their left arm because of something he did (and he felt guilty about it).

They all had their left arms removed by someone else. You have to work out why these men willingly had their left arms removed.

[Mark Stapleton]

I'm stumped (excuse the pun).

Burning the arm in the fire is the part that confuses me, but I'm confident the answer to this riddle lies therein.

Were they all surgeons, by any chance?

[John Simkin]

Were they all surgeons, by any chance?

Only one. The man who sent the original parcel.

[Guest Mark Valenti]

Were they all surgeons, by any chance?

Only one. The man who sent the original parcel.

He's the one who cut off all the other arms. A crazed surgeon cut off their arms and then cut off his own arm which he sent in the post to taunt his former victims.

[Mark Stapleton]

Were they all surgeons, by any chance?

Only one. The man who sent the original parcel.

Bingo.

The man who mailed the parcel in the first place was the surgeon who had removed the arms of the other three. The parcel contained the surgeon's left arm. You stated earlier that they all knew whose arm it was. He botched the minor surgery on the other three, resulting in amputations being necessary in those cases.

In order to avoid an expensive medical malpractice suit, the surgeon agreed to have his left arm amputated and presented for inspection as recompense.

He paid his debt. The only remaning evidence of this unusual and illegal undertaking was quickly destroyed.

Surely this was based on a true story.

[John Simkin]

Bingo.

The man who mailed the parcel in the first place was the surgeon who had removed the arms of the other three. The parcel contained the surgeon's left arm. You stated earlier that they all knew whose arm it was.

You have solved this part of the puzzle. What you have to work out why he removed their left arms in the first place. It has nothing to do with botched operations. In fact, he did a very good job given the circumstances (that is in itself a clue).

[Kathy Beckett]

Were they all surgeons, by any chance?

Only one. The man who sent the original parcel.

Bingo.

The man who mailed the parcel in the first place was the surgeon who had removed the arms of the other three. The parcel contained the surgeon's left arm. You stated earlier that they all knew whose arm it was. He botched the minor surgery on the other three, resulting in amputations being necessary in those cases.

In order to avoid an expensive medical malpractice suit, the surgeon agreed to have his left arm amputated and presented for inspection as recompense.

He paid his debt. The only remaning evidence of this unusual and illegal undertaking was quickly destroyed.

Surely this was based on a true story.

Hi Mark!! Good job solving part of this!!

Now will you do me a favor??

When you are done here, pop on over to the Sevenoaks Tunnel thread and jump right in!!! I am stumped!!!!

Kathy

[Guest Mark Valenti]

I went online and peeked at the answer -- wish I hadn't. It's a really good puzzle. Keep going Mark, you'll solve it if you continue along your current line of thinking.

[Mark Stapleton]

Thanks Kathy and Mark for your kind words.

It must have been an industrial accident, trapping the arms of the three men and requiring immediate amputations. The surgeon hurriedly performed the amputations.

Am I on the right path?

[John Simkin]

He's the one who cut off all the other arms. A crazed surgeon cut off their arms and then cut off his own arm which he sent in the post to taunt his former victims.

He did but far from being crazy he was acting in a logical way. You now have to think of a situation where it is logical for people to willingly want to have their left arms removed.