MISTER MYSTERY RESPONDS

On the night of March 21, 1938, two metallic spheres the size of a basketball, dropped from the sky over New York City. One of them traversed the roof of the mayor's penthouse, landing precisely on his head when he was in the company of other members of freemasonry plotting a conspiracy destined to overthrow himself. The next morning, Michael and Jacob received an urgent call from Mount Sinai Hospital requiring their immediate presence. When they entered the room where the mayor was prostrate, a doctor was trying with sledgehammers to reduce a huge bump protruding from his head. Amid his screams of pain, the mayor explained to Michael and Jacob what happened last night and instructed them to go to his penthouse and retrieve the mysterious sphere before the cleaning lady arrived. (This cleaning lady used to throw away any inanimate object of a volume less than two cubic foots.) When the two enigma researchers accessed the skyscraper where the mayor’s penthouse was located, the cle...

In their office of ENIGMA CONSULTANTS S. L., Michael Schlimazl and Jacob Schlemihl deal with a client who asks them if they believe in extraterrestrials. “Extraterrestrials? I'm afraid not. I'm not even sure the Earth is round. Half of the world's population would be living upside down. Do you know the headache that would cause that?” “I think the Earth is shaped like a ball”, Jacob answers in turn. “You see?, your friend is better informed” “He means an American football” “Enough of nonsense. I don’t care about the stupid things you believe or disbelieve in. The point is that I am offering you a case on a tray in the name of the president Roosevelt. Take it or leave it” “Find out whether Albert Einstein is an extraterrestrial? And why has the president thought of us for that task? What about the CIA or the FBI?” “Or the NFL?”, Jacob adds. “Jacob, Einstein is not the Giants' new quarterback. He is a reputable scientist.” And turning to their client: “Why does th...

We the fans of the UFO phenomenon handle a classification when we treat of the “close encounters”. Depending on how close we've been to the aliens, we talk about "close encounters of the first kind", "close encounters of the second kind", "close encounters of the third kind", and finally there's the kind in which you cut and run. There are fans to whom going from one phase to another takes a lifetime. I, however, went through all these phases in just a few minutes. Now I tell you. In order to establish contact with extraterrestrials or with any girl who agreed to date me, I spent the nights traveling with my old Chevrolet around my hometown. Well, on March 15, 1986, I lost the bet I had made with my neighbor Nicky, who had bet against me that I would find the aliens rather than a girl willing to date me. Indeed, that night I was calmly driving through an uninhabited area when suddenly I saw a turquoise blue light in the sky. I stopped the car an...

I will tell you how the Society for Psychical Research first heard about what we call today flying saucers or Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO), but in 1890 (when this story is placed) they still did not have a name. (The testimonies referred to them as "that"). It turns out that in Burnley, County of Lancashire, lived a man capable of interpreting the song "If Ever I Cease to Love" with the laces of his shoes. For Sir Henry Sidgwick, this was an unprecedented paranormal phenomenon. As Sidgwick was the president of the Society nobody dared to contradict him, and that is how an expedition was organized to the county of Lancashire. (For the musician in question it was impossible to travel since he lacked other shoes than those he used to make music and they went out of tune if he walked with them.) Early in the morning, the four members chosen for the mission embarked on a stagecoach surrounded by the expressions of affection and gratitude from the rest of the SPR mem...