Someone Asked People Where They'd Hide a Paperclip in Their House So A Detective Can't Find It Within 24 Hours - Here Are Some of the Most Amazing Answers
Are you into crime mysteries and detective stories? Do you consider Sherlock Holmes and Perry Mason your good ol' friends from another life?
If that's the case, here's a good opportunity for you to flex your creativity and sleuthing inclinations. The proposal: what if you only have five minutes to put away a paperclip in a secret hiding place in your own house so that a detective can't find it within 24 hours?
And if that detective can't find the hidden item, you get $10,000 in return? Where would you hide the paperclip?
You probably think that's an easy challenge. There just are SO MANY places where you can insert such a small thing without it being discovered ever (and you even forgetting about it).
But when you get to imagining where you could possibly hide it from a professional sleuth, you may realize there just are so many options it's hard to pin it down to just one. You'd probably keep asking yourself what's an even better way to hide the paperclip.
This challenge was posted on Reddit by one community member. That puzzle has since blown up to be one of the most famous subreddits on the site.
The viral thread had 80,000 people commenting on it, which makes it such an amusing treasure trove of ideas. Some are really clever, others outright funny; a few are actually rather head-scratching.
Reddit1. Didn't know detectives came with sniffing dogs, but this is a clever idea.
Inside the rubbing alcohol bottle. that way the paperclip sniffing dogs can't find it.- Bubacxo
Wikimedia Commons2. Welp, let the detective find your other lost stuff then...
Somewhere safe where I'll find it later. Just like everything else I can't find.
Jeanne3. And then maybe hide the pen in your back pocket as you watch the detective search your place?
I'd un bend it. Then force it down the tube of a near empty pen.- 8urfiat
Jacqui BrownReport4. Now that's creepy.
Burying it with the last detectives who tried.
Michal_Buksa5. Someone crunched the numbers. Ain't he a practical one.
I'm gonna pass. Something tells me this detective is gonna do more than 10,000 worth of damage to my house looking for it. So unless he has a warrant I'm gonna say no.
DVIDSHUB6. This idea is clearly inspired by the pandemic.
I'd put it in my mask to form the nose bridge.
Wikimedia Commons
7. You're literally on your toes with this one.
I’d glue it to the bottom of my shoe. I’d literally be standing there watching him look around my house, and trying not to look down.
needpix
8. Flush it down the toilet. Why not?
In a septic tank. If they find it, they deserve to keep that $10,000.
Wikimedia Commons
9. Not sure if this one got the memo, though.
Just hide a bunch of paperclips, when he finds one he'll stop searching
Andrew Kelsall
10. B.R.I.L.L.I.A.N.T.
Give it to my toddler...never to be seen again
Tamekia Andress
11. This idea is definitely in the box.
Force it down the corrugation of one of the Amazon boxes I've yet to take out to recycling.
Stock Catalog
12. This one really thought it out. As in really, REALLY thought things out.
Push it through a drywall wall between studs and it should fall to the blocking at 4' increments off the ground code requires. If you can, put a nail into the hole and hang a painting or w/e to hide the small hole, or some Spackle. Later, use a magnet to attract it through the drywall and draw it back up to a hole or other opening in the wall. Even if the detective saw the hole, the paperclip isn't there, that's just the retrieval and drop point. It'd basically be impossible to find without ripping all the walls out. I doubt they could detect it, even using a metal detector because of all the background ferrous metal in nails, nail stops, Simpson clips, wiring, etc. that the detector would pick up everywhere else.- Numinae
needpix
13. Sure, everybody has one.
In the junk drawer. Good luck finding anything you're looking for.
Eugene Meidinger
14. Disassembling the aircon won't take 24 hours though, right?
Between the radiator fins of the split-type air conditioner. It's easy to insert, yet the position is not very accessible and would need to disassemble that aircon just to get a glimpse of it.
pisauikan
15. Seriously giving that detective a hard job, huh.
in the spine of a book (i have a room of ceiling to floor shelves)
Alan Levine
16. This one's got a lot of good ideas.
Saganasm
17. Oooh, this is a good one.
I'd tape it on the inside of one of the fabric labels on my winter coat, which is currently in a suitcase in my closet with the rest of my winter stuff.
Wikimedia Commons
18. Curtailing the search with curtains.
spiderbabyinapram
19. Yep, you can store anything and everything in there, alright.
In the attic insulation.
Mark Doliner
20. This one's wickedly clever.
beanieboi89
21. Heard this one before.
Halfang
22. These make great hiding places for other stuff too.
Ufoshark
23. Clever, but can this be done under 5 minutes and without the smell giving the detective ideas?
HGHETDOACSSVimes
24. Not bad in theory, but dangerous in practice.
In an electrical socket.- Azuenz
Sery Content Development MT
25. This is ingenious.
monica_9090
26. Can you make a smooth spiral with it under 5 minutes?
uainecas
27. Somebody's got a similar idea.
SteakSauce995
28. This sounds like a lot of work.
SmartestIdiotAlive
29. Mr. Detective won't find the frozen bread suspicious, right?
__INIT_THROWAWAY__
30. As long as owner of said mattress ain't like that one in the princess and the pea story.
nimbles277
You've probably noticed some of the suggestions are rather similar. Great minds think alike, don't they?
Have you got your own original idea? Where would you hide the paperclip yourself?
Find out what your own friends have in mind when asked the same question. Share this story and see what they got!
