Each article on Mystery Ink examines a particular mystery (or an aspect of a mystery) and tries to separate known facts from conjecture, surmise and outright fabrication. All the articles on this site are written in the same basic format.
The Introduction is a brief summary of what I’m going to be talking about in the article. Just the facts is just that – the known facts of the case. However, deciding what constitutes a fact is more difficult than it might seem. For example, is an unsubstantiated witness report a fact? My feeling is that it probably is, unless there is good reason to believe that the witness may not be telling the truth. After all, witness reports are accepted in most courts of law (though of course in court people have to swear to tell the truth and face penalties if they do not, something that does not apply when talking to, for example, a reporter). Though we do have to be careful in making a distinction between accepting that it may be a fact that someone has claimed to have seen something, but that isn’t the same as accepting that what they claim to have seen or done is the literal, objective truth. Where possible, I’ll try to include sources or at least links to web sites or books which offer further reading. Theories describes solutions which have been proposed to the mystery including a brief analysis of the likelihood/rationality of each. My thoughts is the bit where I say what I think, including a short interpretation of the facts and, where I have one, my own proposed solution. Find out more provides links to websites and books with more information.
And that’s it. If you like this approach, let me know. If you don’t, let me know how it could be done better. If you have an idea for an article or if you want to write one yourself, let me know about that too. I don’t pay for articles but at least you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that like-minded people will read them.
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