The girl sits at the table, innocently playing with a spoon and watching her mother.
"Mom, while you were at work, a strange woman came into the house."

Mom, busy packing the groceries, suddenly stops.
"Some strange lady? We'll see when Dad gets home."

The tone is dry, but the girl shrugs, unimpressed.

A few hours later, Dad arrived. He had just put down his briefcase when Mom looked at him with her arms crossed, as if ready for a fight.

“So tell Dad what you told me earlier,” she said to the little girl.

The little girl jumped up from her chair excitedly.
"You're here, Dad!" She was very pretty and wore a sparkling red dress. She said she came to help you find... documents?"

Dad is paralyzed with shock. His face pales and he begins to stammer,
"Um... documents, you mean?"

This type of puzzle relies on a well-known trick: it exploits our automatic thought processes. As soon as we read "1975," our brain automatically connects the number with the year. This is normal: we spontaneously associate this type of number with the date. And that's where we get stuck!

Because there's really nothing to suggest the year is "1975." It's just an interpretation... and everything hinges on it.

So what is the solution?

The woman was indeed born and died in 1975… but not in 1975. She was born in room 1975 in a hospital (or other facility). And she died in that same room in 1975, at the age of 22.

Yes, it's simple and brilliant.

The puzzle, then, rests solely on the ambiguity of a single number. And it perfectly illustrates our tendency to "interpret everything" linearly, according to our established thought patterns. A beautiful example of what we call lateral thinking!