It was one of the greatest mysteries of 1990s television, but the solution to the Simpsons’ inquiry, ‘Who shot Mr Burns?’ may not be true at all.
The sixth season of The Simpsons concluded with Springfield thrown into permanent darkness, with Charles Montgomery Burns blocking out the sun to force the inhabitants to use energy around the clock, so increasing his personal riches.
Following a town meeting at which every Springfield citizen expresses their concerns about Mr Burns, the nuclear power plant owner is shot (off-screen) and seriously injured.
In the first episode of season seven, Mr Burns’ helper Waylon Smithers and leading dad Homer Simpson are implicated, but Lisa saves the day by revealing that the culprit was infant Maggie Simpson, who accidentally shot Mr Burns.
However, it turns out that some Simpsons fans never trusted the show’s version of events, and they’re using social media to explain why.
On Reddit, member Minardi 3000 claimed that the Springfield Chief of Police, Clancy Wiggum, fired the near-fatal bullets at Mr Burns.
The hypothesis stems from the season’s last scene, when the town’s physician, Dr. Hibbert, asks Chief Wiggum whether he can solve the case, to which a flustered Chief Wiggum responds that he’ll ‘give it a go’ since ‘that’s my job, right?
Another possible suspect is local drinker Barney Gumble, who arrives armed at the town meeting after Springfield falls dark and expresses fury because Moe’s Bar was shuttered owing to fumes from Mr Burns’ nuclear power plant.
Barney was also known for acting irrationally whenever his beer supply was interrupted, even pulling a gun on Homer Simpson to pressure him into giving him alcohol.
In a later episode, the show featured alternative scenarios, with many different endings to the ‘Who shot Mr Burns?’ mystery shown during The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular, a spoof clip episode hosted by Troy McClure.
Waylon Smithers, Barney Gumble, Moe Szyslak, singer Tito Puente, Kwik-e-Mart owner Apu, and Simpson family dog Santa’s Little Helper also appear in the video.
However, the official version of events is widely recognised as the truth, with Maggie Simpson accidently shooting Burns before pointing to her initials M and S (as seen upside down) on the town’s sundial.
And it was a frightening week for Simpsons fans when another idea about Mr Burns surfaced on Reddit, with the elderly billionaire’s exact age reportedly revealed in a later episode – and, if true, he is extremely old.
During an episode from the 17th season, Lisa and Mr Burns try to break into the latter’s panic room.
To get them both inside, Mr Burns answers a security question, ‘Enter your place of birth,’ by punching the phrase Pangaea into the keypad.
Pangaea was a supercontinent that existed 335 million years ago and began to disintegrate around 200 million years ago; it is the first ancient supercontinent that scientists have recreated in the last century.
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Source My Celebrity Life.