The Mystery Files Season 2
The Mystery of Show and Tell
The clues: A sign with a strange symbol on it, a map of Bon Echo Creek with a stick figure in one spot, a printed emoji symbol
The file label: "Show and Tell"
The investigation: To Kyla, the symbol on the sign is obviously a crown. But flip it upside down and E.B. is convinced it's a chandelier. Who's right? Time to investigate! E.B. follows Hermione's map through Bon Echo Provincial Park to the strange stick figure marking on the map. He hops aboard a boat with a park warden and checks out the amazing cliffs all around the water. E.B. discovers this is a sacred place for First Nations people and he sees ancient pictographs painted on the cliff sides. One of the pictographs is the exact stick figure from Hermione's map! It's believed to be a drawing of a powerful First Nations spirit called Nanabush. E.B. finds out that the pictographs told important stories about the First Nations people that painted them. And First Nations elders might be the only ones who know the real meaning of the pictographs. Meanwhile, Kyla notices the name "Maximum" on the back of the sign and finds out it's a company that makes street signs. She heads over there to see if she's right about it being a crown, or if E.B. is right and it's a chandelier. They were both wrong! It's an anchor and the sign tells people where they can anchor their boats. Kyla discovers that signs are made to be universally understood, but some signs are designed for specific countries or cultures. For example, a Finnish street sign showing a hand coming up out of a jagged hole is a warning of thin ice. But to someone in Canada, it might look like a sign of a zombie invasion! There's one more clue - the emoji. E.B. thinks it looks like jazz hands. He meets a graphic artist and emoji expert to get answers. He finds out that in Japan, where this emoji was originally created, it means hug. But a lot of people in the west interpret it as jazz hands, just like E.B. did. He also discovers that every country has its favourite emoji. Which one does Canada use the most? The poop emoji!