The answer is NEBRASKA.
The five states were: MISSISSIPPI — TENNESSEE — ILLINOIS — MASSACHUSETTS — NEBRASKA. Four of them share one hidden property: a pair of identical letters sitting side by side.
MISSISSIPPI — has SS… and PP.
TENNESSEE — has NN, SS, and EE. It has the property three times over.
ILLINOIS — has LL, right in the middle.
MASSACHUSETTS — has SS… and TT.
NEBRASKA — read its neighboring pairs one at a time: NE, EB, BR, RA, AS, SK, KA. Every single pair is two different letters.
Here’s the trap: Nebraska DOES repeat a letter — the A appears twice. But the A’s are never next to each other, and the rule was consecutive doubles. A repeat that isn’t side-by-side doesn’t count.
That makes Nebraska the only state of the five without a double letter — a unique answer, provable letter by letter. Did you catch it, or did Tennessee’s triple-double give the game away? Tell us below.
