History NightmareFuel / UnsolvedMysteries

* Allagash Abductions. Think alien abductions are just silly anal probings? ''Think again''. These things took four men from a camping trip and proceeded to subject them to horrific experiments [[BlueAndOrangeMorality for reasons only they understand]]. The [[NightmareFace sketches]] certainly do not help. Oh, and wait until you hear some of the interviews with the abductees, during their hypnosis sessions…

* Allagash Abductions.

* The disturbing case of Rachel Timmerman and her infant daughter, Shannon Verhage. It began when a supposed family friend, Marvin Gabrion, beat and sexually assaulted her numerous times over the course of one night while she was out with him and some associates of his (who were kicked out of his car so her could kidnap and assault her over their protests). Afterwards, as the trial for his crimes was looming, Rachel was trying to get on with her life and had a date with an unknown man when she disappeared. Even though letters had been sent to her family stating she and the baby (who she took on the date with her, apparently at the man's request) were alright, her body was found in a lake a couple of weeks later. Although she had been [[CruelAndUnusualDeath bound in duct tape, handcuffed and weighted down with cinder blocks, the coroner determined that the poor girl had drowned.]] To make matters worse, Shannon was nowhere to be found and it came out that ''several'' people connected to Gabrion [[LeaveNoWitnesses had either gone missing or were dead, including the two associates who were with him the night he assaulted Rachel.]] He was eventually tried and convicted for her murder and sentence to death,[[note]]Although the state of Michigan, where the crime took place, has no death penalty, the special circumstances enhanced it to a federal level, putting him on ''their'' death row[[/note]] but as of February 2020, no trace of Shannon has ever been found. And even if she is eventually discovered, according to Gabrion, it won't be alive since he admitted to killing her like he did her mother due to having "nowhere else to put it".

* A lot of the cases have such a wrenching sense of "if only". If only Kathy Hobbs hadn't left her home late at night to go and buy a book. If only she'd turned back when she realized there was no one hanging out at the local pool to accompany her to the store. If only her mom hadn't gone to bed, assuming she was safe and not realized until the next morning that she never came home, thus giving her abductors -- and killers -- an 8-hour head start.

** Similarly, there is the case of [[http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/h/hammond_angela.html Angela Hammond]], a pregnant young woman who was leaving her job at a convenience store and talking on a pay phone to her fiancé, Rob. During the call, she told him there was a dirty-looking, bearded, unknown man who was first circling the parking lot in his car and then idling by her while she was on the phone. Midway through the call, he heard his fiancée scream out and only then did the man say anything at all, cockily answering back to her, "I didn't need to use the phone, anyway." After being able to spot the two of them in the assailant's truck on the street and trying to pursue them in his own car, but had to give up the chase after his transmission failed. Nearly 30 years later, she has yet to be located.

* The Jane Boroski story. Late in the evening of August 6, 1988, on her way home from a country fair, the then-22 year old, seven months-pregnant woman pulled into a rest stop to buy a soda. As she sat in her car drinking the beverage, she was viciously attacked by a man who dragged her from the vehicle, stabbed her multiple times, then left her for dead. She managed to crawl back to her car and drive away, looking for help--only to find herself ''right behind'' her assailant's car. As she pulled into the driveway of a friend's home, her attacker apparently drove on, only to ''turn back'' and slowly drive past the house, no doubt intending to finish her off. Fortunately, by this point, her friends had come out onto the porch to tend to her, deterring him. He disappeared into the night, never to be apprehended. What makes this story even more terrifying is that Jane's attack is believed to be the final attack of the never-captured/identified SerialKiller known as the Connecticut River Valley Killer, believed to have abducted and murdered roughly seven women in the region. The murders stopped after Jane's attack, likely because the killer knew that a potential victim could now identify him. Two decades later, Jane identified her attacker as Michael Nicholaou, who aside from possibly being the Valley Killer, had long been a suspect in the disappearance of his girlfriend. He escaped justice by killing himself after killing yet ''another'' girlfriend and her daughter.

''Series/UnsolvedMysteries'' had VERY HIGH doses of Nightmare Fuel.

* The disturbing case of Rachel Timmerman and her infant daughter, Shannon Verhage. It began when a supposed family friend, Marvin Gabrion, beat and sexually assaulted her numerous times over the course of one night while she was out with him and some associates of his (who were kicked out of his car so her could kidnap and assault her over their protests). Afterwards, as the trial for his crimes was looming, Rachel was trying to get on with her life and had a date with an unknown man when she disappeared. Even though letters had been sent to her family stating she and the baby (who she took on the date with her, apparently at the man's request) were alright, her body was found in a lake a couple of weeks later. Although she had been [[CruelAndUnusualDeath bound in duct tape, handcuffed and weighted down with cinder blocks, the coroner determined that the poor girl had drowned.]] To make matters worse, Shannon was nowhere to be found and it came out that ''[[KillEmAll several]]'' people connected to Gabrion [[LeaveNoWitnesses had either gone missing or were dead, including the two associates who were with him the night he assaulted Rachel.]] He was eventually tried and convicted for her murder and sentence to death,[[note]]Although the state of Michigan, where the crime took place, has no death penalty, the special circumstances enhanced it to a federal level, putting him on ''their'' death row[[/note]] but as of February 2020, no trace of Shannon has ever been found. And even if she is eventually discovered, according to Gabrion, it won't be alive since he admitted to killing her like he did her mother due to having "nowhere else to put it".

** Even [[UncannyValley the picture]] of [[http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Dennis_DePue Depue and his wife]] is enough to give you the shivers.

* Then there's the composite sketches, and age progression pictures ''Brr''... The artists try, but those photos tend to dive full-force into the UncannyValley. It doesn't help matters that the photos in question are always straight ahead, meaning they're usually ''staring right at you.''

* Tallman's Ghost, a.k.a. The haunted bunk bed segment. Yes they made a segment about a haunted bunk bed. And it is scary as HELL.
** Let's be honest: ''anything'' a disembodied voice in a dark room can say is already hair-raising to the extreme, but '''"YOU'RE DEAD"''' is the ultimate BrownNote. But that wasn't what finally got them. What did it? ''[[NothingIsScarier We don't find out]]''. A skeptical relative came to stay the night, and apparently saw something so terrifying that [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere the mother immediately loaded everyone up into the car and got the hell out of the house]].[[note]]At least one published ghost story collection ("Haunted Heritage") reveals that he saw almost exactly what the father had previously seen, except this time the voice said "NOW YOU'RE INVOLVED!". The recounting on ''Unsolved Mysteries'' leaves off that both times, the black fog the men saw coalesced into a human form with [[RedEyesTakeWarning glowing red eyes]] and '''got right in their fucking faces''' to threaten them.[[/note]]

* The Marlene Santana case is a textbook example for TearJerker. Imagine being a young ecstatic Mother exiting the Hospital with your Aunts and your beautiful baby girl; you had also been approached by a seemly nurse [[CutenessProximity who gushes over how your baby is the most beautiful one]] in the Maternity Ward. Later at night, when you exit the hospital with your Aunts and baby, [[BitchInSheepsClothing the same woman]] [[WouldHurtAChild threatens to blow your baby's head off]] if you three don't comply. She walks you 6 blocks away from the hospital, snatches your baby, and gets away in a car that has shown up to pick her up. You, your family, and the police keep looking and looking for your daughter to no avail. Indeed, as of June 2017, Marlene Santana has yet to be found.

Spoilers below.

** Same thing for [[http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Thomas_Burkett Tommy Burkett]]. He was found in his parents' house, sitting upright on a couch with a bullet wound to the head and a revolver in his hand. But there was no blood spatter from the shot and the revolver's cylinder was open. A later autopsy revealed he had several broken bones. [[spoiler: The strongest theory was that he was an informant for the DEA, was killed by drug dealers, and the DEA convinced the local police to cover up their involvement and close the case.]]

* The one where a woman claims she is being stalked and terrorized by a stranger whose face she is never able to see. The police think she's doing it to herself. Later she is found tied up and dead.

** That's [[http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Cindy_James Cindy James]]. She was in intensive psychoanalysis for much of that time. Her psychiatrist is in the segment flatly dismissing the "multiple personalities" idea. Too many details were left out of the segment to enumerate here, but the most likely suspect is Dr. James Tyhurst, a colleague of Cindy's ex-husband, who was convicted in 1991, two years after Cindy's death, of sexually enslaving and brutalizing four of his patients. The conviction was overturned on appeal and the women sued, with two other women coming forward. He was ordered to pay over $500,000 each. Tyhurst's "therapy" included massive amounts of drugs, tying them in similar postures and taking pictures. Cindy is consistently described as knowing more than she was telling about her assailant and his motives. Want some real nightmare fuel? Tyhurst never served any time for his crimes. He is still out there.
* The man who picks up a hitchhiker who later attacks him and somehow ends up finding the man's house and murders his elderly mother. How'd the FUCK did he know where the guy lived!!??? The man said he deliberately drove in the opposite direction from his home so the man wouldn't know where he lived. But he sees the hitchkiker near his house any way. He brings the police and he finds his mother murdered. Was it all just some kind of bizarre coincidence? It'll probably send shivers down your spine.
** This is probably referring to the "Dorothy Donovan" murder. That one actually was solved on ''Forensic Files'' years later. The murderer was a drug-addicted drifter, who claimed that it was just a coincidence he showed up at the elderly woman's house, as he was merely looking for an abandoned house to sleep in.

* The exact name and nature of the case escapes me at the moment, but there was a case where a kennel full of dogs was purposely set on fire; apparently, it was because the arsonist had a grudge against the couple who operated the kennel. Most of the dogs died horribly in the fire, and to this day the arsonist hasn't been caught. It definitely doubles as a TearJerker if you're an animal lover.
** That case was [[http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Mabel_Wood Mable Wood]]. Sadly, she died in 2012 and the assailant was never caught. On the upside, the continuing attacks largely stopped after the original broadcast of the case, mostly likely because of the publicity the case got and to avoid capture.

* The death of Gary Simmons, whose body was found almost 17 years to the date that he went missing by Tyrone Rollins, a school bus driver exploring a cave behind his job. The fact that Tyrone kept feeling like he was being watched by the hill for months before he decided to explore the area. What makes it even more scary is that Tom Dixon, the last known person that was with Gary, is also still missing.

*** Related to this and several other posts, the mundaneness of some of these stories is terrifying. All some average person did was something completely commonplace like make a run to the supermarket/ATM/coffee shop, only to be assaulted/murdered/vanish. It's thoroughly haunting to think you or someone you know could easily be the topic of one of these segments.

* The Marlene Santana case is a textbook example for AdultFear and TearJerker. Imagine being a young ecstatic Mother exiting the Hospital with your Aunts and your beautiful baby girl; you had also been approached by a seemly nurse [[CutenessProximity who gushes over how your baby is the most beautiful one]] in the Maternity Ward. Later at night, when you exit the hospital with your Aunts and baby, [[BitchInSheepsClothing the same woman]] [[WouldHurtAChild threatens to blow your baby's head off]] if you three don't comply. She walks you 6 blocks away from the hospital, snatches your baby, and gets away in a car that has shown up to pick her up. You, your family, and the police keep looking and looking for your daughter to no avail. Indeed, as of June 2017, Marlene Santana has yet to be found.

* The case of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Stallings Patricia Stallings]]. Patricia lost a son to a rare genetic disease but was arrested, tried and convicted of first-degree murder, being sent to life imprisonment; the authorities genuinely believed Patricia murdered her own son. She gave birth to a second son which also got the same symptoms as her first son. During the night of the broadcast, physicians who had treated her son's disease phoned the telecenter and confirmed her account. Eventually, Patricia was exonerated. Even then, the whole case is freaky; it combines [[AdultFear losing children]] AND being wrongfully imprisoned.

* The murder of Matthew Chase, who was abducted and killed making a late night trip to an ATM. The story is horrifying enough--and his killer has never been found--but it's the fact that he could meet with such tragedy while doing something so mundane and that it could easily be anyone of us running a similar errand. The show hardly ever made [=PSAs=], but even Robert Stack had to take the time to urge viewers to be mindful of their safety in a situation like this--at the time the segment was featured, [=ATMs=] were a new invention and as people used them more and more often, crimes like this were increasing in frequency.

* The case of Dave Bocks, an employee at a uranium processing plant whose remains were found in one of the plant's furnaces. All that was left were a few chunks of bone and his eyeglass frames. His death was ruled a suicide, but it's suspected that he was murdered to prevent him from blowing the whistle on wrongdoings at the plant. The culprit -- if there was one -- has never been found. To add insult to injury, his remains were ''too radioactive'' to be released to his family or given a proper burial, and had to be stored at a toxic waste facility.

* The death of Brian Deucker. Deucker was sighted at an airport in Paducah, Kentucky, offering to trade his army jacket for a flight home. After this was turned down, Deucker then decided to get a ride home personally. As a small plane, likely a Cessna, was taxing down the runway, Deucker ran to and jumped on the plane's wing, apparently assuming the plane would fly him home. Of course, that's not the case, as the gale force of the winds from takeoff called Deucker to lose his grip and plummet to his death. The police could not identity Deucker for quite some time, as he carried no identification, and the only name was on an ID tag in the jacket, and a check of military records could find that no one with the name on the tag. Eventually, Deucker’s mother in Cincinnati found out about the case, and Deucker was identified via fingerprints.

* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnOeIFx3ML8 original 1988 intro]] is considered the scariest (and most popular) of all the intros which featured large words scrolling down the screen and Gary Remal Malkin's weirdly rocking theme. The [[https://youtu.be/tT2eG6scLUE later intro from 1995 (season 8)]], popular in its own right, combined a spooky theme song along with Bob walking through a collage of weird/paranormal imagery.[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnOeIFx3ML8 The Lifetime revival theme]] is a remix of the original with a ''Film/TheMatrix''-inspired collage that can give one the creeps and there's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcWhkeL5Hwc this theme]][[note]]During season 11, the brief CBS version that was co-hosted by Virginia Madsen[[/note]] which isn't as well-known to fans, but still has an unsettling edge to it.
** Then you have [[https://youtu.be/Tgdu6NsUQxg the closing credits theme]], which is equally if not even more creepy than the opening credits themselves. Just imagine this theme in your head as you read the fellow entries below; it will make things much worse. [[https://youtu.be/srVq7LZVCG0 The outro]] that corresponds to the second intro, while still haunting, has a strangely calming effect on one, but was then followed by a ScareChord in the form of the Buena Vista logo (though it's not in the video).

** Well, Kathie said the exorcisms helped and she was able to get back to a normal life after that. If there weren't any demons, she might have had somnambuliform possession, the condition [[Literature/TheExorcist Regan MacNeil]] was diagnosed with by the hospital psychiatric staff, where you believe you're possessed and exorcism is prescribed as therapy.

* The man who picks up a hitchhiker who later attacks him and somehow ends up finding the man's house and murders his elderly mother. How'd the FUCK did he know where the guy lived!!??? The man said he deliberately drove in the opposite direction from his home so the man wouldn't know where he lived. But he sees the hitchkiker near his house any way. He brings the police and he finds his mother murdered. Was it all just some kind of bizarre coincidence? Just typing this one sent chills down my spine.
** Are you referring to the "Dorothy Donovan" murder? That one actually was solved on ''Forensic Files'' years later. The murderer was a drug-addicted drifter, who claimed that it was just a coincidence he showed up at the elderly woman's house, as he was merely looking for an abandoned house to sleep in.

* The man who picks up a hitchhiker who later attacks him and somehow ends up finding the man's house and murders his elderly mother. How'd the FUCK did he know where the guy lived!!??? I think the man said he deliberately drove in the opposite direction from his home so the man wouldn't know where he lived. But he sees the hitchkiker near his house any way. He brings the police and he finds his mother murdered. Was it all just some kind of bizarre coincidence? Just typing this one sent chills down my spine.

* The one where a woman claims she is being stalked and terrorized by a stranger whose face she is never able to see. The police think she's doing it to herself. Later she is found tied up and dead I think.

** Then there's the 1989 Redwood City arson. Man finds video tape on back road, puts it in to watch with the family only to discover a video of a house fire with the arsonist commentating on it. Of course, they have to show the tape complete with its creepy narration ("Look at it, Omar! I said I'd do it! Oh ancient spirits of evil!" etc). The footage is available on the internet, and sweet dreams to anyone who finds it! (The house, BTW was under construction, so there were no injuries here.

* The case where a lady comes out of a convenience store and find a Polaroid picture of a young boy and teenage girl (believed to be missing teen Tara Calico) bound and gagged in the back of a van.

** This may have been Virginia Madsen[[note]]Princess Irulan in ''Film/Dune1984''[[/note]], who co-hosted the show with Bob in 1999. She has a very calm, low-key speaking voice.

* The disturbing case of Rachel Timmerman and her infant daughter, Shannon Verhage. It began when a supposed family friend, Marvin Gabrion, beat and sexually assaulted her numerous times over the course of one night while she was out with him and some associates of his (who were kicked out of his car so her could kidnap and assault her over their protests). Afterwards, as the trial for his crimes was looming, Rachel was trying to get on with her life and had a date with an unknown man when she disappeared. Even though letters had been sent to her family stating she and the baby (who she took on the date with her, apparently at the man's request) were alright, her body was found in a lake a couple of weeks later. Although she had been [[CruelAndUnusualDeath bound in duct tape, handcuffed and weighted down with cinder blocks, the coroner determined that the poor girl had drowned.]] To make matters worse, Shannon was nowhere to be found and it came out that ''[[KillEmAll several]]'' people connected to Gabrion [[LeaveNoWitnesses had either gone missing or were dead, including the two associates who were with him the night he assaulted Rachel.]] He was eventually tried and convicted for her murder and sentence to death,[[note]]Although the state of Michigan, where the crime took place, has no death penalty, the special circumstances enhanced it to a federal level, putting him on ''their'' death row[[/note]] but as of February 2020, no trace of Shannon has ever been found.[[note]]And even if she is eventually discovered, according to Gabrion, it won't be alive since he admitted to killing her like her mother due to having "nowhere else to put it"[[/note]]

* Tony Lombardi's death. His mother is not only certain that he was murdered, she's equally certain that his killer was ''in the house'' even as she was. She speculated that he became trapped in Tony's room when she came home and was forced to wait until she went to bed before sneaking out. Aside from how creepy it is that he was lurking in the house the entire time she was there, imagine if he ''hadn't'' decided to wait until she went to bed and had no qualms killing another person? Or if his mother had gone into his room or had left her room as he was sneaking out, essentially forcing him to eliminate any witnesses?