Line #45 NightmareFuel/UnsolvedMysteries


1	''Series/UnsolvedMysteries'' was practically MADE of Nightmare Fuel, to an almost sadistically fiendish level.
2
3	Unmarked spoilers below as per policy.
4
5	-->'''[[ArcWords What you are about to see is]] ''[[ArcWords not]]'' [[ArcWords a news broadcast]].'''
6	----
7	* 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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWSb1B_pHkk 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=1rUEzptA38c 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=IXKO5stenYs 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.
8	** Then you have [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pVhLg1-ygs 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).
9	** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N9jMX00aus opening for the 2020 relaunch]] by Creator/{{Netflix}} goes for a spooky montage with a truncated version of the main theme (that utilizes the latter half of the theme, the "spooky" part). Also, halfway between this and heartwarming, in the final few seconds of the opening sequence, as the title pops up, the montage shows a ghost-like silhouette of Robert Stack.
10	** Even the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymwpKhD9FIo Update]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LO_ztu42s4 Music]] is eerily haunting, managing to turn even a potential resolution of a case into an insomnia-triggering moment.
11	* The [[TheBlank faceless]] [[BewareOfHitchhikingGhosts hitchhiking ghost]].
12	* The woman and her son who were terrorized while on a canoe trip.
13	* The entire David Stone segment. It was not a blood and guts story, but the creepy New Age music combined with Stack's ominous narrative of the desert is about as unnerving as live-action TV can get.
14	* The case where a lady comes out of a convenience store and finds 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.
15	** Especially chilling: the van in the photo had been in the parking spot next to hers when she went into the store.
16	** More alarmingly is the small boy in the picture who looks very distressed. It was believed to be Michael Henley, who went missing around the time that Tara did and whose remains were found over a year after the picture was discovered. Even though investigators claim that it wasn't him in the Polaroid and that foul play wasn't involved in his death (their theory is that he got lost while camping and died of exposure), it only adds onto the terror of the situation of who's in the picture and what happened to them.
17	* The Boston Shopping Mall Rapist.
18	* The still unidentified New Orleans Serial Killer.
19	* 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, so much so that it's effectively a BannedEpisode and the segment cannot be found on any streaming versions of the show.
20	** 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", book 3 of the ''Haunted America'' series) 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]]
21	** As far as anyone can tell, after the family went out of their way to [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill bulldoze it into splinters]], the horrors ceased.
22	* The Blind River rest stop murders.
23	* The Allagash Abductions. Think alien abductions are just silly anal probings? ''Think again''. These [[HumanoidAbomination 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…
24	-->'''Jim:''' They're–they're– they don't know what to do. I think they think I’m going to come after them. I feel like I want to. I feel like I want to– the first one that comes near me, [[CorneredRattlesnake I'm going to throttle him]]. I don't like these things. I don't care where they come from. They shouldn't be doing this to people.\
25	'''Jack:''' They're right there. Their face is right in my face. I don't know why. I don't want to know. I don't want to know what they want. They're saying things. In my head they're saying, [[FalseReassurance "Don't be afraid." They say, "Do what we say. Just do what we say"]].\
26	'''Charlie:''' It’s like [[MedicalHorror a doctor's office]]. I get that, it’s cold like a doctor’s office is cold. They put the panel over your chest. Then they scrape your arms and your chest, your legs and thighs. We shouldn’t be here. I just—I just keep thinking, [[DesperatePleaForHome "I want to be back in the canoe"]].\
27	'''Chuck:''' I see some sort of device on him. They've got a–this looks like a silvery, it looks like the– like it's got curves on it. It's almost like– like it sucks something. He's got his head tipped way back. It's almost like he's in pain. [[ForcedToWatch We're–we can't help him. All we can do is watch him.]]
28	* Missing Time: ''"Imagine for a moment that you go to the corner store for a quick errand. When you return home, thinking you've been gone for no more than five minutes, you find that in reality three hours have passed. And what is more, you find that you have no memory of it at all."''
29	* The Dennis Depue case: Which some have accused the first half of the film ''Film/JeepersCreepers'' of partially ripping off.
30	** Even the picture of [[http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Dennis_DePue Depue and his wife]] is enough to give you the shivers.
31	* The Tina Resch case where a teen girl was supposedly either telekinetic or attracting poltergeist activity. Tina was proved to be creating the incidents herself. She is now serving a life term in prison for allegedly being responsible for the beating death of her three-year-old daughter.
32	** Update! [[https://magazine.atavist.com/deliverance-christina-boyer-georgia-murder-justice-telekinesis Christina Resch-Boyer's conviction is extremely controversial. Investigations are ongoing as of 2020.]]
33	* [[https://unsolved.com/gallery/keith-warren/ Keith Warren's death]]. It was so obviously ''not'' a suicide, that it makes you wonder what was being covered up.
34	** 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. 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.
35	* The [[http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Bill_and_Dorothy_Wacker Wacker case]], where a seemingly innocent, nice elderly couple are harassed for years by someone who seems to know everything about them. Dorothy Wacker is physically assaulted twice in this segment, one time by someone that she didn't even see.
36	* The story of Bashir Kouchacji, who was held captive by PLO terrorists for roughly a week while living in Beirut in 1974. They had mistaken him for a CIA agent. Fast forward a decade and Kouchacji was living in Washington, D.C., running a restaurant, and receiving a very disturbing series of harassing phone calls at work - sometimes as many as 20 a day - threatening his life and including laughter, screaming, and machine gun fire. Even more disturbingly, some of the calls seemed to have been made by a child, dubbed "L'enfant" ("child" in French). The harassment turned violent when Bashir's car caught fire and his son was attacked by unknown assailants. To escape the harassment, Bashir had himself committed to a mental hospital, but the harassers were still able to reach him in the hospital; even as late as 1993, the year his story was broadcast, he was ''still'' getting as many as seven calls a week. His harassers have never been identified.
37	* The voice of the Circleville Letter Writer.
38	* '''Satan worshippers'''. That is all.
39	** The still-unsolved 1988 murders of Shane Stewart and Sally [=McNeely=], two Texas teens who had gotten involved in a Satanic cult and were later killed after they left the cult. The segment included a reenactment of one of the cult's meetings which depicted Sally going into a wide-eyed trance. A friend who had accompanied Sally to the meeting was so spooked she immediately left.
40	** 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.)
41	*** This one, at least, was solved, though it doesn't do much to make it any less creepy. It was discovered later that the arsonists were two local teenagers who merely set the fire as a thrill. One served time in a juvenile facility, and the other was sent to a mental hospital. When the police were tipped off they found even [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTlGWrssxGw more movies,]] including some disturbing ones of the kids goofing around in monster masks. In an especially eerie coincidence, the fire department was recording the exact same fire for training purposes.
42	* The case of [[https://unsolved.com/gallery/dave-bocks/ David Bocks]], a maintenance worker at a uranium processing plant whose remains were found in one of the plant's furnaces. All that was left were his keys, eyeglass frames, fragments of a walkie talkie, and a few chunks of bone. His death was ruled a suicide, but his friends and family suspect 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 identified. 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.
43	** Worse, he probably wasn't dumped into the furnace: he was likely strung upside-down[[note]](the metal cords were also found in the furnace)[[/note]] and lowered in, '''''head first'''''. The investigators said they sincerely hoped he was already dead or unconscious before it happened, because it would have been an unspeakably horrific way to die.
44	* The Cindy James case, 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.
45	** It's nightmare fuel one way or the other. Either she was systematically antagonized, attacked and finally brutally murdered by a person she did not know over a period of YEARS, or she was so mentally ill that she kept up the charade for the same amount of time and ended up committing suicide in a particularly heinous fashion, for reasons that will never be known. Yikes.
46	** To make matters worse, 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.
47	* The Dorothy Donovan murder: a 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.
48	** At least 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.
49	* The case dealing with [[http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/HOPE the repeated exorcisms of "Kathie."]] Robert Stack's hollow baritone reminds us several times that what we are seeing and hearing is not a re-creation but rather the real deal, which is pretty easy to believe because, compared to the usual actor reenactments on the show, it sounds entirely too goddamn convincing.
50	** Despite all that, however, 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.
51	* Then there's the composite sketches, and age progression pictures ''Brr''... The artists try, but those photos tend to dive full-force into the UnintentionalUncannyValley. It doesn't help matters that the photos in question are always straight ahead, meaning they're usually ''staring right at you.''
52	* The case in which every member of a small church choir is late for practice; as they begin arriving, the church explodes due to a gas leak. Thankfully, they all survived, but it doesn't stop it from being a terrifying event that could easily have lead to tragedy.
53	* Some of the missing persons cases, in particular, that of Kari Lynn Nixon, who was a mere 700 yards from her home when she vanished into thin air. It took seven years to find out that she'd been forced into a car, driven to a remote site, then raped and murdered, all before her mother even realized she was missing.
54	** Or Jeremy Bright, who also vanished without a trace. After months of investigating, the police and his mother came to the very ominous realization that ''someone'' knew what had happened to him, but was keeping his mouth shut. Whether it's because he was involved, or too frightened of those who ''were'' involved is unclear.
55	* 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 abductor(s)[=/=]killer(s) an 8-hour head start.
56	* From the short-lived Lifetime revival came the Harper's Ferry "steamer trunk corpse" segment, in which an elderly man had been murdered and stuffed in a trunk, which was dumped at a park. At the time of the broadcast, he was unidentified, so an incredibly graphic autopsy photo was shown to viewers in hopes that he could be identified. While he was identified later due to forensic science and the case was solved, the autopsy photo would remain as a point in the broadcast. This marks the rare time an actual photo of the deceased was used in the show, rather than composite sketches or actors in the reenactments.
57	** The case being solved only ended up adding to the horror, as it turned out to be a classic ElderAbuse situation. The victim, eventually identified as Jack Watkins, had run afoul of a career conwoman shortly after his wife's death. Nancy Siegel (known under many other aliases as well) bilked him out of hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of two years, and had even sold his house out from under him and pawned all his belongings before finally killing him via starvation and suffocation. She only got caught because she was ''still'' stealing from him seven years after his death via receiving and cashing his Social Security checks.
58	* The [[http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Mabel_Wood Mable Wood]] 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. 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.
59	* The I-70 Midwestern/Southwestern Serial Killer. He would go into dress shops, convenience stores, etc. with a .45 Automatic and ''would force everyone inside into the back of the store and kill them execution-style.'' He would pick his victims at random (although he mostly killed women) and to date, has had only two known survivors; a woman he shot and temporarily paralyzed (she was saved by a couple who found her after her co-worker was murdered and she was left for dead) and a man who came by a bridal shop ''after the murders'' and was able to convince him to let him go. He has never been caught.
60	* During a mid-90s episode, there was once a Sci-Med or The Unexplained story about ''spontaneous combustion.'' In the feature, it included a woman who survived it because she actually caught it in time. [[note]](to be specific, her back began to start smoking in a small but distinct circle without any provocation and while she could feel it, her obviously freaked-out husband saw it and was able to take off her sweater in time with only a small first-degree burn on her back as the only indication)[[/note]] Another elderly man, however, wasn't as lucky. His son was interviewed and the re-enactment showed him coming across [[TearJerker a large, gaping, burned-out hole in his father's bed that was once his father. Perhaps even worse, the re-enactment even showed an actor playing the deceased father]] ''[[TearJerker suddenly catching on fire and being absolutely helpless to stop it.]]''
61	* The Queen Mary episode. Not only does it involve gruesome death, but it's about hauntings in an actual tourist attraction/hotel many people have visited.
62	* The Mary Morris case. Two women, a Mary Lou Morris and a Mary [=McGinnis=] Morris, were found brutally murdered within four days of each other in Texas. With no obvious reason as to why the first Mary would be killed, they looked at the second Mary and found she was having problems with both her husband and a co-worker. Adding to that the fact that the two Marys were of similar age, build, hair style and color, had almost the same name and lived in the same area, it was believed that the Marys were a victim of a contract killing. They suspect the first Mary was killed ''by accident'' and the killer was simply correcting the error (this theory was helped by the fact that the first Mary's wedding ring was taken, which happens in contract killings as proof, and a call from the second Mary's husband to her cell phone near the time of her murder, believed to be him calling the killer for confirmation). This was dismissed by police and the case is still unsolved, but the idea that you can be brutally murdered out of nowhere because of '''a mistake''' is absolutely horrifying.
63	** Just as horrifying was the frantic 911 call that Mary [=McGinnis=] Morris made just mere minutes after ending a phone call she made to a girlfriend. It wasn't released to the public, but the heavy implication is that it was made while she was ''[[DisconnectedByDeath being]]'' [[DisconnectedByDeath murdered.]] The detective discussing it was clearly ''still'' visibly shaken by whatever he'd heard.
64	* 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. Marlene Santana has yet to be found.
65	** Even worse, the hospital in question was Brookdale Memorial Hospital, a well-known, frequently used hospital in Brooklyn, NY. Pleasant dreams, anyone living in that neighborhood.
66	* The Monika Rizzo case. A woman goes missing and, after an anonymous tip and like so many other cases, suspicion soon falls on the husband, who swears they had a good marriage even though people can attest to seeing her sporting a black eye on occasion. Upon searching the backyard for clues, police find dozens and dozens of bones in the ground (and not just human bones; there was a jawbone of ''a cow''), underneath a stack of tires and even inside of a barbeque grill. The bones were in such bad condition that police suspected that the body, whoever it was, went through a [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill wood chipper.]] To make matters worse, there was even [[{{Squick}} a bag containing human flesh]] found amongst the bones. The remains were eventually discovered to be her and to date, [[DownerEnding no one has been charged with her death.]]
67	* The murder of Matthew Chase, who was abducted and killed making a late night trip to an ATM. The story is horrifying enough--and it took years for his killer to be found--but it's the fact that he could meet with such tragedy while doing something so ordinary 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.
68	** Even more chilling: Chase's killer is likely the man seen in the security footage looking over Chase's shoulder as he attempts to make a withdrawal.
69	*** While the case was solved, it took until 2018 and the man seen in the security footage was a gang member who was killed two days later in a drive by shooting with other gang members.
70	*** 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.
71	* Really, anytime they dip into the supernatural and unexplained, as opposed to casefiles of murders and disappearances, it had a decent chance of being here - at least with the casefiles, there was always a chance of getting the notice of 'UPDATE!' and learning that there was a solution, something that solved the case. The supernatural, however, might never be understood, so you're just left with the phantom travelers and unnatural voices.
72	* The haunting [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoAAdse8Pgc phone call to police]] from Anthonette Cayedito, who was abducted by someone claiming to be her uncle, the year prior. She tries to tell the police where she's being held, and then an unknown voice shrieks, "Who said you could use the phone?!" The girl screams, and then the call ends.
73	** 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. 32 years later, she has yet to be located. [[note]] The murder of another woman in the area was featured on the Creator/InvestigationDiscovery show "Welcome To Murdertown". The detectives interviewed have made it clear that they believe that this woman's killers are responsible for Angela's disappearance and that of yet another local woman. [[/note]]
74	* The much-publicized disappearance of [[https://unsolved.com/gallery/amy-bradley/ Amy Bradley]]. Which remains unsolved to this day.
75	* 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 [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut_River_Valley_Killer 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.
76	* The ending narration as heard in the older episodes (pre-1995) by the unknown female announcer gives one the creeps, especially regarding [[CreepyMonotone the dry, almost mechanical way she announces it]]:
77	-->''"If you have any information regarding any of the stories on tonight's program, please write to: Unsolved Mysteries, P.O. Box 11449, Burbank, California 91510-1449. You need '''not''' leave your name."''
78	** What makes it even more creepy aside from the announcement by this mysterious woman but the fact that there may have been people willing to give their names while [[FridgeHorror admitting vital information about unsolved crimes and wanted individuals!]]
79	* The East Area Rapist: sneaks into homes where he rapes women and forces the husbands to lie down with several objects place on them to alert him to their movements. He would then stalk them after such incidents, three years and 50 victims. Then he moved on to stalking and killing. What's even more chilling is that the segment played a tape where he verbally harasses one of his victims. [[http://www.cracked.com/article_23032_5-creepy-tales-people-stalked-to-breaking-point.html He was still on the run]] until 2018.
80	* The glowing eyes in the El Chupacabra segment.
81	* The case of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Casolaro Danny Casolaro and the Octopus]]. Either he was driven to suicide by being unable to bring to print one of the biggest stories any reporter could hope to break, or he found exactly what he was looking for.
82	* The [[http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/San_Pedro_Mummy San Pedro Mountains Mummy]] was a mummified humanoid about six inches tall in a sitting position found in 1932 by some prospectors in a Wyoming cavern. Believers claim it is the remains of one of the "Little People", a race of two-feet tall humanoids recorded in stories of the Native American tribes. Even if they are just fictional, the thought of these small people with supernatural powers can be very unsettling. The mummy itself - whether it's real, an anencephalic infant (as commonly believed by skeptics) or a hoax done by taxidermy - definitely goes well into UncannyValley territory.
83	* 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 [[MissingChild losing children]] AND being wrongfully imprisoned.
84	* The [[http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Stanton_Bones unknown human ashes found]] on Santa Cruz Island in 1990. After the death of the eccentric Dr. Casey Stanton, a metal can was found containing [[{{Squick}} human ashes and bone fragments]]. Tests revealed the remains were that of a 50+ female who died around or after World War II but to this day, nothing else is known. It is unknown who this woman was, how she died and why her remains were kept by Dr. Stanton. Besides the freaky factor of discovering human remains, one has to wonder why Dr. Stanton would just hang onto human remains.
85	* The murder of [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lil%27_Miss_murder Lisa Marie Kimmell]], aka "Lil' Miss", referring to her distinctive license plate. On March 25, 1988, the 18-year old woman and her car disappeared from a highway as she was driving to visit her boyfriend. One week later, her body was found in a river. She had been raped, bludgeoned, and stabbed multiple times and even worse, an autopsy determined that she'd only died a day before her body was found, meaning she'd been held prisoner by this psycho and alive the entire time everyone was frantically searching for her. Not until 14 years later did police finally get a DNA match to her killer (as depicted in the DistantFinale on ''Cold Case Files''). Even more frightening is that she was likely not the first or last victim of her killer, who by incredible coincidence, is strongly suspected of being responsible for the disappearance/death of ''another'' woman featured on the show--[[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Amy_Wroe_Bechtel Amy]] [[https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/long-gone-girl%3famp Bechtel]].
86	* After years of speculation as to their fate, including that ''they'' had murdered Dan and Kathy Freeman and run away, the story of [[https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/04/26/the-disappearance-of-two-oklahoma-teens-stumped-police-for-18-years-then-they-learned-about-the-polaroids/ Ashley Freeman and Lauria Bible]] is particularly horrific. [[note]] They were abducted by the killer and held prisoner in his home for two weeks before being murdered themselves. [[/note]].
87	* Picture this: for your entire life you lived a rather normal life, even if you were required to stay home during class picture day and moved around nearly every six months, totaling twenty eight times in fifteen years. You have two grown half sisters and were always told to not question your family's nomadic lifestyle. When you're sixteen, you find out that the woman you believed was your mother in fact had a total hysterectomy years before you were ever born. When asking your parents, they tell you that your biological mother is actually one of your older half sisters. When you ask your half sister, she tells you that she is not your biological mother and that your biological mother had sold you for a bus ticket. You later find your birth certificate, but it listed no hospital, address, or doctor and had been filed when you were seven and not at birth. There are no adoption records for you Eventually, your half sister shouts out that she never gave birth to you and that your mother had hid a tiny baby from the police. You have a memory of overhearing your father saying something about stashing a cardboard box in a bar, something about roadblocks, and needing to tell the truth. To this day, you still don't know the truth but have a suspicion: the people who raised your had in fact kidnapped you when you were a baby. Sound creepy? It's the story of Monica Libao.
88	* 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 one of the two associates who were with him the night he assaulted Rachel]], Wayne Davis. Eerily, when Davis was found in 2002, he was determined to have been killed in a similar fashion as Rachel. A handyman who worked for Gabrion (who was also eventually determined to have been the man who picked Rachel and Shannon up when they disappeared) was never found. 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 [[ItIsDehumanizing it]]".
89	** Perhaps even more frightening is the fact that Rachel was likely not Gabrion's first victim. Police discovered that Gabrion had been using the name of a transient who vanished in 1995 as an alias. While his body has never been discovered (and Gabrion has only ever been indicted for the death of Rachel), they do believe he was responsible for the aforementioned murders and disappearances.
90	* The segment featuring the murder of Hilda Roche by Gregory Barker is truly one of the most frightening that the show has ever produced. Even worse is that police believe she was neither his first nor last victim.
91	* Howard Storm's '''hell visit''' , especially the part when the medical doctors turn into '''HORRIFYING DEMONS''' that rip and tear people apart, might be the scariest yet. This turns into very intense ParanoiaFuel...
92	* There is always the possibility (or even, by way of an UPDATE!, the certainty) that the actual culprit of a missing person/murder case is one of the interview subjects. So they are there, on camera, and either they’re putting on the act of grieving loved one, or, perhaps even worse, just barely refraining from gloating because they haven’t been identified and have literally been able to get away with murder.
93	* 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?
94	* While plenty of the case themes have an element of this to them (Missing, Murder, The Unexplained, etc.), quite possibly the scariest theme is the Unexplained Deaths. As bad as it is to die underneath suspicious circumstances, it's even worse to have investigators or medical examiners declare it to be an accident or suicide against the family's wishes or in spite of evidence to the contrary. So not only is a plausible murder being ignored, but whomever committed the crime is getting away with it (and as such, unlike the cases of missing persons, homicides and wanted fugitives, the "solved" rates of ''these'' cases are substantially lower).
95	* 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 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.
96	* 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 and is the prime suspect as he tried to hide Gary's car by hiding it in a river.
97	* In the episode discussing the possibility that a Satanic cult was involved in New York's Son of Sam murders in 1976-77, there are several scenes of the cult practicing and preparing for their rituals, one of which involved regularly killing German Shepherds. At one point, the camera zooms in on the terrified dogs wide eyes and one can just barely hear the poor creatures whimpering underneath all the eerie chanting.
98	* Many of the assaults and murders that occur due to road rage or some other vehicular collision. There are plenty of unstable people out there that can and will hurt someone [[ParanoiaFuel at random]] and since this usually happens in moving traffic and at night, catching them proves to be difficult:
99	** Dick Hansen's murder. He and his girlfriend were driving to their homes when out of nowhere, an unknown man starts following her and mirroring her every move. When she finally pulled over and he confronts the man, he starts gesturing towards her license plate holder, that showcased she was a fan of the San Francisco 49ers football team. When an incredulous Hansen tells the guy to get lost, he shoots him dead and drives off, never to be seen again.
100	** Aimee Willard's abduction and murder is perhaps even more disturbing. She was coming home from a outing with her lacrosse teammates when she went missing, only to be found dead a few days later, having been beaten and assaulted. After her killer is found, it was learned that she was ''targeted'' by him: he would "accidentally" hit the bumper of his victim's car, and when they would get out to inspect the damage, he would attack them. It also comes out that he killed another woman under the same circumstances. He's eventually sentenced to death.
101	** Jay Durham was on his motorcycle one morning to pick up his teenage son who lived out of state when a trucker hit him from behind, continued to drag him onto his grill without bothering to slow down or stop and eventually drove off and left him with severe injuries, including a severed leg. He ultimately died twenty-two years after the incident, never being able to bring the hit-and-run driver to justice in spite of his valiant efforts.
102	* The murder of Colleen Ritter's parents is horrific enough on its own (Colleen's boyfriend snapped after being dumped by her and went on a rampage, killing both her parents and stabbing her and her younger brother as well,) but the [[https://youtu.be/7JkUseBHyIg?si=-mfZ1OT-C3riseQ2&t=1881 cinematography of the recreation]] makes it even more unnerving. Everything is in shadow and bathed in an eerie blue light, the score is little more than a steady, almost heartbeat-like drum, even Stack's narration is given in almost a hushed, tense whisper.

Context NightmareFuel / UnsolvedMysteries