History Main / TheUnsolvedMystery

* One ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' episode had Jerry getting increasingly frustrated that his Girlfriend of the Week refused to taste a piece of apple pie and wouldn't tell him why. Despite many efforts, he never learns why she turned down the pie, declaring the mystery "one for the ages."

* Franchise/SherlockHolmes:

* ''Series/NorthernExposure'': In "All is Vanity", a man who no one in the small town knows drops dead of natural causes in Joel's waiting room, and the episode ends with it remaining unknown who he was or what he was doing in either Cicely or the waiting room.

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** The second is what actually happened during the duel itself. All we do know is that Hamilton had a hair trigger installed on his weapon yet chose to deactivate it, both men fired their guns, and it ended with Burr killing Hamilton. Hamilton's second stated that he purposely fired into the air, while Burr's second claims that he actually tried to hit Burr and missed. Burr never publicly clarified which one was accurate. The men also could not agree on which man fired first. Overall, pretty much nothing about the duel itself is known nor will ever be known.

* ''Film/TheThing1982''. One of the main mysteries of the film is who, exactly, sabotaged the blood samples kept in storage. Early on, they narrow it down to either Gerry or Dr. Copper, [[spoiler:neither of whom turn out to be The Thing.]] The other mystery is whether or not Childs became a Thing when he went missing shortly before the confrontation with Blair. [[spoiler:The film ends with [=MacReady=] and Childs resigning to death from the arctic cold, both of them unsure if the other is human.[[note]]For what it's worth, comic book continuations of the movie have it that [=MacReady=] is unambiguously human and that Childs was infected at some point.[[/note]]]]

* The main storyline of ''[[Comicbook/SpiderMan Web of Spider-Man]]'' #113-116 (June-September, 1994) is famous for introducing a murder mystery and never resolving it. The story arc has photographer Lance Bannon, a long-serving supporting character, working to develop a picture in the darkroom of the Daily Bugle. It contains the only glimpse of the unmasked face of [[PoweredArmor Armored Villain]] FACADE. Bannon is murdered within said darkroom, and the investigation casts suspicion on several major and minor characters who have access to the offices of the Bugle, including J. Jonah Jameson himself. "Who is FACADE", and "Who killed Lance Bannon"? The storyline ended with no definite answers and the initial plan may have been to continue the tale in subsequent issues. But issue #117 introduced the ComicBook/TheCloneSaga and all other ongoing storylines were dropped. FACADE has since made a couple of cameos (in 2009 and 2012) whose main point was to remind readers that the case is still open.

* ''Film/TheThing1982''. One of the main mysteries of the film is who, exactly, sabotaged the blood samples kept in storage. Early on, they narrow it down to either Gerry or Dr. Copper, [[spoiler:neither of whom turn out to be The Thing.]] The other mystery is whether or not Childs became a Thing when he went missing shortly before the confrontation with Blair. [[spoiler:The film ends with [=MacReady=] and Childs resigning to death from the arctic cold, both of them unsure if the other is human.[[note]]For what it's worth, comic book continuations of the movie have it that [=MacReady=] is unambiguously human and that Childs was infected at some point.]]

* ''Film/TheThing1982''. One of the main mysteries of the film is who, exactly, sabotaged the blood samples kept in storage. Early on, they narrow it down to either Gerry or Dr. Copper, [[spoiler:neither of whom turn out to be The Thing.]] The other mystery is whether or not Childs became a Thing when he went missing shortly before the confrontation with Blair. [[spoiler:The film ends with [=MacReady=] and Childs resigning to death from the arctic cold, both of them unsure if the other is human.]]

** For 44 years the California serial home invader/rapist/killer known as Visalia Ransacker/East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker, went unsolved. Until April 25th 2018. Where it was revealed that we he was former cop, Joseph Deangelo, 33 years after his last known rape and murder

* In ''VideoGame/BackToTheFutureTheGame'', Doc kicks off the plot by using time travel to ''solve'' an unsolved mystery: who was the arson who destroyed a speakeasy in 1931? Not only did he not find out (a flying brick stunned him when he tried to investigate), but he was himself blamed. [[spoiler:A few episodes later, Marty learns that it was Edna Strickland... and alters history so that everyone else knows it too, meaning that the Doc of the altered timeline never had any reason to go near the speakeasy in the first place.]]

* An in-universe example. In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'', there is a sidequest named "Watcher in the Wings", about a mysterious stalker that Batman keeps seeing.[[spoiler:When you finally confront him, he names himself Azrael and talks in riddles about a prophecy involving Batman and Gotham City. Batman simply says "[[FlatEarthAtheist I don't believe in fairy tales]]" and Azrael leaves. Hardcore Batman fans may recognize the character, but neither Batman nor the audience has any idea what he's predicting.]]