History Series / UnsolvedMysteries

Although it's presented like a piece of fiction, most every mystery is real. In fact, roughly 400 of this show's mysteries have been solved. It is believed to have originally directly competed with ''America's Most Wanted''. Previous versions of the show had a telephone hotline set up that you could call if you have any information, while the current version only has [[http://www.unsolved.com a website]]. Some of the mysteries presented back then have remained unsolved to this day, while others are still being solved. You may watch re-edited episodes of the original show with iconic host Robert Stack on Hulu and Amazon streaming services, with new updates from as late as 2017. Thanks to [=FilmRise=], [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzirOgADPOz0eapgwBcX9Gw Unsolved Mysteries now has its own [=YouTube=] channel]].

* AcceptablePoliticalTargets: Social services. ''Many'' of the "Lost Loves"-type stories include children being taken from their parents when they're found to be providing an unfit home. The social workers in these cases are almost universally framed as taking children away from unconventional but loving households, possibly using underhanded tactics (tricking parents into signing papers, lying about their intentions, etc), and in doing so split up the family for years to come.

* AcceptablePoliticalTargets: Social services. ''Many'' of the "Lost Loves"-type stories include children being taken from their parents when they're found to be providing an unfit home. The social workers are almost universally framed as taking children away from an unconventional but loving household and splitting up the family to put them in foster homes.

** The story of the [[https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/choir-non-quorum/ West Side Baptist Church]] choir, whose 15 members escaped a fiery death when they were all late for practice (the church exploded due to a faulty furnace within minutes of when rehearsal would have begun). To this day, they are all convinced that this was due to divine intervention.

* EmptyBedroomGrieving: The family of Rhonda Hinson, who was murdered shortly after leaving an office Christmas party, had left her bedroom open and clean several years afterwards.

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Some murders or assaults has the victim suffering wounds much more that what would kill an average person. A particularly cruel murder was that of Megan Curl, who in addition to being tied up was also asphyxiated with a plastic bag, had her throat slit and was set on fire. One of the detectives outright described it as "the meanest thing I'd ever seen someone do to another human being" in his years in law enforcement.

Although it's presented like a piece of fiction, most every mystery is real. In fact, roughly 400 of this show's mysteries have been solved. It is believed to have originally directly competed with ''America's Most Wanted''. Previous versions of the show had a telephone hotline set up that you can call if you have any information, while the current version only has [[http://www.unsolved.com a website]]. Some of the mysteries presented back then have remained unsolved to this day, while others are still being solved. You may watch re-edited episodes of the original show with iconic host Robert Stack on Hulu and Amazon streaming services, with new updates from as late as 2017. Thanks to [=FilmRise=], [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzirOgADPOz0eapgwBcX9Gw Unsolved Mysteries now has its own [=YouTube=] channel]].

Although it's presented like a piece of fiction, most every mystery is real. In fact, roughly 400 of this show's mysteries have been solved. It is believed to have originally directly competed with ''America's Most Wanted''. All versions of the show have a telephone hotline set up that you can call if you have any information, while the current version only has [[http://www.unsolved.com a website]]. Some of the mysteries presented back then have remained unsolved to this day, while others are still being solved. You may watch re-edited episodes of the original show with iconic host Robert Stack on Hulu and Amazon streaming services, with new updates from as late as 2017. Thanks to [=FilmRise=], [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzirOgADPOz0eapgwBcX9Gw Unsolved Mysteries now has its own [=YouTube=] channel]].

[[caption-width-right:350: ''Join me. Perhaps '''you''', may be able to help solve a mystery.'' -- Robert Stack (pictured)]]

'''"The following article is about ''Unsolved Mysteries''. Whenever possible, the actual viewers and fans have participated in recreating the tropes. What you are about to read is ''not'' a news broadcast."'''

** A 1996 segment covered the unsolved 1975 murder of Martha Moxley. Seven years later, Michael Skakel was convicted of the murder.

'''"The following article is about ''Unsolved Mysteries''. Whenever possible, the actual viewers and fans have participated in recreating the tropes. What you are about to read, is ''not'', a news broadcast."'''

* FreshClue: In one segment, a group of people find a woman's body. One of them says, "She was as warm as you (the interviewer) and I are now, so whatever happened had ''just'' happened."

->''Join me. Perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery.''
-->-- '''Robert Stack''''s intro for the first few seasons

'''This article is about ''Unsolved Mysteries''. Whenever possible, the actual family members and police officials have participated in recreating the events. What you are about to see is ''not'' a news broadcast.'''

This TV show ran from 1987-2002, with intermittent breaks in between, and was hosted for most of its run (which {{Channel Hop}}ped from Creator/{{NBC}} to Creator/{{CBS}} and then Creator/{{Lifetime}}) by Creator/RobertStack. It was revived from 2008-2010 on Spike TV, hosted by Creator/DennisFarina, and again beginning in 2020 on Creator/{{Netflix}} with all-new mysteries. The original series run was seen in Canada in syndication.

** Ronald Glenn West, a [[CorruptCop former cop]] currently serving a life sentence for raping and killing two women near Toronto in 1970, is considered a person of interest in the Blind River Rest Stop murders of 1991, as he was living in that northern Ontario community at the time and reportedly, if he wore a blond wig, bore a resemblance to the composite sketch of the killer. However, there has never been enough evidence to charge him, and the lone survivor of the attack, Gord McAllister, is now deceased.

** The 1991 "Diabolical Minds" special profiled the case of Joan Rogers, who was murdered along with her daughters Michelle and Christe while on vacation in Florida in 1989. The murderer, Oba Chandler, was caught and executed in 2011, and was posthumously implicated in another unsolved murder from 1990.

** "Update" segments typically included the phrase "...Until the night of our broadcast," before Stack began to narrate the details of the update.

** Even some cases where a missing/abducted person is found alive can have this. One case had a HappilyMarried man go missing that was found and he explained that in traveling for the business he and his wife owned, he was robbed and beaten, which caused him to lose his memory and he and his wife eventually divorced because the brain injury he received made him lose memories of her.

* ClearMyName: The purpose of the "Final Appeal" segments, which profiled prison inmates who claimed to be innocent of the crimes of which they had been convicted. Some of them were successful, particularly Patty Stallings, who had been convicted of the poisoning death of her infant son but was subsequently exonerated when the boy's death was proven to be the result of a rare genetic disorder which created chemical byproducts in his body. Others, such as Michael Lloyd Self (who was convicted of murdering two teenage girls in 1971), sadly died in prison without having their names cleared; investigators now believe Self was innocent and was railroaded into confessing to the murders.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Some of the individuals interviewed regarding murders or missing persons cases were later revealed to have been responsible for the murder, abduction, etc. One example is record promoter Chuck Dixon, who had very complimentary things to say about Kevin Hughes, the ''Cash Box'' magazine Country Music chart director whose murder in 1989 was thought to be related to a chart fixing scheme in which Hughes refused to participate. When the murderer, a fellow ''Cash Box'' employee, was eventually caught, he revealed that Dixon himself had ordered the hit for that exact reason. Unfortunately, Dixon could not be charged, since he had passed away by then. The hit man himself got a life sentence and died behind bars.