History Series / UnsolvedMysteries

* HistoryMarchesOn: Quite a few of the high-profile mysteries aren't so mysterious anymore.
** ''Unsolved Mysteries'' aired a segment about the then-unknown Unabomber. Several years later, he was identified as Ted Kaczynski. The show later floated the idea that Kaczynski was also the Zodiac Killer.
** It also aired a segment fingering William Stevens, a petty criminal and all-around creep, as the Green River Killer. Five years after the episode aired, Gary Ridgway was identified as the Green River Killer through DNA evidence. Stevens is no longer considered a suspect in the case.
** A 1996 segment covered the unsolved 1975 murder of Martha Moxley. Seven years later, Michael Skakel was convicted of the murder.
** Then-fugitive James Bulger was featured in an episode. By the time he was finally caught, an update was added to the episodes that were now being shown on SpikeTV.
** For a while, reruns of the show were aired on {{Lifetime}} (before the network began to get new episodes of it's own). Very often, updates were provided and specifically designated as "Lifetime Exclusive", meaning that even after all these years, these now cold cases were still being solved thanks to viewership (for example, Jesse James Hollywood).

* TheMenInBlack: An episode dealing with UFO sightings also talked about them

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The heavily synthesized music and the graphics used in the various introductions are hopelessly stuck in the 80's/early 90's, but arguably not to the shows [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome detriment]]. The fashions and attitudes in the cases themselves are also obviously of their time.

* CowboyBebopAtHisComputer: The sister of Tami Lynn Leppert (who went missing in the 80s) once criticized the UM segment featuring her as they got many facts about her disappearance wrong, from the clothes she was wearing, to the car she was last seen getting into. Her sister also pointed out that Tami was ''pregnant'' at the time of her disappearance, but the re-enactment doesn't mention that. Oddly enough, when the case was shown again years later during the Dennis Ferina era, none of the above mistakes were corrected.

* {{Never Suicide}}: Probably the most common type of case during Stack's era involved someone being found dead, with Stack always introducing the segment by saying "the police ruled it a suicide, but the family says...MURDER." In many cases it WAS pretty obviously a suicide and the family was clearly just in denial, but the show would always side with the family.

* OffingTheOffspring: The case of Darlie Routier, convicted of murdering her own children, despite her insistence (as well as some evidence showing) that she is innocent and that an intruder took their lives. There ''is'' some evidence suggesting that she did in fact kill her kids (crime scene appearing staged, Darlie's [[AngstWhatAngst indifferent behavior]] after the murder, etc. She currently sits on death row.

* OffingTheOffspring: The case of Darlie Routier, convicted of murdering her own children, despite her insistence (as well as some evidence showing) that she is innocent and that an intruder took their lives. There ''is'' some evidence suggesting that she did in fact kill her kids (crime scene appearing stage, Darlie's [[AngstWhatAngst indifferent behavior]] after the murder, etc. She currently sits on death row.

* OffingTheOffspring: The case of Darlie Routier, convicted of murdering her own children, despite her insistence (as well as some evidence showing) that she is innocent and that an intruder took their lives. There ''is'' some evidence suggesting that she did in fact kill her kids (crime scene appearing stage, Darlie's [[AngstWahtAngst indifferent behavior]] after the murder, etc. She currently sits on death row.

* DistantFinale: Sort of. While many cases were left unsolved, some cases did get a resolution on other programs years later. The murder of Dorothy Donovan, for example, an elderly woman who was killed by a mysterious hitchhiker, that the woman's son had encountered earlier in the night, was solved on ''Forensic Files''. The murderer was a drug-addicted drifter who broke into the woman's house thinking it was abandoned.

* CreepyMonotone: Dear God, Robert Stack's voice gave me nightmares

** For a while, reruns of the show were aired on {{Lifetime}} (before the network began to get new episodes of it's own). Very often, updates were provided and specifically designated as "Lifetime Exclusive", meaning that even after all these years, these now cold cases were still being solved thanks to viewership.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: Many episodes were uploaded to YouTube, most of them VHS tape rips. However, as of February 2013, they have been taken down due to copyright notices from Viacom.
** Some episodes still exist on YouTube, though you really have to look hard for them.
** There are [=DVDs=] for the series, but all of them mostly have a theme like "UFOS" or "Ghosts."

* NewKidsOnTheBlock: One of the cases featured a missing teenage girl who was supposedly seen in one of their concerts and caught on tape. It also included a brief interview with the Jon and Jordan Knight, in which they asked for any info about her.
** As it turned out, it wasn't the missing girl, just someone who looked amazingly liked her. The missing girl in question, sadly, had been killed the day she went missing. At least her killer was eventually brought to justice.

* DistantFinale: Sort of. While many cases were left unsolved, some cases did get a resolution on other programs years later. The murder of Dorothy Donovan, for example, an elderly woman who was killed by a mysterious hitchhiker, that the woman's son has encountered earlier in the night, was solved on ''Forensic Files''. The murderer was a drug-addicted drifter who broke into the woman's house thinking it was abandoned.

* DistantFinale: Sort of. While many cases were left unsolved, some were cases did get a resolution on other programs years later. The murder of Dorothy Donovan, for example, an elderly woman who was killed by a mysterious hitchhiker, that the woman's son has encountered earlier in the night, was solved on ''Forensic Files''. The murderer was a drug-addicted drifter who broke into the woman's house thinking it was abandoned.

* TheMenInBlack: An episode dealing with UFO sightings also talked about them

** There are DVDs for the series, but all of them mostly have a theme like "UFOS" or "Ghosts."

** There are DVDs for the series, but all of them mostly have a theme like "UFOs" or "Ghosts."

* HeyItsThatGuy: Believe it or not, Robert Stack had a TON of acting credits to his credit LONG before this show began. One of his more notable roles was in {{Airplane}}
** And ''The Untouchables'' TV series. And Ultra Magnus's voice in the Transformers's 86 movie. And...
** Matthew Mc-Conaughey infamously had a role in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-2A8dK_Aeg one]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3NEEZw71Tk segment]].
** The original television special that served as a pilot for ''Unsolved Mysteries'' was hosted by [[Series/PerryMason Raymond]] [[Series/{{Ironside}} Burr]].

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** The original television special that served as a pilot for ''Unsolved Mysteries'' was hosted by [[PerryMason Raymond]] [[Series/{{Ironside}} Burr]].