Top 20 Unsolved Mysteries Episodes That Will Keep You Up at Night

maybe you can help solve a mystery or at least stay awake thinking about one welcome to watch mojo and today we're counting down our picks for the top 20 unsolved mysteries episodes that will keep you up at night someone somewhere who knows the truth perhaps that someone is watching perhaps it's you for this list we're ranking the scariest and most memorable episodes of the unsolved mysteries tv series that gave us the creeps that means we'll be allowing moments from the original series as well as moments from the latest netflix revival of the series number 20 a salon owner goes missing in 13 minutes some fans are split on the 2020 netflix reboot of unsolved mysteries a much more serious minded and true crime focused take on the classic spooky series this case seems to garner universal interest from viewers specifically the death of georgia salon owner patrice andres when the police took me to my mother's car salon there was detectives and you know crime scene investigators and they were going in and out and then they said yeah she's missing police claimed there was only a 13-minute window within which andres could have been abducted from her business and her killer has never been found even though remains were found relatively close to the salon more than a year later the kicker here is how guilty your husband rob comes across in the episode and how much of an outlier it is compared to the stoic nature of the season's presentation on the whole i have no comment for people who think that i killed patrice because i don't talk to those people because i know i didn't patrice knows i didn't and it's physically impossible time-wise for me to have been involved in it number 19 stockton arsonist there's just something creepy about finding some lost obscure footage on an old vhs tape this is made doubly disturbing when it's also an actual unsolved mystery the stockton arsonist episode of the series followed a family whose car broke down on the side of the road during which time the young son found an abandoned jacket with a tape inside the pocket wrapped in the jacket or a video taped with no label and several audio cassettes of heavy metal music on the tape is what appears to be an intentionally set home arson which is bad enough but the voice speaking on the tape makes mention of satanism while a search of the site later by police turned up ritualistic paraphernalia can you see what i could do [Applause] updates in later episodes reveal that two underage suspects were ultimately tried but it's the satanic implications including the discovery of a ceramic skull that are hard to forget i've never run across anything as eerie as this tape it was it frightened me as a matter of fact uh i thought about it that night when i went to bed number 18 the tallman house ghost stories and creepy reenactments are absolutely essential aspects of a classic unsolved mysteries episode and this one certainly delivers the goods it all started with a secondhand bunk bed for the tallman family a seemingly innocuous purchase that would turn their lives upside down for it was soon after bringing the bed into their home that the tomlins experienced all sorts of unexplained paranormal phenomena from disembodied voices calling out in the home to household items operating strangely and dangerously as well as unexplained fires in the garage the re-enactment clicks all the boxes for a classic unsolved mysteries fan guaranteeing unsettled dreams and a questioning over what might lie beyond i started to see this fog starting to appear on the floor and a voice came out of it and it says you're dead number 17 the lizzie borden house the tried and true murder mystery always makes for creepy nighttime viewing when it comes to die-hard fans of unsolved mysteries and what better true crime tale than the infamous case of lizzie borden [Music] this episode not only detailed facts about the horrible double murder from new england but also goes into the present day history of the fall river home that lizzie shared alongside her father stepmother and live-in maid they claim that lizzie abby and andrew still walk these halls and haunt these rooms chain forever to this place by the horrific events of over a century ago the house may be a popular bed and breakfast for the brave and the bold but there are also plenty of late night ghost stories that keep us awake wondering whether or not lizzy still prowls the hallways acts steadily in hand and after a long day of sightseeing you can drift off to sleep in the same bedroom where abby borden's pummeled body was discovered lifeless on the floor number 16 the vampire cult murders while we admit there's something comfortingly nostalgic about the early internet footage present within this episode of unsolved mysteries there's nothing remotely funny about the actual case generally speaking we're looking at kids who are usually intelligent children and want to belong want to be a part of something want to participate and so this comes along and reaches out to them and says there are no rules richard and naoma wendorf were the victims of a local gang who were obsessed with vampirism to the point where one of the men arrested for the murders was actually convinced he was immortal the wendorf's daughter heather was supposedly involved with the group but any charges against her were eventually dropped the episode itself points out the vampire's cultural significance over the years as a media symbol while also doing a good job of presenting the real-life creepiness of those real-life fans who take their obsession too far is vampire make believe inherently evil and dangerous probably not does it create an atmosphere or aberrant behavior is promoted there's no way to know number 15 the tatum house okay so it isn't as if unsolved mysteries needed an excuse to be creepy but this halloween episode delivered the supernatural goods with a host of frightening tales at first i thought it was my husband and i went into the bedroom and there my husband was in the bed the tatum house segment dealt with poltergeist activity in a home owned by a retired married couple who reported continued unexplained noises in the house the reenactments forego cheesy theatrics and overacting and instead described the tatum's experiences with a basic matter of fact delivery that makes it all the more real i knew very well that something was happening because kay is very level-headed and uh she was truly frightened as a result we can identify much more with how the couple must have felt particularly jim tatum who becomes increasingly upset as he described what happened to the camera i told cave and i says no more bail i'm not going to answer that bill anymore and that bell has not rung since i'm never seen him like that before number 14 the allagash abductions and i remember thinking that we're not going to outrun this thing there's just no way it was coming too quickly okay we admit it sometimes the recreations on unsolved mysteries and other similar shows are more well humorous than frightening thankfully this is not the case with our next entry a harrowing tale of an alleged contact with the extraterrestrial the allagash abductions doesn't play at light or for laughs but instead presents the four subjects as men who definitely seem to be shaken by a collective experience all four said they were taken aboard the craft as a result we can put ourselves in their shoes and imagine how we might feel if we felt we were abducted by visitors from outer space it's here that unsolved mysteries has always shined and an example of why this episode continues to give us the creeps they're right there their face is right in my face i don't know why number 13 the blind river killer we sometimes take solace in the fact that many notorious killers have been caught by police and brought to justice but what about the ones who get away sadly there was no justice during the lifetime of gordon mcallister who passed away in 2012 without discovering the identity of the blind river killer this unidentified man accosted and robbed mcallister and his wife jackie while they were parked for the night in their rv at a rest stop the reenactment in this episode really drove home the tragedy of when mcallister's wife as well as a good samaritan at the rest stop were shot and killed by the gunman and we can't help but wish things could have turned out differently and i was laying there just praying i was just praying to god that he'd keep on running and he did number 12 prison mystery speaking of reenactments the updated version of unsolved mysteries hosted by dennis farina featured increased production values when it came to staging these sequences as a result this episode from the iteration's second season has aged pretty well all things considered the murder mystery which serves as the centerpiece to this episode deals with judge james michael frankie who was hired by the oregon state prison system to try and increase inmate capacity michael knew he was juggling political dynamite and that it could blow up in his face at any moment the reenactments do a great job of stressing how frankie was murdered outside of his office in an apparent robbery gone wrong while also lending credence to the theories that he might have been the victim of an inside hit by corrupt government officials either way it's truly chilling stuff some believe that michael was the victim of a premeditated murder and that it was carried out by several men and possibly instigated by high-ranking officials who were afraid that they would be named in his investigation number 11 edward bell and larry dickens many a-list actors come from humble origins and matthew mcconaughey is no exception with one of his first on-screen roles being here reenacting a terrible 1978 murder case mcconaughey plays larry dickens who was the tragic victim of what can only be described as a senseless rampage by one edward bell larry larry bell who was thankfully captured years later thanks to viewer tips attacked the dickens family with no apparent motive and seemed to be a career criminal with offenses dating back years before the incident oh god he's got a rifle he's good what's troubling about this episode isn't only the reenactment but the fact that bell was out on bail only two months after his arrest thus allowing him to slip through the system for far too long before he was brought to justice he quietly liquidated his assets and with more than 140 000 in his pocket disappeared number 10 resurrection mary the unwitting cab driver had just met chicago's most famous ghost resurrection mary there's a tinge of sadness to the next entry on our list the tale of resurrection mary it's a ghost story about a young life taken too soon and the people who swear they've seen her spirit prowling the streets near resurrection cemetery in illinois richard crowe learned the ghost was believed to be the restless spirit of a young woman named mary bregovi mary had been killed in a traffic accident one saturday night in 1934. mary burgoby was her name and she was a girl who's said to have died in a car accident during the mid-1930s multiple folks claimed to have encountered her over the years some of whom have even attempted to give her rides only for her to disappear the episode itself possesses a dreamlike allure and captures well the tragedy of mary's story this is perhaps in part why the story of resurrection mary has survived to this day in any case should you find yourself driving in the city late one night and you spot a wistful young woman in a flowing gown you might think twice about offering her a ride number nine ray rivera and the mystery on the rooftop the case of ray rivera is the very first to be covered on netflix's unsolved mysteries reboot rivera's death seems to be a suicide on the surface but forensic evidence and medical examiner data led many to believe that this finance writer was the victim of foul play i kept saying there is something bigger there's something more going on i think he turned over some rock and he shouldn't have turned it over but i know that he didn't kill himself a letter found near rivera's computer complicated matters further with its talk of secret societies and hollywood bigwigs while rey's employer placed a gag order that forbade anyone to speak of the case to police every possible person that knew ray worked the right or had any answers for me weren't allowed to legally talk to me according to their company lawyers that's within hours of his body being discovered with all of these loose ends involved one might think there would be a stronger push for the truth but the unsolved nature of this crime and the police's backpedaling into once again calling it a suicide leaves us awake at night wanting some closure number eight the circleville letters i know where you live i've been observing your house and know you have children this is no joke please take it serious the word chilling doesn't even begin to describe what happened to the residents of circleville ohio during the late 1970s small town gossip turned deadly when residents of this otherwise unassuming small town began receiving threatening letters about their personal lives increasing exponentially to the point where the entire community was turned upside down with paranoia fear and anger his gun had fired one shot and there was never any explanation for when or how at whom that gun could have been fired the reenactments do a great job of presenting how tense and on edge the whole affair made the community and the voiceover of the circleville writer is delivered in an ultra creepy monotone on closer examination mary realized that it was a crude booby trap designed to fire the gun at her finally it's revealed that even the crew behind unsolved mysteries wasn't safe from being harassed as they received a threatening postcard prior to airing the episode a card read forget circleville ohio do nothing to hurt sheriff radcliffe if you come to ohio you el sicos will pay the circleville writer number seven friends to the end suddenly schroeder saw something in his path he couldn't tell what it was as his train drew closer he made the horrifying discovery that two boys were lying motionless across the railroad tracks not every unsolved mystery can be resolved during the lifetime of a family member friend or in this case a dedicated prosecutor richard garrett was determined to uncover what happened to kevin ives and don henry two popular teenagers who were tragically run over by a train under mysterious circumstances it took multiple autopsies and the testimony from witnesses as bizarre as former professional wrestler billy jack haynes to discover that the boys were murdered and brought to the tracks not accidentally run over while under the influence of marijuana this doctor concluded that together the boys had smoked not 20 but between one and three marijuana cigarettes he also found evidence to indicate that one boy was already dead and one unconscious when the train hit them the episode detailing their demise is a somber and sad affair a story that haunts us almost as much as it seemed to haunt garrett who died in 2018 without receiving an answer to his investigation hundreds of times i've been out there day and night just trying to get in my mind of what could have happened or what did happen number six danny casalero a housekeeper at the sheraton hotel opened room 517 for routine cleaning nothing could prepare her for what she found inside we would need a lot more time to fully detail all of the twists in the story of danny castellero because this thing reads like a paranoid thriller from the 1970s castellero's body was found as an apparent suicide while staying in a west virginia hotel the thing is castellero was a computer industry writer hot on the heels of a story that he felt involved upper-level government officials organized crime and lucrative contracts for law enforcement software the papers castellero had with him in martinsburg included hundreds of notes and documents for more than a year of investigation not one has ever been found castellero's family felt that his fear of blood made his method of suicide unlikely and the local investigation into the case seemed skewed against letting anyone else in on any specifics honestly we suggest doing a deep dive into this case yourself it's compelling stuff number five war of the deputies once a happy couple various issues would later culminate in dennis de pew assaulting his wife marilyn while he told his children that he was taking her to the hospital a few days later police would find marilyn's body off a deserted road we had a feeling that he had really done something terrible it was so brutal and premeditated now here comes the biggest twist of the episode the night that it aired a woman named mary came to her house to find that her boyfriend hank was in a hurry to leave the house after he left it wasn't long before she discovered who her boyfriend really was i think that he was deliberately keeping my attention distracted in the kitchen so that i wouldn't see the segment and so that he could leave later that evening police were able to track dennis down and after a brief standoff he took his own life number four spirits at the comedy store [Music] according to many employees past and present the comedy store's hallowed halls are haunted sometimes buildings have personalities all their own case in point california's classic stand-up venue the comedy store which possesses a history dating all the way back to the 1940s and 50s the comedy store was known as cyros during these days and was a hub for criminal activity for the local mobsters as a result some people claim to have witnessed paranormal activity and other mysterious occurrences such as inanimate objects being moved around by an unknown force given the fact that so much comedy seems to come from pain we're not entirely ruling out the possibility that the comedy store walls have some sort of bad juju lurking deep inside whatever was down there in that basement i just don't like it number three scared to death there's harassment and then there's what reportedly happened to cindy james the nurse claimed to be the victim of threatening phone calls letters and behavior for over seven years so much so she told friends that she feared she was going to be quote scared to death i took a look at her and i thought she was dead there was a note that was pinned with a paring knife through her hand still james's reluctance to reveal specific details about the case has raised suspicion about what exactly happened leading up to her death in 1989. when surveillance was on her house never any any event would happen as soon as surveillance was taken off of course then she'd get another incident that happened the unsolved mysteries take on her tail raises more questions than answers about how she was bound hand and foot with a lethal dose of morphine found in her system yet it's the evidence and mystery behind the death of cindy james that continues to haunt our dreams every time we re-watch the episode number two the son of sam the name of this pick is probably a familiar one even if you've never seen an episode of unsolved mysteries david berkowitz was known as the son of sam when he terrorized new york city during the late 70s stalking and killing young couples who were parked out in cars late at night the city was paralyzed with fear the people in the local neighborhoods particularly in the bronx were petrified berkowitz who also bore the moniker the 44 caliber killer claimed satanic leanings in letters and confessed that he was driven to commit these heinous acts by a dog owned by his neighbor sam serial killer stories are always uneasy listening so it just goes to show that this episode of unsolved mysteries had us reaching for the nightlight when it was bedtime before we unveil our number one pick here are some honorable mentions the atm abduction of matthew chase because crime can strike anywhere and at any time this time a hidden camera took photographs of matt then a strange man appeared standing at matt's shoulder the connecticut river valley killer will the truth ever come out the police still do not know who the killer is but thanks to jane's eyewitness description they do believe they know what he looks like and how he thinks the disappearance of tara calico a kidnapping and a grainy polaroid while the woman walked out of the store she saw a polaroid photograph lying face down where the van had been parked it showed a teenage girl and a young boy apparently bound with their hands behind their backs before we continue be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos you have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them if you're on your phone make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications number one shane stewart sally mcnally and satan the forces of nature had washed away all forensic clues but detectives were able to determine that both victims had been killed by shotgun blasts satanic panic refers to a period during the 1980s where moral outrage over the occult heavy metal and dungeons and dragons spilled over into accusations of satanic ritual abuse shane stewart and sally mcnelly were teenagers whose disappearance and violent deaths were attributed to their involvement in a local cult they did express fears that that they might be her she and her boyfriend might be in some danger because it's a very secretive type group and they knew the ends they knew the secrets and when they broke away they realized that they they were in some danger although today satanic panic is largely seen as a reaction to christian conservatism misinformation and paranoia those involved at the time seem to be searching for something to blame for this tragic loss authorities believe that shane stewart and sally mcnelly were murdered by their friends as a direct result of their cult activities a person of interest in the murders didn't emerge until 2017 when a texas sheriff's office named john gilbert is someone who possessed quote biological material associated with the case sometimes reality is much scarier than anything associated with imagination or the devil do you agree with our picks check out this other recent clip from watchmojo and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos you

Channel: WatchMojo.com

Views: 818,186

Rating: 4.8592005 out of 5

Keywords: unsolved mysteries that will keep you up at night, best unsolved mysteries, shocking unsolved mysteries, insane unsolved mysteries, craziest unsolved mysteries, scariest unsolved mysteries, memorable unsolved mysteries, creepiest unsolved mysteries, shane stewart, sally mcnelly, satan, son of sam, scared to death, danny casolaro, rey rivera, unsolved mysteries, netflix, TV, crime, mystery, thriller, watchmojo, watch mojo, top 10, list, mojo

Id: Uz-hGcFcglY

Length: 22min 43sec (1363 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 24 2020