There’s no better way to shift the gears in one’s head than by watching the ever-popular true-crime series, Unsolved Mysteries. The show has gathered quite the fanbase for its documentation of cold cases and paranormal phenomena. The series first premiered way back in 1987 and was recently picked up by Netflix for a reboot. The streaming platform has already released a two-volume Season 15 and has announced the release of a third volume that’s scheduled to release in October 2022. This means that there’s no better time than now to look back at some of the scariest Unsolved Mysteries episodes:
Lady in the Lake (Season 15, Episode 11)
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The episode centers around JoAnn Matouk Romain, a 55-year-old divorced mother, who mysteriously disappeared from Grosse Pointe, Michigan, a wealthy suburb in Detroit. According to the episode, JoAnn lived with her two daughters, Michelle and Kellie, and son, Michael. On the day of her disappearance, JoAnn was seen at the evening service at St. Paul on the Lake Catholic Church, which was not too far from her home.
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However, JoAnn never returned home. The police found her car near the church the night of her disappearance. They also found footprints leading towards the nearby Lake St. Clair. Based on the footprints, the officers believed that JoAnn had lowered herself into the icy waters. 70-days after her disappearance, JoAnn’s body was found 35 miles from where she allegedly entered the river. Now, while some may rule the case out to be a suicide, JoAnn’s children seem to find it suspicious. As highlighted by JoAnn’s daughter, Michelle, none of her mother’s actions point toward suicide. She left no note, was acting perfectly normal the days before her disappearance, and she even filled her car tank up, leading many to suspect foul play. What makes the episode rather chilling are the possible suspects. The first one is none other than JoAnn’s brother, John. The second suspect, and perhaps the most likely, is JoAnn’s cousin, Tim, whom it seems that even JoAnn was allegedly fearful of.
Up in Smokes (Season 9, Episode 14)
If one were to sum up this particular episode in two words, bizarre and scary would be fitting. The episode centers around a phenomenon referred to as spontaneous human combustion, which in simple terms, is when a living human body catches fire without an external source. The episode highlights three cases, of which two lead to death, from spontaneous human combustion. The first follows Kay Fletcher, who claimed that one morning, clouds of smoke started erupting from her body. Both Kay and her husband claimed that Kay’s back was red, with smoke emitting from it, and the smell of burning flesh consuming the room. Unlike Kay, who was fortunate enough to survive, the other two victims did not. Both victims were found in their respective houses by other people in a pile of ashes and human remains. Science has tried to explain the phenomenon, but has yet to come up with a proper explanation. It’s rather horrifying to imagine that one would be going about their normal day only to randomly burst into flames.
Voice from the Grave (Season 2, Episode 19)
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Imagine getting help from the beyond to solve a murder case. Well, that’s exactly what happened in this episode of Unsolved Mysteries. Even though this case is solved, the real mystery is surrounding the way the case was solved. Back in 1977, a respiratory therapist by the name of Teresita Basa was found stabbed under a burned mattress in her apartment in Chicago. The police were unable to find many clues, save for a note left by Teresita herself, with a reminder to “get theatre tickets for A.S.” Given the lack of clues, the authorities had no leads. That is until they received a little paranormal help. Five months after Teresita’s murder, her co-worker, Remibias Chua, started having dreams about her murder. During her sleep, Remibias would speak to her husband in Teresita’s voice, stating that the killer was a man named Allan Showery, who took Teresita’s jewelry to give to his girlfriend. The police followed the lead and discovered that Showery had indeed been the culprit, and Teresita’s jewelry was found in his girlfriend’s possession. The creepiest part about the whole case is that nobody was able to figure out how Remibias found out the details of her co-worker’s murder.
Dreamy Disappearance (Season 2, Episode 13)
Speaking of nightmares and dreams, the disappearance of Cindy Anderson is another scary case. A year before her disappearance, Cindy had vivid nightmares of being abducted and murdered. She disappeared later in 1981 and was never found again. Something peculiar about Cindy’s disappearance is that a while before the incident, someone had spray-painted, “I love you Cindy - GW”, on a wall near the office she worked in. According to one of her clients, Cindy had received a phone call on the day of her disappearance that left her feeling upset. A month after the disappearance, a woman called the police station, stating that Cindy was locked up in a basement in a nearby house, but offered no other details. People have come up with two possible outcomes for her disappearance. Some suspect that Cindy decided to run away from her strict Christian household, while others suspect that she might have had too much information on the local drug ring. The latter possibility is especially terrifying, especially considering that Cindy was never found.
Poison Pen Murder (Season 7, Episode 6)
Another rather astounding and scary episode of Unsolved Mysteries is the one revolving around the Circleville Writer. Circleville is a small town, 25 miles from Columbus, Ohio. In 1976, a frightening series of letters were received by local resident and school bus driver, Mary Gillispie. The letters threatened Mary to come clean about her affair with the superintendent of the school. When Mary did not take the letters seriously, her husband soon started receiving the letters. According to the episode, Mary’s husband Ron suspected someone and had in turn written a few letters to address the matter. The letters stopped for a bit, until one day, Ron received a phone call from the letter writer. He was headed to meet the letter writer but was met with an accident along the way. Even after Ron’s death, the letters continued, and in 1983, when the letter writer put up sign boards to threaten Mary’s daughter. One evening, when Mary decided to remove the board, she found a string that was attached to a gun. The booby trap was designed to fire the gun at her.
The gun serial number was rubbed off, but lab tests were able to identify the number. Surprisingly, the gun belonged to Mary’s brother-in-law, Paul. While Paul did accept that the gun belonged to him, he stated that he was not the one behind the letters or the booby trap. Paul was arrested for the attempted murder of his sister-in-law. However, the strangest thing about the whole case is that even while Paul was in prison, the letters continued. What makes it even scarier is that the Unsolved Mysteries team also received a letter from the Circleville Writer, threatening the team to leave the case alone.
House of Terror (Season 15, Episode 1)
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The first episode of Netflix’s reboot of Unsolved Mysteries is quick to remind its viewers exactly how terrifying some human beings can be. The episode centers around a family of six, Xavier Dupont de Ligonnes, Anges Hodanger, and their four children: Arthur, Thomas, Anne, and Benoit, who disappeared overnight. Neighbors of the family, who grew suspicious of the silent and shuttered house, called the police, requesting a welfare check. After quite a few futile visits, one officer noticed wet cement under the back porch. When the police dug around the area, they discovered the corpses of the five family members and their two dogs. However, Xavier was nowhere to be found. The family all had been shot with a .22 rifle, and according to reports, Xavier inherited a .22 rifle from his father. It’s truly horrifying to think that a man would murder his own family and just disappear into thin air.
