Throughout its decades on the air, Unsolved Mysteries has captivated audiences. With stories of unsolved murders and disappearances and ghosts, the show helped solve a number of cold cases. Some of those cases, however, made an impression on viewers and stayed with them long after the credits rolled.
Below are a few of the scariest cases featured on the show, ranging from the supernatural to the unfathomable. Before we continue, we’d like to thank Unsolved's website and the folks at the show's Fandom Wiki, whose expansive archives helped guide our selections.
Updated on January 31st, 2021 by Scoot Allan: With the return of the hit series Unsolved Mysteries on Netflix, true crime fans and armchair detectives have found a new obsession that could potentially lead to a resolution in a number of cases, much like the original series accomplished over many years on the air. During that period of time (and with the new series) a number of unsolved cases were presented that scared and terrified the viewers, ranging from the creepy paranormal to all too real abductions and murders. The unsolved status can sometimes be as scary as the cases themselves, making shows like Unsolved Mysteries all the more important to help get the information to the public in order to solve crimes so everyone can sleep better.
Did Ed Baker Fake His Death?
Ed Baker was the head of a wildly successful oil investment firm in the state of Texas. In the 1980s, he made millions and was a leader in the industry. However, Ed’s gambling addiction and reckless spending caused his profits to dry up, and soon he was taking money out of his client’s accounts. In 1985, Ed’s investors came knocking, asking for their money back, and Ed was forced to take a loan from people with mob connections to help cover his losses.
When he didn’t pay them back, he started getting death threats. Facing the possibility of prison time, or worse, Ed vanished on the night of November 6, 1985. Two days later, his Jaguar was found burned to a crisp with the charred remains of a person in the front passenger seat. The body could not be identified, though police believe that it belonged to Ed. However, some speculate that Ed faked his own death with a body double, and is now living abroad.
The Murder Of Dian Harlin And The Disappearance Of Her Husband, Hugh
Dian and Hugh Harland lived in the seaside town of Morro Bay, California. Their marriage was difficult. Dian’s constant spending on her dogs put a strain on their marriage, and Hugh struggled to support her on his meager fisherman’s paycheck.
In 1982, Dian’s body was found, with a dog leash wrapped around her throat. Hugh was a suspect, but he was never charged. On November 1st, 1986, Hugh vanished while on a trip to San Simian. His truck was found abandoned, with his keys lying nearby. While some think Hugh fled to avoid being implicated in his wife’s murder, others believe he was kidnapped and killed by the same person who killed Dian. He was never seen again, and his wife’s murder was never solved.
The Abduction Of Angela Hammond
One of the scariest stories from the original Unsolved Mysteries aired in the fourth season's "Dial A For Abduction" which revealed the frightening case of the Abduction of Angela Hammond, who was on the phone with her boyfriend when the abduction happened. Angela was at a payphone when she noticed a suspicious truck circling her before a mysterious man got out of the vehicle.
Her boyfriend heard a scream and left his place immediately to head towards the payphone when he saw the truck rush past him in the opposite direction with a screaming girl inside. Unfortunately, Angela's boyfriend damaged his engine trying to reverse and follow, which allowed the truck with a unique decal in the rear window to escape, and Angela was never found.
The Senseless Murder Of Dick Hanson
San Jose resident Dick Hanson just wanted to spend some quality time with his friends after a rocky divorce. Little did he know that the evening of April 29th, 1991 would be the last night of his life. After leaving a bar, Hanson observed his friend, Jean, being followed along the highway. Concerned, Dick forced the other driver to pull over and confronted him. The man gestured to the back of Jean’s car, then shot Dick twice, killing him, and before speeding off.
To this day, no one knows who the suspect was or why he did what he did. One theory was that the man was enraged by Jean’s vanity plate, which said ‘49R HUGS,’ a reference to the San Francisco 49rs, and targeted her because of her team affiliation.
The Torture And Murder Of Cindy James
Cindy James was a 44-year-old nurse who began to experience troubling moments of harassment that began with creepy calls to scary notes that continually escalated over seven years to violent attacks. However, authorities didn't believe her despite numerous troubling accounts that included James being found strangled with nylon, drugged and stripped on the side of the road, and other terrible acts of abuse that even included a house fire while guests were staying over.
Cindy James ultimately disappeared, and her body was found dead weeks later near an abandoned house, hogtied with nylon around her neck. Her death was ultimately determined to be from an overdose of morphine, which caused police to frustratingly rule it as a suicide, even though she had been tied up and had previous reports of being drugged.
The Unnerving Story Of Audrey Santo
The Santos family of Worchester, Massachusetts had their lives turned upside down when their young daughter, Audrey, fell into their pool and nearly drowned. Audrey was saved but suffered horrible brain damage that left her braindead. However, Audrey’s story took an unusual turn when religious objects in the family’s home began to excrete oil.
The Santos, who are devout Catholics, believed that Audrey was blessed with supernatural powers, and claimed the oil had healing properties. While there is no proof that the events in the home weren’t staged for publicity, that hasn’t stopped the religiously devoted from turning Santo’s home into a pilgrimage spot. Audrey Santos passed away in 2007 at the age of 23, and since then many have petitioned the Church to canonize her as a saint.
Son Of Sam’s Possible Cult Connection
David ‘The Son of Sam’ Berkowitz was a serial killer who killed six women and injured seven more, in New York City during the late ‘70s. He is currently serving a life sentence for his crimes, but Despite the seemingly open-and-shut nature of the case, some have questioned the findings.
Inconsistencies in eye-witness testimony lead some to believe that Berkowitz was not the only killer, while others believe that he was involved in a Satanic cult.
Terrifying Cases Of Spontaneous Combustion
Spontaneous Combustion is a very terrifying and interesting cause of death that continues to stump scientists and investigators, which was explored by Unsolved Mysteries as the series took a look at a few cases during a ninth season episode that explored the unexplained phenomenon.
After charred remains were discovered, investigators were baffled by the mysterious deaths that left the bodies mostly charred and unrecognizable (save for a few untouched body parts) while the area around them experienced little fire damage, proving how terrifying the unknown can be.
The Chilling Haunting Of Michael Jones
Michael Jones seems to be a magnet for the paranormal. In 1993, at the age of five, Michael allegedly saw the ghost of his grandfather. Soon, Michael began to see even more ghosts in his home, including a sinister entity he calls ‘the shadow man.’
By the time Michael’s case aired on Unsolved Mysteries in 2001, he had undergone four exorcisms but nothing worked. Michael was still being haunted by the time the episode aired and had since grown used to the ghosts.
The Increasing Hauntings Of The Wyrick Family
After the Wyrick family moved to a new house in Georgia, their young daughter began to see a pair of ghosts that she was able to identify as former owners of the house and deceased neighbors in the area that appeared friendly to the young girl.
However, a dark spirit soon began to visit the family that terrified the young girl and even began to attack her and her family, leaving vicious claw marks on both the daughter and her father that led to a paranormal examination and verification of some of the sightings. The Wyrick family's story was later loosely adapted for The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia.
The Strange Deaths of Don Henry And Kevin Ives
Don Henry and Kevin Ives were high-school buddies who lived in central Arkansas. On the evening of August 23rd, 1987, the pair went out and were never seen alive again. The next person to see them was the conductor of a train, who attempted to stop when he saw their bodies lying in the middle of the tracks, but was unable to stop in time.
Initially, police suspected that the boys had smoked weed and had fallen asleep on the tracks, but their parents were not convinced and their bodies were exhumed. Investigators found that the boys weren’t nearly as intoxicated as they had seemed, and were likely killed before their bodies were placed on the tracks. Police suspect that the boys witnessed a drug drop and were murdered as a result, and the case remains unsolved.
The Disturbing Disappearance Of Cindy Song
Cindy Song was a Korean exchange student studying at Pen State. On Halloween 2001, Cindy left a party and headed back to her apartment late at night. She was never seen again. Investigators determined that she had stopped back at her apartment and had gone back out because her purse was gone and the fake eyelashes she wore earlier were left behind.
Days later, someone resembling Song was spotted in Philadelphia’s Chinatown, being forced into a car by an Asian male. She was allegedly crying and screaming the entire time. Some suspect that Song was kidnapped by sex traffickers, and while the case has taken many twists and turns over the years, she has not been found.
The Horrific Crimes Of Ed Bell
Ed Bell was a sex offender who enjoyed exposing himself to children. In August of 1978, he was in the town of Pasadena, Texas, on one of his usual exhibition runs, when he was confronted by Larry Dickens. A fight ensued, and Ed proceeded to gun Larry down in his own driveway, first with a .22 pistol, and then with an automatic rifle.
Ed was eventually arrested and charged with murder, but made bail and quickly fled. A year after the episode featuring his case aired, Ed was captured in Panama on Valentine's Day, 1993, and brought back to the US. He was sentenced to life in prison and died on April 20th, 2019. At the time of his death, he was a suspect in the murders of several children.
Stolen Kids From A Busy Public Park
The second season of Netflix's new series introduced the case of the "Stolen Kids," which followed the terrifying abductions of two kids at different times from the same park while in full view of their parents, which is a nightmare for any parent.
The abductions of toddlers Christopher Dansby and Shane Walker from the same Harlem Park in 1989 resulted in searches that turned up no leads and the terrifying thought that that the separate cases were connected which led to a number of theories involving child-slavery rings or murderers, adding to the already horrifying ordeal.
The Heartbreaking Death Of Katherine Korzilius
On a hot summer day in August 1996, Nancy Korzilius dropped her six-year-old daughter, Katherine, off at a community mailbox just blocks from her home. When she didn’t return, Nancy went looking, only to find Katherine laying face down on the pavement. She died shortly thereafter in one of Unsolved Mysteries' most disturbing cases.
The mystery of her death baffled investigators, as her injuries were not consistent with a hit-and-run. Many believe that Kathrine was taken, beaten, then left on the road for her family to find. Her death is still a mystery. In 1997, singer Bon Jovi, whose tour manager was Katherine’s father, released a song in her memory called August 7, 4:15.