For people of a certain age, Unsolved Mysteries will always have a special place in our hearts. The Robert Stack narration, the terrifying synth and drum machine sounds of the iconic intro, and the over-the-top stories of disappearances, murders, and cases that are without explanation made for the perfect television series. And while the Netflix reboot has been getting a ton of attention since being released in early July 2020, the original run of the mystery series recently reached new audiences with its addition to the Peacock streaming service.
Over the course of 15 seasons, multiple specials, and a couple of hosts, Unsolved Mysteries was one of the most fascinating and frightening programs school-aged children could watch as they waited for their parents to come home from work, and during that time, they witnessed some of the most bizarre and unsettling cases. So, thanks to the show (both the reboot and the original) once again becoming a part of pop culture, there's never been a better time to look back on the strangest cases from the archives of Unsolved Mysteries.
Spontaneous Human Combustion (Season 9, Episode 14)
There are plenty of episodes of Unsolved Mysteries that had to deal with kidnappings, murders, and random crimes, but some of the best segments had to deal with truly fascinating unexplained incidents like the Season 9 episode that focuses on three cases of spontaneous human combustion. The first case involves a woman's sweater catching on fire, but the next two examples of spontaneous human combustion are nightmare fuel.
One involves a gas company meter man discovering the burnt remains of a 92-year-old man who had burned with such intensity that the fire burned a hole in the floor and fell to the basement down below. The second severe case of spontaneous human combustion involves a retired fireman who reportedly mysteriously went up in flames without explanation. First responders could only find a few pieces of bone and a fragment of his skull among the ashes. Neither case has been solved.
Stream it on Peacock.
Rainboy (Season 5, Episode 18)
The classic "Rainboy" segment from a Season 5 episode of Unsolved Mysteries is one of the most bizarre and hard-to-believe cases covered on the show. The gist of it is that Don Decker was furloughed from jail to attend his abusive grandfather's funeral only to be overtaken by an evil spirit that granted him the ability to generate storms inside buildings. Things only get crazier from there as Decker then began levitating during an argument with someone. Add in a crucifix that burned Decker's hands and even more rain and you have yourself a truly unexplainable case.
This 1993 episode also featured the murder of Michael Hunter, the case of a missing person involving Dolores, and the attempt to uncover the true identity of a conman who called himself "Tom Hughes." The show was in peak form at this point and this episode shouldn't be missed.
Stream it on Peacock.
The Circleville Writer (Season 7, Episode 6)
This next story seems like something out of a movie and not real events because it's just so bizarre. In 1976, residents of Circleville, Ohio started to receive very personal letters from a mystery writer that contained information that only a few people knew. Although hard to believe, the story only gets crazier from there as it goes down a path that includes the mysterious death of one of the recipients and the attempted murder of another. Add in someone who may or may not have been responsible for the letters going to prison and a postcard sent to Unsolved Mysteries, and you have yourself a truly eerie and unexplained case.
This two-hour Season 7 episode also includes additional cases of murder and even one detailing a buried treasure in Lake Michigan that supposedly contains $400 million in gold coins.
Stream it on Peacock.
D.B. Cooper (Season 1, Episode 2)
Unsolved Mysteries isn't the only show to detail the 1971 hijacking of a commercial plane by the mysterious figure known as D.B. Cooper, but the Season 1 episode focusing on the unsolved case is one of the best retellings of the bizarre crime and disappearance. The story goes that Cooper claimed to have a bomb with him on the plane when he demanded $200,000 in cash, four parachutes, and safe passage to Mexico City before jumping out of the plane never to be seen again. The cash, which would have been able to be traced by authorities was never used and remains a mystery nearly 50 years later.
In addition to the D.B. Cooper opening story, the episode of Unsolved Mysteries also focuses on the strange deaths of two best friends as well as the death of sports memorabilia collector Dennis Walker whose body was found in a hotel room with a different name a year after he disappeared.
Stream it on Peacock.
The Face On Mars, Kathy Hobbs (Season 1, Episode 14)
Anyone who walked by a grocery store checkout stand in the 1990s knows about the mysterious face on the surface of Mars that many believed was a sign of the extraterrestrial life. Well, Unsolved Mysteries even got in on the fun in a Season 1 episode exploring the face's origins and the differing viewpoints of those who believed it was just a hill and those who believed it was something more. As we all know now, the face is just an optical illusion, but that didn't stop us all from getting carried away back then.
Another case featured in this episode is the mysterious disappearance and death of Kathy Hobbs, a teenager who believed that she wouldn't live to see her 16th birthday. Although she was relieved to survive her birthday, Kathy disappeared shortly after and was never seen alive again. Nine days after disappearing, Kathy's body was found near Lake Mead, Nevada. By the time her killer was identified as Michael Lee Lockhart, he had already been sentenced to death in four other states, resulting in Nevada not seeking prosecution.
Stream it on Peacock.
Oakville Blobs (Season 9, Episode 6)
The Unsolved Mysteries case of the Oakville Blobs sounds more like something out of a horror movie than a real-life incident, but despite how crazy it sounds, this actually happened. In the summer of 1994, residents in a 20-square-mile area in Oakville, Washington, began to notice a gelatinous material falling from the sky on multiple occasions over the course of three weeks.
The story gets worse from there when people begin to come down with mysterious illnesses that many believe can be traced back to the toxic blobs falling from the sky. The material was believed to be human waste illegally released from airplanes, but a study of one of the blobs revealed something beyond explanation.
Stream it on Peacock.
Roswell (Season 2, Episode 1)
The Unsolved Mysteries reboot on Netflix contains the most terrifying and engaging alien abduction story I've seen on a television show, but it wasn't the first time the series talked about alien visitors. Way back in Season 2 of the show's original run, there was a large segment dedicated to the urban legend that is Roswell. Detailing the events of July 2, 1947 and the intrigue that surrounding the alleged crash landing of an alien spacecraft, the episode does a pretty good job of looking all of the different angles of this bizarre episode of American history. And the jury is still out on this one as no one really knows (or will admit) what happened more than 70 years ago in the American Southwest.
Stream it on Peacock.
Resurrection Mary (Season 6, Episode 15)
Unsolved Mysteries featured quite a few ghost stories but none were as more convincing as the tale of Resurrection Mary in a Season 6 episode. On the outskirts of Chicago sits Resurrection Cemetery which the show makes a case for being one of the most haunted locations in the country, which is documented through the tale of the ghostly figure known to many men as Mary. Dating back to at least the 1930s, multiple men have reported giving the beautiful figure a ride home late at night before disappearing in the cemetery.
In addition to tackling the case of the restless spirit, the episode focuses on numerous missing person cases as well as the manhunt for Victor Gerena and Filberto Ojeda Rios who were responsible for a major Wells Fargo heist in the early 1980s.
Stream it on Peacock.
The Bermuda Triangle (Season 3, Episode 2)
And then there's the fan-favorite urban legend the Bermuda Triangle, which was covered in great detail in Season 3 of Unsolved Mysteries. To illustrate the mysterious and dangerous area in the Atlantic Ocean, the episode focuses on five World War II bombers that went missing in the famed location in 1945. Back in the day the Bermuda Triangle was all anyone could talk about and that's partially a result of this episode, which offered theories but no concrete answers about the scores of disappearances reported there.
Stream it on Peacock.
Those are just 10 bizarre cases from Unsolved Mysteries that you stream for free on Peacock. Be warned as some of these episodes, and the hundreds like them, are still as frightening now as they were back in the 1990s. And if I left off your favorite episode, make sure to let me know in the comments below.
