Unsolved Mysteries' 15 Most Disturbing Cases, Ranked

Summary

• Unsolved Mysteries, iconic since the 1980s, remains disturbing with re-enactments and audience interaction influencing eerie cases.
• A spontaneous human combustion survivor, Kay Fletcher’s story is terrifying to this day
• The show also covers cases like the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury and the haunting of the Queen Mary, delving into the macabre and unexplained.

Warning: contains descriptions of graphic violence and disturbing language.

Unsolved Mysteries, first aired in the 1980s, is responsible for nightmares around the world, with some of the show’s most disturbing episodes burned into the public consciousness. The beloved show is a documentary series exploring cases ranging from cold murders, to the supernatural. Although some mysteries have lost their impact, many remain just as powerful decades after the episodes were first aired.

Part of what makes Unsolved Mysteries‘ legacy iconic is its re-enactments, as well as requests for viewers to call in. This has sometimes led to exciting developments, with both features influencing the flow and content of episodes. Both re-enactments and audience interaction play a major part in many of Unsolved Mysteries‘ most disturbing episodes – even if the most horrifying aspects concern the mysteries themselves.

15 The Spontaneous Combustion Of Kay Fletcher

One of the most disturbing questions asked by Unsolved Mysteries is if spontaneous combustion is possible. In an episode aired in 1997, they focused on Kay Fletcher, a human combustion survivor. Known by believers as “SHC”, this occurs when a regular person bursts into flames with no apparent cause or warning. Although other victims haven’t been so lucky, Fletcher lived to tell the tale.

While having a peaceful, regular morning at home in 1996, Kay noticed smoke suddenly emanating from her own body – her husband, Michael, used to work at a crematorium and recognized the sickening smell of burning flesh. He claimed (via Unsolved):

“It was actually coming off of her skin. But there was no flame. The smoke was so thick that we had to turn on the fan and open the window, just to get the smoke out of there.”

Spontaneous human combustion is largely dismissed as a pseudoscience, with smoking and body fat among the explaining factors cited – but this didn’t seem to apply in Kay’s case, suggesting the terrifying possibility that anyone could become a victim out of nowhere. This episode made an “indelible mark on impressionable youths” (per Vice) in the 90s.

14 The Stockton Arsonist’s Videotape

One of the most disturbing pieces of footage ever shown on Unsolved Mysteries was the Stockton Arsonist. At the time of airing (1990), the arsonist had not yet been apprehended, pulling viewers into the mystery. A passerby discovered the footage, Alfonso Lua, who found the videotape by chance on the side of a road. The Lua family were horrified when they played the tape.

The footage showed a house completely ablaze. The disturbing voice behind the camera narrates the arson, saying (via Unsolved), “Do you see what I can do? This is my domain. My hell.” The creepy monologue also referred to an unknown recipient, Omar, and to Satanic or occult influences, citing an “ancient spirit of evil.” Incredibly, it was viewers of the segment on Unsolved Mysteries who helped investigators to find the culprit. John, his surname redacted, had set over a dozen other fires with his friend Omar and had dismembered animal remains and bloody knives in his home.

13 The Queen Mary Haunting

An early episode of Unsolved Mysteries examines the alleged haunting of the RMS Queen Mary. One witness saw a woman in a 40s-style cocktail dress and victory-rolled hair – and she never moved. When she looked back at her, she’d vanished. Another was standing on the stairs of a pool when she saw an elderly woman in monochrome by the pool who was gone when investigated. This reenactment is especially eerie, making this one of Unsolved Mysteries‘ creepiest episodes.

Several other sightings have been reported on the Queen Mary, dubbed the world’s most haunted ship. Robert Stack, the presenter, concludes in the episode that the ship is inhabited by “something ethereal that is seen and heard, but not explained.” In World War II, he reveals, the ship was ironically nicknamed the “grey ghost” because of its camouflage paint.

12 The Vampire Cult Murders

This cult case is most disturbing because of the killers’ delusions. The leader, Rod Ferrell, was 16 at the time. Ritual practices included cutting his arm and feeding his blood to his new followers, an “embrace” that welcomed them into the family. The clan did vampire roleplay around town, including an abandoned building they called The Vampire Hotel. Ferrell didn’t view it as a game, but a birthright.

He told Sheriffs he believed himself immortal and invincible. After a recruiting trip to Florida in 1996, things had escalated from bloodletting to murder. After Ferrell’s car broke down, a new follower, Heather, offered him her parents’ car, letting them in the house. He murdered both Heather’s parents before taking the keys, along with a pearl necklace and a hunting knife. The bodies were discovered by the victims’ other daughter, Jennifer.

11 The Tallman House’s Haunted Bunkbed

In 1987, Allen and Debbie Tallman brought a second-hand bunk bed home. It was the beginning of nine months of haunted horror for the family. From the moment their children slept in the bed, spirits harassed the whole family. They had previously stored it in the basement – it was when they moved it upstairs that the horrors began, making them fear for their lives.

The Tallmans, being regular churchgoers, hadn’t previously considered the existence of ghosts. It started small, with the radio behaving erratically. They tried to brush off such events until their children began reporting frightening ghost sightings, at which point they turned to their local pastor. In his opinion, there was a demonic entity in the house, terrorizing the children until the family moved and destroyed the bed.

10 The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run

The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury, a.k.a. the Cleveland Torso Murders, is particularly disturbing. Although unsolved, it’s thought that a key suspect – a mysterious Dr X – was responsible, but there was no compelling evidence. Even more disturbing, which Unsolved Mysteries covered, is a theory that he later killed Elizabeth Short – The Black Dahlia.

Elliot Ness, the lawyer who brought down Al Capone, was among many baffled by the string of murders. Ness held a suspect for a week of questioning but the results were never released. The idea that the killer was known behind the scenes is horrifying. The Great Depression backdrop for these killings makes them even more bleak.

9 The Black Dahlia Murder

Elizabeth Short is the most notorious murder in American history, with The Black Dahlia being referenced in MaXXXine among countless other films. She was nicknamed because of her distinctive look – she wore a dark Revlon lipstick during a time when a more flushed, naturalistic look was in vogue, and had a tattoo of an exotic flower. The end she met wasn’t glamorous but harrowing.

Not a drop of blood was found at the scene – she had been drained – and her body had been bisected with surgical precision. The slaughter of this obscure aspiring actress baffled law enforcement. Near the end of her life, she had been supplementing her income with sex work, highlighting the vulnerability of these women throughout crime history. One page of her “trick book” was missing, suggesting her killer was a client known to her.

8 The Disappearance Of Cindy Anderson

Featured as a case called “A Dreamy Disappearance”, the vanishing of Cindy Anderson is among Unsolved Mysteries’ scariest segments. In 1980, Anderson had a series of vivid dreams about being abducted by a man she recognized and let in the house. Her sister would overhear her talking to her mother, who insisted they were only dreams.

In 1981, she disappeared from her workplace. Her colleagues noticed that when she left the office she’d usually put the phone on hold but this wasn’t done, prompting their suspicion. They also noticed a book she was reading was opened at the only violent scene when the heroine is abducted at knifepoint. Cindy was never seen again, joining a tragically long list of Unsolved Mysteries’ missing girls.

7 The Blind River Killer

In 1991 in Ontario, Canada, Gord and Jackie McAllister found a quiet rest stop on Blind River on their way to visit relatives. They awoke to thumping on their campervan window – “It’s the police, you gotta move this thing.” When they opened the door, an armed man strode in and said, “I’m gonna rob you, and then I’m gonna kill you.”

They quickly agreed to give him the money, begging him not to hurt them. The gunman then shot Jackie and Gord made a leap to escape, rolling underneath the motorhome. A passerby asked what was going on, then returned to his car and was shot. Gord survived, but the police-posing shooter was never identified.

6 The Brayman Road Attacker

In this episode of Unsolved Mysteries, “Carol“, who chose to remain unidentified, was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. On her way to work – she was a social worker at a local mental health facility – she noticed a truck in front of her was driving erratically. The driver got out of his truck, turned to her and shot her point blank.

The shooter sped off, and Carol thought she was going to die – she was slumped and invisible, unable to call for help. A passing driver investigated and got medical assistance, saving her life. The attacker was never found and the shooting was seemingly random.

5 The Rendlesham Forest Incident

In 1980, in a US airbase in a forest in Suffolk, England, a first-class airman, John Burroughs, saw more than he thought he would on a routine patrol. He and his partner witnessed an odd bright light coming from Rendlesham Forest. Another security patrol confirmed it. They found impression marks on the ground and burn marks on the trees.

The next night, Col. Charles Halt tried to debunk the sightings only to find more strange phenomena that converted him from a UFO skeptic to a believer. Despite making official reports, the British military authorities did nothing about it. The belief that this was a UFO sighting has been dismissed as meteor showers, but Burroughs insists this isn’t what he saw.

4 The Payphone Abduction Of Angela Hammond

Angela Hammond’s case is most striking because the outcome would be different with today’s cell phone technology. One night in 1991, she dropped her fiancé Rob Schafer off at his home after a barbecue. They had planned to meet again later. In the meantime, Angela went to see a friend.

She called Rob from a payphone seven blocks from his home. She noticed a suspicious man circling the block in a green truck. He got out and used the phone. Shortly after, Angela screamed and Rob heard the man say, “I didn’t need to use the phone anyway.”Rob chased the truck for two miles before his transmission failed, and Angela was never found. The episode is not only a horrifying reminder of random violence, but also made doubly heartbreaking with the knowledge that things could have been different.

3 The Seven-Year Torture Of Cindy James

The Cindy James case covered on Unsolved Mysteries in the “Scared To Death” segment is both disturbing and tragic. In 1982, she began receiving creepy and threatening phone calls. During the seven years following, she reported almost 100 incidents of harassment. She often wasn’t taken seriously because at times she withheld information – likely because she feared for her life.

After she involved the police, things got even worse, including finding animals dead on her property. Following an attack, she changed her address and hired a PI. Increasingly, police were skeptical of Cindy and accused her of staging incidents. In 1989, she was brutally murdered after almost a decade of being cruelly terrorized, marginalized, and disbelieved – proving the veracity of her claims and making the preceding years seem even more horrifying in hindsight.

2 Michael Swango The Physician Serial Killer

Joseph Michael Swango, a.k.a. “Double-O Swango” is a terrifying case because it involves a trusted profession. In 1984, a patient who had just been convulsing wrote the words, “The doctor put something in my IV.” While calming the other patients, a nurse saw Swango coming out of another room with a strange smile on his face.

Mysterious respiratory arrests followed him wherever he worked, and several of his colleagues had symptoms of arsenic poisoning. After five years in prison, amazingly, he made it back into the medical profession – finally, in 2000, he was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences – not before inflicting terror on his patients and Unsolved Mysteries‘ audience.

1 The Severed Head Of Beaver County

The severed head case covered in the Netflix reboot of the classic Unsolved Mysteries series is gut-wrenching. Volume 4 of the revival investigated the baffling head found in rural Pennsylvania in 2015. The deep dive covered a teenage boy’s chance discovery of the head on a walk the previous year. There was no blood or bullets, and it had been severed perfectly from the body. It seemed placed deliberately to be found.

Most chillingly, it was perfectly preserved by embalming and the eyes had been replaced with the kind of red rubber balls one might buy from a gumball machine. The police later discovered that a 1988 crypt had been vandalized and the head removed from the body within. The true story of the severed head on Unsolved Mysteries only got weirder when a local, Jay Grabner, attempted to frame the boy who found it. The head remains a Jane Doe.

Source: Unsolved, Vice