Okay, so I've begun recording segments of Unsolved Mysteries from Lifetime and what I'm trying to do is put dates with them, however, I'm finding that this is not so easy.

Does anyone know if Lifetime edits segments together? For example, todays episode that aired at 11am Central, first had the Joe Owens case, he killed his wife and buried her in a compost heap. This one aired on February 21, 1990. Then we had a Night Stalker witness case, followed by the church explosion and then Dale Hyde tries to kill a 6-year old boy. Looking at the description for the 2/21/90 episode, only Joe Owens fits. Does anyone know when these other cases aired originally.

Then the same problem came up again at the 12pm episode.

The Vietnam vet looking for the nurse (Airdate ?)
The blue Monte Carlo running the teens off the road (1/31/90)
The man who commits suicide in a church (Airdate ?)
Dan Short tied to a chair and drowned (3/21/90).

Some others that I need dates for:

3 ATV riders shot to death in the woods (?/?/90)
George Owens disappears while on his way to pick his wife up from a bus station. (?/?/92)
Kurt Sova disappeared for five days then was found dead. (?/?/89)

Can anyone help me out? What has Lifetime done to the original episodes, that aired on NBC?

Yes, unfortunately Lifetime does repackage the stories so you rarely, if ever, get one that was as it originally aired on NBC. One reason why the NBC airings are so much sought after.

I can help you with the dates on two of the stories:
Kurt Sova - 11-23-88
Vietnam Vet looking for nurse - 9-20-89

Vietnam Vet looking for nurse - 9-20-89

Not correct. I have the original airing of 9/20/89, and it was a different story.

To boechsner - yes, they switch stories around. For example, the Missy Munday/Jerry Strickland case was omitted from the Lifetime version of Special 4 (original airdate 11/29/87) and replaced with the story about the two women beaten in a laundry room in Woonsocket, Rhode Island (from Special 7).

In fact, I don't believe I've ever seen the Munday/Strickland case on Lifetime. In Special 6, Stack alludes to the update on their capture, but the update is nowhere to be found in the Lifetime version of the episode. Those idiots...

Hi Justin,

You have previously stated that the UM specials that circulate among fans are sourced from your tapes. Did you tape these off the air back in 1987 & 1988 yourself or recieve them in trade? - The reason why I ask is because someone had to have some incredible foresight to tape them off the air as UM at that time was basically only a "shot in the dark" (no pun intended) prospect in an effort to see if that type of show would find an audiance. The fact that someone taped the Burr and Malden episodes amazes me for some reason due to the fact that a lot of tape traders I know only tape the stuff they are interested in or are asked to tape by others.

Very few people I have come in contact with tape a series from the very start - Usually what happens if a series is successful they start taping the repeats as they air during the year. I'm rambling so I'll stop here :)

Later.

If anyone can help me get NBC eps, that would kick butt. I would love to see the pre-RS eps. I remember them when I was a kid. I was like 10 and this show used to scare the crap out of me. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

DD - It was a trade. The person I received them from recorded 5 of the 7 specials herself when they were originally broadcast (although I now suspect the first special, with Burr, is in fact a rerun since it has an update, but it hardly matters).

So, I am not the "original source". However, I can tell you that the "original source" is a bit on the shy side, and (unfortunately) has no interest in the show now. For those reasons, I promised I would never give up her name or email address.

I traded the specials to 3 people from this board, and it is my understanding that they have made copies and given them to others, who have given them to others, and so fourth, so it's out of my hands now.

The idea about a tape tree got me thinking, and I may be willing to set something up so you all can see them. When I first received the specials, I hoarded them to myself, but I now think the fans should see them since it is very unlikely they will be released commercially.

Sorry for the ramble. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Justin

I've also read that you are searching for one or two specials from NBC broadcasts which you lack and if you ever found them you were going to put them on a dvd. This is a cool idea - I've been thinking about including some of the segments from the specials on my "Unsurpassed Mysteries" sets and probably will just so that people can more acurately discuss the cases. No need to worry about posting anyone's email address - I'm not interested in obtaining stuff or even trading anymore really. I haven't really video tape traded in around 3 years besides an occasional swap here and there but I no longer video tape trade as a hobby per say.

I don't think any more dvds are coming our way - from all reports I've heard the official "Unsolved Mysteries" dvds didn't sell too well which may just be due to the fact that a lot of the chain stores like "Barnes & Noble", "Suncoast", "FYE" etc. did not stock them. I recently did a tape tree on this site and I think its going to go pretty well and eventually these tapes will reach "Echoes of Fear aka Dark" and he will probably upload some of them on his site. I would be more than willing to help you set up a tape tree or something if you want - I dunno where you want to go with this?

Later.