I think he took some mushrooms before going to sleep and started hallucinating lol

heh.

I'll revive this old thread purely because the title made me laugh. :)

I wonder if he's still married to the woman who was "posessed". Wasn't she only 16 or 17 when they got married?

That is a good question and I have to say, I sincerely doubt it. What I always thought happened with that whole thing was, the girl was having trouble with her own family, so his took her in and they ended up getting together.

This had to have been the least credible ghost story UM ever presented. I didn't believe any of these people.

good old Alan Mann and his teenage bride what's not to like about those two?
as for the above question I'm pretty sure that Mann and his teenage bride are still together.
She would have to be crazy to leave a guy like Alan Mann who was a whole lot of Man (atleast in terms of body fat) :lol:

I'm a little miffed that several snails had to be "sacrified" for some dumbass ritual.

You could tell by the way Alan's wife was smiling and almost giggling throughout her interview that the whole thing was bologna.

Okay...here's my confession. I always 100% believed them. They way I see it is like this...my husband says he can see ghosts and has seen a few on occasion. Do I believe him? Well, I 100% believe that he believes he sees them. Whether he is actually seeing ghosts or something else is open to debate. And I think its the same thing here...I think they really believe what they're telling us, whether its a bunch of hoo-ha or not.

Also, just to throw this out there...why would they make it all up? They didn't get paid from UM and if anything now people think they are a bunch of nutters...so what did they have to gain?

Also, just to throw this out there...why would they make it all up? They didn't get paid from UM and if anything now people think they are a bunch of nutters...so what did they have to gain?

attention?

well...I suppose that possible....

I think Mr. Mann had a bad case of food poisoning.... Altered his sense of reality, like that episode of the Sopranos when Tony had food poisoning...

I would have to say that this segment definitely contained what I thought was the most comical moment on Unsolved Mysteries.

When Alan and Linda were in bed watching TV and Linda suddenly is allegedly posessed and starts laughing to get on top of him.

If she was indeed posessed, I have to say it was really nice and considerate of the ghost to make sure that the popcorn bowl was secure on the dresser and didn't spell before attacking Alan. :lol:

He had to have thought for a moment she was just being kinky or something. :lol:

Anyway in all seriousness, I was always somewhat dubious about this case. The fact that there was no record of someone with their spirit's name, Isabella Kramer I believe it was, is kind of suspicous to me.

Also their house appeared to be fairly new, not the type of place where you would expect a haunting.

Anyone else think the actor in the reenactments looks like Craig from Malcolm in the Middle?

I cant take this case seriously now after making that mental connection.

Anyone else think the actor in the reenactments looks like Craig from Malcolm in the Middle?

Yep, I thought the same thing.

I think this segment is about to come on Unsolved Mysteries right now!! Have not seen it in years.

This was always one of my favorite segments...I find it kind of funny...and interesting...because I don't think they're lying...but what is really going on?

This was always one of my favorite segments...I find it kind of funny...and interesting...because I don't think they're lying...but what is really going on?


I always thought this girl came into their lives and gave them a ride:lol: Did they have money? I can't remember. She used him for money maybe, lol. I always thought that she was just kinky and he was slow and thought she was a ghost:lol:

It played again yesterday! Favorite segment, lol

they ended up moving,and perhaps that was the whole point anyway.

I watched that episode with my almost-grown daughter and promised her never to listen at the door, if she and her future husband stay at our house and say, "Ooo, I don't like the sound of this."

That part struck me as extremely weird.

This segment has so many good lines...

RS: The Mann's even poured a ring of salt around the house. Several snails were sacrified, but the hauntings continued.
The teenage bride: I do not have an evil laugh.


The whole case IMHO can be summed up with what the father said: "I thought I was livin with a bunch of kooks."

I always LOL at the part where he goes, "You're hurting my wrists, Linda!"

I also was going to ask if anyone thought they were still together? Their names are so common but I found someone on Facebook that looks like her, wearing a pink top and with someone who doesn't look like Alan? Who knows...

I thought the whole thing was made up. Come on, a lamp that shoots fire? I don't believe it.

I think there had to be some credibility to their story or else UM producers wouldn't have even wasted their time. I always wanted to know more about this girl's backstory, considering she was only 16 when she got married to Alan.

I think there had to be some credibility to their story or else UM producers wouldn't have even wasted their time. I always wanted to know more about this girl's backstory, considering she was only 16 when she got married to Alan.

There are some segments where, if they'd been presented in the last couple years, I'd swear the people were just fishing for a reality show.

This one fits that category. Sarah Powell, too. Maybe Tina Resch.

Some of the "psychics", especially Georgia Rudolph, and a few of the more out there witnesses who swear they saw a missing person seemed to just want any kind of publicity and to get their faces on tv.

But I've read in books about unexplained murders/deaths how people would try to get UM to profile their loved ones case, but UM was extremely picky in terms of which ones they would invest time and money on. The Alan Mann case seems like such a waste of both, especially over a ghost segment in which there is no way of proving/disproving.

The original airing of this case was 10/27/93. I think maybe they used it as a halloween episode. They've done stuff like that before, with Stack hinting that it's all in good fun and we should just enjoy the tale in the spirit of halloween spookiness.

----eta
I don't mean to sound like I'm dismissing all stories where people think they are being haunted (I actually believe in what I call "Spooky Doom" and have lived in a haunted house). I just think this story wasn't really meant to be taken too seriously.

I agree that is wasn't really meant to be taken 100% seriously. Also, let's not forget that UM was a television show, and the producers needed to make compelling or interesting segments. I think this is what gave the show such a unique feeling. What we saw was not a news broadcast. :D Moreover, the show had an entirely different feel to it (for me at least) than AMW, for example. Their choice of music, the filming style, their choice of RS, was all done to make it good television, not to directly enhance their ability to solve the mystery. They got that indirectly by getting more people to tune in.

Yes, they deliberately made some of the segments spookier. In this case, it was a ghost segment that happens to be pretty entertaining, because of the combination of events themselves, the people involved, the way it was shot/re-created, and the dialogue (RS & snails).

To that end, making a good segment for the show, UM inarguably succeeded yet again with this case. Here we are discussing this one and many other segments almost 20 years later!

This is another campy favorite of mine, right up there with Lisa Penz's trashing of the "enormous" Bonnie Wilder and the moment when the ominous background music was pumped up just before Liz Carmichael took off "her" wig. :rolleyes: :lol: I think Alan Mann's father summed it up best when he said he "thought [he] was living with a bunch of flakes!"

That said, I did find it interesting that the segment ended with the Mann family abandoning their "haunted" house--with no mention of what became of the house afterward. I can't help but wonder if the family concocted the ghost as a way to try and get out of their mortgage payments, which is also what I believe the infamous Lutzes tried to do in Amityville.

I just watched this segment on the Farina version. I noticed that they didn't show any of Alan's wife's interview which is pretty key to the story. It made me wonder if she requested she be removed from it. Anyone know if they are still married?

I just watched this segment on the Farina version. I noticed that they didn't show any of Alan's wife's interview which is pretty key to the story. It made me wonder if she requested she be removed from it. Anyone know if they are still married?

Wow, so I would guess they edited out the whole possession turned rough sex bit too.

I think someone on here mentioned finding Alan on FB with a different woman that was NOT Linda. Its not surprising to think they would not be together. I mean, she was 16. The whole family seemed pretty dysfunctional too especially considering the legal troubles they had later on.

I watched it as well and wondered the same thing. I love how they point out that he had a "16 year old wife". How old was he at the time? I doubt that they are still married. Living with ghosts can be stressful on a marriage.

Wow, so I would guess they edited out the whole possession turned rough sex bit too.

That stinks. That was always my favorite part of the segment.

justin5256 posted this on another thread about the Manns.


07-09-2014, 03:51 PM
Can we just talk about the Mann's for a second?

I was curious about the families life after just seeing this episode for the umpteenth time. I always thought that they faked the ghosts to get out of paying for their rent/mortgage, something along those lines. Curiosity got the best of me and I decided to check the Polk County Lake Wales clerk of courts. It seems that after the episode aired in 1991, a few of the family members got into quite a bit of trouble.
I figured I'd find records of not paying for something or another but what I found was much more interesting.

It turns out that stud muffin Alan Mann was charged in June of 1991 for Battery.
In 1993 Alan Mann was charged with domestic violence spouse battery. It seems the ghost possessed him to lay his hands on his 16 year old bride. No, But seriously, what a jerk.
In 1994 Alan was charged with a felony of firing a gun in public as well as "Improper exhibit of a firearm-dangerous." I'm guessing he was wielding a gun in public like an idiot.

You can take a look at Alan's public records here:https://www2.myfloridacounty.com/ccm/do/personCaseSearch?q1=1i_25F6bNFrlNcqk4qg6MA

Sandra Mann (Alan's Mother) was charged with selling marajiuana in 1993.
In 1999 she was charged with public consumption.

Yep, these wack-a-doodles never saw a ghost. They were too busy beating their underage wives and smoking illegal drugs!

Excellent research!

I always doubted this story, but there really is no reason to believe it now.

I just watched this segment on the Farina version. I noticed that they didn't show any of Alan's wife's interview which is pretty key to the story. It made me wonder if she requested she be removed from it. Anyone know if they are still married?

I don't think they're married any longer. In an obituary for his dad (I think a link is posted somewhere on this forum) along with others, Alan is listed as a surviving son. Alan's wife is named and it's not Linda.

edit:

Here's a link to David Mann's obituary: http://www.meaningfulfunerals.net/home/index.cfm/obituaries/view/fh_id/10334/id/82596

I think he took some mushrooms before going to sleep and started hallucinating lol


:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Along with Bonnie Wilder, this is one of those rare gonzo UM episodes that never fails to make me smile - its a pity they didn't do more of these sorts of absurd laughfests...as this episode demonstrates, Stack has a talent for magnificently deadpan comic delivery.

I doubt the reason they divorced was because Alan was too much Mann for her.

justin5256 posted this on another thread about the Manns.

Just a slight correction. I didn't post this originally.

To my everlasting shame, this segment scared the crap out of me as a kid. Now I laugh. Dear lord those people are rednecks! The fact that Alan looks like Craig from Malcolm in the Middle only adds to the hilarity.

As I've said before: Not the scariest, but probably the most entertaining ghost segment.

Along with Bonnie Wilder, this is one of those rare gonzo UM episodes that never fails to make me smile - its a pity they didn't do more of these sorts of absurd laughfests...as this episode demonstrates, Stack has a talent for magnificently deadpan comic delivery.

Makes you wonder how many takes they had to do for segments like this due to laughing-the whole crews bs meter must have been off the charts for stuff like this, Rainboy, Magic Rock etc.

I doubt the reason they divorced was because Alan was too much Mann for her.

There was a whole lotta man there-more than enough for her & the spectral nymphomaniac.

One of my favorite episodes! Good ole' Alan Mann.

He also has an open twitter too, but other than his passionate love for guns, there isn't much else on there.

I just watched this segment on the Farina version. I noticed that they didn't show any of Alan's wife's interview which is pretty key to the story. It made me wonder if she requested she be removed from it.

I doubt she would have any legal right to do that. I'm sure anyone who was interviewed 20 years ago had to sign something to be interviewed in the first place.

The Farnia version of the segments were chopped in half and many memorable things were cut. Since this case was pretty much a joke from day one anyway, I doubt the editors thought they would be missing anything.

It's true that you do have to sign a waiver to be on television.
She may not have any legal right, but she could request it though. After all, since Alan was charged with domestic violence she may have written to UM out of concern and they were nice enough to cut her out of the story. It was probably not the case here, but hey, it could happen.

I did notice something funny though. On my DVR description of this episode it lists the episode as "Alan Mann" and not "Lake Whales Haunting" It was pretty comical that even the show doesn't recognize it as a ghost episode. Nope, Just that one episode with Alan Mann, we all remember him!

Was Linda even old enough to sign a waiver to be on TV? Wasn't she a minor when that segment was filmed and I know minors can't legally sign contracts and other similar documents. (One of her parents probably had to sign for her to enter into a marriage contract with Alan.)

Or was the fact that she was married make her an adult in the eyes of the law? Or her adult husband was her "legal guardian" and so, like a parent, could sign a waiver on behalf of a minor child?

gah.... I feel so slimey now. :barf:

My husband was on television once along side his little league team. The team was underage so their parents had to sign. I'd imagine her parents or Alan Mann would have had to sign for her.

I feel like Alan Mann would be president of the club of made fun of people appearing on UM on this forum.

I feel like Alan Mann would be president of the club of made fun of people appearing on UM on this forum.
:lol:

Assistant President - Danny Wheeler

Treasurer - Bonnie Wilder

Honorary members include: Tim McClure, Jule Caylor, Bob Bean, and Elizabeth Carmichael.

Paul Pollis would be the custodian, I'm sure.

Bob Bean would be the photographer/videographer for events and meetings that they would hold.

Paul Pollis would be the custodian, I'm sure.
:rotflmao:

I just watched the DF Version of this very episode. I wondered where this alan and his chickelette are now. ��

Paul Pollis would be the custodian, I'm sure.

SO many years late, but high five to you, good neighbor! Solid joke at the expense of my friend who enjoys a clean house! :lol:

You need another girl on that crew! How about Elizabeth Ortiz and Cheryl Holland?

You need another girl on that crew! How about Elizabeth Ortiz and Cheryl Holland?
Elizabeth Ortiz can be in charge of refreshments at club meetings. I heard that her milkshakes are the best!

Elizabeth Ortiz can be in charge of refreshments at club meetings. I heard that her milkshakes are the best!

Her milkshakes along with Marie Hilley's chicken cacciatore.

Elizabeth Ortiz can be in charge of refreshments at club meetings. I heard that her milkshakes are the best!

Yeah. They bring ALL the boys to the yard. The "yard," of course, being the emergency room.

But don't forget Michael Swango and his spicy chicken wings! And donuts!

Guy was the original big sexy before Kevin Nash.

Gertrude Pruitt will bring the homemade fruitcake

attention?
Fame

I remain pretty curious about Linda Mann myself, since UM stressed her age in the segment and all.
For what it's worth, I don't recall the Robert Stack version of the segment too well anymore, but the Dennis Farina one does show Linda Mann's possession, and I thought she was still featured pretty well in that reformatted segment.

I remain pretty curious about Linda Mann myself, since UM stressed her age in the segment and all.
For what it's worth, I don't recall the Robert Stack version of the segment too well anymore, but the Dennis Farina one does show Linda Mann's possession, and I thought she was still featured pretty well in that reformatted segment.

Oh, the Stack version shows her possession, too. And it's so bad it's awesome....

"MUAH HA HA HA HA HA HA! MUUUAHH HA HA HA HA HA!"

*chuckle* Makes me laugh just typing that out.

Oh, the Stack version shows her possession, too. And it's so bad it's awesome....

"MUAH HA HA HA HA HA HA! MUUUAHH HA HA HA HA HA!"

*chuckle* Makes me laugh just typing that out.
That part of the case was very funny.

I'm watching the (awful) segment now and I suspect the bad smell was a dead mouse in the wall. The mouse probably ate all that salt they put in their yard :p

sorry folks I know everything to be said about this case has been said and reading this post while watching the segment well the Farina segment is great. They did not chop out the part where she holds him down but its very short and yes she is basically no where in any of the interviews. This goes down as my 2nd favorite joke ghost story the first being the one where those two sisters were selling the haunted mansion in england somewhere dont remember their names nor do I remember what part but I do remember the segment ending with their being sued by the homeowners or something I will wait for the segment to re-air on Lifetime.

Anyway from the moment I first saw this one many years ago I could never get over the lamp on fire and of course the 16 year old wife holding him down. He of course was surprised because I can imagine the only she would want to climb on top of him is by being possessed. I will have to go to amazon and watch the original segment I am sure it was a ton more fun. Just love reading all of the comments left by all you guys.

When I first saw this episode as a kid, the wife’s strange behavior was proof positive of demonic possession. Then, as an adult, I realized it was just rough sex.

When I first saw this episode as a kid, the wife’s strange behavior was proof positive of demonic possession. Then, as an adult, I realized it was just rough sex.

And Mann was just ultra-vanilla.

When I first saw this episode as a kid, the wife’s strange behavior was proof positive of demonic possession. Then, as an adult, I realized it was just rough sex.

Or, even more disturbing, a domestic violence incident that was covered up. Alan says he slammed her against the wall repeatedly. I could see a scenario where she was playfully being rough, making him angry and lashing out at her. Then she denies it and spurns it into more evidence of the house being haunted. At least that's what I thought when I watched it on Prime a few weeks ago.

Or, even more disturbing, a domestic violence incident that was covered up. Alan says he slammed her against the wall repeatedly. I could see a scenario where she was playfully being rough, making him angry and lashing out at her. Then she denies it and spurns it into more evidence of the house being haunted. At least that's what I thought when I watched it on Prime a few weeks ago.

That's a much more logical explanation than what UM presented. Slightly OT, but how is a 16 year old allowed to get married? Where I live it's 19 and I imagine the US it's either 18 or 19 too. That is the real Unsolved Mystery in this case not the "ghost".

That's a much more logical explanation than what UM presented. Slightly OT, but how is a 16 year old allowed to get married? Where I live it's 19 and I imagine the US it's either 18 or 19 too. That is the real Unsolved Mystery in this case not the "ghost".

It can be younger with parental consent. And I think some states it's still under 18, anyway.

Alan and Linda divorced in 1995.

Alan has since remarried, had two children and divorced again. He still lives in the Lake Wales area and can be easily found on Facebook. So can his mother, Sandra, who still lives in the same area as well.

Linda is another story. Since her divorce from Alan, she has bounced around from place to place quite a bit. She also remarried at one point but I can’t determine whether or not that lasted or if she ever had any kids. She has lived in over a dozen different addresses in Florida, a couple in Georgia and a couple in West Virginia over the last 22ish years. She isn’t on any social media sites either.

Okay, my Tuesday morning sleuthing is over now.

Was this a case of them renting social housing & just wanting to move, so created this nonsense to achieve that goal? How long had they been there prior to the fall of 1991? If a long time then why had they never noticed anything previously? Why after the house was 'blessed' by a local minister & this all supposedly stopped did they still want to move?