Ha ha, name of the topic makes me feel like a star trek nerd or something...but this is just ways that watching UM may have improved your life for the better (maybe not the actual show, but the theories/messages involved.)

UM has made me appreciate my life more because the stories I relate to the most are the ones of teenage males (mcfall, sova, etc...)

Has made me realize that sh*t does happen and you need to be prepared for it...I no longer think "that could never happen to me."

Made me want to own a gun (controversial, yes i know, but just my own opinion.)

I'll just say, that everything is locked. And I check multiple times to make sure everything is locked.

Also, I kind of fear drawings of people's faces now.

I've been watching UM for many years now and the main thing that it has made me realize is be aware of your surroundings when out alone. For instance, Colleen Reed, Joyce McClain and Kathy Hobbs cases. I know one can only do so much to prevent a possible abduction, but it doesn't hurt to take extra precautions.

I don't know. I think it's made my life worse in some ways. I never thought about it.

I don't use ATMs at night ever.

I think like a lot of other posters its probably made me a little more paranoid than I would normally be. For instance last night I was at church. We have a small church in a very small town. In the middle of services a scruffy looking young guy walks in. He comes in and goes directly to the other side of the church (which is separated with a wall from the auditorium) and spends several minutes back there. I must say I was getting very worried (no one knew who he was and he had never been there before) what he was doing over there. The bathrooms are back there but it was just strange and I couldn't help but think about the UM segment about Harold and Thelma Swain who were robbed and gunned down in their church. The man spent a few minutes doing who knows what in the back of the church then comes back in the auditorium and sits down for maybe 2-3 minutes and then leaves. He never asked for any kind of help which is usually the reason people will wander in during the middle of church and we don't have any idea what he was doing there. Pretty strange.

I'm a pretty happy person and I don't cave in to paranoia in my daily doings. But UM has made me more aware of the ambiguousness of life, and how easy it is to become the victim of circumstance. I worry about my girlfriend's and my mom's safety far more, and I do take it seriously when they feel they've been followed or harassed by someone. It's better to be proactive about your safety if you feel 'off' or unnerved about a situation, rather than to deny your gut instinct and possibly become a victim.

There's too much public focus on 'stranger danger' and not enough on behaviors in those we know in our day to day lives. Individuals who abuse and kill, who are known to law enforcement but are unable to be prosecuted -- these people live and watch the same crappy TV commercials like the rest of us do. I just don't understand people who believe,"That kind of thing doesn't happen in my community."

Well, at the time that I started watching UM (around 1992 when I was 8) I was also learning all about child abduction and other crimes. I grew up in the Bay Area, and as many of you might recall from watching UM episodes, there were several little girls kidnapped within that area in the late 1980's. Then, in 1993, Polly Klaas was kidnapped and murdered. So, as a little girl living there at that time, such news was hard to avoid. I became aware of the dangers of the world at an early age, and UM certainly helped to bring that awareness into my home.

I would say that it improved my life, even if I may be overly cautious and worry too much at times. I think I have a good set of "street smarts", I don't walk alone at night, I keep an eye on my surroundings and I don't automatically trust someone just because "Oh, they seem nice!". Better safe than sorry.

I will also certainly never sleep at a rest stop or pick up a hitchhiker, that just goes without saying. I have UM to thank for sharing some stories of why doing so can be a very bad idea!

But with that in mind, UM has also profiled some really heart-warming stories, that show the good side of society. How many of the "Lost Loves" segments profiled the courageous or compassionate acts of strangers? Those had a way of reminding you of just how good people can be, despite the evil in the world.

Thanks UM!

Unsolved Mysteries has now changed my life in that I can't/won't get anything done around the house when this show is on! And back when it was FIRST on I would not go anywhere on Wednesday nights (when it as on Wednesday evenings!)

And someday if/when I am a widow/divorcee I will NEVER give a man money. Or access to my accounts. Or a key to my house. Or the code to my keyless entry. Unless he wants to slap a ring on my finger and we have an iron clad prenup.

These women who are wined and dined and then give a man $15,000 "until a wire transfer comes in" make me ill.

I think like a lot of other posters its probably made me a little more paranoid than I would normally be. For instance last night I was at church. We have a small church in a very small town. In the middle of services a scruffy looking young guy walks in. He comes in and goes directly to the other side of the church (which is separated with a wall from the auditorium) and spends several minutes back there. I must say I was getting very worried (no one knew who he was and he had never been there before) what he was doing over there. The bathrooms are back there but it was just strange and I couldn't help but think about the UM segment about Harold and Thelma Swain who were robbed and gunned down in their church. The man spent a few minutes doing who knows what in the back of the church then comes back in the auditorium and sits down for maybe 2-3 minutes and then leaves. He never asked for any kind of help which is usually the reason people will wander in during the middle of church and we don't have any idea what he was doing there. Pretty strange.

Oh boy as I was reading your post, that story popped into my head instantly. LOL I would be freaked out too if that happened to me.

Well, at the time that I started watching UM (around 1992 when I was 8) I was also learning all about child abduction and other crimes. I grew up in the Bay Area, and as many of you might recall from watching UM episodes, there were several little girls kidnapped within that area in the late 1980's. Then, in 1993, Polly Klaas was kidnapped and murdered. So, as a little girl living there at that time, such news was hard to avoid. I became aware of the dangers of the world at an early age, and UM certainly helped to bring that awareness into my home.

I would say that it improved my life, even if I may be overly cautious and worry too much at times. I think I have a good set of "street smarts", I don't walk alone at night, I keep an eye on my surroundings and I don't automatically trust someone just because "Oh, they seem nice!". Better safe than sorry.

I will also certainly never sleep at a rest stop or pick up a hitchhiker, that just goes without saying. I have UM to thank for sharing some stories of why doing so can be a very bad idea!

But with that in mind, UM has also profiled some really heart-warming stories, that show the good side of society. How many of the "Lost Loves" segments profiled the courageous or compassionate acts of strangers? Those had a way of reminding you of just how good people can be, despite the evil in the world.

Thanks UM!

Oh scary---the Bay Area abductions are some of the creepiest, most disturbing of the 20th century, in my opinion. I can imagine you have nerves of steel now.

Oh scary---the Bay Area abductions are some of the creepiest, most disturbing of the 20th century, in my opinion. I can imagine you have nerves of steel now.

It was a scary time, especially for parents. I know my mom was very concerned and always kept a close eye on me. I remember her telling me about Michaela Garecht's abduction not long after it happened, and I remember thinking how scary it was that the man had moved her scooter by his car in order to lure her over.

I remember one time, when I was about six, I was at the park with my mom. I was wandering around the picnic area, and all of a sudden, this man comes running up the hill right at me. I screamed and hauled ass to my mom, peeing my pants on the way there. I just knew he was going to grab me. Well, joke was on me, he was running past me to catch his dog who had bolted up the hill behind me. Hahah, it's not really a funny subject, but looking back, I have to laugh at me running and peeing myself.

But that was just how aware I was of kidnappings and "stranger danger" at the time. Those abductions really haunted this part of California, I'm sure they still do in a way.

Between the Dorothy Donovan and Oberholzter/Schnee cases, I'll never be involved in hitch-hiking on either end

How has UM changed my life?

Gee, maybe the TWENTY YEARS OF NIGHTMARES FROM THE BUNK BED EPISODE HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

(sobs) I'm sorry, I just can't take it anymore. I still have to sleep with a light and a stuffed animal -- and no, I am not joking. Damn you, UM.:crying:

What have I learned from UM? Let me count the ways.....

9. Never use an ATM @ night. If I am that desperate for money, I will mooch off of my friends until later on or I will go into a gas station and pay the $2.00.

8. Never walk to the grocery store alone @ night. Yes, I did up when I was living in the frozen North of the UP of Michigan a couple of times to the store, but now that I am back home.....NEVER!

7. God forbid, if a charming man who comes into my life while I am single, widowed, etc shortly after wants a loan, NEVER GIVE THEM MONEY OR MY ATM CARD!

6. I was always taught this, even when I was a kid, but NEVER PICK UP A HITCHHIKER.

5. Never sleep in a rest area. I drove cross country a few times and always stayed @ a motel. A cheap roach nest w/ a deadbolt is better than your locked car door in a deserted rest area.

4. Never use a payphone @ night in a deserted area unless one is really desperate. Thankfully, cell phones are now the deal.

3. Never wash my car @ night. If my car is that nasty and I just can't wait, as it gets sometimes here in Michigan, I will use the crappy gas station deal. Dries like crap, but I am safe in the car.

2. If one is walking in their abode, either alone or with child, and you think someone is in the house.....GET OUT! Do not keep asking if someone is there while walking towards where you hear the noise.

Of course, the number one thing I learned from watching UM......

1. If you see a burglar in your home, RUN AWAY FROM THEM.....NOT TOWARDS THEM! (I think most people know which case I am talking about here)

Unsolved Mysteries has helped me out in the two scariest moments in my life:

1) When I was about 15, I was walking around in a Wal-Mart. I caught the eye of a man wearing a camouflage jacket, black pants, and green hat, I smiled at him, really I was just happy to have a little freedom from my mother who was at the McDonalds on the other side of the store. Well, I started down a boxed corner, and in the corner of my eye, I could see he was following me. So, I got nervous, thinking of the countless UM segments where people were kidnapped, and took a unexpected turn down the previous aisle where the electronics are. Suddenly, he was 4 feet from me, and he was going to kidnap me. I hurried up and swung my shopping cart behind me to block him and I ran as fast as I could. Ironically, no one believed this story, including my mother. I didn't even contact the police because she wouldn't let me...

2) Anyways, fast forward in time, to about a year ago. A friend and I decided to spend the day walking and visiting a park that offered several little stores. We planned on riding a transit bus that would get us back home. We were waiting at the side of the road where the bus would come, when a white van (shudders, Tara Calico) went back, turned around, and came back. The man in the vehicle looked about 40, with blond hair, and asked us if we needed a ride. When we said no, he preceded to get out, and persuade us that the bus was nothing we should be on, and told us he was going as far as we were. I gave him the meanest look I could give a person and said "we don't need your help". When he realized we weren't just two naive possible victims he left, and in his rear view window, we could see him throwing a rope into his back seat.

I hope I don't freak anyone out with these stories :)

I hope I don't freak anyone out with these stories :)

Way too late for that. :lol:

Thank God you came away from both those events unharmed, though.



Here on Oahu, we don't have enough official police vehicles to go around. As you can imagine, there's only so many cars on the island, and it's very expensive to ship them here from another island or the mainland. So a solution Honolulu P.D. came up with was to allow certain police officers working certain shifts to drive their personally owned vehicles with one of those blue lights on top.

Last night my boyfriend and I were going to a movie and I noticed a car was pulled over on the other side of the road we were on with one of those civilian "blue light" vehicles behind it. I told my boyfriend there's no way I'd ever stop for one of those. Even if I were pursued in Mililani where we were at the time (a good twenty minutes from the Honolulu Police station), I'd keep driving until I made it downtown or were pursued by a marked, official police vehicle.

SageSlowdive, just out of curiosity: are you a guy or a girl?

Way too late for that. :lol:

Thank God you came away from both those events unharmed, though.



Here on Oahu, we don't have enough official police vehicles to go around. As you can imagine, there's only so many cars on the island, and it's very expensive to ship them here from another island or the mainland. So a solution Honolulu P.D. came up with was to allow certain police officers working certain shifts to drive their personally owned vehicles with one of those blue lights on top.

Last night my boyfriend and I were going to a movie and I noticed a car was pulled over on the other side of the road we were on with one of those civilian "blue light" vehicles behind it. I told my boyfriend there's no way I'd ever stop for one of those. Even if I were pursued in Mililani where we were at the time (a good twenty minutes from the Honolulu Police station), I'd keep driving until I made it downtown or were pursued by a marked, official police vehicle.

Thank you Meg. The second incident in particular really bothered me for a long time...it was kinda like a "what if" situation. What if I did get into that van...

Where I live, the police always look out for those vechiles, and always pull them over.

SageSlowdive, just out of curiosity: are you a guy or a girl?

Girl :D

UM has taught me to stop videotaping my satanic monologues after I set houses on fire.

UM has taught me to stop videotaping my satanic monologues after I set houses on fire.

LOL!

Ever since I started re-watching UM online (a habit that has happily coincided with my interest in true crime in general), I've been a lot more cognizant of my surroundings -- I go running or walking almost every day, and I'm constantly looking around, seeing who is around me, quickly memorizing the license plates of slow-moving cars, etc.

And, when I leave my current living situation and live alone again, I will absolutely own a.) a dog, and b.) a firearm...obviously these are no guarantees of personal safety, but I think it's good to be at least a little proactive.

Unsolved Mysteries has helped me out in the two scariest moments in my life:

1) When I was about 15, I was walking around in a Wal-Mart. I caught the eye of a man wearing a camouflage jacket, black pants, and green hat, I smiled at him, really I was just happy to have a little freedom from my mother who was at the McDonalds on the other side of the store. Well, I started down a boxed corner, and in the corner of my eye, I could see he was following me. So, I got nervous, thinking of the countless UM segments where people were kidnapped, and took a unexpected turn down the previous aisle where the electronics are. Suddenly, he was 4 feet from me, and he was going to kidnap me. I hurried up and swung my shopping cart behind me to block him and I ran as fast as I could. Ironically, no one believed this story, including my mother. I didn't even contact the police because she wouldn't let me...

2) Anyways, fast forward in time, to about a year ago. A friend and I decided to spend the day walking and visiting a park that offered several little stores. We planned on riding a transit bus that would get us back home. We were waiting at the side of the road where the bus would come, when a white van (shudders, Tara Calico) went back, turned around, and came back. The man in the vehicle looked about 40, with blond hair, and asked us if we needed a ride. When we said no, he preceded to get out, and persuade us that the bus was nothing we should be on, and told us he was going as far as we were. I gave him the meanest look I could give a person and said "we don't need your help". When he realized we weren't just two naive possible victims he left, and in his rear view window, we could see him throwing a rope into his back seat.

I hope I don't freak anyone out with these stories :)


You just reminded me of a few incidents actually.

1. When I was about 12 (started watching UM at 9, loved it ever since) a friend and I were walking back from the store just a block down from my house. We were on a cul-de-sac (sp?) and this van with a bunch of rowdy men turns around at the end. I immediately had a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach- and my instinct was right. The van screeched to a halt alongside us. It wasn't windowless or anything (those never fail to creep me out) but the men started saying things to us. I couldn't even hear what they said but the two of us took off running, diverting from that dead-end street and being sure to remain on the side of the busy street instead. Very chilling.

2. Just last month, I was vacationing in Europe, actually just got back. Mainly, it was very safe over there and my friend and I had no problem walking together at night. One day while in England I was alone and decided to walk on this path alongside a river (I know, how could I be so silly after the bikepath segment? :confused: ) Everything was fine and beautiful, and on the way back some friendly locals said hello. Then one man wanted to speak more and I kept going. He began to follow me. There were very few people on the path and it was broad daylight but still I was freaked out. I crossed an overpass to get over to the other side of the river and was sure I'd lost him. I wandered into this meadow, where I was pretty sure more people would be since it was such a lovely day but there was no one. Then I saw him in the distance and he actually waved to me like I was a long lost friend or something. I took off running as fast as I could, running on adrenaline. I ended up on this elementary school campus and was so shaken I just stood there, feeling safer with all the children and parents around. When I finally made it back to where I was staying, I realized just how much danger I had been in. I'm just glad that I wasn't farther in the meadow and was able to get back on the path within a minute or things could have been horrible. I usually never walk alone or do things like this, but I had just gotten some bad news and was in a funk and not thinking straight. UM has taught me to be careful no matter where you are and always, above all, trust your gut! And especially don't wander around like this when upset about other things. I'm really glad nothing happened. The crazy thing is that just before this happened, two men had been behind me on the path and I had grown tense, but they had turned out to be harmless. Lapses of judgment can turn out far worse, as we have seen on UM.

UM has definitely made me more safety conscious and jump at noises in the house. I used to get mad at my brother when he would forget to lock the door (now he doesn't forget). I never use ATMs at night and will often back a friend who is using one even during broad daylight. I am definitely on my guard more. The show is very helpful in reminding us of safety.

Unsolved Mysteries has inspired my friend and I to establish a system of philosophy called "Stackism." As the name implies, our philosophy revolves around the presence of Robert Stack on Unsolved Mysteries, specifically his unwavering objectivity, sophisticated vocabulary, profound presence, and impressive wardrobe. My friend and I both have a tattoo (on my right shoulder and his left shoulder) that says "In Stack We Trust" in the "Mysteries" font.

-I never use an ATM at night.

-UM and AMW have taught me NEVER to pull over during the course of a road rage incident. When I was driving to my job, this car overshot me and nearly smacked into a tunnel wall. I don't know how this happened but the guy sped up beside me and yelled for me to pull over. I sure as hell wasn't going to do that. I told the guy I was sorry which seemed to just make him more angry. He continued yelling for another minute or two but then just drove off. I'm not sure the reason why. He might have calmed down or had to make turn to get off the road. It's also possible that he spotted a police car...one was in the distance. But no way in hell was I going to pull over there.