I thought this might be an interesting/ different thread. How about listing a moment that you love to watch or that you found really impacting/ thrilling? I was watching the segment with the Casie Nicole just now and I always love and get goosebumps when Nathan Neesmith is rescued from being adrift. The music, coupled with the actors just gets me every time. I was always so glad he was ok, but hope that his comrades could be found safe as well. It's been so long, though.

Any parts that you all just love or are captivated by?

Good idea. Totally know what you mean and I have a few:

1. Aeileen Conway: the part where Conways' empty house is shown, looking as though someone just left--the curtains blowing in the breeze.

2. The opening scenes of the Keith Reinhard segment--the overhead view of the mountains and that "way out in the lonely country" music really set an appropriate feel for that particular story.

3. The end of the Christy Nichols segment, where we speculate what's become of her, and see only a few frames of empty, lonely prairie with the breeze blowing across them.

4. NH Serial Killer: the scenes meant to represent how John Philpin imagined the unknown killer committing his crimes. That bit where the killer's dragging his victim through the woods while she's pleading with him is absolutely chilling.

5. The end of the Audrey Moate segment. I've never seen Lake Pontchartrain look so gloomy and lonely.

6. The recreation of Mikki Jo West walking to work, with that car following after her. It always makes me hold my breath a little.

6. The recreation of Mikki Jo West walking to work, with that car following after her. It always makes me hold my breath a little.

I actually JUST wrote about this one in the scariest moment thread a few days ago. Very chilling. The actress looks so similar to her.


Aeileen Conway: the part where Conways' empty house is shown, looking as though someone just left--the curtains blowing in the breeze.

With the phone off the hook, full bath tub and hose emptying in the pool- that's just plain creepy. She was obviously interrupted in the middle of something. :eek:

Meg named some great ones. A couple that come to my mind (and I reserve the right to add to this, later on) include:

a) The Kansas City Firefighters... the actual radio calls "Pumper 30, Pumper 41, answer...) gives me the creeps every time I watch that segment.

b) Another one is a segment I don't remember from my teenage years, but that I saw recently (I'm sure one of the old pros here remembers the name) - but it's about two guys out with a girl, and one of the guys assaults the girl, and then throws her over a cliff.

Just the way the actress screamed, as in {the victim} knowing exactly what was about to happen to her; and the way the killer says "Bye." as he pushes her over.

Maybe because of the "newness" of the segment to me, but that one jumped up to the top 3 on my list of creepy/powerful moments.

Good idea. Totally know what you mean and I have a few:

1. Aeileen Conway: the part where Conways' empty house is shown, looking as though someone just left--the curtains blowing in the breeze.

2. The opening scenes of the Keith Reinhard segment--the overhead view of the mountains and that "way out in the lonely country" music really set an appropriate feel for that particular story.

3. The end of the Christy Nichols segment, where we speculate what's become of her, and see only a few frames of empty, lonely prairie with the breeze blowing across them.

4. NH Serial Killer: the scenes meant to represent how John Philpin imagined the unknown killer committing his crimes. That bit where the killer's dragging his victim through the woods while she's pleading with him is absolutely chilling.

5. The end of the Audrey Moate segment. I've never seen Lake Pontchartrain look so gloomy and lonely.

6. The recreation of Mikki Jo West walking to work, with that car following after her. It always makes me hold my breath a little.


I agreed with all of yours Meg! I will add there are quite a few moments in the Gail Delano segment that are memorable. Where they show pictures of her and you can hear her words being read from her journal. The dark, sort of depressing filming in her house. I believe you can also hear the tv talk about Starsky and Hutch, lol.

The end of the Wanda Jean Mays segment where her dad talks about continuing to look for her "as long as there's a dollar to do it with".

Very poignant moment at the end of the Elizabeth Campbell case where her dad says "she's our daughter, not what someone's made her out to be".

The scene of the empty apartment in the Robert Week's segment where they're looking for one of the victims in her apartment. You can even hear her voice on the answering machine.

I could go on and on....

As I guess some of you are aware, I love the Howard Drummond segment. Stack's narration coupled with the imagery of a hunchbacked oldtimer hobbling by the YMCA and over a bridge really epitomizes a resigned acceptance of one's own loneliness.

*Orange socks killings: The reenactment of the man on skis (as part of the search party) discovering Bobbie Oberholtzer's body. The camera angle is set so that we see her body far off in the distance. It's chilling and sad at the same time.

*Carol: The Connecticut woman shot by the man in the black pickup truck. The part where we see through her windshield as she approaches the truck. (Another creepy camera angle). As soon as we notice the truck, the background music does a creepy crescendo almost as if to foreshadow the danger that lies ahead.

*The entire opening of the Dennis DePue segment - especially the part where the Thorton's see Dennis holding the bloody blanket at the school yard.

*Agree with Meg on the Mikki Jo West segment. The part where she's walking to work is the most memorable.

I will add there are quite a few moments in the Gail Delano segment that are memorable. Where they show pictures of her and you can hear her words being read from her journal. The dark, sort of depressing filming in her house. I believe you can also hear the tv talk about Starsky and Hutch, lol.

Yeah, haha re: the tv I always wondered if I was hearing things, but I guess you caught that too. :p

The journal passage being read at the end was always very memorable for me, too. That camera pan to that lone silhouette reflection in the water was outstanding.


The scene of the empty apartment in the Robert Week's segment where they're looking for one of the victims in her apartment. You can even hear her voice on the answering machine.

That's a good one, too.

*Orange socks killings: The reenactment of the man on skis (as part of the search party) discovering Bobbie Oberholtzer's body. The camera angle is set so that we see her body far off in the distance. It's chilling and sad at the same time.

Definitely.

*Carol: The Connecticut woman shot by the man in the black pickup truck. The part where we see through her windshield as she approaches the truck. (Another creepy camera angle). As soon as we notice the truck, the background music does a creepy crescendo almost as if to foreshadow the danger that lies ahead.

What a nightmarish sound. The part where the assailant steps out of his truck and aims his handgun--everything goes silent for a few seconds--always stood out for me, too.

A few more:

- The end of the Kurt McFall segment--the cemetery on the hill, with the evening sunlight, Kurt's picture at the end, and the music. UM's used that musical score before at the end of many segments, but I think it was definitely most effective in that one.

- Dexter Stefonek: the frames of Dexter's Horizon driving through the icy night with these eerie "owl hooting" sounds--then this big piano THUD and a scene of his car burning against the stark snow.

- The scene where the actress portraying Kathy Hobbs is applying makeup and brushing her hair. I have no idea why it's always stood out to me.

- The thug in the CW Roddy segment: "What's up, old bag? We gonna blow your DAMN house up." The actor was so convincing it sent a chill down my spine.


And for all the case's sadness, the film of all the Southwestern scenery in the David Stone segment was amazing. When I was in Arizona months ago (one county over from where David Stone was eventually found in New Mexico, actually--I didn't know this until I'd returned home), I was lucky enough to finally see it for myself. I also got to see firsthand how easy it could've been for him to become completely disoriented and exposed. The desert is very much unforgiving. :(

As I guess some of you are aware, I love the Howard Drummond segment. Stack's narration coupled with the imagery of a hunchbacked oldtimer hobbling by the YMCA and over a bridge really epitomizes a resigned acceptance of one's own loneliness.

Oh yeah. What a fascinating man. I love when the magazines he subscribed to were described--I read Psychology Today and Foreign Affairs, and have probably read every Soviet Life from 1979 to 1989 courtesy of my college library. :p

How about the Frederick Valentich episode. When he says "It's hovering and it's not an aircraft!", it gave me goosebumps and scared me at the same time!

For some inexplicable reason, I get goosebumps during the Casie Nicole segment when the family members are discussing the mysterious phone calls, specifically the one where the caller said "I'm bringing them home". I guess the implications just blow me away - as if these men were actually abducted and someone likely involved in some way with their captivity was risking life and limb to call the family, but to also (presumably) attempt to release the men and get them home safely.

Another emotional "moment" for me is during the John Wilkes Booth segment. It occurs while we're listening to the narrative about how Booth supposedly escaped and this other man "Boyd" was shot and mis-identified as Booth. There is a scene where a Union soldier is reviewing Booth's diary - that was found on the dead man. The combination of the narrative, the scene, and the music just gives me the sense that "everything falls into place" and that this alternate explanation for Booth's "death" is, in fact, the correct one.

Yet another "moment" occurs during the end of that segment about the WWII ghost blimp and the two crew members who vanished. The segment closes on photos of the two airmen while Stack explains that the case is officially considered closed and the men declared dead. There is this haunting melody playing also. The whole presentation just gives me a sense of "this is the best explanation we're ever going to get for what happened to these men, and it's sad and pathetic we'll never know the truth".

Wow, I somehow feel that a tiny shred of my manhood is gone now that I have shared all this, lol.

The Norman Ladner segment, where every time they reenact the scenario of the "shooting", the camera pans to the sky with the trees at the moment of the shot. That is such a haunting moment.

Also, the scene of Jim Burnside chasing down Annette and her screams are chilling.

And, of course, the Colleen Ritter/Richard Church stabbing reenactment. The music, the dark house, the screams....everything! UM at its best.

Oh yeah. What a fascinating man. I love when the magazines he subscribed to were described--I read Psychology Today and Foreign Affairs, and have probably read every Soviet Life from 1979 to 1989 courtesy of my college library. :p

I also loved the camera angle used when Howard went to pick up his mail. They filmed it from the other side of the P.O. Box, again depicting loneliness and claustrophobia. Whoever directed that segment has a real gift for cinematic artistry.

I really liked the US/German Christmas Dinner segment that happened in WW2. Awesome stuff and the update was very touching. Fritz (the one who was looking for the US soldiers he had met and had dinner with when he was a boy) seems like one of the nicest people you could ever meet.

I could probably come up with a lot, but here's a few that immediately come to mind for me:

In the Leroy Drieth murder segment, where his ever-determined sister finally tracks down Leroy's girlfriend all those years later, desperate for information, and the girlfriend just looks blankly at her and calmly says, "I really don't think about that day anymore."

The scene in the Deloris Brooks lost love segment where she runs into her teacher a couple of years later and has no memory of her. After all, these two people were practically best friends, so I can only imagine what the teacher must have been thinking when that happened. Back at that time, I can't imagine that the teacher could have considered the fact that Deloris was suffering from amnesia. She probably thought Deloris was shunning her on purpose, and perhaps stopped trying to contact her because of that.

Also, a segment I've always found kind of moving is the one where a lady named Sarah DiGennaro develops partial amnesia. She doesn't completely forget who she is, but she wakes up thinking that it's 1960 instead of 1976 (the year that it happened), and she's confounded by just about everything that she'd taken for granted before. She sees the dishwasher, microwave, and the family's mid-70s Pontiac and thinks to herself "what the hell are these things?" Even more chilling is when she thinks her teenage daughter (who wasn't born until 1962) is a complete stranger and wonders why she seems to be hanging around her house all the time.

One of my personal favorites that gets to me in a good way is when two brothers, Albert and Jim Young, lovingly reunite with and wholeheartedly accept their half sister Kathleen into their lives despite the controversy surrounding her existence when she was born, and another thing I love about it is that it literally hits home for me, having been filmed on a street that I've driven down lots of times, less than 2 miles from where I live.

Finally, I know this sounds silly, but the scene in the Jim Burnside segment where he's deliberately trashing his wife's car. It was a Ford Escort, and being the big Ford freak that I am, I really hate seeing Fords being totaled, especially if it's on purpose.

Aeileen Conway: the part where Conways' empty house is shown, looking as though someone just left--the curtains blowing in the breeze.

The end of the Audrey Moate segment. I've never seen Lake Pontchartrain look so gloomy and lonely.

The recreation of Mikki Jo West walking to work, with that car following after her. It always makes me hold my breath a little.

Mikki Jo West is, in my opinion, one of the best openings of a UM segment.
Audrey Moate is a great production; the music -- even the standard piece put at the beginning and end -- suited it, as well as the tune that plays while Moate is driving to meet Hotard. Kind of a southern gothic feel to the whole segment.

I'll add:

Patricia Meehan silently observing the accident she was involved in from across the fence ; then turning to wander onto the prairie.

George Owens' conversation with the clerk at the convenience store, prior to his disappearance, when he tells her can't find his wife. :( UM got a great actor.

Michael Rosenblum's girlfriend's car being towed away, with the doll in the back window.

The opening of the Conradina Olsen segment, which shows the grave of the unknown woman killed by the train tracks near Ellis, MO (which is now a ghost town).

Another non-credible segment with beautifully filmed historical sequences is Georgia Rudolph. It's haunting when the young woman walks through the snow, allows her necklace to slip through her fingers to the ground, then slowly walks in to the river to drown herself.

The Angela Hammond segment, where Cheryl Kinney is leaving the store, when car lights suddenly flash across the building and she attempts to flee.

and have probably read every Soviet Life from 1979 to 1989 courtesy of my college library. :p

uhhh...why? LOL. That seems like a very random magazine to read.



The segment about the poor kid who was murdered on his way from Alaska to Seattle has and absolutely breathtaking shot of a car proceeding on a long twisting highway towards an impossibly huge mountain. The sky and the clouds and the mountain are all this beautiful grayish/blue and white and the road just seems to disappear into the scenery. Its especially touching and symbolic to think of the young man driving alone off into the cold, towards his inevitable fate.


In the Ellender’s segment I love the way the shot is framed when one of the kids is allegedly confessing to another in a backyard. UM just makes it so much more mysterious and compelling by framing the shot not in the backyard, rather its shot from inside a bedroom through opened blinds. As if we’re all peeking in on something happening.

Patricia Meehan silently observing the accident she was involved in from across the fence ; then turning to wander onto the prairie.

Haunting. Fodder for many many moments of childhood fear.

George Owens' conversation with the clerk at the convenience store, prior to his disappearance, when he tells her can't find his wife. :( UM got a great actor.

IMO the best acted scene in the entire UM catalogue.

I really liked the US/German Christmas Dinner segment that happened in WW2. Awesome stuff and the update was very touching. Fritz (the one who was looking for the US soldiers he had met and had dinner with when he was a boy) seems like one of the nicest people you could ever meet.

You're right on the money. My family and I have known Fritz for years. Like anyone else who knows of the case, we were all very moved by a Christmas story that was nothing short of perfect. We ended up contacting Fritz at his bakery in Honolulu. He called back almost immediately and was more than delighted to share the story once more. He would even call us every now and then just to catch up. We received a postcard from him once he finally got to meet up with one of the American soldiers (who was literally on his deathbed IIRC). Fritz had a battle with prostate cancer some time ago, I believe, but his strong faith got him through it. Too bad Hawaii is such a great distance from here--I would like to meet Fritz one day.

uhhh...why? LOL. That seems like a very random magazine to read.

My B.A.'s in Political Science. I had a lot of study centered on the former USSR, Russia, and the CIS.



The segment about the poor kid who was murdered on his way from Alaska to Seattle has and absolutely breathtaking shot of a car proceeding on a long twisting highway towards an impossibly huge mountain. The sky and the clouds and the mountain are all this beautiful grayish/blue and white and the road just seems to disappear into the scenery. Its especially touching and symbolic to think of the young man driving alone off into the cold, towards his inevitable fate.

I was thinking about posting that one last night, too. I always think of the sound of the car engine growing softer and softer as he drives toward that mountain.

Mikki Jo West is, in my opinion, one of the best openings of a UM segment.


The Angela Hammond segment, where Cheryl Kinney is leaving the store, when car lights suddenly flash across the building and she attempts to flee.

The music in the first one is so thrilling, it's just captivating. The fact that she just vanished into thin air. Very freaky stuff. I know the guy confessed but did they ever find the body? If not, it's creepy that there's still no total resolution after thirty years.

Oh, the convenience store is so chilling! The lights shining on her is so freaky and even though she ducks behind the store and presumably into her car, you know whoever was shining the headlights nabbed her.

I really liked the US/German Christmas Dinner segment that happened in WW2. Awesome stuff and the update was very touching. Fritz (the one who was looking for the US soldiers he had met and had dinner with when he was a boy) seems like one of the nicest people you could ever meet.

I love that segment, it's just so heartwarming. I always get chills when the Nazis knock at the door, even though I know that they will get along with the US soldiers and everyone. There's just that sense of uncertainty, but luckily everything works out.

Haunting. Fodder for many many moments of childhood fear.


Agreed!

:eek:

My B.A.'s in Political Science. I had a lot of study centered on the former USSR, Russia, and the CIS.


Cool. Poli Sci was my first major. Still love it.

Cool. Poli Sci was my first major. Still love it.

:cool:




Another memorable moment: Ed Baker segment. The eyewitness sighting of a truck speeding away from the scene. The weather conditions, the desolate area, the cowboy hat and the look on the witness's face--classic.

:cool:




Another memorable moment: Ed Baker segment. The eyewitness sighting of a truck speeding away from the scene. The weather conditions, the desolate area, the cowboy hat and the look on the witness's face--classic.

That was another one of the inspirations for this thread. Sometimes the reactions of eyewitnesses make it just all the more real and closer to home.

"That MAN TOOK JOHNATHAN!"

:D

uhhh...why? LOL. That seems like a very random magazine to read.



The segment about the poor kid who was murdered on his way from Alaska to Seattle has and absolutely breathtaking shot of a car proceeding on a long twisting highway towards an impossibly huge mountain. The sky and the clouds and the mountain are all this beautiful grayish/blue and white and the road just seems to disappear into the scenery. Its especially touching and symbolic to think of the young man driving alone off into the cold, towards his inevitable fate.


In the Ellender’s segment I love the way the shot is framed when one of the kids is allegedly confessing to another in a backyard. UM just makes it so much more mysterious and compelling by framing the shot not in the backyard, rather its shot from inside a bedroom through opened blinds. As if we’re all peeking in on something happening.LOL, I don't know if I would use that word considering what happened to him. I do agree that it was a very powerful moment. I thought it was also very creepy since the the woman who worked at the gas station had said at that moment that her daughter believed Philip would regret the day he picked up that man. Of course, we all know what happened to him. :(

The scene in which Rick Church was standing outside the Ritters' house before he went on a rampage was powerful in a disturbing way. He looked like someone who's snapped and lost any sense of reality. The music was eerie as well.

When the social worker goes to Art Silva's apartment and the music is kind of somber, because she suspects he is up to his old ways and even speaks to the little girl nearby to check up on things. Just leaves a sense of tension in the air.

As I guess some of you are aware, I love the Howard Drummond segment. Stack's narration coupled with the imagery of a hunchbacked oldtimer hobbling by the YMCA and over a bridge really epitomizes a resigned acceptance of one's own loneliness.

I loooove the Howard Drummond case! Just saw it again yesterday. I wonder if they ever found his gym bag! I mean, I know it has been updated with his half brother, but what about the gym bag? Oh and were those....deceased pics of him at he end? Scared me!:eek:

I'd love to know whatever happened to that gym bag! What could be contained within? Stocks, bonds and cash....or three empty Taster`s Choice jars and 56 pairs of sweat socks?!

The pictures at the end appear to have been taken in a photo mat. Howard must have needed his picture taken for ID purposes.

You're right on the money. My family and I have known Fritz for years. Like anyone else who knows of the case, we were all very moved by a Christmas story that was nothing short of perfect. We ended up contacting Fritz at his bakery in Honolulu. He called back almost immediately and was more than delighted to share the story once more. He would even call us every now and then just to catch up. We received a postcard from him once he finally got to meet up with one of the American soldiers (who was literally on his deathbed IIRC). Fritz had a battle with prostate cancer some time ago, I believe, but his strong faith got him through it. Too bad Hawaii is such a great distance from here--I would like to meet Fritz one day.

Wow, really? I was afraid I had ready that he passed away several years ago. Hopefully that was about someone else. Indeed, he seems like an incredibly nice gentlemen and I'm glad you got to communicate via telephone and postcard.

Wow, really? I was afraid I had ready that he passed away several years ago. Hopefully that was about someone else. Indeed, he seems like an incredibly nice gentlemen and I'm glad you got to communicate via telephone and postcard.

Sadly, you are correct. I ran an SSDI search some time ago and found out that Fritz passed away a few years back. He was as genuine a person as he appeared in the segment. It was apparent that his mother's faith was passed on to him and served him well in his battle with prostate cancer. I can't say that I've crossed paths with too many people like Fritz.

The one I will never forget is the scene where the young Steve Ross (Shmulek Rosenthal) is given food and a flag by an American soldier while he is traveling away from the concentraion camp toward hospital. I cry along with him every time I watch that segment.

One powerful segment that has always stuck with me is that of Tom Roche's girlfriend's UM interview. This poor lady seemed devastated as if she had lost everything. I felt for her so much when I first saw that episode. I felt like I could feel the pain in her voice when talking about Tom. Very powerful interview she gave.

Another one along those same lines was that of Jodie Bordeaux's husband. If you take everything to account, here's a man who is starting a family with his pregnant wife when she is killed, which also kills the baby. His last comment on how his wife died quickly but his baby suffered is truly heartbreaking.

Two of the most powerful interviews in UM history, IMO.

Sadly, you are correct. I ran an SSDI search some time ago and found out that Fritz passed away a few years back. He was as genuine a person as he appeared in the segment. It was apparent that his mother's faith was passed on to him and served him well in his battle with prostate cancer. I can't say that I've crossed paths with too many people like Fritz.

I'm very sorry. I am glad, however, that he married and had a happy life in Hawaii. I also read that he reunited later with another one of the soldiers, meeting two of the three Americans. :)

Another one along those same lines was that of Jodie Bordeaux's husband. If you take everything to account, here's a man who is starting a family with his pregnant wife when she is killed, which also kills the baby. His last comment on how his wife died quickly but his baby suffered is truly heartbreaking.


Is that the one where the lady that worked at the casino and there were unhappy employees and she got shot and killed at home one night? Sorry about the vague description.

Is that the one where the lady that worked at the casino and there were unhappy employees and she got shot and killed at home one night? Sorry about the vague description.

Yes, very sad segment.