Well there is already a popular thread on accidentally funny moments, but I thought this could be an interesting contrast. Obviously, a show like UM is going to have a lot of scary moments on purpose...but what incidences were actually unnerving without meaning to be?

A couple of the top of my head...

1) It always freaked me out when Stack would say "You need not give your name!!" when asking viewers to call in. That line just conjures chilling images of mysterious shady characters calling in tips.

2) The guy interviewed in the cloning segment with the deep, robotic voice. Even though he was probably just a nerdy expert, he reminded me of a mad scientist. Shoot...that whole segment was pretty darn creepy. I think it was made for some relief from the murders and disappearances, but came off with an unnerving sci-fi feel.

3) The still screen of Steve Page when Stack asks, "Is this the face of a killer?" It probably wouldn't have been bad if they showed an actual picture of him, but the effect of freezing his interview video really creeped it out.

4) The age-progressed photo of Clifford Sherwood. Age-progressed pics usually don't get to me since they are mostly just a few years advanced, but going from a 10-year-old kid to a 50-year-old man was a little too far into the uncanny valley for me.

I am sure I'll think of more. Let's hear yours.

1) It always freaked me out when Stack would say "You need not give your name!!" when asking viewers to call in. That line just conjures chilling images of mysterious shady characters calling in tips.


I fully agree! I also think it only adds to the spookiness when he fairly shouts, "Do not approach him!" I can only imagine people walking up to these creepy, wanted figures. Stack giving the viewer personal warnings also seemed to make watchers feel more involved and closer to the scary stuff. ;)

So many. I'll list the ones that come immediately to mind.

- At the end of the unedited version of the Sacramento Thrill Killer segment, not only were photos of the victims shown on the screen over one of the creepiest musical scores in UM's arsenal of terrifying music, but there was actual news footage of victims being loaded onto ambulances playing behind the telecenter number. I always thought seeing the immediate aftermath of something like that was very startling and scary.

-The CCV tape of one of the pizza bandits' robberies, also shown at the end of the segment. And most CCV tapes, really. I even thought the crash-and-dash tape was kind of creepy--especially since it was in color.

-The itemized text list that pops up on the screen on the segment about Dr. Iben Browning's earthquake prediction about what to do in the event of a massive earthquake. I can't pinpoint why but it's always made me nervous for some reason.

-The infamous Cheryl Kenney photograph in which her eyes look blacked out in the Angela Hammond segment.

-Most "zoom-in" moments involving photographs, especially when they focus in on the eyes. Terri Hoffman, Jon Yount, and Marie Hilley are all really good examples.

-Wishful has brought this up before in another thread, but whenever maps are shown it's usually a pretty unintentionally creepy moment.

-Quick cuts from something rather benign to something really terrible--i.e., Dexter Stefonek driving down the interstate at night to his car blazing out of control in the parking lot of the Bad Route rest area, or Charlie Sigmin on his boat ("This time Charlie thought he'd finally found happiness...") to a bunch of police cars sitting outside a house with their lights on at night. ("...he was wrong.")

-This one is kind of difficult to explain, but there's a part in the D.B. Cooper segment that creeps me out in a subtle way. It begins with a former investigator speculating on what happened after Cooper made the jump during his interview:

"Let's say he fell in the water..."

And immediately there's a cut to Cooper trying to swim out of a lake in near-total darkness and this unsettling piano score starts playing (this same piece was also used memorably in the Mark and Judy Groezinger segment). The interviewee continues to explain some things about how Cooper would have had to have been very familiar with his chute and then there's kind of a lull in the music. THEN this sour note hits just as there's cut to a scene of tons of people in boats searching this same body of water by day. It's a very creepy portion of the segment for me.

I also thought the composite commissioned by UM using Florence Schaffner's reference of Cooper was scary.

I've always found parts of the DB Cooper segment to be unintentionally creepy. From the jump from the plane to the shot of Cooper dying in a creek bed, the whole segment was creepy to me. And for some reason, when Stack called out the shock jock DJ's and said they were "lying" with the freeze frame of their faces had creeped me out when I was younger for some reason. Maybe it's because I found them to be believable at the time.

-The itemized text list that pops up on the screen on the segment about Dr. Iben Browning's earthquake prediction about what to do in the event of a massive earthquake. I can't pinpoint why but it's always made me nervous for some reason.

While we're on the subject of UM text, I also get inexplicably creeped out during the Dexter Stefonek segment when they show the sketch of the suspect's 4x4 and a text description scrolls across the screen while Robert Stack is narrating it. It's probably because UM never usually did that with text, but it came across as very unsettling to me.

For some reason, I also get seriously perturbed by the sight of Brad Bishop having his dog with him during the re-enactments where he torches his family's bodies and abandons his vehicle. I have no idea if the real Bishop actually took the dog on the run with him (the animal was never found, IIRC), but the idea of a guy butchering his entire family, but still caring enough about his pet dog to keep it as a companion is just so creepy to me.

On another animal-related note, I also find it bizarrely unsettling when they show footage of Jule Caylor feeding his dogs and acting affectionate towards them at his new home while the voice-over plays of his infamous interview where he says it was hell living with Dottie and that things have been pretty good since she disappeared. It creates such a strange contrast of how Jule really seem to like his dogs, but seems to cares very little about his missing wife.

^don't forget Stephen Marfeo enjoying a cup of coffee at the end of his segment...

The infamous Cheryl Kenney photograph in which her eyes look blacked out in the Angela Hammond segment.

Omg, yes! This has to be THE most unintentionally frightening photograph in UM's history. I feel so sorry for Cheryl that THAT is the photo they chose to use, but I understand. Nevertheless, it's extremely unsettling and I have always been so creeped-out by it.

For starters:

Everything about Tim McClure. Everything he says, the way he says it, his hair. The picture of him with his old hairdo is creepy.

Kurt Sova hanging onto the fence out back of the party house.

Every scene in the Micki Jo West case where someone found a letter.

The Angelo Desideri segment where the camera moves around his kitchen showing his "mid-afternoon meal" still sitting out.

I don't know why, but the Dale car model itself is creepy to me.

Just the image of the Bicycle Bandit wheeling on down the sidewalk with the background music playing, creepy!

The bowling alley murders segment for me. I know there are more but that one always creeped me out that someone would just kill everyone in bowling alley. I know now that seems crazy since more and more people feel the need to go into public places and kill a bunch of innocent people.

Just the image of the Bicycle Bandit wheeling on down the sidewalk with the background music playing, creepy!

I was creeped out by it, too. However, the music has a toll sound in it that totally reminds me of that bell sound they always used to use in Taco Bell commercials.

The Angelo Desideri segment where the camera moves around his kitchen showing his "mid-afternoon meal" still sitting out.

I was just about to post the same exact thing! That whole segment is underrated, IMO, in terms of the creepy factor.

- At the end of the unedited version of the Sacramento Thrill Killer segment, not only were photos of the victims shown on the screen over one of the creepiest musical scores in UM's arsenal of terrifying music, but there was actual news footage of victims being loaded onto ambulances playing behind the telecenter number. I always thought seeing the immediate aftermath of something like that was very startling and scary.

Could not agree more. That music would make ANYTHING scary. But it was a mixture of scary and sadness to see the actual bodies being loaded on the ambulances at the very end of the original segment.

When that segment first aired, it was the same night the orange sock murders segment first aired. And there's this haunting and very creepy piano tune playing in the background just after Jeff Obherholzter's final statement and the 1-800 number pops up. UM didn't use that musical score often but I never forgot it. :eek:

I was just about to post the same exact thing! That whole segment is underrated, IMO, in terms of the creepy factor.

Yes!

I'd almost be willing to wager that any segment with a burning car ups the ante in terms of creepiness.

And there's this haunting and very creepy piano tune playing in the background just after Jeff Obherholzter's final statement and the 1-800 number pops up. UM didn't use that musical score often but I never forgot it. :eek:

It was really soft and subtle, too--I don't know why that made it so additionally unnerving but it really did.


A few other ones I thought of:

-The stills of the aftermath of Selena Edon's motorcycle wreck. I think it was so creepy because there wasn't one bit of voice-over when they were shown, just something-bad-happened music.

-I have ALWAYS thought both the slowed-down version and frozen still of the New Kids on the Block video with the presumed Kari Lynn Nixon sighting was creepy as hell. Especially when they highlight the concert-goer in question at the end with RS narrating, "If you can identify this girl..." :eek:

I have ALWAYS thought both the slowed-down version and frozen still of the New Kids on the Block video with the presumed Kari Lynn Nixon sighting was creepy as hell. Especially when they highlight the concert-goer in question at the end with RS narrating, "If you can identify this girl..." :eek:

I feel the same way. I think what I thought was so unsettling about it was that the girl in question doesn't appear happy at all and looks at though she doesn't even want to be there in the first place. Kind of like she was there under duress or something.

Whenever Robert Stack would say, "Someone out there knows something" the hair on the back of my neck would stand up. They'd always feature him in a trench coat standing in the fog and it just added to the creepiness factor of the show.

Did they do an episode on spontaneous combustion? I remember a show like UM that featured this and it scared the living daylights out of me when I was young.

Did they do an episode on spontaneous combustion? I remember a show like UM that featured this and it scared the living daylights out of me when I was young.

yes, they did an episode on that.

For starters:

Everything about Tim McClure. Everything he says, the way he says it, his hair. The picture of him with his old hairdo is creepy.

I find the fact that he's still walking the streets to be creepy as hell.

Yes!

I'd almost be willing to wager that any segment with a burning car ups the ante in terms of creepiness.

That whole scene with the man resembling Desideri just standing there staring at the car always gives me chills.

Is it me, or do many of the non-scary segments from 1987 (starting at Raymond Burr) to about 1990 seem scary? I remember segments from those days having older-looking film than say, episodes from 1991 on, and they used slow fades to another scene. I've noticed that slow fade thing in the Freedon story, Adam Hecht and Gladys/Joe Owens segments.

Here are some other instances that come to mind:

-Gail Delano and Don Kemp segments: The entire segments feel creepy. The one exception being when that sheriff is interviewed in the Don Kemp segment, which falls under unintentionally funny.
-"Casie Nicole" missing persons segment: When the guy who is rescued is sitting in the foam box on the water, and sees the freighter stopping in the distance, presumably to take in his friends from the boat. The freighter may be way off, but it makes you wonder if it's coming for the guy in the foam box.
-Joe Shepard case: When they show the picture of Cathy Clowers, there's something creepy about that moment. It felt especially creepy when I first saw it at age 13 (I'm 34 now).
-Patricia Meehan: The shot of the self-portrait and the shot of her looking at the accident, from a wide-open field in the dark, and then walking away. Both very creepy.
-George Owens: When the other truck is driving up the road, as it's getting dark, and then leaves.
-"Freedom Two" boat story with Bob Dozier/John Russell: The scene where they are climbing out of the water was very creepy when I was about 9 years old and saw it.
-Lastly, if anyone recalls those UM teasers that would run, often in the middle of a commercial break on NBC only (not Lifetime, that I recall). The music would start up and rather than go into the unmistakeable theme that rolls on for a few seconds, it just abruptly goes "DA-DUN." If anyone understands what I'm talking about. This was on the Raymond Burr special.

"Judy Hymes is alive and she lives in Omaha...."

I always thought it was also creepy when they had a description of a scenario when someone was killed at night or a crime was done at night, and they painted a picture of someone committing a crime alone, and running from the scene. Notable examples:

- The two guys moving the barrel in the Debbie Wolfe case.

- AJ Breaux's body that was rolled into the river.

- The guy that set Kathy's car on fire and ran from the scene.

- The guy that spray painted "I love you Cindy" in the middle of the night and then ran

- The mysterious man in military fatigues that opened fire on a cop car and then darted into the bushes from the Kevin and Henry Ives case

- AJ Breaux's body that was rolled into the river.

I think what made it so creepy is that it merely rolled down the bank and into the water and was still quite visible. The way the dude took off was also pretty unsettling.

-William Bradford Bishop: the scene where he actually sets fire to the pyre. The initial combustion actually "lifts" one of the bodies and it's pretty disturbing to watch.

-Dan Wilson: the scene where Dan's mother is describing the place his car was discovered as one where someone would not "get out and take a walk". There's a kind of creepy musical effect and as John Catchings would say, it definitely seems to be a "spooky place".

I think what made it so creepy is that it merely rolled down the bank and into the water and was still quite visible. The way the dude took off was also pretty unsettling.

http://static.dyp.im/4r66zbQN3J/5c713ddc07eec046037d09550f367fe9.gif

I am loving the concept of UM gifs.

A recent thread made me think of another unintentionally creepy moment: the LE official in the Jay Cook/Tanya Van Cuylenborg segment telling us that something about Jay's murder was "like things seen in the prison system", but not at all elaborating on what that was. For some reason that always scared the crap out of me.

The Alicia Showalter segment: when the guy would actually let some of the women go without harming them always scared me.

For starters:

Everything about Tim McClure. Everything he says, the way he says it, his hair. The picture of him with his old hairdo is creepy.

Kurt Sova hanging onto the fence out back of the party house.

Every scene in the Micki Jo West case where someone found a letter.

The Angelo Desideri segment where the camera moves around his kitchen showing his "mid-afternoon meal" still sitting out.

I don't know why, but the Dale car model itself is creepy to me.

Just the image of the Bicycle Bandit wheeling on down the sidewalk with the background music playing, creepy!

To me the Kurt Sova story has numerous creepy moments in it.

The investigator in the Dale Hyde case reading that psychological assessment of Hyde, especially the whole "He will function best in a 24-hour controlled environment" thing.

The scene with the expert traversing through the forest with a voice over describing the New Hampshire serial killer always creeped me out.

The scene with the expert traversing through the forest with a voice over describing the New Hampshire serial killer always creeped me out.

Was that the profiler talking about "What's the killer hearing? Seeing? Can he hear the river?"

Was that the profiler talking about "What's the killer hearing? Seeing? Can he hear the river?"

That was the one. I always was unnerved by that scene too. The woods were entirely too still, and I felt like someone was going to jump out at him at any second.

That was the one. I always was unnerved by that scene too. The woods were entirely too still, and I felt like someone was going to jump out at him at any second.

For reals. He just feels like the one guy in a slasher film that seems to have his head together enough to actually pose a threat to the killer... and yet gets killed anyway.

One that I remember though it may be entirely intentionally creepy: The intro to the Woonsocket Murders. I always remembered it as "Woundsocket" which is also a creepy name on par with "Blind River Rest Area".

The camera slowly panning on the row houses and the music... oh, the music! That piano drone kills it.

There's a part where Marie Hilley's face gets zoomed in on and its creepy.
In the Sharon Kinne segment, the real life pictures of her start out pretty then slowly as she goes to jail you see how aged and faded she looks, especially the one of her in the cell.

I feel the same way. I think what I thought was so unsettling about it was that the girl in question doesn't appear happy at all and looks at though she doesn't even want to be there in the first place. Kind of like she was there under duress or something.

It WAS an NKOTB concert.

One that I always found unnerving was the update about Dale Hyde. There is a part in the segment where they are showing video footage of Hyde in handcuffs being walked to court or something. The camera person does a zoom in on Hyde's face but the zoom is too close and immediately stops and backs out again which leads me to believe this was just a mistake on the camera person's part. Still, that tight zoom accompanied by the eerie music playing at that moment made it unnerving, perhaps unintentionally.

I think Wishful is the one who mentioned it but whenever Robert Stack said "He is considered armed and dangerous.. DO NOT APPROACH HIM"

"Dark Dante" sitting in the dark room diligently working at his computer was always creepy to me!

A lot of the people in silhouette creeped me out too as well as a lot of the video captures of a robber or suspect.

In the Judy Hymes case, when the girl runs up to the abandoned car and looks in the window.

In the Michael Lloyd Self when the boys find the skull floating in the lake.

The bingo game in the James Donald King segment.

The bowling ball rolling in the Sal Guardado segment.

The woman describing "Champ" lifting his head out of the water and her re-enactment "Up and down"!

The picture of Neal Jennings standing next to his car.

The shot of the older guy in the wheelchair looking out over the neighborhood with the voiceover in the Julius Patterson segment.

The shot of the woman looking up and listening to the "Ghost Blimp" as it grazed the top of her house.

Everything about the actress who played Reggie DePalma's girlfriend, Bonnie.

There was a clip on the Brad Bishop case on the forbidden site where it sounded like Darth Vader took over narration when they mentioned IDs of the victims

The Christophe Day update was creepy too of the text

And I can't remember the name or what the guy was charged for but in 95 in a police chase he killed himself(not Dennis DePue) but for whatever reason there was a different male voice narrating the update

any Jule Caylor photograph. I'm sure he wasn't intending to be creepy in those photos with Dottie, but it is what it is.

The Judith Hymes case where a man is seen parking her car, removing a duffel bag, and then walking away and Robert Stack says "this man has NEVER been identified". Sends chills up the spine, just thinking that that man at the VERY least was in on her disapperance, and he is unknown! :eek:

There is one segment about a meth lab out west where an undercover was in silhouette. I forgot who it was though since that site took down so much