For me, UM was can't miss TV as a kid, despite the fact that it scared the crap out of me and gave me at least one nightmare that I can remember.. but that's for a different thread.

Of course memories aren't always reliable, but the first episode I remember watching live was the one with Barbara Jean Horn's case on November 16, 1988.

Two things always stuck with me about that particular segment-
1. One of only two times I can remember RS doing an on-screen interview, the other being the special Live Telecast where he interviews Jenny Pratt and her family.
2. They had so little to go on, they actually spent air time showing pictures of the TV box she was found in, in case someone recognized that.

I forgot the womans name but they were from Portugal I believe. She married her cousin and he ended up murdering her.(They were writing letters to each other when they were young and IIRC, she had a double wedding with her sister) I wish I could remember the name but I don’t.. I just remember he killed her with a butcher knife.

Anyone remember the name of this case?

The very first segment I remember seeing was Wendy Camp. I was about five or six and remember asking my mom what was wrong with "that lady's arm".

The first full episode I ever sat through was a Lifetime rerun of the December 11, 1991 episode (Chad Maurer, Lorene Roberts, Spanish Lotto scam, Vess family lost love case) in early 1997 when I was eight.

Yes very clearly to the point that I'll never forget it. The first broadcast of "Son Of Sam" (pt. 1) from the fall of 1988.

I forgot the womans name but they were from Portugal I believe. She married her cousin and he ended up murdering her.(They were writing letters to each other when they were young and IIRC, she had a double wedding with her sister) I wish I could remember the name but I don’t.. I just remember he killed her with a butcher knife.

Anyone remember the name of this case?

The victim was Alice Vieira. Killed by her husband (and cousin) David Vieira. He was eventually found and admitted to the crime. It really makes me mad that after he apologizes to the her mother he has the nerve to say "I'm sorry for having killed your daughter. There's nothing else I could do"...:mad:

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/19960518/News/305189989

First UM segment was Boys On The Tracks. Sitting in a completely dark living room at a young age watching it at night. You don't forget that, lol.

Angela Hammond.

Not sure if it was my first episode - but I very clearly remember seeing the Tara Calico photo on UM as a kid and it scaring the absolute Bejeezus out of me.

I can't remember the exact episode was my first, looking back at the episode guide I was watching as early as October '88. The first ones to make a real impression on me were Jeremy Bright & Matthew Chase (the ATM photo especially)

The first segment I ever remember seeing was Kevin Hughes, the Music Row murder in Nashville. I couldn't have been more than 5 and it scared the **** out of me throughout my childhood.

Also a very vivid memory of the Tallman home haunting segment (again, very frightening for a child).

I remember one of the first segments I've seen which scared me as a kid..it was about a man in the military who died under mysterious circumstances. I think the killer tied a balloon or something around his wrist, later his body was found slightly lifted or at a strange angel. They found a box or something of his and they also found abrasions and cuts on his body which indicated he was attacked. The military gave his family a hard time and insisted it was suicide despite the evidence. They also tried covering up the fact that he had this box of belongings there.

I also remember another seventh Keith warren. That one breaks my heart till this day.. Very sad. If someone could help me figure out the first segment that would be appreciated.

The Halloween episode from October 26, 1988. My mom and sister were down in Madison for the day and my mom wanted to get home in time to watch Unsolved Mysteries as they were going to profile a haunted house in the town that she grew up in, Horicon, WI. Yep, the infamous bunk bed segment. To this day, my cousins and my sister and myself drive past that house and get chills!

Mine was at my cousin's house, and it was the Cash-Landrum case with that diamond shaped UFO.

The Halloween episode from October 26, 1988.

Same here. Great way to get introduced to Unsolved Mysteries with the Queen Mary and Tallman hauntings. They scared the crap out of me, but I loved it.

I saw a portion of the first special (Jan. 1987) when it was profiling Roger Wheeler and John Callahan's murders (I asked my grandmother what jai alai was) but I don't remember watching the other segments.

I really can recall the special hosted by Karl Malden in May of 1987, which profiled Bob Weeks and Eleanor Farber's murder by John Burns. Also later memories of the episode featuring Shannon Mohr's death being staged by her husband Dave Davis.

Can't remember the suspects name, but my first vivid memory of UM was a hit and run segment from NY (I believe) about a guy who hit a kid and then sped off never to be found. IIRC, the guy whom they thought was responsible had a weird, Hispanic nickname.

I saw a portion of the first special (Jan. 1987) when it was profiling Roger Wheeler and John Callahan's murders (I asked my grandmother what jai alai was) but I don't remember watching the other segments.

I really can recall the special hosted by Karl Malden in May of 1987, which profiled Bob Weeks and Eleanor Farber's murder by John Burns. Also later memories of the episode featuring Shannon Mohr's death being staged by her husband Dave Davis.

Same here! Also: Wanda Jean Mays and the amnesiac Kyra Cook.

I first watched in 89. I think I saw the New Mexico Roswell UFO first. It could of been the "carol" segment or perhaps they were on the same episode. I watched every week afterward that season. My favorite that year was the shroud of Turin....and scariest was civil war ghosts.

The episode that profiled the Unabomber was the first episode I vividly remember watching. In particular, the moment when he looks up from the bomb and through the window ... it really freaked me out.

I remember one of the first segments I've seen which scared me as a kid..it was about a man in the military who died under mysterious circumstances. I think the killer tied a balloon or something around his wrist, later his body was found slightly lifted or at a strange angel. They found a box or something of his and they also found abrasions and cuts on his body which indicated he was attacked. The military gave his family a hard time and insisted it was suicide despite the evidence. They also tried covering up the fact that he had this box of belongings there.

I also remember another seventh Keith warren. That one breaks my heart till this day.. Very sad. If someone could help me figure out the first segment that would be appreciated.

I think the first segment might be the Michael Carmichael and Billy Ray Hargrove cases. Here's the wikia link, but it doesn't go into very much detail.

http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Michael_Carmichael_and_Billy_Ray_Hargrove

We have a really good thread on Keith Warren's case here. A friend of his family posts there and I think Sherri (Keith's sister) has also posted using that friend's ID, but letting us know it was actually her. That thread includes links to blog site with lots of good info too.

Here's a link to it: http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=157104&highlight=keith+warren

Thank you a bunch

Can't remember the suspects name, but my first vivid memory of UM was a hit and run segment from NY (I believe) about a guy who hit a kid and then sped off never to be found. IIRC, the guy whom they thought was responsible had a weird, Hispanic nickname.


I think that might be this case that happened in Chicago. The victim's family found out that the suspect fled to NY. His nickname is Cachimba.

http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Cachimba

Thank you a bunch

You're welcome. :)

I saw a portion of the first special (Jan. 1987) when it was profiling Roger Wheeler and John Callahan's murders (I asked my grandmother what jai alai was) but I don't remember watching the other segments.

Same. I watched from the outset but only the jai alai segment stands out. I was very intrigued by the promos since I was a huge jai alai fan during the heyday of the Miami Jai Alai fronton in the '70s. Guys like Joey, Asis, Mendi, and so forth. I used to sneak in while underaged.

Then in college at USC I visited Las Vegas in the early '80s and the short lived jai alai at MGM (now Bally's). What a farce. So quiet and no atmosphere at all compared to the Florida frontons, where you'd hear shouts of "Chula!" all night along with jeering from fans after an easy shot was screwed up.

I probably saw the subsequent specials but don't remember specifically. Once the series debuted I remember being so pleased at the choice of host along with the theme music and graphics. I taped it via VCR every week. Obviously I should have saved the tapes but that applies to countless events and shows I discarded.

From an early age I was fascinated by disappearances and true crime. During a family visit to Yellowstone when I was 7 years old I became fixated on all the flyers describing lost people in the park. Many were years old but unsolved. Mostly children, unfortunately. I wanted to visit the described locations of every one. My parents were frustrated that I didn't want to leave the park, even though we had a vacation schedule to keep.

That was nearly 20 years before Unsolved Mysteries debuted. To this day I'm surprised it took so long, given the reservoir of cases.

I remember watching the specials back in 87 or 88 before the first real season started but its been so long I can't remember what the cases were.

During the late 90s, a segment that featured a home invasion and Spontaneous Human Combustion.
http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Gary_and_Ted_Noble this is a rarer segment and pretty violent. They bashed the homeowner's head against a microwave when she didn't know the safe combination.

I was nine years old. I spent that night simultaneously fearing randomly catching on fire and a prowler hiding in my closet.

I think that might be this case that happened in Chicago. The victim's family found out that the suspect fled to NY. His nickname is Cachimba.

http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Cachimba

Thank you very much, that was the one!

Don Smith and Billy the Kid.

The Billy the Kid segment didn't really scare me, as I thought it was interesting. The Don Smith segment scared the crap out of me, on the other hand!

dave bocks. and it terrifies me to this day

I believe mine was either Philip Macri, or Mikki Jo West. I'm pretty sure it was one of them, probably the former, but can't quite remember 100% if that was definitely the case.

During the late 90s, a segment that featured a home invasion and Spontaneous Human Combustion.
http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Gary_and_Ted_Noble this is a rarer segment and pretty violent. They bashed the homeowner's head against a microwave when she didn't know the safe combination.

I was nine years old. I spent that night simultaneously fearing randomly catching on fire and a prowler hiding in my closet.
I think I've only seen the noble brothers segment once on lifetime back in 2005. Can't believe it's been 11 years since.

Don Smith and Billy the Kid.

The Billy the Kid segment didn't really scare me, as I thought it was interesting. The Don Smith segment scared the crap out of me, on the other hand!
Don smith I can only imagine how scary that would have been if I watched it as a kid. I don't remember seeing it back then. But I probably would have checked out on that segment if I was watching.

Pretty sure we watched the first special and tried to watch all others as soon as they came on. I definitely remember as soon as we got a VCR, for quite some time I had to tape the evening programs to watch during the daytime, otherwise I couldn't sleep! Eventually I got so I could watch them and now look up all kinds of creepy stuff online.

dave bocks. and it terrifies me to this day
I remember that case too and it terrifies me! I also remember the episode about Patsy Wright and how someone put poison in her Nyquil and killed her..

I cant remember which one I saw first, but my earliest memories of Unsolved Mysteries were the Wendy Camp case and the Signal Mountain murders. As a kid, watching it, the Signal Mountain episode gave me the creeps.

Oh god. I was a late bloomer. I remember it was Fall 2002, specifically the one with the guy who walked to his car and security footage shows a car driving around because he was found shot. it was a businessman I believe. That scared the crap out of me for days!

For me, I remember Elizabeth Campbell, Bonnie Wilder, Omar the Arsonist, and Wadada as being the first few segments that I can remember watching....or at least stood in my memory. Anne Coricelli, too.

Don Kemp: NYC ad exec, disappeared in Wyoming. Many spiderwebs:

http://unsolved.com/archives/don-kemp

Oh god. I was a late bloomer. I remember it was Fall 2002, specifically the one with the guy who walked to his car and security footage shows a car driving around because he was found shot. it was a businessman I believe. That scared the crap out of me for days!
Yeah that was the Matt Flores case. One of the most unexplained and still unsolved murders on the show.

Yeah that was the Matt Flores case. One of the most unexplained and still unsolved murders on the show.
Sometimes I sit in my car and listen to the radio in my work parking lot, but I get reminded of this segment (the witness who was doing the same thing).
This case terrified me as a kid, and still does as an adult.

The episode featuring the then at large Unabomber. Scared the hell out of as an 11 year old. :eek:

Sometimes I sit in my car and listen to the radio in my work parking lot, but I get reminded of this segment (the witness who was doing the same thing).
This case terrified me as a kid, and still does as an adult.
it is very frightening...I briefly think of the doug Johnston re-enactment where it shows the killer's POV. one of the more creepy scenes in UM. late at night...for matt flores the perpetrator did it in the middle of the day in what one would think to be a busy parking lot. just does not make sense...

I've been watching/listening to a bunch of Top 10 videos on the forbidden site recently... I don't usually watch but listen to the information in the background. Maybe its because Halloween just happened, but I've ran into the audio recording of the ONS/EAR a number of times.

I'm so glad I didn't see UM when it originally aired this. I would not have slept for weeks. Just saying. One of the most haunting things I've ever heard, topping the Cindy James voice messages.

Mine was the 1985(I think it was 1985) 2 hour special Karl Malden-hosted episode, included the case where the Alabama woman who left her her parents house through her bedroom window, police investigators found the bloody canoe floating on the lake, It also included the Jack Lutter case, the murder of Roger Wheeler connected with the World Jialai Gambling ring. There were others that escape my memory

Can't remember names, but my first segment was downloaded on Kaaza or something, the murder of Tupac..

The first time I saw UM on TV the episode was about one author who lost his mother at a young age. She went on a date and someone raped and murdered her and now he wrote a book about her or something. The other segment was about an old couple that lived in a hunted house. One day the house got a lot of smoke inside of it. I shat my pants and turned the tv off. I also remember the segment about a grandmother, her daughter and grandson on their way home from some place in a car and they were met by something they thought was an UFO.

I want to say it was the missing time episode.

I just watched the roswell segment yesterday that was my first segment I ever watched in 1989. it definitely was interesting back then. one of the segments that scared me enough, but not too much and it held my attention.

The first UM episode I ever saw was the October 1988 Queen Mary/Haunted Bunk Bed/Haunted Elderly Couple/General Wayne Inn episode. I was 8 years old at the time, and I was absolutely terrified. I believe it was years later while watching it with my parents, again (we watched it at the dinner table when I was 8 years old), that they commented that they were shocked they let me watch it. I think most terrifying part of my first UM episode was the Queen Mary segment with the old lady squatting and the bearded guy on the escalator.

But the episode had the power to scare me years afterwards. I watched it whenever I could in my 20s, and even at age 24, it gave me nightmares after I watched it one evening.

It is rare, now that I'm 36 years old, to find much of anything that comes close to being so terrifying, even though I'm now an adult. TV has just changed in 28 years.

Either Cam Lyman or Bill & Dorothy Wacker.

I tuned in after the episode had already started, but the first full segment I remember watching was Chaim Weiss' on its original airdate. I just remember that the part where Stack said (paraphrasing) "he was one of the only (or perhaps, WAS the only) kids at that school that slept in a room by themselves" resonated with me. That night, I was glad that I shared a room with my brother!

I remember it was a two-hour special that my mom asked me to tape for her. The first case was Danny Gordon and the UFOs.

I'm pretty sure my first NBC broadcast episode was Kathy Hobbs.

Hard to say to be honest. The earliest one I can remember is the case where the woman was abducted by a man hiding in her backseat and forced to withdraw money from her bank account. Name escapes me at the moment.

Hard to say to be honest. The earliest one I can remember is the case where the woman was abducted by a man hiding in her backseat and forced to withdraw money from her bank account. Name escapes me at the moment.

Gretchen Burford.

Gretchen Burford.
Thank you, that's the one.

One of the earliest I remember watching was The Unabomber / Zodiac Killer episode.

Another was Dr. Michael Swango.

Two I remember from early on were Jay Durham and John Hardin

Mine was the chupacabra segment. 1996 or 97. Scared us kids to death.

The Raymond Burr episode.

Then the first full episode had to be the Son of Sam one.

Scared the heck out of me and made me a fan forever.

It's funny because I'm on season 6 right now, and the very first episode of it reminded me of my first real memory of watching UM live and not the reruns on Lifetime. The re-enactment of Bruce Kelly's vision of drowning has given me a lifetime fear of water, the hit and run Cachimba segment (as well as the other special alerts missing from Prime) scared the hell out of me as a 6 year old, and the Joan Gay Croft segment reminded me of the Wizard of Oz.

Pretty sure it was the original airing of the episode with Kurt Sova, the two priest killings, and the Lancaster extortion.

Then the episode about "missing time."

I would have been about 7 years old (in 1988).

Pretty sure it was the original airing of the episode with Kurt Sova, the two priest killings, and the Lancaster extortion.

Then the episode about "missing time."

I would have been about 7 years old (in 1988).

I was 9 years old. My dad had just finished completing is Bachelor's degree and had taken a job in another state. We were living with my grandparents while we packed and sold our house and then waited for Dad to buy a house in the new location. During those 3 months living at Grandma's house, I watched UM with her every Wednesday night and the first episode was Jeremy Bright and Michaela Garecht. They scared me nearly to death because they were both bad things happening to young kids, but I was hooked. It was the first time I ever realized how exhilarating fear could be and the reason I spent many of my adolescent years staying up to watch the late night Lifetime UM airings.

I have two early memories of this show, one I can place and one I can't to the point where I'm wondering if it might have been an AMW or something else. Both scared the crap out of me, but the UM one is just ridiculously funny now with the eyes of adulthood.


I forget how old I was, super young, but it was the segment about abducted brothers and had an age enhanced photo for both of them and I was terrified that they were under the couch. (I think it was the segment of the police officer who's sons were taken by his wife that's on the bootlegs)



The other was this woman sitting in a living room chair reading or on the phone, with her back to a huge bay window behind the chair that overlooked a country hill at night time. I think she was getting stalked by someone. So then out of nowhere you can see the silhouette of a man on the top of this hill in the window behind her. TERRIFIED. It didn't help that I was staying at my grandparents place, which was in the country, off the highway, with both sides of the living room having massive bay windows. I still to this day don't know what this was from, I had always assumed it was UM but I've never seen anything close to it on any of the dvds or streams or Amazon episodes.

The first one I can remember watching is the one with Matthew Chase (abducted and later killed going to the ATM) as a young kid. Very scary.

It is wild but my earliest memories of the show are all from visiting my grandmother on vacation.

I can definitely remember watching the original episode with Raymond Burr - i remember it so much because my dad loved Perry Mason.

I can also def remember watching in her living room the Kurt Sova and Clarence Roberts episodes and they both changed my life forever.

October, 1988 - DB Cooper, Don Henry/Kevin Ives & Dennis Walker. I was seven but it began my fascination with the DB Cooper case (for the record, I'm kind of inclined to believe that Richard McCoy was "Cooper").

First segment I distinctly recall that scared the crap out of me? Mikki Jo West.

My earliest memory is Bigfoot in Colorado from Season 1, when the guy drives up on the Bigfoot at night and it runs off up a hill.

My first memories of watching UM are:

1. The case of Marilyn Monroe's missing diary her still unsolved death.

If I had to guess, I think this may have been on NBC around 1988.

2. The cough syrup murder of Patsy Wright. I don't believe this one was ever officially solved. I also believe this may have aired on NBC around 1988.

If anyone has details or episode dates, let me know. I would be happy to re-watch either of them.

My first memories of watching UM are:

1. The case of Marilyn Monroe's missing diary her still unsolved death.

If I had to guess, I think this may have been on NBC around 1988.

2. The cough syrup murder of Patsy Wright. I don't believe this one was ever officially solved. I also believe this may have aired on NBC around 1988.

If anyone has details or episode dates, let me know. I would be happy to re-watch either of them.
There was never a segment on Marilyn Monroe.

There was never a segment on Marilyn Monroe.

I looked online for an Unsolved Mysteries segment with Marilyn and couldn't find it, though I know there are a few segments from the original NBC that were not shown again in syndication.

With that said, I believe you're right.

I may have been thinking about this show, seeing it on TV, pre-History channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxfQUUCw8p4

The first case I remember seeing was the murder of Dexter Stefonek.

UM is nostalgic and close my heart because it represented a time in my life that I most cherish. I spent weekends with my grandparents having young parents growing up I was usually shipped off Friday after school LOL. My grandparents always watched this show and I would watch with them and I was so fascinated by all of the stories and I also loved the ghost stories. Yes this show scared the hell out of me for a long time but then it didn't anymore.

UM was such a big part of my childhood and I really miss those times in the 90's being a carefree kid. I was always a TV junkie as far as I can remember. I loved movies, series and true crime.

I don't recall an exact episode but I remember watching new episodes that came on every Friday night.