So, I was thinking about this today, and I apologize if there has been another post about this in the past. After thinking about cases quite frequently throughout the day, all the time, I started to think...with myself and all of the others on here, Why do we care so much? What is the reason? Is it compassion for innocent victims? Is it guilt that these victims have been taken too soon and innocently? Is it that we want to see guilty parties brought to justice to pay for what they've done? Or we just are intrigued by mysteries/true crime and the critical thinking aspect of it?

I think, for me, it's a combination of everything. Interested to hear other people's thoughts on this. It's also weird that, when other people find out that I care about unsolved mysteries/murders, and even make a point to visit the sites when I am in certain cities, that they cannot relate and think it's insane.

For me it's the compassion for victims, and the critical thinking aspect behind it. Like looking at Kurt Sova's case, 5 different people could come up with 5 different theories and they could all be wrong. I care about certain cases more than others because I feel like the victim's tragic death deserve more attention than when some people just lazily write it off as an "accident". I also just love to argue.

I'm known to get extremely hot-headed on certain cases on this board (Kurt Mcfall, Angela Hammond, Andre Jones) because I feel like they deserve more of an investigation/proper discussion rather than a lazy "suicide" or worrying more about if a suspicious character is innocent rather than trying to find out what really happened to a missing pregnant woman.

I'm with you on being called insane for being a fan. Only my fiance knows my love for UM, which she hates :lol: Now thanks to Amazon she hates it even more :lol:

Interesting question... For me, it is the combo platter, too.

Mostly, I am fascinated by cases that have no clear solution or aren't what they seem on their face (even if they end up being benign). Two of my all-time favorites are the Charles Morgan case (because of the $2 bill with the map sewn in his underwear) and the Sarah Joe grave (with the papers and tin foil). Other cases like Jack Davis, JonBenet, John Cheek, etc. are really intriguing.

I also like to see bad guys go to jail and to have missing people found and brought back to their families. It's funny because as a kid I thought the Lost Loves stories were lame, but as an adult with children of my own, I think about them more and think it is really cool to have people reunited.

I think many of us just like a good story, and the more convoluted and bizarre, the better. If I had to rank my favorite type of segments I would say: Unexplained Death, Missing, Wanted, and UFO (the good ones anyway :lol:).

Morbid fascination with true crime mixed with trying to "help" resolve cases that are still unresolved.

This is the perfect "old" tv show to discuss long after it has aired. I watched UM when I was a kid and waited anxiously every week for case updates...now 25-30 years later rediscovering it, I get to relive that feeling with all the information that is available in 2017....I can re-watch a segment, look it up on the internet (William Eugene Hilliard is still in jail! YES!!)

So many cases were in the back of my mind for so long...now I can bring them back to the forefront and finally get closure for a large number of them. That's what makes this show so unique...I can watch reruns of old shows that I like, but it's usually just for nostalgia. There's not going to be anything new about them, but for UM there's a treasure trove of facts, opinions updates, etc. since the show originally aired.

....And, why, when I see someone related to a case post here (family member, friend, investigator, etc..) or find them on Facebook, do I feel like it's my equivalent to how some people feel when meeting a celebrity? haha

For me, I want to know 1) whodunit, 2) why they dun it, and 3) I want to see closure for the family/friends involved

I really get hung up on the "why" part. I think the show had a major influence on me going down the career path I chose.

...these comments obviously don't apply to UFO/Ghosts/Miracle/Treasure segments. I usually went to go make popcorn or something while those were airing...

...these comments obviously don't apply to UFO/Ghosts/Miracle/Treasure segments. I usually went to go make popcorn or something while those were airing...

HAHAHA! Dammit... I just spit up coffee on my keyboard reading that. :lol:

I should clarify that I like the UFO segments where there was more to the story, like Kecksburg. Obviously SOMETHING happened there. But the ones that were just sightings or strange lights... MEH. Those were pretty lame, IMHO.

(They really expanding the idea of what a mystery is at times, too: lucky rock, boy genius, Brandon Lee, etc.)

I'm just nostalgic and it reminds of my childhood, I guess. Plus, I like trying to disentangle the logic and figure out what happened, or at least the most probable theory. I do think it probably influenced my career path too. I'm getting my PhD in criminal justice.

I'm just nostalgic and it reminds of my childhood, I guess. Plus, I like trying to disentangle the logic and figure out what happened, or at least the most probable theory. I do think it probably influenced my career path too. I'm getting my PhD in criminal justice.

I smell expert witness testimony in your future. :)

For me, it's many of the same reasons addressed on this thread. But another reason is to see a light shined on darkness.

There is also something to be learned from each of these cases. Many of these victims and their families are dealing with grief that was caused under circumstances which can be either usual or unusual. They have the mental strength and courage to share their stories with the world to raise awareness to the rest of us. It's a method of trying to prevent others from risking the same fate or tragedy they have had to endure. In essence, the show became very much like a public service announcement.

For me, it is nostalgic and a piece of my childhood that I loved (I would have much rather watched UM than the Ninja Turtles, which says a lot about of boy born in the 1980s).

As an adult now, and thirty plus years have passed since most of these crimes have occured, most people no longer remember them (save and except close friends and family members of the victim). In some ways, I feel like it is a responsibility to keep discussing some of these cases, regardless how cold they are, so that they are not forgotten.

I don't really care too much about the "why". I just care more about knowing what happened, and putting the pieces of the puzzle together. In some instances, I do not even care to see the perpetrator punished (I know, I know, do not hate me), but would much rather just prefer to know what happened. For example: In two cases offhand, both Jack Davis Jr., and also Kurt Sova, I do not feel there was any criminal motive. I feel that it was a group of kids, and drugs and alcohol were involved, and maybe things got out of hand. I still think that after all of these years, someone will come forward and say what really happened during a party. Perhaps sooner, if the desire for knowledge outweighs the desire to prosecute. And this is what keeps me coming back.

As an adult now, and thirty plus years have passed since most of these crimes have occured, most people no longer remember them (save and except close friends and family members of the victim). In some ways, I feel like it is a responsibility to keep discussing some of these cases, regardless how cold they are, so that they are not forgotten.

I don't really care too much about the "why". I just care more about knowing what happened, and putting the pieces of the puzzle together. In some instances, I do not even care to see the perpetrator punished (I know, I know, do not hate me), but would much rather just prefer to know what happened. For example: In two cases offhand, both Jack Davis Jr., and also Kurt Sova, I do not feel there was any criminal motive. I feel that it was a group of kids, and drugs and alcohol were involved, and maybe things got out of hand. I still think that after all of these years, someone will come forward and say what really happened during a party. Perhaps sooner, if the desire for knowledge outweighs the desire to prosecute. And this is what keeps me coming back.

Well said. For me, it's a desire for victims' families to find closure as well as curiosity; I'm a history buff, so cases from certain eras tend to interest me more. It's hard to imagine going decades without knowing where a a loved one is or the circumstances of their murder, but this is something that people live with every day.

Part of my interest resulted from a family mystery; my paternal great-grandmother was murdered, allegedly by one of her stepsons (no one was ever charged) and it affected my grandfather's childhood and the rest of his life. He became a police officer and never really discussed his mother with any of us. A school friend of mine committed a senseless, drug-related murder as an adult (and is serving a long sentence as a result) I hate what he did and the pain he's caused the victim's family, but I miss the kid that he was.

I don't really care too much about the "why". I just care more about knowing what happened, and putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

Trying to put the puzzle pieces together can be fun. It can be an adventure trying to figure out what happened from points A, B and C that somehow made us arrive at point D.

However, while I don't always need to know, sometimes I do care about the "why."

For instance, I'd really love to know why the trucker tried to turn Jay Durham into a human pancake. Or why the man driving the black pickup truck decided to shoot "Carol" in the face. These instances were completely unprovoked and so unnecessary to the point where you want to pull your hair out. What made them do it? Was it the thrill of trying to kill a stranger out in the open road where eyewitnesses are bound to be close? Is attempted murder something they love? Did a horrible upbringing by a psychotic family make them this way? Did these men have wives and children at home?

UM profiled many disgusting people who killed and while their mentality was deluded and their actions never justified, you knew why they did it. But in these cases? I got nothing. I want to know why.

I agree w/ the puzzle aspect of it. My mind is very busy and needs to be focused on something or challenged. I find trying to figure out the solution to mysteries a very good exercise for my mind. If I don't have anything challenging to think about or try to figure out a solution to, I notice I get very bored and have too much energy.

I've always been drawn to mysteries and the unknown, so that's the first reason. Compassion for victims plays into it as well, but I do think the driving factor is a morbid fascination. There's also the nostalgia factor which is a major contributor; I grew up watching the show on Lifetime with my mom in the late 1990s and it was kind of a staple of my childhood, so it's kind of something of a time warp. It's also odd to watch it all these years later and see that so many of these cases have still yet to be solved (and probably never will be).

I grew up in the late 80's, so despite the often grim subject matter, there's a great nostalgic pull for me. The critical thinking/'whodunit?' aspect is also big - the more mysterious the case (the more there is for us all to discuss/theorize around), the bigger the pull for me too. Compassion & Justice play into things too, though that only started to come about later, as I watched/re-watched segments when I got older.

Thank God I'm not the only UM fan who has a sense of nostalgia regarding the show, lol! I saw many of these cases for the first time when I was a kid spending summers with my grandmother.

Of course I also feel for the victims and their loved ones, and am always encouraged to see some of these cases that are otherwise ice cold become the subject of such vehement debate. Any effort to keep these cases alive can only be a good thing IMO.

People like this kind of stuff

It's for the nostalgia

I just have a thing about mysteries. For some reason I *have* to know what happened, or I will obsess and obsess over it. I'm a recording engineer, and it's always been the same with studio techniques: I *have* to know how so-and-so got this sound on this record, and will stop at nothing until I figure out how to do it. I'll study photos and watch studio footage all day in slow motion like the Zapruder film. It's just a weird, innate thing with me. There was no greater thrill than watching UM with my brother when we were kids and hearing Stack say "UPDATE!" I still get that same charge even now with the Amazon updates.

Couple that with my obsession with psychology and deconstructing human behavior, my empathetic nature, and a healthy love for 80s nostalgia, and the show just marks every box for me. Like others have mentioned, I wonder if it may have affected me in my formative years even more than I knew, and really played a role in shaping my interests as an adult.

Great thread!

Cheers,
Matt

Good question. I raise my hand to about the nostalgia bit, but in a way I think it goes deeper. Many of us grew up watching UM and reruns and growing to care for these people in some form or another. Now with true crime a pretty popular subject, we can be here in this corner of the world and help keep these cases alive. Perhaps we are giving back for what we saw growing up.