Unsolved Mysteries as a Morality Play

[Or So It Seems]

I've been watching UM since the specials in 1987 and binge it a lot on Pluto TV. Recently I was watching a segment, and seeing Robert Stack talk about a case, it occured to me that UM seems to have a lot of unintentional morality tales. Kind of like an '80's horror movie where the pot smoking teenagers having sex get killed (maybe) because of those decisions.

I realized that UM has a lot of these morality plays: don't pull into a rest area (Dexter Stefonek & Gord McAllister), don't go out late to parties (Jeremy Bright, Kurt Sova, etc.), don't give your money to a guy promising unrealistic returns (Stephen Cox, Woody Kelly, Gene Flannes, many others). Obviously UM is not trying to blame the victims for what happened, but I think what may explain the popular appeal of the show is how ordinary people doing ordinary things often find themselves in extraordinary circumstances.

Here are some other classic examples I came up with:

- Don't go drinking in a ballpark dugout late at night (Mark Adams)
- If you meet a guy in a bar that has "no style, no class," don't marry him a month later in said bar (Louis Carlucci)

Feel free to post your own...

[TheCars1986]

The quickest way to lose $160 is to give it to a stranger whom you think is drunk for some coins in an envelope.

[EighthStreet]

Don't drive out into the bayou to have an affair.

[LooksLikeCRicci]

Don't play Dungeons and Dragons or Magic: The Gathering....

[Jon]

Call the cops if you hear your neighbor getting tortured

[DALLASTEXAN!!]

don't threaten to hang a judge and call them a nazi.

don't cooperate with overly aggressive detectives if you are innocent.

[MediaHoarder]

Reality itself is a "morality play", that is how it goes. Do stupid things, win stupid prizes.
If you make a show about bad things that happened to people, in the vast majority of cases there will be identifiable factors, actions on their part, that led to that outcome.
Many of the cases are a good example of the Swiss Cheese Model in risk.

[Or So It Seems]

I don't think the vast majority of cases on UM call into the category of people doing something wrong. So many were people in the right place at the wrong time. I'm thinking specifically about the women abducted by strangers. Probably most of the murder victims are similar. In the "Victims you don't have much sympathy for" thread, the list is pretty short considering the hundreds of segments on UM over the years.

[freakbook]

Originally Posted by LooksLikeCRicci

Don't play Dungeons and Dragons or Magic: The Gathering....

i play magic. and the closest i've come to being killed was from my opponents body odor

[Calliope68]

Originally Posted by freakbook

i play magic. and the closest i've come to being killed was from my opponents body odor

I agree. I used to play D&D in college and the closest I every came to being killed was my character biting it. LOL

Don't talk on a payphone late at night
Don't go to the atm late at night

[BlueGalexy]

Don't take your young stud b/f into the Nevada desert during the dead of night looking for your newly deceased hubbie's buried treasure.

[freakbook]

Originally Posted by Calliope68

I agree. I used to play D&D in college and the closest I every came to being killed was my character biting it. LOL

exactly! i also played D&D and when I first saw that segment I was dying of laughter at how dark and sinister they were trying to make magic and d&d players

some of the most harmless people you'll ever meet sans personal hygiene and social skills

[BlueGalexy]

Originally Posted by freakbook

exactly! i also played D&D and when I first saw that segment I was dying of laughter at how dark and sinister they were trying to make magic and d&d players

some of the most harmless people you'll ever meet sans personal hygiene and social skills

I probably shouldn't admit this FB, but about 25 years ago I remember spending a hazy evening in my cousin's basement smoking a lot of pot and playing something he called D&D. As I recall, there was nothing particularly disturbing or sinister about that night and the people present...unless one takes exception to the dozen or so bags of Cheetos that were sacrificed.

[freakbook]

Originally Posted by BlueGalexy

I probably shouldn't admit this FB, but about 25 years ago I remember spending a hazy evening in my cousin's basement smoking a lot of pot and playing something he called D&D. As I recall, there was nothing particularly disturbing or sinister about that night and the people present...unless one takes exception to the dozen or so bags of Cheetos that were sacrificed.

[dynoguy88]

Originally Posted by Calliope68

Don't go to the atm late at night

I broke this rule a couple years ago. It was summer, around 9:00 at night and I needed to withdraw some money from the ATM outside the bank.

I was out of there in about 3 minutes. But the entire time, I was thinking that my peeps on the UM forum would scream at me if they knew I was doing this.