What was the sCaRiEsT "UPDATE!!"? - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

JimmyHendricks · 03-13-2005, 03:23 AM

I'm sure this has been done before, but what the heck.

What were the scariest updates ever shown on UM??

I have a few:

***The update to the Judith Himes case. The one that aired with the segment, not the "Update" by itself (as it is usually aired). It wasn't what was updated, but how Robert Stack said "Update!" He said it really low and soft, not like he usually does. I guess this creeped me out because when I was a kid, I seriously used to have nightmares that I was watching UM and I KNEW a scary update was coming, so I tried to run and hide--but I couldn't, and it would scare me and wake me up. Pitiful? Yes, but true.

***The update to the kidnapping of an Asian girl named Elizabeth.--this one was on just last week--the entire segment ran, all the way to the end, where they described her and when she was last seen and then,

"UPDATE!!"--well, what made it scary was that Stack didn't say "update"....just some creepy music started playing. Apparantly they had found Elizabeth's purse, but I didn't really care because I was running out of the room in terror. Ok, not that bad, but still spooky.

***The update of the old man who killed his wife (a piano teacher) and buried her underneath his patio in his front yard. The update was that some hikers had found his skeleton in the woods behind his home...he had killed himself.

And by far, the scariest update in Unsolved Mysteries history.......

***The Baskin Children abduction. It's spoken of frequently here, but the update to the story was terrifying. Not only did it have the spooky "computer aged" photos of the kids, but it didn't have the normal "Update" music. Instead, it had an alternate version of it, beginning with two "shrieking" notes.....and the case STILL wasn't solved!! If you need any proof that UM was made to scare the crap out of people, watch that segment as proof.

Any others?

compulsive dvd · 03-13-2005, 04:17 AM

Yeah, try watching the updates in Surround. Especially the newer episodes with that shrieking update sound. That update where they'd found the purse was definitely scary. Too bad they haven't found anything more of her.

The special alerts were almost as scary as the updates. The cases seemed more serious and more recent at the time. They usually used the music from the kidnapped children update you described.

Composite Sketch · 03-14-2005, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyHendricks

***The update of the old man who killed his wife (a piano teacher) and buried her underneath his patio in his front yard. The update was that some hikers had found his skeleton in the woods behind his home...he had killed himself.

Yeah, the music (my favourite update cue) was REALLY loud in that one! I haven't seen the other cases yet (I really want to see the Baskin one).

Another scary update - the elderly Texas man who was bludgeoned to death in his home and had his truck stolen. The case mentioned a couple of hitchhikers who were trying to get help because they thought (correctly) that the truck they were in, driven by the suspected killer, was stolen. The update was that the two guys called in the telecenter and gave a description of the suspect, and they showed a sketch.

mortytbusybody · 03-14-2005, 10:04 PM

I remember when the Dennis Depue update first aired one week after they broadcasted the original case. "What you are about to see is not a news broadcast..." I'm waiting for Robert to announce "Tonight on Unsolved Mysteries..." but instead it flashes to clips of Dennis pushing his wife down the stairs and Robert announcing Depue had killed himself after a high speed chase with police. That was such a shock and a relief...my heart still beats faster just thinking about it!!!

The Baskin update was also scary because they were spotted in Santa Clara, California, just a couple miles away from me. I still can't believe they haven't been found or even spotted again after all these years.

PajamaYoga · 03-14-2005, 10:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyHendricks

***The update of the old man who killed his wife (a piano teacher) and buried her underneath his patio in his front yard. The update was that some hikers had found his skeleton in the woods behind his home...he had killed himself.

Yea that was Joe Owens. His wife's photo was also shown but she was not frightening. The update is a killer.

Owens is only scary because of those eyeballs and glaring glasses. There was another case featuring Dan Willains which one of Willains old friends named Alex(maybe some one can help me out with the last name) had those thick black top rimmed glasses like Vince Lombardi wore.

JimmyHendricks · 03-15-2005, 12:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mortytbusybody

I remember when the Dennis Depue update first aired one week after they broadcasted the original case. "What you are about to see is not a news broadcast..." I'm waiting for Robert to announce "Tonight on Unsolved Mysteries..." but instead it flashes to clips of Dennis pushing his wife down the stairs and Robert announcing Depue had killed himself after a high speed chase with police. That was such a shock and a relief...my heart still beats faster just thinking about it!!!

Wow....that would have been quite a shock. That was the feeling I had watching the Stephen Marfeo case on Lifetime a year or so ago. They showed the entire segment (complete with interviews with Marfeo claiming he didn't kill his wife), then a text update flashed on the screen saying Marfeo had killed his girlfriend, droven to a seculded location and killed HIMSELF.

That came totally out of left field, and scared the crap out of me.

rerungirl · 03-15-2005, 06:10 PM

I remember watching the case of a middle aged woman who disappeared after a fight with her drunken boyfriend. The woman's two sons (both college age) swore there was foul play involved but the boyfriend insisted he had nothing to do with her disappearance. I was expecting Robert Stack's usual "if you have any information that could help solve this case" speech when, wham, the creepy music started and the next picture we saw was of a murky body of water in a secluded wooded area. The woman's body had been found there and police wanted to talk to anyone who had seen her car being driven the days following her disappearance. I wasn't expecting such a grisley update and it really freaked me out.

crystaldawn · 03-17-2005, 12:24 PM

I don't know about the "scariest" but the Wendy Long update is one for the list. The music they have for it then they show a grainy black and white picture of the suspect with his shaved head. Pretty creepy!

gaf · 03-17-2005, 02:01 PM

For me, the Maples/Baskin update wins hands down. When you think about it, the case and update themselves aren't scary. Some deranged people made up vicious lies about their own daughter and stole her kids, and an update later tells us they were seen in California, and they're still on the run. But then UM got involved and turned a sad, tragic case into the creepiest update ever.

Two other updates that creeped me out. The first was about a woman who killed her husband (?). An update lulls you into a false sense of security by telling you the woman was caught and is in prison in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Then, out of nowhere, another update on top of that with the blue screen and type says the woman escaped prison and is wanted again.

The other I haven't seen in more than 10 years, so I can't remember all the details. There was an elderly man whose home exploded, and they couldn't find the man. There was speculation in the segment that he could have blown up his own home. Then an update says that his remains were located in the blast area, and they were looking to see whether he was the victim of foul play. All the while there is that Update! music and a constant picture of the man with an American flag in the background. I don't know why, but that kept me up nights.

CanadianUMFan · 08-25-2007, 02:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyHendricks

Wow....that would have been quite a shock. That was the feeling I had watching the Stephen Marfeo case on Lifetime a year or so ago. They showed the entire segment (complete with interviews with Marfeo claiming he didn't kill his wife), then a text update flashed on the screen saying Marfeo had killed his girlfriend, droven to a seculded location and killed HIMSELF.

That came totally out of left field, and scared the crap out of me.

They just showed this case on the Mystery Channel up here in Canada yesterday but didn't provide the update! That really sheds a new light on this case.

longliveum · 08-26-2007, 04:15 PM

One that always freaked me out was how they portrayed the guy (Timothy Bindner) who was suspected of abducting Amber Swartz. He was just creepy how he drove around that van with her picture plastered all over it and how he'd call and leave messages on her mother's phone. The part that really was scary was when UM reenacted him talking to Amber's mother in the doorway of her home and he was all upset and almost crying and then a split second later he looked back at her with a really serious look on his face and started talking about leads the police were looking at. I need to watch the episode again. I think I have the names right. I just remember it being so disturbing.

longliveum · 08-26-2007, 04:17 PM

I just realized after I posted that I've never seen an update to this case. Does anyone know if there has been one? And what ever happened to Timothy Bindner?

Todd Mueller · 08-26-2007, 07:40 PM

I agree about the Dennis DePue one... That case was weird from the start and the update held true to form. The pictures of his van after the suicide were too much...

I always thought the Annie Laurie Herron one was messed up because they arrested a guy for her kidnapping yet no trace of her was ever found, after she had written the letter saying she was being held. So sad.

I nominate Tim what's-his-name for most obvious update. He said he didn't kill his mom (last saw her at the casino) yet he found her purse on the side of the road and cancelled her credit cards before she was known to be missing. How that guy ever thought he was going to fool the masses is beyond me.

Bazorro · 08-28-2007, 04:13 PM

one of the scariest (and saddest) was the update about the guy who had his son kidnapped by the mother.

She ended up taking the child to france and then he finds out years later that his son had died of luekemania (sp?). that update was scary and sad, it was such a shock to me.

I wish I could remember what the names were...

crystaldawn · 08-28-2007, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bazorro

I wish I could remember what the names were...

Bill Day and his son Christophe. The miserable excuse for a mother's name was Betty. Definitely the saddest update.

I agree with the poster who thought one of the creepiest updates was Joe Owens. They put that old creepy black and white picture up of him and say his remains had been found.

03-13-2005, 03:23 AM	#1
JimmyHendricks Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Sep 11, 2004 Posts: 112	What was the sCaRiEsT "UPDATE!!"? I'm sure this has been done before, but what the heck. What were the scariest updates ever shown on UM?? I have a few: *The update to the Judith Himes case. The one that aired with the segment, not the "Update" by itself (as it is usually aired). It wasn't what was updated, but how Robert Stack said "Update!" He said it really low and soft, not like he usually does. I guess this creeped me out because when I was a kid, I seriously used to have nightmares that I was watching UM and I KNEW a scary update was coming, so I tried to run and hide--but I couldn't, and it would scare me and wake me up. Pitiful? Yes, but true. The update to the kidnapping of an Asian girl named Elizabeth.--this one was on just last week--the entire segment ran, all the way to the end, where they described her and when she was last seen and then, "UPDATE!!"--well, what made it scary was that Stack didn't say "update"....just some creepy music started playing. Apparantly they had found Elizabeth's purse, but I didn't really care because I was running out of the room in terror. Ok, not that bad, but still spooky. The update of the old man who killed his wife (a piano teacher) and buried her underneath his patio in his front yard. The update was that some hikers had found his skeleton in the woods behind his home...he had killed himself. And by far, the scariest update in Unsolved Mysteries history....... *The Baskin Children abduction. It's spoken of frequently here, but the update to the story was terrifying. Not only did it have the spooky "computer aged" photos of the kids, but it didn't have the normal "Update" music. Instead, it had an alternate version of it, beginning with two "shrieking" notes.....and the case STILL wasn't solved!! If you need any proof that UM was made to scare the crap out of people, watch that segment as proof. Any others?

03-17-2005, 02:01 PM	#9
gaf Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Dec 02, 2003 Location: Kansas Posts: 94	For me, the Maples/Baskin update wins hands down. When you think about it, the case and update themselves aren't scary. Some deranged people made up vicious lies about their own daughter and stole her kids, and an update later tells us they were seen in California, and they're still on the run. But then UM got involved and turned a sad, tragic case into the creepiest update ever. Two other updates that creeped me out. The first was about a woman who killed her husband (?). An update lulls you into a false sense of security by telling you the woman was caught and is in prison in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Then, out of nowhere, another update on top of that with the blue screen and type says the woman escaped prison and is wanted again. The other I haven't seen in more than 10 years, so I can't remember all the details. There was an elderly man whose home exploded, and they couldn't find the man. There was speculation in the segment that he could have blown up his own home. Then an update says that his remains were located in the blast area, and they were looking to see whether he was the victim of foul play. All the while there is that Update! music and a constant picture of the man with an American flag in the background. I don't know why, but that kept me up nights.
	Last edited by gaf; 03-17-2005 at 02:28 PM.

03-13-2005, 04:17 AM	#2
compulsive dvd Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Jan 27, 2005 Posts: 184	Yeah, try watching the updates in Surround. Especially the newer episodes with that shrieking update sound. That update where they'd found the purse was definitely scary. Too bad they haven't found anything more of her. The special alerts were almost as scary as the updates. The cases seemed more serious and more recent at the time. They usually used the music from the kidnapped children update you described.

03-14-2005, 10:04 PM	#4
mortytbusybody Mystery Nut Occasional Poster Join Date: Jul 26, 2004 Location: California Posts: 69	I remember when the Dennis Depue update first aired one week after they broadcasted the original case. "What you are about to see is not a news broadcast..." I'm waiting for Robert to announce "Tonight on Unsolved Mysteries..." but instead it flashes to clips of Dennis pushing his wife down the stairs and Robert announcing Depue had killed himself after a high speed chase with police. That was such a shock and a relief...my heart still beats faster just thinking about it!!! The Baskin update was also scary because they were spotted in Santa Clara, California, just a couple miles away from me. I still can't believe they haven't been found or even spotted again after all these years.

03-15-2005, 06:10 PM	#7
rerungirl Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Sep 23, 2002 Location: Midwest Posts: 295	I remember watching the case of a middle aged woman who disappeared after a fight with her drunken boyfriend. The woman's two sons (both college age) swore there was foul play involved but the boyfriend insisted he had nothing to do with her disappearance. I was expecting Robert Stack's usual "if you have any information that could help solve this case" speech when, wham, the creepy music started and the next picture we saw was of a murky body of water in a secluded wooded area. The woman's body had been found there and police wanted to talk to anyone who had seen her car being driven the days following her disappearance. I wasn't expecting such a grisley update and it really freaked me out.

03-17-2005, 12:24 PM	#8
crystaldawn Member Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: Dec 17, 2002 Location: Illinois Posts: 4,261	I don't know about the "scariest" but the Wendy Long update is one for the list. The music they have for it then they show a grainy black and white picture of the suspect with his shaved head. Pretty creepy!

08-26-2007, 04:15 PM	#11
longliveum Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jun 20, 2006 Location: Arkansas Posts: 26	One that always freaked me out was how they portrayed the guy (Timothy Bindner) who was suspected of abducting Amber Swartz. He was just creepy how he drove around that van with her picture plastered all over it and how he'd call and leave messages on her mother's phone. The part that really was scary was when UM reenacted him talking to Amber's mother in the doorway of her home and he was all upset and almost crying and then a split second later he looked back at her with a really serious look on his face and started talking about leads the police were looking at. I need to watch the episode again. I think I have the names right. I just remember it being so disturbing.

08-26-2007, 04:17 PM	#12
longliveum Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jun 20, 2006 Location: Arkansas Posts: 26	I just realized after I posted that I've never seen an update to this case. Does anyone know if there has been one? And what ever happened to Timothy Bindner?

08-26-2007, 07:40 PM	#13
Todd Mueller Member Senior Member Join Date: Feb 11, 2005 Posts: 1,626	I agree about the Dennis DePue one... That case was weird from the start and the update held true to form. The pictures of his van after the suicide were too much... I always thought the Annie Laurie Herron one was messed up because they arrested a guy for her kidnapping yet no trace of her was ever found, after she had written the letter saying she was being held. So sad. I nominate Tim what's-his-name for most obvious update. He said he didn't kill his mom (last saw her at the casino) yet he found her purse on the side of the road and cancelled her credit cards before she was known to be missing. How that guy ever thought he was going to fool the masses is beyond me.

08-28-2007, 04:13 PM	#14
Bazorro Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Sep 05, 2005 Posts: 41	one of the scariest (and saddest) was the update about the guy who had his son kidnapped by the mother. She ended up taking the child to france and then he finds out years later that his son had died of luekemania (sp?). that update was scary and sad, it was such a shock to me. I wish I could remember what the names were...