UM stories you thought were both spooky and depressing - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Kane · 02-13-2006, 04:24 PM

There have been UM stories that were spooky, and others that were sad. However, what UM segments do you consider to be both spooky and sad?

My choice would be the disappearance of Judith Hines. As you'll recall, Judith Hines was the woman who disappeared in 1965 after going to a doctor about having an abortion.

What made it spooky was that a policeman kept receiving an anonymous caller from a woman claiming that Judith was alive and living in Omaha.

After the story originally aired, police received an anonymous letter claiming that Judith was deceased, and that she died during an abortion, and her body was then disposed of.

What I find sad about the story is that it involved a woman who didn't want to have her baby, and tried to get rid of it by having an abortion. I am convinced that if Judith Hines had chosen a more viable alternative, such as adoption, she would still be with us. But instead, we are left with not only a mystery as to what happened to Judith, but also the sad wondering of what kind of life her child might have had if he or she had been given a chance to be born.

sugarbaby · 02-13-2006, 07:00 PM

Had Judy had more options such as legal abortion should would still be alive! This is just a prime example of how dangerous illegal abortions can be. I am sure she died as a result of a back alley abortion because she did not have a safer termination alternative under the direct supervision of trained medical doctors, and that person/s covered up their crime. Now as far as the whole Omaha thing....that is just too weird!

DarkDante · 02-13-2006, 07:10 PM

I can't defend it but it was "the times" as they say. It would be a good case to show during a "pro choice" vs. "pro life" debate thats for sure. Sadly Judy's story is not unique and was likely a very commonplace one in the 1960s with the only thing that makes the Hines case different from the rest is you had this mystery surrounding her death.

I guess by the time the UM was filmed Judy's parents might have already passed on. I would have been interested to hear their insight on the case. I can't say I personally know of anyone who died from this type of abortion but it was all too commonplace around the time Judy disappeared/died.

fivecats · 02-13-2006, 07:21 PM

My vote for both spooky and sad is the case of the lady who disappeared after she said she was meeting a blind date. Her car and purse was later found in a Howard Johnson's parking lot. UM had an update stating that she had killed herself in a hotel room. I can't remember her name, but it's such a sad case! The spooky part is the circumstances of her disappearance. She was obviously so troubled that she felt suicide was the only way out.

My other vote would be the case where a lovely Asian-American girl disappeared. Many people swore they saw her being forcefully led around by an Asian man (one of the sightings was in an ice cream parlor). UM had an update saying they found her purse, but I've not heard anything after that. Of course, bad memory that I have, I can't remember her name either! But the case was sad and spooky at the same time.

Kane · 02-13-2006, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkDante

I can't defend it but it was "the times" as they say. It would be a good case to show during a "pro choice" vs. "pro life" debate thats for sure.

I agree. To tell you the truth, I'm pro-life. And while UM tended not to promote any political propaganda (unlike too many shows of today), I think the Judith Hines story makes a strong argument against abortion.

justins5256 · 02-13-2006, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kane

I agree. To tell you the truth, I'm pro-life. And while UM tended not to promote any political propaganda (unlike too many shows of today), I think the Judith Hines story makes a strong argument against abortion.

That is an interesting suggestion. However, it could also tip the other way. Hines had to seek out a black market abortion because abortion wasn't legal. So long as it is legal, these black market abortions are less likely to occur. I'm not looking to start any abortion debates, but I don't think we should say the case makes a stronger argument towards one outcome or another.

DarkDante · 02-14-2006, 01:14 AM

Agreed I just think it would be a good thing to show anyone interested in the abortion issue and let them decide for themselves. Beyond that Hines didn't deserve to die like that, she shouldn't have died like that anyhow - Its hard to find who to fault in this case and Kane is right it really is pretty sad and tragic.

1) This "doctor" shouldn't have even been practicing abortions being that he wasn't even a real doctor. Then again he had obviously performed several successful abortions prior to Judy's death. It could be written off as a "freak accident" but the fact that he was even practicing makes a good share of the blame fall at his feet.

2) Judith herself was a bit naive too. She likely died of an allergic reaction to something she was injected with prior to the abortion (or so the letter says). You would think she would know what type of drugs she was allergic to, maybe that was the farthest thing from her mind at the time but allergic and deadly reactions to drugs aren't as uncommon as most people would like to think.

Then again if Judy was in a real hospital, having a legitimate abortion with a real doctor they might have been able to save her life after she had the allergic reaction.

Allierain · 02-14-2006, 02:38 AM

This case has always stayed with me although I haven't seen the segment in a long time (several years as a matter of fact). If I recall, wasn't Judy's car found abandoned in a residential neighborhood with blood all over the back seat? Perhaps her death had nothing to do with an illegal abortion. Perhaps she had the procedure down and was later abducted. A shot in the dark but hey, anything is possible.

And wasn't there an update? Wasn't a letter sent anonymously to the police stating that Judy wasn't alive and had been dumped upon her death in a nearby body of water? I really want to see this case again.

The case that stands out to me as spooky and sad was the case of Little Miss Panasoffkee, the women found dead in Florida. Hers was one of the first cases to use complete forensic facial reconstruction. I remember her reconstructions and I saw them again on the Doe network. I have always been spooked by those images. And the case saddens me because, after all these years, she still doesn't have her identity back. And if it's true that she did give birth to a child, perhaps someone, somewhere, grew up without knowing their real mother.

On a sidenote, there is a segment I know of on UM that saddened me so much, I don't watch the reconstruction. The case was profiled recently. It was the girl whose boyfriend murdered her parents when she tried to break up with him, and then tried to murder her by stabbing. I turn this case off when I see the preview for it.

Kane · 02-14-2006, 09:39 AM

Another UM story that I'd put on the list would be the murder of Rhonda Hinson. She was the North Carolina woman who was shot to death while en route home from a Christmas party in 1981.

It's really sad that a young woman died so young, at the age of 19. She would be turning 44 this year if she had lived. Since she was an only child, her death dashed any hopes of her ever becoming a mother, and folks ever becoming grandparents.

What is spooky is her demeanor prior to the murder. According to her folks, she would bathe late at night, which is said to be common for victims of sexual assault. Also, Rhonda asked her mother about the idea of dating a married man. Her behavior lead one to question whether she had been sexually attacked and/or if she or someone she knew was having an affair with a married person. Obviously, something was bugging Rhonda, and it's my belief that she was going to reveal whatever it might have been, and then was killed before she could.

Kane · 02-14-2006, 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allierain

This case has always stayed with me although I haven't seen the segment in a long time (several years as a matter of fact). If I recall, wasn't Judy's car found abandoned in a residential neighborhood with blood all over the back seat? Perhaps her death had nothing to do with an illegal abortion. Perhaps she had the procedure down and was later abducted. A shot in the dark but hey, anything is possible.

And wasn't there an update? Wasn't a letter sent anonymously to the police stating that Judy wasn't alive and had been dumped upon her death in a nearby body of water? I really want to see this case again.

Yes, there was an update. In fact, I mentioned it. After the story was first broadcast, the police received a letter claiming that Judith was actually dead. While they believe the info is legitimate, they made an on-camera plea, asking the unknown author to come forward (so far, to no avail).

rerungirl · 02-14-2006, 09:43 AM

Another case that I consider both spooky and depressing is the mysterious death of a young woman in California who didn't have enough cab fare and was let out in an isolated area near a cliff in the middle of the night. Her body was found the next morning at the bottom of the cliff. The woman was wearing "thrift store clothes" and her purse contained no id of any kind. Police suspect it was a suicide but I have often wondered if she didn't just lose her footing and accidentally fall from the cliff. As I remember it, she was only a dollar or two short of having exact cab fare and it seemed especially heartless of the cab driver to just leave her stranded like that in such a forlorn area that late at night.

LooksLikeCRicci · 02-14-2006, 12:53 PM

This is beating a dead horse, but I always thought that the Angela Hammond case was spooky and depressing. Spooky because of the circumstances involved, and depressing because the boyfriend was tailing Angela and her abductor and blew out his engine in the process. *whew!*

And yes, the Judith Hines and Gale Delano cases are both excellent nominees for this category.

Tap Dancer · 02-15-2006, 06:56 PM

I saw a very short segment today about a baby who was found beaten to death. This was in 1991, I think. A woman had a baby out in the woods at night, the man she was with beat it to death within minutes, and then they took off. The police don't know who these people are. If they didn't want the baby, why not give it up for adoption? It's scary and sad to know that there are people like this out there.

Allierain · 02-15-2006, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tap Dancer

I saw a very short segment today about a baby who was found beaten to death. This was in 1991, I think. A woman had a baby out in the woods at night, the man she was with beat it to death within minutes, and then they took off. The police don't know who these people are. If they didn't want the baby, why not give it up for adoption? It's scary and sad to know that there are people like this out there.

I've seen that story a few times before, and every time I am absolutely sickened by it. It's bad enough to take the life of a mature person, who has a chance of defending himself/herself, but it's appalling even moreso to hear of it happening to an innocent child, much less a newborn baby. I find it sad as well that these people apparently haven't been caught. Hopefully this little baby girl will never be forgotten.

dynoguy88 · 02-15-2006, 07:44 PM

I agree with all of the spooky/sad segments already mentioned. My opinion on them -

1. JUDITH HINES - Although I was not alive in 1965, I understand completely if Judith thought she had no other choice than to have the abortion. As cliche as this sounds, those were simply different times. You hardly EVER saw a single woman have a baby on her own. And the ones that did were frowned upon and looked at in a very negative way. It was around that same time period that whites and blacks still weren't allowed to share public restrooms. (People were so stupid back then.) So, I don't think it can be easily stated that Judith could choose a more viable alternative. While some people would probably just brush off this case as "Woman goes to have illegal abortion, is killed during it, body is dumped in the bay," blah, blah, blah.... we still have questions that remain. Like, who drove Judith's rental car 300 miles away to that residential neighborhood? Why did he choose that location? Obviously the car was still going to be found and traced and he made no attempt to clean up the blood on the seat. Was it an attempt to make it look like foul play to brush away suspicions from the abortion clinic? And the mysterious phone calls from Nebraska - what was up with those? Whoever phoned in obviously knew something about Hines but waited 25 years to say something. And the phone calls didn't even start until the Coral Gables police officer went to that seminar in Omaha. Very strange case.

2. RHONDA HINSON - What always bugged me about this case was the incredible luck that her killer had being able to shoot her just one time as she sped away and STILL managing to kill her. That bullet traveled through the trunk of her car, through the back seat, and finally traveled through the drivers seat before striking her heart and killing her. What are the odds that someone could get such a lucky shot? I can't figure out what would drive somebody to kill her. Maybe the constant showers she took were because someone she knew had raped her and she was hesitant at first about reporting him to the police. Maybe once she finally did decide to report him, she was shut up before she had the chance. Of course, that doesn't explain her question about seeing a married man. I wonder if the police ever talked to any of Rhonda's friends. Surely somebody had to know who she was seeing and what was going on in her personal life. On the night she was murdered, she left a Christmas party with two other girls who she gave a ride home to before getting killed. I'm pretty sure her killer was probably in the parking lot of that office party waiting for her to come out. He then probably followed her as she dropped off her friends waiting for her to be alone and then made his move.

3. OKLAHOMA BABY BEATEN TO DEATH - Yes, that was such a sad segment. Her parents were probably extremely young and just weren't thinking straight at all. There were so many other ways they could have handled this. The fact that they went to this extreme makes me think they probably didn't want their loved ones to know they were having that baby. The sight of that tiny casket was difficult to watch.

02-13-2006, 04:24 PM	#1
Kane Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Mar 07, 2001 Location: MA, United States Posts: 3,367	UM stories you thought were both spooky and depressing There have been UM stories that were spooky, and others that were sad. However, what UM segments do you consider to be both spooky and sad? My choice would be the disappearance of Judith Hines. As you'll recall, Judith Hines was the woman who disappeared in 1965 after going to a doctor about having an abortion. What made it spooky was that a policeman kept receiving an anonymous caller from a woman claiming that Judith was alive and living in Omaha. After the story originally aired, police received an anonymous letter claiming that Judith was deceased, and that she died during an abortion, and her body was then disposed of. What I find sad about the story is that it involved a woman who didn't want to have her baby, and tried to get rid of it by having an abortion. I am convinced that if Judith Hines had chosen a more viable alternative, such as adoption, she would still be with us. But instead, we are left with not only a mystery as to what happened to Judith, but also the sad wondering of what kind of life her child might have had if he or she had been given a chance to be born.

02-13-2006, 07:21 PM	#4
fivecats Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Feb 03, 2006 Location: Waukegan, IL Posts: 29	Disappearances My vote for both spooky and sad is the case of the lady who disappeared after she said she was meeting a blind date. Her car and purse was later found in a Howard Johnson's parking lot. UM had an update stating that she had killed herself in a hotel room. I can't remember her name, but it's such a sad case! The spooky part is the circumstances of her disappearance. She was obviously so troubled that she felt suicide was the only way out. My other vote would be the case where a lovely Asian-American girl disappeared. Many people swore they saw her being forcefully led around by an Asian man (one of the sightings was in an ice cream parlor). UM had an update saying they found her purse, but I've not heard anything after that. Of course, bad memory that I have, I can't remember her name either! But the case was sad and spooky at the same time.

02-14-2006, 09:39 AM	#9
Kane Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Mar 07, 2001 Location: MA, United States Posts: 3,367	Another case I deem both spooky and sad Another UM story that I'd put on the list would be the murder of Rhonda Hinson. She was the North Carolina woman who was shot to death while en route home from a Christmas party in 1981. It's really sad that a young woman died so young, at the age of 19. She would be turning 44 this year if she had lived. Since she was an only child, her death dashed any hopes of her ever becoming a mother, and folks ever becoming grandparents. What is spooky is her demeanor prior to the murder. According to her folks, she would bathe late at night, which is said to be common for victims of sexual assault. Also, Rhonda asked her mother about the idea of dating a married man. Her behavior lead one to question whether she had been sexually attacked and/or if she or someone she knew was having an affair with a married person. Obviously, something was bugging Rhonda, and it's my belief that she was going to reveal whatever it might have been, and then was killed before she could.

02-15-2006, 07:44 PM	#15
dynoguy88 Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Apr 01, 2000 Location: Michigan, USA Posts: 3,675	reply I agree with all of the spooky/sad segments already mentioned. My opinion on them - 1. JUDITH HINES - Although I was not alive in 1965, I understand completely if Judith thought she had no other choice than to have the abortion. As cliche as this sounds, those were simply different times. You hardly EVER saw a single woman have a baby on her own. And the ones that did were frowned upon and looked at in a very negative way. It was around that same time period that whites and blacks still weren't allowed to share public restrooms. (People were so stupid back then.) So, I don't think it can be easily stated that Judith could choose a more viable alternative. While some people would probably just brush off this case as "Woman goes to have illegal abortion, is killed during it, body is dumped in the bay," blah, blah, blah.... we still have questions that remain. Like, who drove Judith's rental car 300 miles away to that residential neighborhood? Why did he choose that location? Obviously the car was still going to be found and traced and he made no attempt to clean up the blood on the seat. Was it an attempt to make it look like foul play to brush away suspicions from the abortion clinic? And the mysterious phone calls from Nebraska - what was up with those? Whoever phoned in obviously knew something about Hines but waited 25 years to say something. And the phone calls didn't even start until the Coral Gables police officer went to that seminar in Omaha. Very strange case. 2. RHONDA HINSON - What always bugged me about this case was the incredible luck that her killer had being able to shoot her just one time as she sped away and STILL managing to kill her. That bullet traveled through the trunk of her car, through the back seat, and finally traveled through the drivers seat before striking her heart and killing her. What are the odds that someone could get such a lucky shot? I can't figure out what would drive somebody to kill her. Maybe the constant showers she took were because someone she knew had raped her and she was hesitant at first about reporting him to the police. Maybe once she finally did decide to report him, she was shut up before she had the chance. Of course, that doesn't explain her question about seeing a married man. I wonder if the police ever talked to any of Rhonda's friends. Surely somebody had to know who she was seeing and what was going on in her personal life. On the night she was murdered, she left a Christmas party with two other girls who she gave a ride home to before getting killed. I'm pretty sure her killer was probably in the parking lot of that office party waiting for her to come out. He then probably followed her as she dropped off her friends waiting for her to be alone and then made his move. 3. OKLAHOMA BABY BEATEN TO DEATH - Yes, that was such a sad segment. Her parents were probably extremely young and just weren't thinking straight at all. There were so many other ways they could have handled this. The fact that they went to this extreme makes me think they probably didn't want their loved ones to know they were having that baby. The sight of that tiny casket was difficult to watch.

02-13-2006, 07:00 PM	#2
sugarbaby Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jan 29, 2006 Location: portland, oregon Posts: 39	Had Judy had more options such as legal abortion should would still be alive! This is just a prime example of how dangerous illegal abortions can be. I am sure she died as a result of a back alley abortion because she did not have a safer termination alternative under the direct supervision of trained medical doctors, and that person/s covered up their crime. Now as far as the whole Omaha thing....that is just too weird!

02-13-2006, 07:10 PM	#3
DarkDante Member Senior Member Join Date: Jul 27, 2002 Posts: 1,569	I can't defend it but it was "the times" as they say. It would be a good case to show during a "pro choice" vs. "pro life" debate thats for sure. Sadly Judy's story is not unique and was likely a very commonplace one in the 1960s with the only thing that makes the Hines case different from the rest is you had this mystery surrounding her death. I guess by the time the UM was filmed Judy's parents might have already passed on. I would have been interested to hear their insight on the case. I can't say I personally know of anyone who died from this type of abortion but it was all too commonplace around the time Judy disappeared/died.

02-14-2006, 01:14 AM	#7
DarkDante Member Senior Member Join Date: Jul 27, 2002 Posts: 1,569	Agreed I just think it would be a good thing to show anyone interested in the abortion issue and let them decide for themselves. Beyond that Hines didn't deserve to die like that, she shouldn't have died like that anyhow - Its hard to find who to fault in this case and Kane is right it really is pretty sad and tragic. 1) This "doctor" shouldn't have even been practicing abortions being that he wasn't even a real doctor. Then again he had obviously performed several successful abortions prior to Judy's death. It could be written off as a "freak accident" but the fact that he was even practicing makes a good share of the blame fall at his feet. 2) Judith herself was a bit naive too. She likely died of an allergic reaction to something she was injected with prior to the abortion (or so the letter says). You would think she would know what type of drugs she was allergic to, maybe that was the farthest thing from her mind at the time but allergic and deadly reactions to drugs aren't as uncommon as most people would like to think. Then again if Judy was in a real hospital, having a legitimate abortion with a real doctor they might have been able to save her life after she had the allergic reaction.

02-14-2006, 02:38 AM	#8
Allierain Forum Old Fart Forum Regular Join Date: Nov 30, 2002 Location: Somewhere Posts: 509	This case has always stayed with me although I haven't seen the segment in a long time (several years as a matter of fact). If I recall, wasn't Judy's car found abandoned in a residential neighborhood with blood all over the back seat? Perhaps her death had nothing to do with an illegal abortion. Perhaps she had the procedure down and was later abducted. A shot in the dark but hey, anything is possible. And wasn't there an update? Wasn't a letter sent anonymously to the police stating that Judy wasn't alive and had been dumped upon her death in a nearby body of water? I really want to see this case again. The case that stands out to me as spooky and sad was the case of Little Miss Panasoffkee, the women found dead in Florida. Hers was one of the first cases to use complete forensic facial reconstruction. I remember her reconstructions and I saw them again on the Doe network. I have always been spooked by those images. And the case saddens me because, after all these years, she still doesn't have her identity back. And if it's true that she did give birth to a child, perhaps someone, somewhere, grew up without knowing their real mother. On a sidenote, there is a segment I know of on UM that saddened me so much, I don't watch the reconstruction. The case was profiled recently. It was the girl whose boyfriend murdered her parents when she tried to break up with him, and then tried to murder her by stabbing. I turn this case off when I see the preview for it.

02-14-2006, 09:43 AM	#11
rerungirl Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Sep 23, 2002 Location: Midwest Posts: 295	Another case that I consider both spooky and depressing is the mysterious death of a young woman in California who didn't have enough cab fare and was let out in an isolated area near a cliff in the middle of the night. Her body was found the next morning at the bottom of the cliff. The woman was wearing "thrift store clothes" and her purse contained no id of any kind. Police suspect it was a suicide but I have often wondered if she didn't just lose her footing and accidentally fall from the cliff. As I remember it, she was only a dollar or two short of having exact cab fare and it seemed especially heartless of the cab driver to just leave her stranded like that in such a forlorn area that late at night.

02-14-2006, 12:53 PM	#12
LooksLikeCRicci Likes to live in a clean house Moderator Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: Nov 27, 2005 Posts: 4,050	This is beating a dead horse, but I always thought that the Angela Hammond case was spooky and depressing. Spooky because of the circumstances involved, and depressing because the boyfriend was tailing Angela and her abductor and blew out his engine in the process. whew! And yes, the Judith Hines and Gale Delano cases are both excellent nominees for this category.

02-15-2006, 06:56 PM	#13
Tap Dancer Member Forum Regular Join Date: Mar 20, 2005 Location: Virginia Posts: 754	I saw a very short segment today about a baby who was found beaten to death. This was in 1991, I think. A woman had a baby out in the woods at night, the man she was with beat it to death within minutes, and then they took off. The police don't know who these people are. If they didn't want the baby, why not give it up for adoption? It's scary and sad to know that there are people like this out there.