Unintentionally creepy/frightening moments...

[Robert Stack, Jr.]

Well there is already a popular thread on accidentally funny moments, but I thought this could be an interesting contrast. Obviously, a show like UM is going to have a lot of scary moments on purpose...but what incidences were actually unnerving without meaning to be?

A couple of the top of my head...

1) It always freaked me out when Stack would say "You need not give your name!!" when asking viewers to call in. That line just conjures chilling images of mysterious shady characters calling in tips.

2) The guy interviewed in the cloning segment with the deep, robotic voice. Even though he was probably just a nerdy expert, he reminded me of a mad scientist. Shoot...that whole segment was pretty darn creepy. I think it was made for some relief from the murders and disappearances, but came off with an unnerving sci-fi feel.

3) The still screen of Steve Page when Stack asks, "Is this the face of a killer?" It probably wouldn't have been bad if they showed an actual picture of him, but the effect of freezing his interview video really creeped it out.

4) The age-progressed photo of Clifford Sherwood. Age-progressed pics usually don't get to me since they are mostly just a few years advanced, but going from a 10-year-old kid to a 50-year-old man was a little too far into the uncanny valley for me.

I am sure I'll think of more. Let's hear yours.

[WishfulDreamer]

Originally Posted by Robert Stack, Jr.

1) It always freaked me out when Stack would say "You need not give your name!!" when asking viewers to call in. That line just conjures chilling images of mysterious shady characters calling in tips.

I fully agree! I also think it only adds to the spookiness when he fairly shouts, "Do not approach him!" I can only imagine people walking up to these creepy, wanted figures. Stack giving the viewer personal warnings also seemed to make watchers feel more involved and closer to the scary stuff.

[MegtheEgg86]

So many. I'll list the ones that come immediately to mind.

- At the end of the unedited version of the Sacramento Thrill Killer segment, not only were photos of the victims shown on the screen over one of the creepiest musical scores in UM's arsenal of terrifying music, but there was actual news footage of victims being loaded onto ambulances playing behind the telecenter number. I always thought seeing the immediate aftermath of something like that was very startling and scary.

-The CCV tape of one of the pizza bandits' robberies, also shown at the end of the segment. And most CCV tapes, really. I even thought the crash-and-dash tape was kind of creepy--especially since it was in color.

-The itemized text list that pops up on the screen on the segment about Dr. Iben Browning's earthquake prediction about what to do in the event of a massive earthquake. I can't pinpoint why but it's always made me nervous for some reason.

-The infamous Cheryl Kenney photograph in which her eyes look blacked out in the Angela Hammond segment.

-Most "zoom-in" moments involving photographs, especially when they focus in on the eyes. Terri Hoffman, Jon Yount, and Marie Hilley are all really good examples.

-Wishful has brought this up before in another thread, but whenever maps are shown it's usually a pretty unintentionally creepy moment.

-Quick cuts from something rather benign to something really terrible--i.e., Dexter Stefonek driving down the interstate at night to his car blazing out of control in the parking lot of the Bad Route rest area, or Charlie Sigmin on his boat ("This time Charlie thought he'd finally found happiness...") to a bunch of police cars sitting outside a house with their lights on at night. ("...he was wrong.")

-This one is kind of difficult to explain, but there's a part in the D.B. Cooper segment that creeps me out in a subtle way. It begins with a former investigator speculating on what happened after Cooper made the jump during his interview:

"Let's say he fell in the water..."

And immediately there's a cut to Cooper trying to swim out of a lake in near-total darkness and this unsettling piano score starts playing (this same piece was also used memorably in the Mark and Judy Groezinger segment). The interviewee continues to explain some things about how Cooper would have had to have been very familiar with his chute and then there's kind of a lull in the music. THEN this sour note hits just as there's cut to a scene of tons of people in boats searching this same body of water by day. It's a very creepy portion of the segment for me.

I also thought the composite commissioned by UM using Florence Schaffner's reference of Cooper was scary.

[TheCars1986]

I've always found parts of the DB Cooper segment to be unintentionally creepy. From the jump from the plane to the shot of Cooper dying in a creek bed, the whole segment was creepy to me. And for some reason, when Stack called out the shock jock DJ's and said they were "lying" with the freeze frame of their faces had creeped me out when I was younger for some reason. Maybe it's because I found them to be believable at the time.

[RobinW]

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

-The itemized text list that pops up on the screen on the segment about Dr. Iben Browning's earthquake prediction about what to do in the event of a massive earthquake. I can't pinpoint why but it's always made me nervous for some reason.

While we're on the subject of UM text, I also get inexplicably creeped out during the Dexter Stefonek segment when they show the sketch of the suspect's 4x4 and a text description scrolls across the screen while Robert Stack is narrating it. It's probably because UM never usually did that with text, but it came across as very unsettling to me.

For some reason, I also get seriously perturbed by the sight of Brad Bishop having his dog with him during the re-enactments where he torches his family's bodies and abandons his vehicle. I have no idea if the real Bishop actually took the dog on the run with him (the animal was never found, IIRC), but the idea of a guy butchering his entire family, but still caring enough about his pet dog to keep it as a companion is just so creepy to me.

On another animal-related note, I also find it bizarrely unsettling when they show footage of Jule Caylor feeding his dogs and acting affectionate towards them at his new home while the voice-over plays of his infamous interview where he says it was hell living with Dottie and that things have been pretty good since she disappeared. It creates such a strange contrast of how Jule really seem to like his dogs, but seems to cares very little about his missing wife.

[wiseguy182]

^don't forget Stephen Marfeo enjoying a cup of coffee at the end of his segment...

[SheRaaa]

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

The infamous Cheryl Kenney photograph in which her eyes look blacked out in the Angela Hammond segment.

Omg, yes! This has to be THE most unintentionally frightening photograph in UM's history. I feel so sorry for Cheryl that THAT is the photo they chose to use, but I understand. Nevertheless, it's extremely unsettling and I have always been so creeped-out by it.

[boechsner]

For starters:

Everything about Tim McClure. Everything he says, the way he says it, his hair. The picture of him with his old hairdo is creepy.

Kurt Sova hanging onto the fence out back of the party house.

Every scene in the Micki Jo West case where someone found a letter.

The Angelo Desideri segment where the camera moves around his kitchen showing his "mid-afternoon meal" still sitting out.

I don't know why, but the Dale car model itself is creepy to me.

Just the image of the Bicycle Bandit wheeling on down the sidewalk with the background music playing, creepy!

[everprincess]

The bowling alley murders segment for me. I know there are more but that one always creeped me out that someone would just kill everyone in bowling alley. I know now that seems crazy since more and more people feel the need to go into public places and kill a bunch of innocent people.

[MegtheEgg86]

Originally Posted by boechsner

Just the image of the Bicycle Bandit wheeling on down the sidewalk with the background music playing, creepy!

I was creeped out by it, too. However, the music has a toll sound in it that totally reminds me of that bell sound they always used to use in Taco Bell commercials.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by boechsner

The Angelo Desideri segment where the camera moves around his kitchen showing his "mid-afternoon meal" still sitting out.

I was just about to post the same exact thing! That whole segment is underrated, IMO, in terms of the creepy factor.

[dynoguy88]

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

- At the end of the unedited version of the Sacramento Thrill Killer segment, not only were photos of the victims shown on the screen over one of the creepiest musical scores in UM's arsenal of terrifying music, but there was actual news footage of victims being loaded onto ambulances playing behind the telecenter number. I always thought seeing the immediate aftermath of something like that was very startling and scary.

Could not agree more. That music would make ANYTHING scary. But it was a mixture of scary and sadness to see the actual bodies being loaded on the ambulances at the very end of the original segment.

When that segment first aired, it was the same night the orange sock murders segment first aired. And there's this haunting and very creepy piano tune playing in the background just after Jeff Obherholzter's final statement and the 1-800 number pops up. UM didn't use that musical score often but I never forgot it.

[MegtheEgg86]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

I was just about to post the same exact thing! That whole segment is underrated, IMO, in terms of the creepy factor.

Yes!

I'd almost be willing to wager that any segment with a burning car ups the ante in terms of creepiness.

[MegtheEgg86]

Originally Posted by dynoguy88

And there's this haunting and very creepy piano tune playing in the background just after Jeff Obherholzter's final statement and the 1-800 number pops up. UM didn't use that musical score often but I never forgot it.

It was really soft and subtle, too--I don't know why that made it so additionally unnerving but it really did.


A few other ones I thought of:

-The stills of the aftermath of Selena Edon's motorcycle wreck. I think it was so creepy because there wasn't one bit of voice-over when they were shown, just something-bad-happened music.

-I have ALWAYS thought both the slowed-down version and frozen still of the New Kids on the Block video with the presumed Kari Lynn Nixon sighting was creepy as hell. Especially when they highlight the concert-goer in question at the end with RS narrating, "If you can identify this girl..."

[unsolved88]

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

I have ALWAYS thought both the slowed-down version and frozen still of the New Kids on the Block video with the presumed Kari Lynn Nixon sighting was creepy as hell. Especially when they highlight the concert-goer in question at the end with RS narrating, "If you can identify this girl..."

I feel the same way. I think what I thought was so unsettling about it was that the girl in question doesn't appear happy at all and looks at though she doesn't even want to be there in the first place. Kind of like she was there under duress or something.