Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries is a documentary series that, as the title implies, explores various unsolved cases throughout the world, although primarily focussing on the United States. It comes as a reboot of a popular series that has seen many different releases, from NBC in the 80s and 90s, to CBS in the late 90s, followed by Lifetime in the early 00s and Spike TV in the late 00s.The topics covered range from disappearances to criminal capers, and even to a few paranormal events. It’s got a little something for everybody, and has recently seen the release of its fourth season.
Many found themselves disappointed by Netflix’s fourth volume on account of it being shorter than normal, but for the most part, it maintains the quality of the rest of the series. And lucky for fans, a fifth volume is on the way. Like any show, not every episode is going to be created equal. Some are going to be much better than others, with some episodes feeling like filler, or being just plain boring.
26 “The Mothman Revisited”
Volume 4, Episode 5
This episode marks the second time the series as a whole has tackled the alluring concept of the Mothman, a cryptid that has appeared several times in recent American folklore, with sightings first being reported in the 50s and 60s in Point Pleasant. Mothman is seen as a harbinger of doom, implying great tragedy will strike at the location it appears, marked by the collapse of the Point Pleasant Bridge shortly after it was first seen.
The Mothman itself has been escribed as half-man, half-moth, obviously, with piercing, glowing red eyes and a soundless flight pattern. While there is no shortage of people who claim to have seen this creature, this episode definitely comes as the worst in the reboot series. This is because, for one, it’s exploring a topic that the show has already covered before, which makes it feel uninspired and bland. Also, for many skeptics, the episode just feels like a load of bull, and is not intriguing whatsoever.
25 “Berkshires UFO”
Volume 1, Episode 5
In Berkshire County, Massachussetts, on Labour Day in 1969, witnesses reported seeing several unindentified flying objects, with some children even reporting being abducted by them, and being experimented on by a purported alien species, before being released and having very little memory of the incident. The story seems pretty far-fetched, unless you happen to be a believer in extra-terrestrials visiting Earth.
Even if you are a believer though, this episode remains thoroughly unconvincing. For one, all the witnesses describe accounts that aren’t really the same, with some describing the spacecraft as having different shapes. On top of that, despite witnesses describing calling the police, there were no police records of the incident, nor were there records from the press, and an investigator even checked records from the time to check. You’d think an incident in a rural area like Berkshire County would have something this exciting plastered all over the front page, and yet, there wasn’t a word from the press. Lastly, many of the people telling their stories were all connected or knew each other in various ways. In short, this episode made it seem like the people interviewed were full of it. Who knows? Maybe they did see something, but the episode didn’t do a very good job at making them seem credible.
24 “A Death in Oslo”
Volume 2, Episode 2
“A Death in Oslo” follows the mysterious demise of a woman in a Norwegian hotel. The woman herself is completely unidentified, with no ID to speak of, a fake name in the hotel’s registry, and, bizarrely, the tags of her clothing have been removed. So who was this Jane Doe? Well, the episode offers a partial solution. The folks at Netflix contacted an intelligence operative, who confirmed that this woman was likely also a spy, because there have been a lot of similar cases throughout history. The tags being missing from the clothing are also a telltale sign of her being a spy.
So, in the end, is it really unsolved? It’s pretty clear the woman was a spy, and was likely compromised during a mission, leading to her death. Moreover, should it even be solved? If it’s a matter of an intelligence agency, it may also be a matter of national security, and it’s probably one of those cases that is better left unanswered. No family came forward or appeared in the episode, but the spy interviewed explained that her family was likely contacted and informed of the situation, and given money in exchange for silence. The only people that deserve to know what happened likely already know. As for the rest of us, there’s no need to know what happened, because it’s partially solved already. Basically, this episode wasn’t even really that much of a mystery, much less one that was completely unsolved, and it feels like a small drop in a sea of similar cases that have occurred over the years, some of which the previous seasons have touched upon. And frankly, since she’s a spy, even were the mystery solved, it would never get released to the public.
23 “Washington Insider Murder”
Volume 2, Episode 1
“Washington Insider Murder” covers the death of Jack Wheeler, an American veteran and politician who was found dead in a landfill on December 30, 2010. His death was ruled a homicide by investigators, but the family has no idea who could have killed him or why. This is one of those rare situations in which going with the official consensus actually complicates things, and that Occam’s Razor may be the best explanation.
Jack had been diagnosed as bipolar, and on this particular night, was observed on CCTV cameras across the city behaving strangely, indicating his mental illness may be acting up more than usual. The consensus is that he was murdered via blunt force trauma, thrown in a dumpster, and then a garbage truck transported him to the dump. However, even non-detectives think the real solution is much simpler. A poll revealed that hundreds of armchair detectives and casual viewers on Reddit believe that Jack simply crawled into the dumpster to get warm on the cold night, and was killed by accident after the garbage truck picked up the dumpster and emptied its contents into its crusher, which subsequently killed him. This might not be the official verdict, but it makes a lot more sense and leaves very few unanswered questions. Regardless of what actually happened, the family is still devastated by his death, and deserves to know the truth. Still, the possibility of it being an accident makes the episode feel needlessly over-complicated.
22 “Something in the Sky”
Volume 3, Episode 2
As a UFO episode, “Something in the Sky” is actually one of the better ones, because there’s more evidence to it than there is in the one from Berkshire County. But it still seems pretty far-fetched, all the same. This one occurred during the mid-90s in Michigan, with over 300 residents reporting strange lights hovering above ground. The stories of the people being interviewed all match up with similar details, so it’s definitely more compelling than the previous one.
Still, some aspects are a bit nonsensical, but the worst part about this one is just how forgettable it is. Unlike the one in Berkshire County, there isn’t a lot that’s remarkable about this, as it’s mainly just about people who saw a series of lights flying in a methodical manner. Compelling? Maybe not for skeptics, but at least this time, there is certainly no denying that those people definitely saw something, and they all have similar accounts of that fateful night.
21 “Tsunami Spirits”
Volume 2, Episode 4
Following the devastating earthquake and tsunami in the Tōhoku region of Japan in 2011, many tales began to spring up of ghosts prowling the area, many of whom resembled the victims of the natural disaster. This episode explores these tales, but in a way that goes a mile a minute. There are just too many bases to cover in one episode, and just when one story begins to get interesting, the show moves on to something else.
For example, one woman recounts a night in which a dripping wet person showed up at their door asking for dry clothes. The woman gave them some, but then they disappeared. It’s a cool story, and leaves the audience wanting to know more, but the episode never touches upon it again, flying straight on to the next thing. Some of these stories also feel a bit far-fetched and unnecessary. It would have been better had the episode focussed on stories like the former and explored them at a more in-depth level rather than try to tell too many stories at once. It’s just crammed too full of stories, and way too fast-paced to be really enjoyable.
20 “Stolen Kids”
Volume 2, Episode 6
This episode isn’t bad content-wise, but rather in how the show handled it. The story follows two mothers who live in the Martin Luther King Towers in Brooklyn, both of whom had their young children disappear in broad daylight in the same crowded playground. It’s a super sad story, with the mothers clearly broken and blaming themselves for the incident, even though none of it was their fault.
The reason it falls short is that the show kind of implies it was their fault, when it clearly is not. The apartment complex is an urban, relatively low-income area, and the show feels like it’s trying to emphasize this. Also, one of the mothers did admit to being a former drug addict, which is another aspect the show stresses. But this detail is completely irrelevant. Whether she was an addict or not, the fact still stands that her child was taken from her, and she deserves to know what happened to him. Her addiction wasn’t even the cause for his disappearance–she did the responsible thing by asking her mother to watch her kid for five minutes while she went to the corner store to buy them all ice cream, and during that time, he was taken. In short, a fine concept, but it could have been handled better. The poor mothers didn’t deserve to be portrayed in the light that the show subtly implies.
19 “Paranormal Rangers”
Volume 3, Episode 5
“Paranormal Rangers” is kind of ridiculous in concept, and suffers from many of the same problems as the “Tsunami Spirits,” in that it felt like it was packing in way too many stories at once. But it does earn some bonus points for featuring a culture that is often glossed over in the media: that of the Navajo. The story of the episode follows two Navajo rangers who have been specifically assigned to tackle any and all paranormal cases the region receives.
This can range from UFOs, ghosts, or creatures from Navajo folklore. To the credit of the rangers, they are always skeptical about the cases they handle and never jump straight to conclusions. The only conclusion they ever come to is that someone saw something, and they aren’t always sure what the nature of the thing is. It’s always interesting to follow paranormal investigators around, but maybe not so much for skeptics. In any case, it’s good that the Navajo people finally get some attention in the media for once.
18 “Who Was Jack the Ripper?”
Volume 4, Episode 1
Ah, Jack the Ripper, one of history’s most intriguing serial killers, and perhaps the most famous serial killer of all time. Many true-crime enthusiasts can’t stop obsessing over the man, because nearly 150 years after his rampage terrorized the Whitechapel district of London, his identity still remains unknown. Unfortunately, this episode felt like a lot of wasted potential. Truthfully, there could have been an entire season about the Ripper with all the details.
To the episode’s credit, they do explore one suspect that is often ignored: Dr. Francis Tumblety, an American medical quack. But the show gets a lot of facts wrong. First off, they state that there is no evidence to convict Tumblety, when, on the contrary, there was quite a bit. Friends of his stated he kept uteri on display in jars in his home, with the Ripper noted for having removed the uteri of his victims. There are a lot more things that make him a worthy suspect, too, but even then, he isn’t the sole suspect, because there are more out there with even more evidence against them. The episode didn’t really explore the “big three” that Ripperologists have pointed the finger at, and left out a lot of crucial details. Just like ome of the other episodes, it had a great concept, but was not very well executed.
17 “Mystery at Mile Marker 45”
Volume 3, Episode 1
Now, this is an episode that is a proper unsolved mystery, doesn’t seem ridiculous or far-fetched, and is definitely baffling, but overall, just isn’t as interesting as some of the others. The case is about Tiffany Valiante, a young woman who was found dead by a set of train tracks, apparently having been struck by the train. The problem is, this is in the middle of the woods, after Tiffany strangely disappeared while her parents’ backs were turned one night. Of course, this is no fault of the parents, as there is no way they could have foreseen this coming.
At first, there was no foul play suspected, as local cameras found Tiffany walking by herself away from home, but the rest of the details are fuzzy. There is definitely a case to be made for homicide, according to eyewitness reports about potential feuds between Tiffany and some other party-goers who had seen her that night at a gathering. It’s hard not to feel for the family, naturally, but ultimately, as an episode, it was just a little bit boring. If it is a homicide, it was more than likely just a one-off murder rather than involving some criminal syndicate or some larger conspiracy.
16 “The Severed Head”
Volume 4, Episode 3
As an episode, “The Severed Head” is really quite interesting, but where it loses points is in how flipping aggravating it is. The case follows a teenager who goes out to hunt, and stumbles across a severed head in the woods. The rest of the body was never found. Oddly enough, the head was embalmed, with eye caps and other embalming practices being present. So where in the world did it come from? As it happens. there lived a man just across the road from where the head was discovered, who was just a little too eager to help the police.
This man constantly pointed the finger at the teenager who discovered the head, and knew a little too much about how old body parts are dug up from graves and sold at black market auctions, including where these auctions took place. It’s definitely suspicious how much he knows about where to acquire such a head, and the show makes it obvious that he may know more than he lets on. What’s known is that he and the teenager were feuding, so the theory goes that the man likely placed the head there, where he knew the kid often went hunting, to try and implicate the kid in the placement of the head. The aggravating aspect is that the man who is at the center of it all died before filming. The one guy who probably had all the answers took them with him to the grave. It kind of feels like the show is teasing the audience with a carrot, before yanking it away, all “ha ha!” It’s a good story with an intriguing conspiracy, but at the end of the day, it just feels like a tease.
15 “The Ghost in Apartment 14”
Volume 3, Episode 8
Paranormal episodes are usually the weaker episodes of the series, and “The Ghost in Apartment 14” sadly falls into this same category. It does earn some points on account of it being mixed a little with true crime, though. Most of the episode features a mother and daughter who move into an apartment and begin experiencing paranormal activity. They do research on the apartment to find that a woman had been murdered there in 1976.
As for whether-or-not the haunting was definitively caused by this poor, unfortunate soul is unknown, but it’s a little creepy how details of the case that were being kept from the public are known by the mother. The mother keeps having dreams, explaining specific details about the case, and when she calls the police to tip them off, she finds out that the police already suspect such things to be true and have been actively investigating it away from the public eye. If what the mother is saying is true, it’s unnerving how specific and accurate she is with her predictions about the case. However, it can still easily be chalked up to coincidence for skeptics, as none of the evidence lacks any realistic explanation.
14 “No Ride Home”
Volume 1, Episode 4
“No Ride Home” is about the death of Alonzo Brooks, a young black man living in a tiny town in the Southern United States. Alonzo and his friends attended a party one night, during which Alonzo disappeared, only to be found dead several days later. What happened or who was responsible doesn’t really have a concrete answer, as is the show’s nature.
He was purported to have gotten into a brief spat at the party. However, his friends also noted that he was the only Black man there in a room full of white people, and that some of these people allegedly had ties to hate groups, meaning Alonzo’s death could have been a hate crime. His friends, of course, felt terrible for the death, as some went home early while others went to run to a store or gas station but got lost on the way, leaving Alonzo at a party without his closest friends. While not the most convoluted mystery, it is a valuable warning. It isn’t his friends’ fault for leaving him, because no one could have foreseen his death, but it is a cautionary tale that it is unwise to leave your friends at a party without someone they deeply know and trust. It’s an episode that is not only curious, but meaningful.
13 “Lady in the Lake”
Volume 2, Episode 5
“Lady in the Lake” just isn’t really that memorable for some reason. It’s fine, heck, it’s pretty good, but it just isn’t as outstanding as some of the other episodes produced. The victim of this unfortunate death was JoAnn Romain, whose car was found abandoned near her body, which was found in a lake near her local church that she attended. This episode falls victim to some of the flaws that other episodes have.
Namely, it makes a pretty rapid accusation, pointing out the prime suspect way too early, leaving every other bit of information to feel a bit irrelevant or intentionally misleading. It’s another one of those “unsolved-but-not-really” mysteries that leaves much to be desired. It’s a shame that such a thing happened to someone who was, by all accounts, a very friendly and charitable woman, but as for the episode itself, it could have done a bit better with what it had.
12 “Body in Bags”
Volume 3, Episode 3
As a company mows the grass alongside I-75, they come across a body (or at least, part of one) tied up in a sleeping bag. After an investigation, more bags full of body parts would emerge along the side of the very same highway, all belonging to the same person. The person in question was a father of a teenager, who had been dating a woman that his family did not approve of due to her manipulative and controlling nature.
Where this episode falls flat is its predictability. The episode lets viewers know almost right off the bat who the prime suspect is (spoiler alert: it’s the girlfriend), and what the motive is. Every other piece of information supports the theory, but is ultimately unnecessary, because the show makes a pretty good case for her right away. Unfortunately, this episode just isn’t really all that memorable. It’s more of a lover’s quarrel than something that true-crime fans are more interested in, like a serial murder. That doesn’t detract from the tragic aspect, of course. Plus, the accusation coming right out of the gates doesn’t really make the episode feel unsolved at all, and there are very few other theories presented. Luckily, this one does earn points for the gruesomeness of the murder, which definitely makes it more interesting.
11 “Murder, Center Stage”
Volume 4, Episode 4
“Murder, Center Stage” occurs on a college campus, in which a young woman is found dead right in the middle of a stage, when the theater is locked up until school resumes. How she got there isn’t quite so odd, as apparently she was known for sneaking into locked buildings on campus, and that this particular building had a piano which she was studying. The mystery is: who killed her?
There are some possible theories, but nothing concrete. Out of all the episodes, this is one that falls sort of in the middle. It’s not the most exciting because there are very few theories as to who is responsible, but it earns some points for potentially involving a serial killer. The murder itself is gnarly, which will help true-crime fans who like their gory murders find some more appreciation in the mystery itself. This episode is nothing to be amazed by, but is one that is memorable, anyway.
10 “What Happened to Josh?”
Volume 3, Episode 6
College student Josh Guimond was popular and adored by most who knew him. So who could have a vendetta strong enough to make him disappear? As far as this episode goes, there are several possible theories. For one, there was an abbey on his university’s campus, which had recently been caught up in a scandal which he was determined to bring light to. On the other hand, he often participated in online chatrooms pretending to be a woman to pick up men, which may have led to an enraged contact to murder him upon discovery of the truth.
The fact is, Josh is missing either way, and his body was never found, assuming he was even murdered at all. This is definitely a standout episode of the third volume, because there are so many seemingly-innocuous details to speculate on, which could lead to endless discussions and personal theories. With each detail revealed, the plot thickens more and more, creating more theories and zero solutions, which makes the episode pretty exciting.
9 “Missing Witness”
Volume 1, Episode 6
Lena Chapin is the oldest in a family full of girls, who also happens to be an accomplice to a murder. According to interviews with her younger sisters, their mother was very manipulative and controlling, especially when it came to the revolving door of men she was dating. Later in the girls’ adolescence, their stepfather vanishes, and all the older girls save Lena are quick to point the finger at their mom. But there just isn’t enough sufficient evidence to convict her.
After a few more years, Lena felt consumed by the guilt, so she confessed to the police that her mother had killed her stepfather, and that Lena herself had witnessed and even assisted in the act of hiding the body. In a shocking twist of events, when Lena is supposed to appear in court to testify against her mother, she too disappears. It was initially a little hard to feel bad for Lena on account of her helping to hide a body, but at the same time, she was also a scared child who was probably worried about what would happen to her if she said no. Today, it seems that all the sisters want justice for their stepfather, but their mother and her new boyfriend are bound behind so many legal tapes that there is little basis to convict. In terms of emotions, this is another episode that is up there, portraying a family in turmoil desperate for answers, going so far as to turn on their own blood to ensure she gets the justice she deserves. The only part it’s lacking is that it’s safe to say the mystery is solved, but there just isn’t enough evidence to throw the case at the legal system and actually send the mother to prison.
8 “13 Minutes”
Volume 1, Episode 2 (2020)
“13 Minutes” follows Pistol, a man who lost his mother when he was a teenager. His mother owned a hair salon, and was very passionate about her work, but unfortunately, had a few clients that would flirt and give other unwanted advances, and in a really creepy way at that. One day at around noon, Pistol’s mother goes missing from her hair salon, at a time when no other employee is working or when a client has an appointment. The place should have been totally empty. Or was it?
In the 13 minutes between phone calls to the salon, Pistol’s mother vanished, with her corpse being discovered miles away months later. This is definitely one of the better episodes because it’s an episode that fans want from the show, one where there is a caper, but no apparent perpetrator, leaving everything open-ended for discussion on online forums. What Pistol experienced is tragic, but if nothing else, at least now people worldwide will be determined to find out what happened right along with him.
7 “Death Row Fugitive”
Volume 2, Episode 3
“Death Row Fugitive” is another episode that is truly baffling, but not because of the mystery itself–it’s because of the incompetence of the police and prison systems in handling it. The fugitive in question is Lester Eubanks, who murdered a young girl while she was walking home alone at night. Eubanks was found guilty and sentenced to death, landing him a spot on Death Row. That should have been the end of it. The family should have had closure right then and there.
Through a series of legal technicalities, Eubanks’ sentence was reduced from death to life in prison. The prison he was sentenced to have a sort of rehabilitation program in which they taught prisoners how to function in the real world once their time was up. Eubanks signed up for this program due to having good behaviour. Gradually, this program gave him more and more freedom. By some fluke, the prison actually let him go Christmas shopping for his family in a public shopping mall completely unsupervised. Seeing an opportunity, he fled, and before anyone realized what had happened, it was too late. The episode is almost comical in portraying the lax incompetence of the prison guards, who never should have let him walk alone in a million years. To this day, decades later, his whereabouts are unknown. More than being funny in an absurdly grim way, it’s tragic for the family of the victim, who now have to live with never getting the closure they deserved. The episode is not only sad, but ridiculous, and not in an unplausible way–rather, in a way that shows that stupidity can truly be infinite sometimes, which is why it gets some extra points for being unique.
