Unsolved Mysteries Rolls Out a Halloween-Prepared New Season

Unsolved Mysteries has been round since 1987, making it an early pioneer in true crime TV—a style that’s solely gotten extra in style in recent times because of streaming. Netflix revived Unsolved Mysteries in 2020, with a fifth entry in that format arriving this week. Whereas quantity 5 is the shortest season but, it may also be pound for pound the weirdest, which is saying loads as a result of Unsolved Mysteries is no stranger to freaky oddities.

This time round, only one episode, “Park Bench Murders,” hews to the traditional true-crime components, tracing an exceptionally baffling double homicide. It’s the sort of case that old-school host Robert Stack would have framed by addressing the viewers and solemnly asking for his or her assist in fixing the crime, a activity now dealt with by on-screen textual content on the finish of the episode.

Elsewhere, nonetheless, issues lean even tougher into the “thriller” a part of Unsolved Mysteries; whereas it could have been good to see more strange true-crime instances included—frankly, these are sometimes the scariest tales—it looks like this grouping was fastidiously chosen for a pre-Halloween binge.

“My Paranormal Companion” follows a magical researcher whose spirit information (improbably named “Becky”) helps him examine hauntings, and the guy researchers who tag alongside to confirm his findings. “Mysterious Mutilations” digs right into a rash of latest cattle mutilations on ranches throughout Oregon, and “The Roswell UFO Incident” examines the well-known claims that an alien craft crash-landed in 1947 New Mexico.

In every occasion, questions are raised and proof is puzzled via, however—as is at all times true of Unsolved Mysteries—it’s left to the viewer to ponder what they consider is true. Most everybody who seems in “My Paranormal Companion” appears satisfied that Don Philips is certainly speaking with a spirit, however the viewer doesn’t get a lot in the best way of proof. We hear a fellow researcher discuss Don’s skill to establish a picture inside a sealed envelope (with Becky’s assist), however we don’t really see the check happen. The largest howler, although, might be when somebody fact-checks what Don claims to be the ghostly Becky’s account of her demise, comes up with nothing, and decides Becky lied to Don and might be a demon, whereas the viewers is left questioning if maybe Don made her up as a substitute.

The opposite episodes ship extra satisfaction, with “The Roswell UFO Incident” repurposing footage from a 1989 Unsolved Mysteries episode on the identical matter (full with a classic Robert Stack cameo!), however up to date with—properly, sadly probably not any new proof, however proof optimistic that individuals are simply as fascinated by Roswell as they had been a long time in the past. The episode shares archival interviews with Roswell eyewitnesses in addition to tales handed down throughout generations of their descendants; it additionally lays out the federal government response through the years, from the perceived preliminary cover-up to the newer “declassification of” stories on UFOs, or as they’re referred to as now, “UAPs.” A specific amount of the episode is dedicated to UFO believers debunking the debunkers, and whereas—once more—no definitive solutions emerge, it greater than makes good on its declare that Roswell is “the grandaddy of all of them” on the subject of chilly instances.

However essentially the most oddly compelling episode is “Mysterious Mutilations,” which opens with a warning about grotesque animal violence—well-earned because of photographs and video documenting disturbing cattle mutilations from the previous few years. The entire phase is shot via with an unnerving mix of folksiness, in its interviews with ranchers matter-of-factly describing what it was like to seek out considered one of their cows horribly mangled, and real what-the-fuck-ness, as extremely credible specialists clarify that in each occasion, the animals had been discovered drained of blood (however with no blood round their our bodies), and no tracks or proof {that a} predator brought about their demise. UFOs? Sinister cultists? High-secret authorities experiments? Unsolved Mysteries doesn’t even faux to know, however on this episode particularly, the terrifying thrill of not understanding turns into the primary cause to look at.

Unsolved Mysteries is streaming now on Netflix.

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