The new iteration Unsolved Mysteries is haunting and serious, avoiding some of the cheesier aspects which endeared viewers to the original, which began airing in 1987. Unsolved Mysteries Volume 1 featured six episodes which began streaming in July. Unsolved Mysteries Volume 2’s second set of sixes premieres on Oct. 19. With only one more 6 to make it a devilish enumeration, it is a perfect way to celebrate Halloween. “In six new episodes, Unsolved Mysteries profiles more unexplained disappearances, tragic events, and bizarre occurrences,” according to the official logline. “Perhaps one viewer holds the key to solving these cases. Detectives, journalists, and family members offer intriguing theories in this gripping series.” Unsolved Mysteries comes from the creators of the original docuseries, Cosgrove/Meurer Productions, and 21 Laps Entertainment, the producers of Stranger Things. The new version of the old classic saw a major improvement in production quality and followed in the footsteps of more recent investigative journalism series by adding far more in-depth analysis than the first airing “Why is it important to find out why a person died 25 years ago? People die all the time,” we hear in the trailer. “I think it’s important for the family to know what happened to her.” Unsolved Mysteries Volume 1 included the international intrigue of the “House of Terror,” covering the Dupont de Ligonnès murders. Volume 2 will track a case in Brazil, and a death in Oslo. The trailer also teases a Washington Insider Murder, a death row fugitive, tsunami ghosts, stolen kids, and a lady in the lake.
Unsolved Mysteries Episodes:
“Washington Insider Murder,” directed by Don Argott
“In 2010 the body of former White House aide John ‘Jack’ Wheeler was found in a Delaware landfill. Police ruled his death a homicide, and a high-level investigation produced few leads,” reads the official synopsis. “Wheeler, a well-respected Vietnam veteran who worked with three president administrations, was spotted on security camera footage the night before he died, wandering office buildings and looking disheveled. No one has come forward with information, and there are no suspects in his murder.”
“Death in Oslo,” directed by Robert M. Wise
“When a woman was found dead in a luxury hotel room in Oslo, Norway, it appeared to be a suicide,” the official synopsis reads. “However, several pieces didn’t add up: she had no identification, her briefcase contained 25 rounds of ammunition and no one reported her missing. Who was this woman, and could she have been part of a secret intelligence operation?
“Death Row Fugitive,” directed by Robert M. Wise and Clay Jeter
“In the 1960s repeat sexual offender Lester Eubanks confessed and was sentenced to death for killing a 14-year-old girl in Mansfield, Ohio. After the death penalty was abolished in 1972, he left death row and participated in a program that allowed him to leave prison grounds,” according to the synopsis. “In 1973, while Christmas shopping with other inmates, Eubanks escaped. Information about his whereabouts surfaced in the ’90s and early 2000s, but Eubanks has managed to evade capture and remains a fugitive on the U.S. Marshals’ 15 Most Wanted List.”
“Tsunami Spirits,” directed by Clay Jeter
“In 2011 the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan killed 20,000 people and left 2,500 missing. Following the disaster, many residents of Ishinomaki, one of the worst communities hit, experienced strange phenomena,” the synopsis tells us. “Taxi drivers spoke of ‘ghost passengers.’ Others claimed to have seen the dead or been inhabited by lost spirits. As a local reverend observed, the tragedy enabled them to “see what’s not supposed to be seen.”
“Stolen Kids,” directed by Jessica Dimmock
“In 1989, two child abductions occurred within months of each other at the same Harlem playground. Police and locals were put on high alert, but they found no trace of the missing toddlers,” according to the synopsis. “Heartened by the case of Carlina White—a woman who was reunited with her biological parents 23 years after being abducted as a baby—the mothers of Christopher Dansby and Shane Walker hope for any information about their sons. Unsolved Mysteries hits Netflix on Oct. 15.
