Vote for why you think it jumped
Never Jumped
They added the co-host
Lost loves
The Ghost on the side of the road
Day One
Shark Bytes
The legend says that Mary had spent the evening dancing with a boyfriend at the Oh Henry Ballroom. At some point, they got into an argument and Mary (as she has come to be called) stormed out. Even though it was a cold winter’s night, she thought she would rather face a cold walk home than another minute with her boorish lover.
She left the ballroom and started walking up Archer Avenue. She had not gotten very far when she was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver, who fled the scene leaving Mary to die. Her parents found her and were grief stricken at the sight of her dead body. They buried her in Resurrection Cemetery wearing a beautiful white dancing dress and matching dancing shoes. The hit-and-run driver was never found.
One of the many legends of Resurrection Mary is that she was a young Polish girl, perhaps named Mary Bregovy. Even though Bregovy was killed in an auto accident in 1934, it is unlikely that she was returning home from the Oh Henry (now the Willowbrook) Ballroom, as some have claimed. The accident in which she was killed took place on Wacker Drive in downtown Chicago. The car that she was riding in collided with an elevated train support and she was thrown through the windshield.
Other theories suggest that Resurrection Mary is the ghost of a twelve-year-old Polish girl named Anna Norkus, who called herself Marija (Mary) in devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Marija loved dancing and persuaded her father to take her to the Oh Henry Ballroom as a birthday present. However, they were both in a car accident on the way home, an accident which killed Marija. This leads some to claim that Resurrection Mary is really Anna Marija Norkus. However, Resurrection Mary's dance partners have said that their spectral date was closer to eighteen or twenty than to twelve or thirteen years old. Other researchers have turned up stories of girls named Mary who died on or near Archer Avenue, but none of them precede the first sightings in the 1930s.
She left the ballroom and started walking up Archer Avenue. She had not gotten very far when she was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver, who fled the scene leaving Mary to die. Her parents found her and were grief stricken at the sight of her dead body. They buried her in Resurrection Cemetery wearing a beautiful white dancing dress and matching dancing shoes. The hit-and-run driver was never found.
One of the many legends of Resurrection Mary is that she was a young Polish girl, perhaps named Mary Bregovy. Even though Bregovy was killed in an auto accident in 1934, it is unlikely that she was returning home from the Oh Henry (now the Willowbrook) Ballroom, as some have claimed. The accident in which she was killed took place on Wacker Drive in downtown Chicago. The car that she was riding in collided with an elevated train support and she was thrown through the windshield.
Other theories suggest that Resurrection Mary is the ghost of a twelve-year-old Polish girl named Anna Norkus, who called herself Marija (Mary) in devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Marija loved dancing and persuaded her father to take her to the Oh Henry Ballroom as a birthday present. However, they were both in a car accident on the way home, an accident which killed Marija. This leads some to claim that Resurrection Mary is really Anna Marija Norkus. However, Resurrection Mary's dance partners have said that their spectral date was closer to eighteen or twenty than to twelve or thirteen years old. Other researchers have turned up stories of girls named Mary who died on or near Archer Avenue, but none of them precede the first sightings in the 1930s.
The only reason why this show jumped the shark was because NBC and CBS wanted to kill it on purpose because the ratings declined when NBC moved the show from Wed night to Fri night in the fall of '94 and then when CBS picked up the show for 2 seasons (spring '98 and '99) guess which night they put it on...yup Friday night! the graveyard night (along with Saturday) of primetime TV! It is coming back to Spike TV in the fall of 2008 
but just think NBC would dominate Wednesdays with a lineup of:
Deal or No Deal @ 8PM
Unsolved Mysteries @ 9PM
Law and Order @ 10 PM
but just think NBC would dominate Wednesdays with a lineup of:Deal or No Deal @ 8PM
Unsolved Mysteries @ 9PM
Law and Order @ 10 PM
Oh. My. Gosh. I can't believe I found this site. BEST SHOW EVER! I watched every single show. I also watched repeats. The opening creepy theme song completely freaked my freak out. I would whistle that song to signal IT'S TIME and after a few weeks, even my cat, Winston was trained to come running to me when I whistled that eerily wonderful theme song. I remember just about each segment of each show. I did not mind the lost-loves at first, but after a while I was wishing they would be the LAST segment of the hour, rather than the middle. The ghost and UFO stories were the best. KSS was not. Robert Stack was uber-perfect. It was even a bit creepier watching/listening to him narrate, knowing he was 'on the other side'. Dang I miss that show. I even miss the reruns. And the trenchcoat. And the opening with the vertical lines going through U N S O L V E D M Y S T E R I E S .. .The show wasn't right for LIFETIME channel. Yep. I miss the show. **More updates would have been sweet. In regard to the posters, either one LARGE family full of posters lived in a haunted house, or several folks out there have lived in a haunted house!
Classic! I love this show. I've watched it since I was real little and am bummed it doesn't air anymore! Robert Stack was perfect, the stories were interesting and memorable. What can I say? It was a unique show and sooo interesting. I miss it. I remember the stories about Mia Zapata and the Gits, Marrisita Bassa.... I could go on and on. But the show was engaging and interesting. And creepy... loved it! One of my faves ever.
the ghost on the side of the road? oh, i remember watching that episode and seeing it again on youtube. thats ressurrection mary. ive seen her, she is a famous ghost in chicago, if you drive down archer road and pass by ressurrection cemetary at night sometimes you see her
Am I the only who became overcome with excitement when I used to hear the disclaimer just before the UM theme music and story previews came on:
"what you are about to see...is not a news broadcast"
We seriously need a new show just like this today. One of the posters here mentioned Bill Kurtis as an ideal host (RIP Robert Stack), and I agree!
"what you are about to see...is not a news broadcast"
We seriously need a new show just like this today. One of the posters here mentioned Bill Kurtis as an ideal host (RIP Robert Stack), and I agree!
I used to watch this show all the time in the summer! It had its moments. Some mysteries really scared me! I remember the one about Chupacabras really scared the crap out of me!!! I couldn't go outside at night alone for weeks!
But I must say, the show jumped the shark when it became more and more about lost loves than anything else. After that, I couldn't get into it anymore.
But I must say, the show jumped the shark when it became more and more about lost loves than anything else. After that, I couldn't get into it anymore.
I used to watch this show with an almost addictive fervour, so much so that my mother was worried about me getting nightmares (I was 8 years old in 1988 when it began airing).
My favourite (and probably scariest) story was the one about the group of 4 friends who went camping together back in the 70s. They noticed a bright light in the horizon that appeared to be following them and they paddled their canoe after nightfall. The re-enactment shows the light getting closer and closer to the canoe until the tv screen whites out. Next scene shows the 4 men on the river's shore, staring blankly at the light-source as it moves away.
The 4 friends never speak of the incident until years later, when they realize that they all have eerily similar alien-abduction dreams, and reunite to tell their story.
There was another unbelievably creepy alien-abduction re-enactment when a woman is awoken in the middle of the night because maintenance workers are doing electrical work (in the middle of the night!). She shouts out her window for them to be quiet. When she returns to her window, she finds the maintenance guys lined up and staring at her, and noticed them moving toward her front door. She crouches in a corner as they come in and "abduct" her.
In response to some other posters - I've seen the Resurrection Mary episode and yes, I've even seen the Chupacabra story.
The music that accompanied this show was simply amazing. It could elicit terror, uncertainty, and poignancy all at once. Whoever composed it is a musical genius.
My favourite (and probably scariest) story was the one about the group of 4 friends who went camping together back in the 70s. They noticed a bright light in the horizon that appeared to be following them and they paddled their canoe after nightfall. The re-enactment shows the light getting closer and closer to the canoe until the tv screen whites out. Next scene shows the 4 men on the river's shore, staring blankly at the light-source as it moves away.
The 4 friends never speak of the incident until years later, when they realize that they all have eerily similar alien-abduction dreams, and reunite to tell their story.
There was another unbelievably creepy alien-abduction re-enactment when a woman is awoken in the middle of the night because maintenance workers are doing electrical work (in the middle of the night!). She shouts out her window for them to be quiet. When she returns to her window, she finds the maintenance guys lined up and staring at her, and noticed them moving toward her front door. She crouches in a corner as they come in and "abduct" her.
In response to some other posters - I've seen the Resurrection Mary episode and yes, I've even seen the Chupacabra story.
The music that accompanied this show was simply amazing. It could elicit terror, uncertainty, and poignancy all at once. Whoever composed it is a musical genius.
The ghost stories and UFO mysteries were my favorites growing up, but towards the end of the run they got way too dependent on stories about poor people given up for adoption trying to find lost siblings. It was almost always the same: mom really loves the kids but she's poor and dies/leaves them/decides to give them up. Lady from child welfare comes in a black sedan, wearing sensible black shoes, and takes them away crying. Scenes of growing-up and trying to reconnect. Finally, "UPDATE," long-lost sibling pulls-up in driveway and hugs new-found white trash relatives.
What I wish they'd do is a "reunion" of sorts, where they went back and took a look at all the crimes they profiled that are still unsolved.
What I wish they'd do is a "reunion" of sorts, where they went back and took a look at all the crimes they profiled that are still unsolved.
I agree with William. I cannot even watch this in the daytime unless someone other than my 5 year old is with me. Come to think of it, anything that has Lukas Haas in it creaps me out too. I am a wussy. Can you tell I used to live in a haunted house?
I am envious of some of the recent posters here. Lifetime no longer schedules UM reruns here in LA - where are you guys, the ones who are still watching the show? I used to schedule my day during the summer (I'm a schoolteacher) around my hour or two with Mr. Stack and his fascinating stories - I loved the show immensely, although, like many of you, I found the endless "Lost Loves" a bit tedious after awhile. I believe the show in its latter years had to focus on those stories more because RS and company were probing a little too close to people in power who didn't want the public to know their business, and their research staff could no longer come up with enough information to make a good story line. Call me a conspiracy nut if you want, but I think in today's political and social climate, a show like UM would never get anywhere near the acceaa that the program had in its earlier years. Having said that, I wish someone would try. I vote for Bill Kurtis of American Justice to host a new version of this show - I think he'd do a terrific job!
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