Strange Cases From Unsolved Mysteries That Are Still Unexplained

When you're watching old episodes of "Unsolved Mysteries," perhaps one of the most exciting sounds to catch is the busy, synth-heavy track of the update segment. This often signaled that some major development had happened in the case that Robert Stack had just discussed in his gravelly, authoritative voice. Sometimes, it even brought real closure, with "Unsolved Mysteries" cases finally solved. But where's the mystery in "Unsolved Mysteries" if some cases weren't left to haunt you for decades afterward? As much as the show may have helped to close some cases, others were so tangled that getting closure has proven elusive.

Some of the lingering cases from "Unsolved Mysteries" remain notorious, like the 1962 escape of three prisoners from Alcatraz Island, who paddled out into San Francisco Bay into the unknown. Others are perhaps less well-known, but for those involved in cases like those of missing professor Charles Southern or relatives of the two men who vanished from the "ghost blimp" of 1942, these stories still carry a heavy weight.

At some point in 1980, Cynthia Anderson (also known as Cindy) began having violent but vague dreams. Anderson was a straight-laced, quiet young woman. Her only indulgences were reading romance novels and, as her father Michael recalled on "Unsolved Mysteries," an increased attention to her physical appearance. But she was young, worked as a secretary at a legal office, had a devout boyfriend, and was planning to attend Bible college. All was seemingly well.

Then, Cynthia Anderson abruptly disappeared. At midday on August 4, 1981, lawyers arrived at the office to find the lights on and door locked, as normal, but no sign of Cynthia. Nothing inside was disturbed, her car was parked out front, and a buzzer Cynthia could have used in an emergency was never activated. Her keys and purse were missing. Later, one client recalled witnessing one side of a phone call the day before her disappearance that appeared to disturb Cynthia, and at one point, someone had even spray-painted "I Love You Cindy — By GW" on a nearby wall. However, investigators later learned someone left the message for a different Cindy.

Had she been abducted? One month later, an unidentified woman called police to report that Cynthia was being held hostage in a basement nearby. But, with no more information, police simply could not investigate. In the years since, Cynthia's bank account and social security number remained untouched. Some have since speculated that, through her work at the law office, she somehow overheard information about drug activity and was targeted to keep her silent. But that remains largely hypothetical, while Cynthia herself has never resurfaced.

Though it happened in 1962, the escape of three prisoners from the reality of life on Alcatraz still captures the public imagination. Those three — John Anglin, his brother Clarence, and Frank Morris — fled their cells one June night, leaving dummies in their beds. They scrambled through the aging prison with a homemade raft, then set off through the cold, aggressive waters of San Francisco Bay. What happened to them afterward remains so compelling that "Unsolved Mysteries" dedicated an entire episode to the escape in its 1st season.

To broadly simplify matters, the men met one of two fates: They either perished or made it to shore. A massive search found little evidence of the trio, beyond bits of oars and improvised life vests, as well as some personal possessions. These included Anglin family photos and a lawyer's info — yet the attorney said he never heard from any of the men. By the 1970s, the FBI had given up and assumed the men were dead. Yet, rumors swirled that they had made it as far as South America. In 2013, San Francisco police received a letter allegedly written by John Anglin, claiming he would turn himself in for cancer treatment and a maximum one-year prison sentence. This letter claimed he had lived in the U.S. all that time, while Clarence had died in 2008 and Morris in 2005. But authentication proved difficult, leaving the mystery of the Alcatraz escapees up in the air.

Back in 1994, Oakville, Washington was pretty quiet — until the blobs appeared. As one eyewitness account shared on "Unsolved Mysteries" alleges, the substance splattered the windshield of a police car on a late-night patrol, turning into a smeary mess when Officer David Lacey turned his wiper blades on. Pulling into a service station, he donned latex gloves and scraped the substance off. But Lacey and other local witnesses who handled the goo (which also appeared on the ground elsewhere) reported falling ill soon after with flu-like symptoms.

Per "Unsolved Mysteries," testing indicated the blobs contained human white blood cells and two different species of bacteria, though other sources claim the bacteria were not disease-causing pathogens. To make matters even more confusing, the state ecology lab said the blobs were inorganic, while its health agency claimed they were organic.

Theories include that the blobs were waste dropped from a passing airplane, jellyfish bits thrown into the upper atmosphere by Air Force bombing practice, or even secret weapons testing. Others point to tales of "star jelly" that have circulated for centuries (among the many weird things to fall from the sky), while some wonder if the blobs even fell from the sky at all. Instead, they may be slime molds, evidence of amphibian activity, or an agricultural product known as sodium polyacrylate, which is used to prevent soil erosion and has caused similar blob appearances elsewhere. But even with the blobs returning to the area in 2025 (this time near Rochester, Washington), their origins are murky.

Some people may be genuinely unlucky in love, but once someone is 10 or so husbands in and is wanted by the FBI, the problem is likely with them. If only Charles Barker had been forewarned of all this — perhaps then he wouldn't have become an unfortunate victim featured on Season 12 of "Unsolved Mysteries." According to Barker's daughter, Jennifer Spoonts, he was suddenly widowed when his wife died in a car accident. He had settlement money, but he was left emotionally bereft. Cindy Jefferson, another daughter, said that her father eventually began to pick up the pieces and started traveling, fishing, and visiting casinos — where he fatefully met a woman named Deianna. Perhaps the lonely, yet cash-flush Barker represented an easy target to Deianna ... who wasn't Deianna at all, but a woman named Hazel Leota Head. Soon, they moved in together, though Jennifer was unimpressed upon meeting "Deianna."

Barker began to express doubts about his girlfriend, but in 1998, he was found dead in his home, the victim of a gunshot wound. A safe inside was missing money, and Barker's car were missing — as was Head. The vehicle was later found at an airport, with no sign of her. Investigators learned she was wanted for a 1991 trailer fire and had operated under a dizzying array of aliases, hinting that Head was involved in Barker's death. Since then, despite her sordid tale airing on television and FBI attention, no one's tracked her down.

One morning in August 1942, residents of Daly City, California, were alarmed when a U.S. Navy blimp, L-8, began crashing through power lines and dragging along rooftops. When the mysterious ghost blimp finally came to rest, its two experienced crewmembers, Lieutenant Ernest DeWitt Cody and Ensign Charles Ellis Adams, were nowhere to be found. As explained on "Unsolved Mysteries," the blimp was monitoring the coast for Japanese craft. Aviation machinist's mate Riley Hill was also on the crew that day, but he was called off at the last minute. Hill told "Unsolved Mysteries" that he believed the blimp had grown too heavy due to humidity and he had become unnecessary weight for its takeoff from San Francisco Bay. Perhaps that spelled trouble, though the L-8 had a sterling operational reputation. Anyway, multiple people had spotted the L-8 that morning, which appeared normal.

An hour and a half into the trip, the crew radioed that they were investigating an oil slick, indicating a possible enemy sub. That was their last known communication. L-8 briefly touched down on a nearby beach, where responders failed to secure it. As L-8 floated away, they saw that it appeared unmanned. The crashed blimp showed little evidence of an emergency (though it was missing some fuel, perhaps dumped to increase altitude). Clearly something had happened, but what? A sudden mechanical issue? A Japanese threat? A rogue wave? Some elaborate betrayal plot? The Navy couldn't figure it out, and neither could civilians. Many decades later, the fate of Cody and Adams remains unknown.

In 1965, something strange appeared in the skies over Kecksburg, Pennsylvania. As multiple eyewitnesses explained on "Unsolved Mysteries," something blazed through the sky with a bright trail, slamming into a semi-remote ravine near the Kalp home. Some might have thought that it was a meteor or even an unfortunate small plane — or a piece of one, as eyewitness Frances Kalp told authorities after a request for information came through on the radio. 

According to Kalp's account, a Navy representative quickly phoned her and told her to call a particular number if she spotted anything unusual (she was told not to call local emergency services). State troopers soon appeared on her property, accompanied by unidentified men bearing monitoring equipment (in the "Unsolved Mysteries" reenactment, they're depicted with Geiger counters). Soon enough, a more distinctly military presence descended upon the area and closed off access to the ravine, though not before some local searchers claimed to have come across a mysterious object.

The general picture of the object that emerged was of a large, acorn-shaped thing with some sort of writing or symbols inscribed on the outside. The military refused to acknowledge much, though witnesses claim to have seen something large concealed beneath a tarp on a flatbed truck. Since then, explanations have abounded, from a downed spy craft to a meteor to even an extraterrestrial ship. Still, no one's found definitive evidence identifying the Kecksburg UFO.

Angela Hammond seemed to have quite a lot going for her in 1991. Also known as Angie, she had a nice, small-town life set up before her in Clinton, Missouri, with a fiancé, Rob Shafer, and a baby on the way (though the "Unsolved Mysteries" segment featuring her story didn't mention that last detail). As Shafer told the show, he last saw Angie when she dropped him off at his home, though the two planned to meet later. About an hour after that, she called him from a payphone. The call seemed normal until Hammond mentioned a disheveled man who began using the phone booth next to hers. She described his distinctive green pickup truck with a rear window decal of a fish, as well as the man looking through his vehicle with a flashlight. Then, after she asked the man if he needed to use the phone (thinking the other was broken), Shafer heard Hammond scream.

He immediately left his home and soon spotted the truck with Hammond inside, but the pursuit proved too much, and his own vehicle broke down. Hammond has not been seen since. While Shafer was cleared of suspicion, no other witnesses have come forward, and supposed sightings of Hammond are unconfirmed. "Unsolved Mysteries" suggested that two other disappearances within 100 miles of Clinton may have been committed by the same person, but that theory remains speculative.

A golden Buddha full of jewels sounds preposterous, but maybe there's something to it. According to Rogelio Roxas, who shared his version of events on a 1992 episode of "Unsolved Mysteries," it all began in the 1960s. At the time, he heard of a horde of treasure left behind in the Philippines as WWII came to a close, under the order of retreating Japanese general Tomoyuki Yamashita.

In 1970, Roxas secured a permit to excavate. Months later, his team found tunnels containing evidence of WWII-era Japanese occupation, as well as a stash of gold bars and a golden statue of the Buddha, which proved hollow and stuffed with gems. He wasn't exactly quiet about it, attempting to inform a local official and posing with the statue for news photographers. Thus, agents of the Philippines' then-president, Ferdinand Marcos, came calling. Roxas said they raided his home (taking the Buddha and other valuables), tortured him, and threatened his family if he didn't officially agree with their actions (which allegedly included switching the gold statue for a brass dupe).

When finally released, Roxas kept quiet until Marcos was deposed in early 1986. He then set off a series of legal claims that led to a 1996 jury decision that he was due $22 billion — though both Roxas and Marcos were then dead. To anyone's knowledge, the Marcos estate has never paid out any portion of that money (which was later reduced to $19 million), but the swirl of lawsuits and countersuits hints at something real.

As presented on "Unsolved Mysteries," Pamela Page seemed to be in a happy marriage. But when her husband, Rob, returned to their Peoria, Arizona home one summer day in 1989, he found her missing. He later revealed that his wife had been secretly unhappy. His evidence? A letter she'd left behind, in which she admitted to taking $60,000 from their shared business and absconding with a woman named Sarah.

Rob proved strangely reluctant to do anything, only sharing the letter when Pam's family called to check in on her. Not only did they find it strange that she would abruptly leave without telling anyone, but they grew concerned when they saw the letter's signature, which they claimed wasn't hers. Police only got wind of the whole thing when Pam's family traveled to Arizona and spoke with them directly.

Upon questioning, Rob told the police that he'd spent most of the day Pam went missing on a cross-town venture checking on the couple's business and repairing a part in his distinctive pickup truck. Yet witnesses couldn't fully corroborate his story. Stranger still, Pam's family was right: That wasn't her signature on the letter, as Rob finally confessed that he had faked the endorsement. Still, he maintained the letter was written by Pam. She'd allegedly already typed it on their computer, and he'd just printed it out, though he admitted to adding a line or two. Yet police had no real evidence to connect Rob to Pam's disappearance, and the case went cold. Rob, who eventually divorced Pam in absentia, died in late 2009 without offering up any other information.

It started in 1964, in the small city of Socorro, New Mexico. As Officer Lonnie Zamora told "Unsolved Mysteries," he was pursuing a wild teenage driver through the streets. Eventually, the pursuit took him out of town. There, Zamora saw a strange object descending from the skies with a roar and visible flame, causing him to pull away from the chase. Stopping atop a mesa, he spotted a large, white object with red markings and mysterious figures walking beside it. His radio was plagued by interfering static, making it impossible for him to contact anyone. Then, the craft took off, hovered for a short while, and began to quietly float away.

Zamora then contacted Sam Chavez of the state police to join him at the scene. Chavez, also speaking to "Unsolved Mysteries," said that his friend wasn't one to tell tall tales. Inspecting the site, both noticed oddly deep depressions in the ground. Captain Richard T. Holder arrived from the nearby Army missile range at White Sands and also spotted the depressions as well as charred vegetation. A further search found little else, he said, though he maintained that Zamora seemed honest and uninterested in notoriety.

So, what did Zamora see? Many like to claim extraterrestrial visitors, while more skeptical explanations suggest he spotted a military helicopter carrying a mock lunar probe, atmospheric plasma (not unlike ball lightning), or even a prank by a student at the nearby New Mexico Institute of Technology. But these explanations still carry their own questions, leaving the case of the Socorro UFO unsolved.

As told on "Unsolved Mysteries," Charles Southern was an English professor at a Chicago-area junior college. During the 1980s, he joined the Conscious Development of Body, Mind, and Soul, a spiritual group — or is that cult? — led by Terri Hoffman. The show alleged that Hoffman was linked to 11 deaths (including one murder), which it and other sources intimated were brought about by Hoffman's intense spirituality. Hoffman even began to claim that she was under spiritual attack from "Black Lords" and needed her followers to create a barrier of psychic protection. But, as former member Peter Muth told the show, they believed that these evil entities could drive followers to madness.

This makes Southern's experience all the more concerning. His sister, Cheryle, said that they had found him wandering Chicago in a disassociated state so alarming they sought medical help. While his mother, Ingerborg, resolutely visited him in his hospital room every day, members of Conscious Development did the same, often pressuring her to leave the room while they spoke to Southern. 

When he was eventually released, Southern assured his family he was fine — then disappeared. His mother and father entered his home to find an odd scene: their son was gone, but in his place was a stool with his hat and inside-out, folded coat (allegedly a Nigerian-derived funeral practice), along with confusing notes that seemed to be his will. No sign of Southern has been found, and Hoffman, who died in 2015, never offered any information to help find him.