Scariest music?

[MegtheEgg86]

Maybe this is a weird idea for a thread---but after watching some of the old segments, do any of you all get some of the music stuck in your heads...particularly at inconvenient times like when it's dark out? It happens to me quite a bit. I've been watching the compilation DVD's lately.

What, in your opinion, are the worst recurring tunes you've heard on classic UM? The shrieking "Update" theme is a given.

The loud piano theme played in the beginning of the Doreen Picard/Susan Laferte segment and while they show the composite of the Blind River Rest Stop killer really scares me.

The music they play when they show Debra Poe's photo with her friend Lori in the Florida convenience store murders segment that sounds like ghostly wooo's (that's the best way I can describe it) is also pretty bad.

I'm actually also not a big fan of the "regular" Update theme either---especially when they keep playing it and you realize there's a bunch of eerie sounds thrown in with those electronic "telecast" sounds.

[Mattmc]

The music during the Talmans Ghost .. and Rachel Runyan ... the Rachel Runyan case is hard to decribe why that is so bad .... its just very creepy , its got this ... sound effect in it that adds to the horror of it , I wish someone would say they understand what I am talking about .

[Mattmc]

By the way ... I think this a good topic , because when I was growing up ... I would be outside in the dark , having to do something , and this music would come into my mind along with the composites

[MegtheEgg86]

Originally Posted by Mattmc

The music during the Talmans Ghost .. and Rachel Runyan ... the Rachel Runyan case is hard to decribe why that is so bad .... its just very creepy , its got this ... sound effect in it that adds to the horror of it , I wish someone would say they understand what I am talking about .

I think I know what you're talking about in the Rachel Runyan segment---it's very unnerving. I think the same music was used in the Kevin Ives/Don Henry segment when they're out walking in the woods.

[Mattmc]

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

I think I know what you're talking about in the Rachel Runyan segment---it's very unnerving. I think the same music was used in the Kevin Ives/Don Henry segment when they're out walking in the woods.

You gave me chills !!!!!!!! that is exactly it !!!!!

[justins5256]

Hmmm...creepy music...

* There was some VERY creepy music in the original Jeremy Bright segment.
I'm not really sure how to describe it. It's kind of like a slow "ding...dong...ding...dong...ding..." with really high notes. The music is played during a re-enactment of Bright's killers carrying his lifeless body through the woods at dusk while one of them is holding a lantern. That scene used to freak me out as a kid. I can't think of many other times when they used this particular piece except one - in the 1994 Bigfoot segment during the re-enactment of the Todd Neiss sighting. Kind of an odd place for that piece to pop up.

* The "shrieking update" that comes very fast and builds to a sudden high pitched "DUH DUH!!!" (Yeah, another great description) This music was used during the infamous Baskin children update (where a viewer sent in recent photos of them). It was also used in some "Special Alert" segments such as the one about the father (was his name Gibson?) mugged and killed in an LA apartment complex by members of a street gang. It was also used quite a bit during the Son of Sam two part report from 1988.

While I didn't find this music scary, there is some very haunting music played during the Dottie Caylor segment (special 4) when the actress playing Dottie is seen standing on the railroad platform while Stack says "no one knows if Dottie boarded the train that day.." or something along those lines. The music is very solemn and sad yet has a yearning quality to it.

I think this thread is a great idea and I think the fact that we are discussing the music now, all these years later, just further reinforces how well put together the old school UM was. The atmosphere, the music, the scenery, the slow storytelling, Stack's narration etc. all came together to make one damn fine show.

[MegtheEgg86]

I'm sorry!! That one is quite terrible, too. I also really don't like that bit they played when "Jane" was sitting in her car drinking her coke, and the NH serial killer pulls up beside her. God, do I hate that one.

[MegtheEgg86]

Originally Posted by justins5256

Hmmm...creepy music...

* There was some VERY creepy music in the original Jeremy Bright segment.
I'm not really sure how to describe it. It's kind of like a slow "ding...dong...ding...dong...ding..." with really high notes. The music is played during a re-enactment of Bright's killers carrying his lifeless body through the woods at dusk while one of them is holding a lantern. That scene used to freak me out as a kid. I can't think of many other times when they used this particular piece except one - in the 1994 Bigfoot segment during the re-enactment of the Todd Neiss sighting. Kind of an odd place for that piece to pop up.

* The "shrieking update" that comes very fast and builds to a sudden high pitched "DUH DUH!!!" (Yeah, another great description) This music was used during the infamous Baskin children update (where a viewer sent in recent photos of them). It was also used in some "Special Alert" segments such as the one about the father (was his name Gibson?) mugged and killed in an LA apartment complex by members of a street gang. It was also used quite a bit during the Son of Sam two part report from 1988.

While I didn't find this music scary, there is some very haunting music played during the Dottie Caylor segment (special 4) when the actress playing Dottie is seen standing on the railroad platform while Stack says "no one knows if Dottie boarded the train that day.." or something along those lines. The music is very solemn and sad yet has a yearning quality to it.

I think this thread is a great idea and I think the fact that we are discussing the music now, all these years later, just further reinforces how well put together the old school UM was. The atmosphere, the music, the scenery, the slow storytelling, Stack's narration etc. all came together to make one damn fine show.

I remember that music from the Jeremy Bright segment. It sounds like it could be straight out of a horror movie.

And I completely agree with that final statement on old UM---watching it could definitely be a wild ride. Absolutely nothing like it.

[EWfilm]

I wish they would release these tracks of disc. It would be great for the fans. Does anyone have any of the isolated music tracks from the original show? Besides the theme...

[peachysquirt21]

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

The music they play when they show Debra Poe's photo with her friend Lori in the Florida convenience store murders segment that sounds like ghostly wooo's (that's the best way I can describe it) is also pretty bad.

I have to agree with this one for sure

[ididn'tdoit]

Hey Meg I agree with you about that piano music!

I'd like to add Nyleen Kay Marshall, just in the beginning of the segment where they show her picture and there's a really creepy sound effect, really made me shiver!

[marlins3]

The worst is the music used during the update on the Baskins and Maples case with that sudden loud shrieking noise. My fave UM music is the piano music palyed during the The Sweetheart Swindler segment and many othe rcon man segments. I also like the music played duringh the NH serial killer segment where the guy has the woman under hypnosis. It is the sam ething over an over and then climaxes before starting over again.

[justins5256]

There is an unnerving piece played during the Kurt Sova segment when Kurt's Dad is exploring the basement of the duplex looking for Kurt. This same piece was used in the Gary Grant Jr. segment when his mother was shown looking in dumpsters for Gary's body. It also popped up in the Lake Champlain "Champ" segment when Stack was talking about historical accounts of sightings. I'm not sure how to describe it, but I'm sure some of you will know what I'm talking about.

Amazing what one can do with a synthesizer, huh?

It would be cool if someone made MP3s of some of these selections, if for no other reason than to further this discussion. Although I'm sure that would be a copyright violation.

[MegtheEgg86]

Originally Posted by justins5256

There is an unnerving piece played during the Kurt Sova segment when Kurt's Dad is exploring the basement of the duplex looking for Kurt. This same piece was used in the Gary Grant Jr. segment when his mother was shown looking in dumpsters for Gary's body. It also popped up in the Lake Champlain "Champ" segment when Stack was talking about historical accounts of sightings. I'm not sure how to describe it, but I'm sure some of you will know what I'm talking about.

Amazing what one can do with a synthesizer, huh?

It would be cool if someone made MP3s of some of these selections, if for no other reason than to further this discussion. Although I'm sure that would be a copyright violation.

I know that piece---it's an ominous piano piece with sort of higher notes.

I refuse to watch the Cindy James and Blair Adams segments in the dark. Not necessarily because they're scarier than others, but because of that really awful, very creepy music that plays in the parts where they're searching around Cindy's house, and during the hotel security camera video of Blair walking in and out of the lobby numerous times before finally deciding to get a room. I think there was also a little bit of it in the Tracy Kirkpatrick segment, too---but just because of that phone call from "Don", I won't even watch that one past six pm.

I really wish we could have MP3s, too---it'd make all this much easier to explain (and it'd just be cool to have them). I have to admit that it's funny we all know exactly what the other's talking about when we describe these things like "ding...dong....ding...dong" and "DUH DUH!"

[justins5256]

Just thought of another one...

There is an ominous piece during the Jeffrey MacDonald segment (technically Final Appeal, not UM but they used the same music) when he is being attacked by the hippies. It is has a couple slow "whistle" type tone in it. Again, it's very had to describe. I think the same piece was used in the Darlie Routier segment when pictures of the bloody sock were shown.