Mysteries (article)

Published by Mason Oldridge, 7 September 2026

Netflix forged its way into the true crime landscape, particularly with the viral documentaries that boomed during covid such as Tiger King and American Murder: The Family Next Door, but there’s a niche subcategory that piques much more interest and intrigue: mysteries. Anthology series such as Unsolved Mysteries and Files of the Unexplained have covered many cases, including Jack the Ripper, the Mothman and the Roswell UFO incident, but here we take a look at limited series examining specific happenings.

Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel (2021)

The first season in the Crime Scene series, The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel looks into the mysterious death of 21-year-old student Elisa Lam. In 2013, Lam was a guest staying at the Los Angeles hotel. She was travelling alone and suffered from bipolar disorder, as documented on her blog. Security footage from the day she disappeared shows Lam acting erratically in a hotel elevator, as if being followed by someone, while the doors fail to close. Her body was found in a rooftop water cistern 19 days later after guests complained of low water pressure, flooding, blackened water and it tasting unusual. Her death was ruled accidental, believing her to have suffered a psychotic episode due to under medicating, with bipolar disorder being a major contributing factor, but it was never proven how she actually got inside the water tank in the first place. The Cecil Hotel is infamous for numerous disturbing deaths, located near the notorious Skid Row, and Lam’s elevator footage is truly chilling to watch.

DB Cooper: Where Are You?! (2022)

On Thanksgiving Eve 1971, a man using the alias Dan Cooper (mistaken in reports as DB Cooper) hijacked a flight from Portland to Seattle, telling the flight crew that he had a bomb and demanding a large sum of cash and four parachutes upon landing. His demands were met and he released the passengers, before taking back off into the sky en route to Mexico City. Shortly after take-off, he parachuted down into the Washington wilderness below. In 1980, a small amount of the cash was discovered near the Columbia River. He was described as more polite than aggressive in his demeanour while aboard. Cooper was never identified or located and it remains unknown whether he survived the plunge and escaped. The most compelling element of the case is how this isolated example of air piracy was so well orchestrated and subsequently successful.

Last Stop Larrimah (2023)

This HBO documentary film was later released as a two-part series on Netflix. In 2017, 70-year-old Paddy Moriarty, a resident of the remote Australian town of Larrimah, and his dog Kellie went missing. He left the local pub that night and is believed to have returned home, but he and his dog were never seen again. The documentary examines how everyone is a suspect in such an isolated town of just a double digit population where the nearest police station is 43 miles away. Moriarty was a heavy drinker and not short of enemies. Wild theories flew, including that he was fed to a crocodile and baked into a pie, though it is ultimately believed that his disappearance was the result of an ongoing feud with his neighbours.

This is the Zodiac Speaking (2024)

This Netflix series investigates the anonymous Zodiac serial killer and specifically Arthur Leigh Allen, the only named suspect. From 1968-1969, murders were committed on four separate occasions in the San Francisco Bay Area, culminating in seven victims: five died and two survived. From 1969-1974, the serial killer wrote several letters to newspapers and police; he started with “this is the Zodiac speaking” and signed off with a gunsight symbol, confessing to the murders, taunting police and including cryptograms to solve. A total of four cryptograms were sent; only two so far have been deciphered. He talks about killing to have slaves in the afterlife. His complex cryptology and successful evasion highlight how he must be an impressively intelligent individual. This series itself hones in on the horrifying coincidences between Allen and the Zodiac. Allen worked as a teacher, until he was fired for molestation, and his former students recall his unsettling behaviour, including his interest in cryptology. He was a family friend of the Seawater family during the 60s and would take the children away on trips. Two of these trips occurred around the time and location of two unsolved murder cases, similar to those of the Zodiac, and the children recall Allen’s suspicious behaviour aligned with these instances. Shortly before his death in 1992, Allen allegedly confessed to one of the older Seawater children while sobbing on a phone call that he drugged them, molested one of them and said “it was me” when asked if he was the Zodiac. The Seawater children later found a box of letters from Allen to their mother Phyllis, discussing the Zodiac. Despite this, the Zodiac’s identity remains unknown and one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in history.

Amy Bradley Is Missing (2025)

In 1998, American woman Amy Bradley disappeared aboard a cruise ship during a family holiday en route to Curaçao. Amy and her brother Brad stayed up late drinking and dancing, with a keycard recording her returning to her cabin at 3:40am, where they both sat on the balcony and chatted. At 5:30am, their father Ron awoke and saw Amy asleep on the balcony, but at 6am she had vanished. The ship and surrounding waters were searched, but there was no sign of Amy. Initial theories suggested she may have fallen overboard or committed suicide, though Amy was a strong swimmer who had worked as a lifeguard. Amy had danced that night with band member Alister Douglas, who reportedly acted suspiciously following her disappearance. In the following months, there were reported sightings and interactions with Amy, accompanied by controlling men, suggesting she had been human trafficked. In 2005, her parents were emailed a photo of a scantily clad woman appearing to be Amy, fuelling speculation that she could have been sex trafficked. In 2010, a human jawbone washed ashore in Aruba. Furthermore, Amy’s ex-girlfriend also revealed that her parents had disapproved of her bisexuality. Despite all this, Amy has never been found and was declared legally dead in absentia on the 12th anniversary of her disappearance.