Lists that rank the most fascinating, most trusted documentaries on every subject, from poverty and addiction to Wall Street and the oil industry.

Documentaries You Need to See

Lists about some of the most shocking and upsetting documentary films & series that you should totally watch anyway.

Disturbing Documentaries

Trending on Ranker

True crime documentaries, if done well, elicit the same kind of emotions people feel&nbsp;after watching 10 episodes of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/making-a-murderer-missing-evidence/candice-darden" target="_blank">Making a Murderer on Netflix</a>. From Ken Burns to Werner Herzog, the crime documentary has taken center stage in recent years, stepping beyond a mere headline and examining the details that can change public perception and, in many cases, the final outcome of a case.&nbsp;

Documentaries like Making a Murderer make viewers&#39; blood boil, divide them on just exactly who is right and wrong, and even&nbsp;cast doubt on the American justice system. Steven Avery served 18 years in prison for a rape he didn&rsquo;t commit&nbsp;and&nbsp;was then convicted of a murder many believe he also didn&rsquo;t commit. This fact&nbsp;fits hand in hand with the theme of documentaries like the Paradise Lost trilogy, The Central Park Five, and Serial.&nbsp;

Documentaries like The Jinx and The Thin Blue Line make headlines because the documentarian uncovers new evidence that sparks a new trial, with varying outcomes. Robert Durst incriminated himself on camera. A key witness in Randall Dale Adams&rsquo;s trial was enough to get him off death row and released from prison. Pressure from musical icons and filmmakers following the West Memphis Three case&nbsp;culminated in the release of&nbsp;Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley 18 years later.&nbsp;

Why are viewers so fascinated with the true crime documentary and <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/true-crime-tv-shows-and-series/reference" target="_blank">true crime TV shows</a>? The <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-crime-documentaries-movies-on-netflix/reference" target="_blank">best crime documentaries</a> put the audience at the center of the story with access to information that may unlock an unsolved mystery. <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-true-crime-documentary-series/ranker-tv" target="_blank">True crime miniseries</a> offer more time to deeply examine the story. The documentarian has time on their side and they can focus on one story to uncover details and even evidence that was overlooked or hidden the first time around. In the hands of a seasoned and determined filmmaker or journalist, this access can be quite powerful.

If you&rsquo;re looking for <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-crime-documentary-series/ranker-tv" target="_blank">crime documentary series</a> like Making a Murderer or documentaries like The Jinx, you&#39;ll find them below. There are also other disturbing cases that haven&rsquo;t gotten that level of attention. Suffice it to say, there&rsquo;s plenty of true crime coverage out there to take in. Each of these great documentaries makes an emotional impact, so maybe throw on a comedy or take a break between viewings.

The Best True Crime Documentaries To Watch

General

True Crime Documentaries You Should Watch, Ranked

Lisa Waugh

True Crime

California has the infamous escape from Alcatraz&nbsp;and the unidentified Zodiac Killer of&nbsp;the late &#39;60s. Ted Bundy terrorized women in the Pacific Northwest in the &#39;70s.&nbsp;Florida even boasts a tale of spontaneous human combustion in the &#39;50s. Just like all of the other states in the US, Oklahoma, too, has its own unsavory secrets.&nbsp;

The Sooner State is known for many things - its football teams, its famous residents like Carrie Underwood and Blake Shelton,&nbsp;tornadoes, and the Great Plains. What many people don&#39;t realize is just how many disturbing <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/cases-solved-by-unsolved-mysteries/patrick-thornton?ref=profile_pub" target="_blank">unsolved crimes</a>&nbsp;have taken place&nbsp;in Oklahoma. If you&#39;re in the mood to be mildly disturbed, tuck into this list and vote up the most mysterious stories.

Haunting Unsolved Crimes From Oklahoma

Chrissy Rose

From Agatha Christie to Clue, everybody loves a good &quot;whodunit&quot; mystery&nbsp;with a surprise&nbsp;ending. But sometimes, <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/little-known-mysteries-with-answers/jason-f-collins" target="_blank">truth is even stranger than fiction</a>. Many of these true crime stories seemed like open-and-shut cases. Too often, though,&nbsp;the public can jump to conclusions, ignoring all other possibilities. When investigators do the same, they set themselves up for major plot twists and sometimes even wrongful convictions.&nbsp;

True crime junkies may have heard of some of these <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/unexplained-mysteries-that-were-solved/setareh-janda" target="_blank">mind-boggling&nbsp;mysteries</a> in the many rabbit holes of the internet, but others have flown completely under the radar. From the disturbing cases, to the ones with happy endings, to the&nbsp;multiple cases&nbsp;involving bubble gum, all of these unbelievable true crime plot twists will leave your head spinning.&nbsp;

12 True Crime Cases With Unexpected Plot Twists

True Crime Cases With Unexpected Plot Twists

Horrifying facts and disturbing details about real cases that shocked.

In Cold Blood

The&nbsp;assault and&nbsp;homicide of 21-year-old Brandon Teena in 1993 is&nbsp;one of the most shocking hate crimes in living memory. Hilary Swank won her first <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-actresses-to-win-oscar-for-best-actress/ranker-film" target="_blank">Best Actress Oscar</a> in 2000 for portraying the transgender young adult&nbsp;whose life was tragically cut short, but the true story behind&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/full-cast-of-boys-don_t-cry-actors-and-actresses/reference" target="_blank">Boys Don&#39;t Cry</a>&nbsp;is more complicated and detailed than the Hollywood version audiences saw.

Brandon Teena&nbsp;was designated female at birth, born&nbsp;to an extremely impoverished&nbsp;single teen&nbsp;mother in&nbsp;Lincoln, NE, in 1972.&nbsp;As a high schooler, he began identifying as male, dressing in traditionally male clothing, binding his chest, dating women, and assuming a provider&nbsp;status in his relationships.

When Teena&nbsp;dropped out of&nbsp;high school,&nbsp;his love life eventually drew him into a social sphere&nbsp;that included the two offenders who eventually ended his life,&nbsp;his girlfriend, and another mutual friend because of Teena&#39;s identity. Though the men had attacked&nbsp;Teena&nbsp;previously, the sheriff refused to arrest them. This neglect eventually proved lethal. Because of the lack of legal protection and understanding surrounding trans people at the time, the law did very little to advocate justice on behalf of Teena. His&nbsp;story continued to be misunderstood and simplified&nbsp;long after his slaying - even by the most well-meaning parties, including the journalist who wrote the original story on which Boys Don&#39;t Cry was based.

Although dialogues and education about <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/transgender-people-in-history/devon-ashby" target="_blank">trans&nbsp;people</a> and the disproportionate struggles they face&nbsp;are slowly&nbsp;being elevated, there is still a long way to go in creating legal protections and de-stigmatizing&nbsp;conversation around those who identify as trans or simply don&#39;t identify on the traditional gender binary. Brandon Teena&#39;s story is a tragic, but important&nbsp;cornerstone to starting that conversation.&nbsp;

The Tragic Story Of Brandon Teena, Whose Case Inspired 'Boys Don't Cry'

The Tragic Murder Of Brandon Teena, Whose Case Inspired 'Boys Don't Cry'

Jodi Smith

Lists about what's going on on Capitol Hill and in your own backyard.

US Government & Politics

Laws named after victims remain a source of debate. While plenty of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/crimes-by-rich-white-women/elle-tharp" target="_blank">brutal crimes</a> occur within any given year, only a very small percentage&nbsp;lead to changes to our legal system. When it comes to US laws created because of crimes, public outrage is key. Particularly <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/crimes-by-rich-white-women/elle-tharp" target="_blank">horrifying kidnappings</a>, murders, and suicides receive&nbsp;an unusual amount of press coverage, often resulting in&nbsp;the widespread backlash needed to pressure politicians into reforming the legal system.&nbsp;The crimes that resulted in new laws&nbsp;were already illegal when they were committed. The resulting legislation is usually seen&nbsp;as closing a loophole or addressing a unique aspect of the crime. However, there is much public debate on whether such laws are ethical or effective. People who have laws named after them are honored and memorialized, on the one hand, but critics argue such laws are often too reactionary to be truly effective.&nbsp;If you're unsure where you stand on the issue, browse this list. It will help you develop a more detailed understanding of how and why some crimes lead to new laws.&nbsp;

Every US Law Named After A Victim And What It Does

Wrestling

Chris Benoit was one of the biggest stars in professional <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-wwe-superstars-of-all-time/ranker-wrestling" target="_blank">wrestling</a> in the 2000s. A two-time world champion, he never depended on gimmicks for his fame and success. But what the public didn&#39;t know was that&nbsp;his life had been crumbling around him ever since the death of his friend Eddie Guerrero in late 2005. Then, over the&nbsp;three-day period of June 22-24, 2007, the 40-year-old Chris killed his wife and 7-year-old son before taking his own life.

The WWE&nbsp;quickly distanced itself from the champion wrestler and his surviving family, while the federal government used Chris&#39;s death as a catalyst to open a probe into the use of steroids and other drugs in pro wrestling.

The tragedy&nbsp;remains one of the biggest scandals in all of pro wrestling, with no clear consensus as to&nbsp;what exactly led Benoit to kill himself, his wife, and his son - or what role the WWE&nbsp;may have played in the wrestler&#39;s actions.

Chris Benoit's Passing Is A Pro-Wrestling Tragedy That Will Never Be Forgotten

Person

TGWrites

Real tales of terror from real people doing normal things, like playing the Powerball and using tampons.

Crazy True! Horror Stories

Mysteries

<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-all-detective-movies/reference">TV shows and movies</a> teach&nbsp;us that relentless detectives always solve the case. Sadly, however, this is not always true. Many cases remain not only unresolved, but shrouded in mystery, rife with eerie, unsettling details that continue to raise questions. Several real-life detectives, police officers, and dispatchers took to Reddit&nbsp;to share some of their most bizarre and hair-raising stories concerning cases that were never officially solved, and incidents where &quot;justice was served,&quot; despite a host of loose ends. Here is a collection of the most startling unsolved cases.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1h5k7f/law_enforcement_and_detectives_of_reddit_have_you/" target="_blank">Source</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/19uxzk/copsdetectives_of_reddit_have_you_ever_obsessed/?" target="_blank">Source</a>, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/5a9fou/seriousdetectivespolice_officers_of_reddit_what/" target="_blank">Source</a>&nbsp;

Real Police Officers Describe Their Creepiest Unsolved Cases

Real Detectives Describe Their Creepiest Unsolved Mysteries

Christopher Shultz

Fascinating facts and interesting stories about organized crime: gangs, gangsters, mobsters, the mafia, and other criminals & crime syndicates all over the world.

Feels Good to Be a Gangster

Life in the American Mafia typically ends in one of two ways: death or prison. In a perpetual struggle over illegal power and money, murder is practically an occupational hazard. From the very first days of organized crime, mafia hits, brutal assassins, and crime&#39;s most horrifying killers underlined the fundamentally violent lifestyle of this uniquely American entity. In a world where violence is practically second nature, these are some of the most brutal killers and gruesome murders associated with the Mafia.

Some of the people on this list are classic gangsters like <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/al-capone-trivia-facts/jeffrichard" target="_blank">Al Capone</a>. Others weren&#39;t even in the mob, but pissed off <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/funny-wrong-number-texts/ariel-kana?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword" target="_blank">the wrong</a> people. In either case, the lesson is clear: Stay clear of the mob and definitely don&#39;t make a gangster mad. Keep reading below to see some of the most violent murders ever committed by the Mafia.

The Most Gruesome And Terrifying Murders Committed By The Mafia

The Most Gruesome and Terrifying Murders Committed by the Mafia

Phil Gibbons

Keeping <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/terrifying-drunk-confessions-from-friends/erin-maxwell" target="_blank">secrets</a> isn&#39;t easy, but these Redditors have been holding in some particularly dark ones for quite a while. When asked, people around the internet started revealing the darkest secrets they knew about other people that those people don&#39;t know they know.

People Confess The Darkest Secrets They Know About Someone Else

People Confess Dark Secrets They Know About Someone Else

Damon Davis

Local history is often weird history, and it&#39;s almost inevitable that if you dig deep enough, you&#39;ll learn about a creepy, disturbing, or just downright bizarre story that happened near you. Whether it&#39;s the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-the-haunted-winchester-mystery-house/natalie-hazen" target="_blank">eccentric, superstitious heiress</a> who kept building onto her house for decades to appease spirits, or&nbsp;the European tourists who disappeared into thin air, history is full of mystery. More chilling is the fact that humans have continued to display what <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/worst-experiments/will-morgan-1" target="_blank">evil they&#39;re capable of</a> throughout the centuries.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Not only are some of these&nbsp;mysteries upsetting,&nbsp;they all have a curious element as well. And just because these mysteries were solved doesn&#39;t mean they won&#39;t still creep you out. Just a tip: You probably don&#39;t want to read this before bedtime.

Local Mysteries That Still Creep Us Out Even Though They're Solved

Considering the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/English-Riddles-Tradition-Archer-Taylor/dp/1888215704/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" target="_blank">universality of word puzzles</a>, humans have likely been challenging, confounding, and entertaining each other with riddles since the earliest days of human speech. Today, riddles have become ubiquitous, popping up in everything from <a href="https://www.nurseryrhymes.com/riddle-songs-nursery-rhymes/" target="_blank">children&#39;s nursery rhymes</a>&nbsp;to <a href="http://www.dccomics.com/characters/riddler" target="_blank">Batman comics</a>. Many of literature&#39;s greatest fictional detectives have encountered their fair share of riddles, as well, and mystery fans are spending a great deal of money&nbsp;to play detective at home&nbsp;with subscription <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-mystery-subscription-boxes/ranker-shopping" target="_blank">mystery boxes and bundles</a>.

But&nbsp;you don&#39;t have to pay an arm and a leg to get your mystery fix -&nbsp;just dive into our list of murder mystery riddles and become a puzzle master in the comfort of your own home. Here are some mysteries and detective riddles to stretch your mind.

21 Murder Mystery Riddles Most People Can’t Solve

21 Detective Mystery Riddles Most People Can’t Solve

Brent Sprecher

Unspeakable Times

In 1994, <a href="https://medium.com/@brenmar71/justice-for-nicholas-barclay-19ea332bd309" target="_blank">Nicholas Barclay</a> vanished from his neighborhood in&nbsp;San Antonio. Three years later, he was found in Spain, having allegedly escaped from a military child sex ring. When he returned home to Texas, he appeared physically different and spoke with a French accent. The family excused all of this and accepted him into their family.&nbsp;But of course, this very different person&nbsp;wasn&#39;t Nicholas Barclay at all.&nbsp;After several months of passing himself off as Nicholas,&nbsp;29-year-old French con artist Fr&eacute;d&eacute;ric Bourdin&nbsp;admitted he had stolen&nbsp;the identity of Nicholas, the family&#39;s long-lost son. But how could the family be so blind?

Bart Layton&#39;s unnerving <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1966604/?ref_=nm_knf_i2" target="_blank">documentary</a>&nbsp;explores the motives of a family who kept up the charade of knowing someone whom they really didn&#39;t. This is a strange and bizarre true story&nbsp;about the disappearance of Nicholas Barclay and the expos&eacute;&nbsp;of French&nbsp;con man Fr&eacute;d&eacute;ric Bourdin, AKA &quot;The Chameleon.&quot;

While many tragic&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/true-crime-documentaries/lisa-waugh" target="_blank">true crime stories</a>&nbsp;exist about <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/people-who-disappeared-mysteriously/alby-thompson" target="_blank">people who vanish mysteriously</a>, the intrigue of Nicholas Barclay&#39;s story is enhanced&nbsp;by the inclusion&nbsp;of a&nbsp;famed con artist&nbsp;and the Barclay family&#39;s acceptance of him.

The Strange Case Of French Con Man Frédéric Bourdin And Nicholas Barclay

The Bizarre Story of Con Man Nicholas Barclay

Matthew Lavelle

Thanks to&nbsp;The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, horror buffs know that in 1981,&nbsp;<a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/conjuring-3-real-story/orrin-grey?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Arne Cheyenne Johnson</a> entered a plea of not guilty by <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/demonic-possession-science/lea-rose-emery" target="_blank">reason of possession</a> to a court in Connecticut where he stood trial for murder. Although Johnson&#39;s defense tactics didn&#39;t work, there was one court case where paranormal testimony not only came into play but also succeeded in swaying a court. In 1897, Greenbrier County, WV, saw the death of newlywed Zona Heaster by mysterious circumstances.

Initially, Heaster&#39;s death was attributed to&nbsp;&quot;everlasting faint&quot; and later childbirth by the coroner, even though&nbsp;Heaster and her husband,&nbsp;Edward &ldquo;Trout&rdquo; Shue, hadn&#39;t been together long enough to produce a pregnancy to term. However, Heaster&#39;s mother, Mary Jane, soon began having dreams and visions of her departed daughter in which&nbsp;the true cause of her death was revealed. After bringing this information to the coroner and police, Mary Jane was able to relay Heaster&#39;s testimony during the trial. This led to the conviction of Shue and a stunning revelation about his true identity.

The Greenbrier Ghost "Came Back From The Dead" Just To Snitch On Her Murderer

The Greenbrier Ghost Came Back From The Dead Just To Snitch On Her Murderer

Brittanee Drexel told her parents she was staying with a friend for spring break before she went <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/lost-children-who-were-found/anabel-conner" target="_blank">missing</a> in 2009. Leading up to her disappearance, the 17-year-old high school senior from Rochester, NY,&nbsp;was under an immense amount of stress from&nbsp;her parents&#39; separation. While her vanishing&nbsp;may at first sound like the case of a runaway teen, Brittanee Drexel&#39;s disappearance quickly turned ominous.

The Brittanee Drexel case has remained unsolved since she was last seen on April 25, 2009, though the investigation fluctuated between hot and cold throughout the 2010s. While murder and human trafficking are the two leading theories in Brittanee&#39;s disappearance, the events of April 25&nbsp;remain just as perplexing now as they were in 2009.

Here are the facts of the case and a general timeline of events. We&#39;ll also explore plausible theories and suspects in Brittanee Drexel&#39;s confounding disappearance.

Brittanee Drexel Was On Spring Break When She Vanished In 2009, And Her Case Is Still Unsolved

Patrick Thornton

On April 1, 2014, two students from the Netherlands named&nbsp;Lisanne&nbsp;Froon and Kris Kremers went on a hike in Panama with a dog. The dog came back, but the young women didn't. A search eventually turned up a severed foot and scattered remains, but authorities had trouble determining&nbsp;how the hikers&nbsp;had died. Years later, some people still believe someone killed the pair.Froon&nbsp;and Kremers&nbsp;were both in their early 20s; they traveled to&nbsp;Panama to work with children. Many hikers <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/backpacker-disappearances/mariel-loveland" target="_blank">from all over the world disappear</a>, fall,&nbsp;or suffer other fatal&nbsp;accidents while traveling&nbsp;-&nbsp;this could've happened to these women as well.&nbsp;But there are a few holes&nbsp;in this particular theory. For one, the girls' camera had photos on it from hours after they stopped dialing emergency services. Also, a&nbsp;serial killer might have stalked&nbsp;their area at the time.The world may never <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/sw-extended-universe-things-to-last-jedi/nathan-gibson?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">know what happened</a> to the pair, but speculation still runs wild. Did they become lost&nbsp;and fall down a cliff? Was someone who's still out there responsible for their deaths? Or is it all part of a cover-up?

What Really Happened To Two Dutch Hikers Who Disappeared In Panama?

Laura Allan

Sure, serial killers ~killed~ people, but what did they actually do? Lists about who they murdered, how they did it, and other horrifying facts that will keep you wide awake tonight, shaking your head at humanity.

The Grisly Details

In the early 1990s, Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo committed multiple crimes against teen girls in Ontario, Canada. The sexual assault and murder of three teens made them one of the most <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/killer-couples/mike-rothschild" target="_blank">notorious couples</a> in Canadian history. Because of their middle-class lifestyles - Homolka was a veterinary technician and Bernardo was an accountant - and their classic good looks, the press dubbed them the &quot;Ken and Barbie Killers&quot; after law enforcement tied them to the crimes.

However, long before Bernardo attacked teenage girls with the help of Homolka, he&#39;d acted alone, committing a series of sexual assaults all over the city of Scarborough. When biological evidence found on one of the teenagers the couple attacked together matched semen collected from one of the victims of the &ldquo;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/serial-killers-with-nicknames/ranker-crime" target="_blank">Scarborough Rapist</a>,&rdquo; investigators closed in on Bernardo and discovered the secrets he and his wife had been hiding. 
&nbsp;

15 Horrific Details About The Ken And Barbie Killers

15 Disturbing Facts About The Ken And Barbie Killers, Paul Bernardo And Karla Homolka

Cat McAuliffe

Unspeakable Times lists at Ranker - the ultimate source for lists and rankings in all categories