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

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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

Statistically speaking, you will walk past a murderer 10.76 times in your life. But what if you didn&#39;t just <a href="http://www.leozqin.me/how-many-murderers-will-you-walk-past/" target="_blank">walk past a murderer</a>&nbsp;- what if they were a part of your family and&nbsp;you&nbsp;didn&#39;t know it? These stories of the children of serial killers show just how well their parents hid their disturbing behavior.

&nbsp;

Some of these offspring of serial killers had an inkling their parent was up to something, usually&nbsp;a general sense of something not being quite right. Others&nbsp;had no idea what was happening, sometimes under their own roof.

What The Children Of Serial Killers Have Publicly Said About Their Parents

Person

Stefanie Hammond

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

Lists of insane, very creepy tales are almost unbelievable, but are 100% true.

Totally Bizarre True Stories

Strange True Stories

Sleepy towns with dark secrets don&#39;t just exist in the movies; where do you think these films&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/7-real-people-who-survived-horror-movie-situations/samantha-wilson">get their inspiration from</a>?&nbsp;The real stories listed here, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/vbvfi/whats_the_creepiest_crime_thats_ever_happened_in/">gleaned from Reddit</a>, include tales of murderous pediatricians, chainsaw demises, and small-time serial killers.

Perhaps what makes them most&nbsp;terrifying is the fact that they&#39;re all true, and for some, very close to home.

People Describe The Crimes That Have Happened in Their City/Town

20 Horrifying Hometown Crimes That Scarred People for Life

Amanda Sedlak-Hevener

Organized Crime

Whether you love&nbsp;Mob Wives&nbsp;or&nbsp;The Godfather (and you no doubt enjoy at least one), the organization holds an allure for many on the outside. <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/mafia-nicknames/amylindorff" target="_blank">Mafia lore</a> and <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/how-lemons-led-to-criminal-organizations/beth-elias" target="_blank">mob history</a>&nbsp;have long inspired everything from entertainment to the creation of unions to legal policy framework.&nbsp;Though Rudy Giuliani allegedly took out the American mafia, the Five Families, and the Commission in the 1980s, many say <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/things-the-mafia-controls/philgibbons" target="_blank">the mob is still active</a> throughout the world. Certainly, different countries possess their own iterations of the mob, but even in the US the institution still holds power.&nbsp;These Redditors claim to have encountered it&nbsp;-&nbsp;and lived to tell their tales on the internet.&nbsp;

Disturbing Stories From People Who Have Actually Encountered The Mafia

13 Normal People Share Their True Stories About Mafia Encounters

Beth Elias

Lists about real and fictional policemen & women, detectives, and other law enforcement.

Police: Blue Lives  on Patrol

Given the nature of many offenses, it may seem like we are better off not knowing who had committed them. Sometimes the answer may be too hard to bear or it&nbsp;may <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/do-not-google-crimes/chuck-stern" target="_blank">not result in the desired outcome</a>.&nbsp;The&nbsp;real-life police detectives here discuss&nbsp;the acts&nbsp;that they wished they had never seen, whether for tragic reasons, humorous ones,&nbsp;or gruesome ones. These stories, <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/5a9fou/seriousdetectivespolice_officers_of_reddit_what/?limit=500" target="_blank">all from Reddit</a>, are of real-life&nbsp;stories, leading&nbsp;you to the&nbsp;answer that, yes, there are&nbsp;answers that even law enforcement didn&#39;t wish to find.

Police Detectives Discuss Disturbing Cases They Wish They Never Saw

20 Police Detectives Discuss Their Most Disturbing Unsolved Cases

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

First-hand accounts from real people who have met very creepy people and done very unsettling things.

People Who Give You the Creeps

Relationships

MTV struck gold when they picked up Nev Schulman and Max Joseph&#39;s&nbsp;show&nbsp;Catfish: The&nbsp;TV&nbsp;Show&nbsp;in 2012; the network televised many of the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/how-catfish-changed-peoples-lives/jessica-bedewi" target="_blank">craziest catfish stories</a>. However, there are tons of other <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/online-flirting-that-ended-in-murder/jacob-shelton" target="_blank">tales of failed romance</a> that never get told. Reddit is the place where many lied-to-lovers flock&nbsp;to air their grievances about fake dates and liars.

Occasionally, these people even find themselves in dangerous situations. Maybe it&#39;s about time for people to stop&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/people-describe-their-tinder-horror-stories/katia-kleyman" target="_blank">the disastrous Tinder dates</a> and meet each other in random bars, like the good old&nbsp;days.

People Share Their Craziest, Borderline-Dangerous Catfish Stories

Craziest Catfish Stories That Are Borderline Dangerous

Lowe Saddler

Mysteries

Gabby Petito&#39;s <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/unsolved-mysteries-families/mike-bedard" target="_blank">disappearance</a> garnered almost-instant media attention when the 22-year-old Long Island native was reported missing by her family on September 11, 2021. Petito was on <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/16/us/gabby-petito-timeline-missing-case/index.html" target="_blank">a summer road trip</a> with her fiance, 23-year-old Brian Laundrie, and the couple was documenting their travels via YouTube and Instagram. Petito&#39;s family told authorities that she had stayed in close contact with them throughout the summer, but communication stopped in late August. A little over a week into the search for Petito, investigators discovered her remains&nbsp;in Wyoming&#39;s Grand Teton National Park.

The last known person to see Gabby Petito alive was Brian Laundrie, whose remains were found in Florida&#39;s Carlton Reserve on October 20 following a month-long manhunt.&nbsp;Prior to this discovery, there were multiple unconfirmed&nbsp;<a href="https://abc7ny.com/gabby-petito-brian-laundrie-joseph-instagram-updates/11088520/" target="_blank">sightings of Laundrie</a> in North Carolina, and neighbors claimed they saw him <a href="https://radaronline.com/p/brian-laundrie-seen-running-backyard-parents-neighbors/" target="_blank">running from his home</a> days after his parents said he initially left.

Here are all the facts we know&nbsp;about what happened to Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie.

Everything We Know About The Tragic Gabby Petito Case

What Happened To Gabby Petito? Here's Everything We Know

Patrick Thornton

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

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

Crazy True! Horror Stories

<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

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

Lists about infamous repeat murderers to chill your blood and remind you to lock your doors and windows and maybe keep a knife under your pillow.

Real Serial Killers

Sometimes, what comes down to us as history is actually a mixture of fact and fiction. Biased accounts, hidden agendas, and not-so-hidden ones&nbsp;skew what we read, hear, and learn. This is certainly the case when it comes to stories about medieval and Renaissance-era serial killers, but it doesn&#39;t make those tales any less disturbing. In fact, it compounds their&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/creepy-medieval-ghost-stories/melissa-sartore" target="_blank">overall creepiness</a>.&nbsp;

Much of what we know&nbsp;about serial killers from the Middle Ages and Renaissance reveals as much about the individuals accused as the&nbsp;accusers themselves. <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/absurd-witchcraft-accusations/olivia-pasquarelli" target="_blank">Concerns about witchcraft</a> and accusations of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/the-steps-of-transforming-into-a-werewolf/lyra-radford?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword" target="_blank">being a werewolf</a>, for example, reflect religious, political, and social fear and uncertainty. The same is true for cries of Satan worship and sorcery. That said, plenty acts of violence and brutality are bad enough on their own and need no embellishment.&nbsp;

The following stories are about unexplained and horrific deaths, acts of heinous mistreatment, and lots of&nbsp;torture. Vote up the ones that creep you out the most.&nbsp;

11 Disturbing Stories About Medieval And Renaissance-Era Serial Killers

Melissa Sartore

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