Top 10 Shocking Moments in Documentaries

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There's really nothing more shocking than reality! Welcome to Watchmojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most unexpected or disturbing revelations in documentary films and miniseries. Some of these moments are presented as twists, so a “spoiler” warning is in effect!
Transcript
00:00 I'm saying.
00:01 - Bye.
00:02 - Bye.
00:03 - Oh, I'll tell you about it someday.
00:05 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most unexpected or
00:08 disturbing revelations in documentary films and miniseries.
00:12 Some of these moments are presented as twists, so a spoiler warning is in effect.
00:15 - I took the phone and I told her that this is Nicholas.
00:22 Number 10, a counselor terrifies the youth.
00:24 Jesus can.
00:25 - Warlocks are enemies of God, and I don't care what kind of hero they are, they're an
00:31 enemy of God, and had it been in the Old Testament, Harry Potter would have been put to death.
00:37 - At the kids on fire school of ministry, children were taught to disregard science
00:40 and urged to speak in tongues.
00:42 Jesus camp allowed us to be a fly on the wall in their world, and what a horrifying world
00:46 it was.
00:47 One of the documentary's most intense moments featured the ministry's leader, whose lecture
00:51 about sin quickly escalated into a condemnation of her young disciples.
00:55 - But you're one thing when you're at church, and you're another thing when you're at school
00:58 with your friends.
00:59 You're a phony and a hypocrite.
01:01 - She called them phonies and hypocrites, claiming that they acted differently in school
01:04 than they did in church.
01:05 Even something as mundane as reading Harry Potter was said to be sinful.
01:08 It became difficult to watch as she poured water over the hands of the crying youth,
01:12 telling them that this was their only hope of salvation.
01:15 - Father, we just washed them with the water of your word.
01:18 We say no more, devil, no more.
01:21 Say it, boys and girls, in the name of Jesus.
01:25 - Number nine, the water turns red, the cove.
01:27 - When I started out, there were only three dolphinariums.
01:30 Today, it's become a multi-billion dollar industry.
01:36 - Rick O'Barry may not be a household name, but his work capturing and training dolphins
01:40 in the 1960s made Flipper possible.
01:43 It was through this firsthand experience with the creatures that O'Barry came to realize
01:46 that the capturing of dolphins was inhumane.
01:48 He immediately dedicated his life to animal activism.
01:51 In the late 2000s, these strongly held beliefs would lead him to taking a prominent role
01:55 in the creation of The Cove, a conservationist documentary exposing the realities of the
01:59 Taiji dolphin drive hunt.
02:01 - He helped create the largest slaughter of dolphins on the planet.
02:06 - One of the film's most shocking sequences sees the water slowly turn red as the unspeakable
02:11 happens offscreen.
02:12 The haunting imagery understandably struck a chord with viewers and helped earn the film
02:16 an Academy Award in 2010.
02:18 - We have a moral obligation.
02:20 And let it not be said that you didn't know about it.
02:23 You know about it.
02:24 - Number eight, Confronting the Monster, Tickled.
02:26 - This was every conversation I had with anyone even remotely related to David DeMatto.
02:32 I can't tell you anything, but stay away.
02:35 - Competitive tickling may seem silly, but looks can be deceiving.
02:38 What started as a lighthearted curiosity project of reporter David Ferrier quickly gave way
02:42 to a complex web of abuse and deceit headed by a man of many names.
02:46 - I don't think you've grasped the magnitude of what you have provoked.
02:51 I'm interested to see how you handle the fallout.
02:54 So far, badly.
02:56 Regards, Debbie J. Coon.
02:59 - Financed by family money, David DeMatto lured desperate young men to his studio where they'd
03:03 be filmed being restrained and tickled.
03:06 Participants in the documentary claimed they didn't know much about the project until they
03:09 showed up, and any pushback about the footages released incurred DeMatto's wrath.
03:13 Near the end of the film, the filmmakers got the chance to confront the infamous DeMatto
03:16 firsthand.
03:17 Finally, seeing the man behind the myth was as much of a shock to them as it was to us.
03:21 - I'm on a journalism visa, so I'm okay to be here.
03:24 I'm okay to be here, but I just-- - We're gonna let INS see about that.
03:28 - Number seven, a questionable pattern and secret affairs, The Staircase.
03:31 - Oh, my goodness.
03:32 - Everybody wants a piece of you.
03:34 - Jesus Christ.
03:35 - Or everybody claims to have a piece of you.
03:39 One of the two.
03:40 - And you have a statement.
03:42 - When Michael Peterson found his wife at the bottom of a staircase, no one could have
03:46 guessed the media frenzy that would follow.
03:48 What was initially believed to be a freak accident became suspicious as details were
03:51 uncovered about the widowed novelist's secret life.
03:54 The first topic of conversation was his closeted sexuality.
03:58 Evidence showed that Peterson was having illicit relations with men, which prosecutors believed
04:02 must have led to a deadly argument.
04:04 - She would have been infuriated by learning that her husband, who she truly loved, was
04:09 bisexual.
04:10 - Surprisingly, this wasn't even the docuseries' most incriminating revelation.
04:14 In its third episode, the series revealed that Peterson's friend had died in a similar
04:18 fashion as his wife 18 years prior.
04:20 The case's twists and turns were so compelling that they eventually inspired a fictionalized
04:24 account in 2022.
04:25 - Are you still young?
04:26 - And you're starting your life again today?
04:33 - Number six, secret testing.
04:34 Three identical strangers.
04:35 - Eddie, how are you?
04:36 Eddie, hi.
04:37 I'm like, my name's not Eddie.
04:38 I don't know what you're talking about.
04:39 I just got up here.
04:40 Sure, Eddie, you're really funny.
04:41 You're really funny.
04:42 You're real funny.
04:43 I'm like, I'm not Eddie.
04:44 - For Robert Schaffrin, starting college was a life-changing event.
04:46 On his first day, he was mistaken for a young man named Eddie, who he would later learn
04:51 was his twin brother.
04:52 This seemingly once-in-a-lifetime occurrence was repeated when a third boy heard the unbelievable
04:56 news and realized he looked just like the long-lost brothers.
04:59 David, Eddie, and Robert were revealed to be triplets and delighted in their shared quirks
05:03 and interests on national television.
05:05 - We went on a date.
05:08 We went on everything.
05:10 Everything.
05:11 - You're not seeing double.
05:13 You are, perhaps in a moment, going to be seeing triple.
05:15 - Unfortunately, the circumstances of the boys' separation was more nefarious than initially
05:19 assumed.
05:20 Three identical strangers reveals that the boys were used in a nature versus nurture
05:24 experiment, deliberately separated into houses of different incomes and periodically studied.
05:29 - We were a science experiment.
05:32 - These people split us up and studied us like lab rats.
05:37 Number five, the tape, "Grizzly Man."
05:39 - In his campaign to create awareness, he reached thousands and thousands of school
05:44 children who would remember his fabulous storytelling as one of the highlights of their school years.
05:51 - Timothy Treadwell dedicated his life to bears, but that dedication ultimately led
05:54 to his passing.
05:55 The environmentalist took regular trips to Katmai National Park to film the animals there,
06:00 often leaving at the end of the summer.
06:01 Although he was criticized, this seemed to work for him until 2003 when he extended his
06:05 stay.
06:06 In their preparation for hibernation, the park's bears seemingly became more aggressive,
06:10 eventually killing both Treadwell and his partner.
06:13 - Something clicked in that bear's head that he thought, "Hey, you know, he might be good
06:18 to eat."
06:19 - The attack was recorded on his equipment, which after his death came into the possession
06:22 of his ex.
06:23 A disquieting scene in "Grizzly Man" showed writer/director Werner Herzog listening to
06:27 the tape for the first time.
06:28 We didn't hear the audio as an audience, but Herzog's demeanor said it all.
06:32 - Truly, you must never listen to this.
06:35 I know, Werner.
06:36 I'm never going to.
06:38 - Number four, the imposter's accusation.
06:40 The imposter.
06:41 - When the police arrived, I had immediately to put into their mind that they have a kid
06:45 in front of them, not an adult.
06:47 So it was very important for me to behave like one.
06:50 - When the Barclay family's son, Nicholas, seemed to miraculously be found, he spoke
06:53 with a French accent and had brown eyes instead of blue.
06:56 They didn't question it.
06:57 Even a court turned a blind eye to the discrepancies granting the boy US citizenship and welcoming
07:01 him home.
07:02 - He was very blond, very, he had blue eyes.
07:06 He looked nothing like me.
07:09 Nothing.
07:10 - It wasn't until a private investigator caught wind of the story that the teen was revealed
07:14 to be 23-year-old Friedrich Borden, a serial impersonator.
07:18 It was then that Borden flipped the script once more.
07:20 While being questioned, the man claimed that the Barclays only claimed him because they
07:23 were responsible for the real Nicholas's death.
07:26 Can you really believe an imposter?
07:27 Why would we go pick up a stranger to hide something that didn't need to be hidden?
07:33 Number three, accidental admission.
07:35 The Jinx, the life and deaths of Robert Durst.
07:37 - But if you back him in a corner, if you threaten his freedom, he'll kill you.
07:44 - In 2001, gruesome evidence of a murder washed up on the shore of Galveston.
07:48 The ensuing investigation would lead police to the victim's neighbor, real estate heir
07:52 Robert Durst.
07:53 The Jinx painted a complex picture of the man, revealing his suspected involvement in
07:57 the disappearance of his wife in 1982 and the death of writer Susan Berman in 2000.
08:02 - Initial impressions when I saw him being brought in was like, "Really?
08:07 This guy did that?
08:11 Didn't fit."
08:12 - In the docuseries' final episode, a piece of evidence was found that seemed to finally
08:16 implicate Durst in the murder of Berman.
08:18 But before it could be seen in court, Durst made an astonishing accidental admission.
08:22 Not realizing his mic was on, he confessed.
08:24 - Kill more, of course.
08:28 - Number two, Anwar Kongo reenacts crimes a little too casually, the act of killing.
08:32 - What I feel sorry for is that I'm honest.
08:36 I feel, I have a feeling that it's this bad.
08:41 What I hope is that it's not this bad.
08:45 - From 1965 to 1966, death squad leader Anwar Kongo was said to have killed roughly a thousand
08:50 people.
08:51 In the act of killing, he reenacted many of these murders on camera.
08:54 The most staggering reenactment of the film was its simplest.
08:57 At one point, Kongo took Oppenheimer to one of the actual locations of the crimes and
09:01 demonstrated how many met their unnatural deaths at his hands.
09:03 - The dead are not normal.
09:04 - The dead are not normal.
09:05 - They come here healthy.
09:06 They come here and get beaten to death.
09:07 - Still standing at the scene of the crime, Kongo claimed he tried to forget the atrocities
09:19 of the past.
09:20 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:21 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:22 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:23 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:24 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:25 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:26 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:27 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:28 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:29 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:30 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:31 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:32 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:33 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:34 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:35 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:36 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:37 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:38 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:39 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:40 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:41 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:42 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:43 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:44 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:45 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:46 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:47 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:48 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:49 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:50 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:51 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:52 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:53 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:54 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:55 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:56 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:57 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:58 - I'm not afraid of death.
09:59 - I'm not afraid of death.
10:00 - I'm not afraid of death.
10:01 - I'm not afraid of death.
10:02 - I'm not afraid of death.
10:03 - Are you sure?
10:04 - Yes, ma'am, I am.
10:05 I'm absolutely sure.
10:06 - "Devastated" doesn't even begin to express the emotions felt while watching "Dear Zachary."
10:10 The incredible personal true crime documentary was written, directed, produced, and edited
10:14 by Kurt Kenney, whose longtime friend Andrew Bagby was thought to have been killed by his
10:18 volatile ex.
10:20 Prior to Bagby's death, the girlfriend, Shirley Turner, had become pregnant.
10:23 - On July 18, 2002, you were born.
10:28 Shirley named you Zachary Andrew Turner.
10:30 As its title implied, the documentary initially appeared to be a film for the child, Zachary,
10:34 to learn about his father.
10:35 Unfortunately, he would never be able to see it.
10:38 In a shocking twist, it's revealed that Zachary died roughly two years after his dad.
10:42 The stomach-turning revelation has earned the film a reputation for being one of the
10:45 most upsetting documentaries ever made.
10:48 - Your grandma and grandpa went back to England and spread your ashes with your dad's.
10:52 They went back to St. Louis and spread your ashes with your dad's.
10:56 - What shocking true story would you like to see explored in the documentary?
10:59 Let us know in the comments.
11:00 (speaking in foreign language)
11:04 (upbeat music)
11:07 (upbeat music)
11:10 (upbeat music)
11:12 (upbeat music)
11:15 (upbeat music)
11:17 (upbeat music)
11:20 (upbeat music)
11:22 (upbeat music)