Unanswered Enigmas: Realising the Unreal (TV)

Unanswered Enigmas: Realising the Unreal is a documentary series in the Colkinom universe, hosted by skeptic and parapsychologist Xavier Dalton. In each season, Dalton studies a different paranormal myth or phenomenon, often with the aim to debunk it by any means necessary.
== Synopsis ==
In each season, Xavier Dalton introduces a new paranormal phenomenon, and sets about to debunk it. This is via a combination of studying the evidence and facts, comparing these 'facts' to scientific explanations, building theories, listening to eyewitness accounts, taking letters from the audience with their opinions, and finally trying to get first-hand experience or emulate the phenomenon he's studying.
The seasons invariably end with Dalton leaving the case tentatively open, with a vague "These enigmas will forever remain... unanswered" but it's always clear that he's made up his mind and doesnt believe any of this.
== Seasons ==
=== Season 1: The Possession of Meg Millard ===
Dalton explores the early 1900s possession case of a young girl named Meg Millard living in Couresbury. Millard was described as exhibiting strange behaviour, speaking in tongues, repelling animals, and biting a priest. After much deliberation, including listening to witness accounts, looking up local history, studying the demon that supposedly possessed Meg and holding a seance with a professional spirit medium, Dalton determined:
* Meg's odd behaviour was caused by a combination of rabies (she loved animals and was known to handle strays), and a fungus infestation that hit Couresbury bread storages at the time.
* Things like the black slime dripping down the wall in strange patterns were just black mold caused by humidity trickling over coincidental contours of the wallpaper.
* Things like the paranoia of the town elders and the priest running away screaming were just a matter of religious/superstitious paranoia.
* Bleeding black ink from the eyes is normal, actually.
His verdict was that this was simply a case of a misunderstood, very ill girl and a superstitious family blowing the situation out of proportion in lieu of getting her proper medical care.
=== Season 2: The Bowyer's Creek Pass Abductions ===
In the 60s and 70s, several backpackers went missing in Bowyer's Creek Pass, Arkansas, often returning weeks later with reports that they'd been abducted by aliens. Dalton took witness reports, studied the area, examined other cases in the vicinity, and soon became unexpectedly embroiled in a decades-cold case of kidnappings, muggings and organ theft. 
This is often considered the best season, for two reasons. Firstly, Dalton becomes totally entangled in this web of mystique, visibly obsessed with the case as soon as he notices the connections, leading to an intense and immersive experience. Secondly, this is the only enigma that Dalton confidently answers, solving the case in that the 'abductions' were not by aliens, but by members of an organ-theft ring who subdued their victims with sedatives and hallucinogens. Although some loose ends remained, Dalton was satisfied.
=== Season 3: The Braingold Hotel Hauntings (and other Slotham Mysteries) ===
In the early 2000s, it was claimed that the Braingold Hotel in North-East Slotham was home to several ghosts. This is considered a weaker season, due to there not being too much evidence of ghostly activity for Dalton to debunk. As a way to compensate, Dalton also investigated other strange goings-on in Slotham, including myths of monsters in the Slotham Abandoned Underground, rumours of aliens and unexplained lights in the sky, and the cryptid known as 'The Salt Man', said to appear as an omen before car accidents.
=== Season 4: The Watery Graves of Svartbult ===
In the newest season, Dalton is exploring the mysteries of Svartbult, Sweden, particularly the two cases known as the Svartbult drownings. In the first, in which workers drowned wealthy tourists in protests, it is said the ghosts of both parties who perished in the drownings and subsequent executions/skirmishes still remain in Svartbult bay, overturning ships and cursing fishing vessels. In the second, several bodies inexplicably were found on the rocks in a secluded section of the bay, with no explanation as to how they got there.
Dalton, while also trying to find an explanation, has remarked that he's considering heading to Öddburg next, while he's still in Sweden, not least because it's a change of pace from brutal, grimy Svartbult.
== Reception ==
The show gets pretty good reviews and has a fairly large viewer base. Part of the attraction is waiting to see what will finally make Dalton believe, so some find his stubbornness frustrating, while others find it funny to see how wild his 'rationalisation' can get.
== Spin-Offs ==
=== Prove It with Xavier Dalton ===
Prove It is a short filler show that comes on between other programs. Although originally made for Dalton, it stars other steadfast stars too, arguing with people with opposing opinions to try and get them to 'prove it'. The show was almost cancelled when Dalton nearly got into a fistfight with Wren Candle during a heated discussion of ghosts.
=== Xavier Dalton's Enigmatic Tales for Unreal Evenings ===
Due to Dalton's sonorous, rich, dark voice, many request him to read scary stories, which led to this spinoff of Unanswered Enigmas. In the form of a podcast, Dalton reads out scary stories, both fictional and anecdotal, then critiques the goings-on within and explains away the supposed paranormal ongoings. Many people fall asleep before this bit, though.
== Trivia ==
* The show is a parody of 'unexplained mysteries' shows; instead of a believer looking for any excuse to point towards ghosts being real, Unanswered Enigmas is hosted by the opposite, a hardened skeptic whose skepticism even gets silly sometimes.
* Season 5 will likely be set in Öddburg; although Dalton has recieved requests to look into Sunnyburg Asylum, he has declined, claiming the idea to be 'distasteful'. He has also declined offers to look into the disappearance of Sunnyburg Sciences founder Louis Sunnyburg.
Category:Television
Category:In universe