The Darkest Moments in TV History 3 

UPDATE: This video was removed because of a copyright claim from the WWE. I had to trim a portion of chapter 4 out which is why the edit might seem jarring. The video is still under dispute and unfortunately might be taken down again so enjoy it while it’s here! The whole situation is really disappointing as this was one of my best performing videos before it was taken down, but I’m just happy it’s back up again.🙏🏻

Mick Philpott intentionally setting a fire so he can look like a hero after putting it out is literally textbook hero syndrome.

During the helicopter crash, hearing the guy say "Whoa JESUS!" right before they crash, then hearing his scream just fade away is honestly bone-chilling.

"I think it was scott" that just hurts even more hearing him panicking because of that helicopter collision. I feel so bad for everyone that was effected by that crash.

Mick Philpott is a good example of how bad the English legal system is. Getting 7 year for stabbing someone 12 times is ridiculous.

Hearing that reporter say "I think it was Scott.." broke my heart

The helicopter collision is probably the most devastating thing I've seen in a while. The reactions of the friends and coworkers of the four men who perished is heartbreaking, and I only wish peace to those who passed away.

We actually learned about that helicopter crash in Law School. It led to a big disucssion over whether the guy who started the chase should be held responsible and at what point could you hold someone responsible for other people's actions.

The helicopter case made me remember the death of one of Brazil's biggest journalists Ricardo Boechat. He died of a helicopter accident right after presenting a morning show on the radio and later giving a talk. It was so heartbreaking to see all his fellow journalists grieving and crying as they gave the news of his death.

When I clicked on this, I was not expecting to see coverage of an accident involving someone I knew. Rick Krolak, the cameraman for channel 15 in the helicopter crash (13:07), was my cousin's father and my uncle before he and my aunt divorced. I remember being at my university when my mom called me with the news. There is now a memorial for the two pilots and two cameramen in the park where they crashed.

As someone from the UK Mick Philpott is much much eviler than described here. There’s documentaries about the family before the fire and it’s heartbreaking to see the kids running around carefree not knowing what was waiting for them.

Ruth's death filled me with such sadness and dread. Money will cause anyone to do anything, it was heartbreaking to hear what she had to do to survive and that it had to be plastered on television for weeks on end.

I've been involved in studying head trauma and CTE, and the effects it has on families. It is truly chilling how many stories like Benoit's there are, and almost nobody talks about it because of the money involved in sports that are literally causing men's brains to kill them and their loved ones from the inside out.

As far as the Benoit situation, William Regal lived very close to Benoit, so he was intimately familiar with the domestic problems Chris and Nancy had been having. He’d been called on a couple of occasions to calm Benoit down when he was angry or upset. So, Regal knew a lot more than everyone else at the memorial show, which is why he made the very vague and somewhat cryptic comments about him and his family.

I’ve seen several documentaries about Mick Philpott. Such a heartbreaking case. He was a level of evil that I will never understand.

To quote Paul Heyman on the Chris Benoit incident: "Three died that nights and only one of them had a choice." Really morbid, but so true...

Back somewhere around 1991, the Buffalo news showed a video of a newlywed couple who had taken a hot air balloon ride which ended in them slowly drifting into power lines. You could hear them screaming helplessly as they gently floated toward their deaths. It was so horrific that it haunts me to this day.

It's worth pointing out that Benoit did a lot more than just "strangle" Nancy. He drugged his son and had him die in his sleep, but Nancy was brutalized almost beyond recognition, and the crime scene was said to have looked almost like a tornado had gone through the house. She was conscious for the majority of the assault. -He had also killed the family's pets and left them inside the family pool, one of the final text messages he sent to Chavo Guerrero was "The dogs are in the enclosed pool area."- (Edit: He apparently didn't kill the dogs, he put them in the pool area on leash, probably so neighbors/police wouldn't be afraid to investigate the house. Bizarre) The case was so much worse than what was said in the video. You can listen to Nancy Benoit's sister talk more about it in-depth on an older episode of Chris Jericho's podcast, Talk is Jericho.

As a Chilean, it really cannot be overstated how much the plane crash impacted the country. Not only did pretty much everyone watch calle 7 every night, as a family, but also Felipe Camiroaga was and is somewhat of a symbol, especially for elderly women of the country. Before hes death he was an idol, but after he became somewhat of a divine figure (not exaggerating, look up some photos of homemade shrines or calendars of him). Sad stuff all around, I vividly remember the night that I saw that calle 7 episode live, since I was around 8 years old or so, my mom made me and my sister get out of the kitchen and covered our ears so as to not hear.

The Chris Benoit one is really sad. The effects head trauma has over time is scary. Hearing his friend's account is sad too. My grandfather had dementia and would get violent or angry sometimes but was too weak to truly do any harm. Now imagine an angry dementia patient with the strength of a roided man.. it makes me wonder what he was thinking and if he had "come to" and realized what he did and killed himself. We'll never know. A truly sad story.

The screaming in the helicopter 13:50 is freaking bone chilling

I'm chilean and i still remember how sudden and tragic this accident was for the country. people here specially loved Felipe Camiroaga, he was very charismatic and everyone who got to know him in person said that he was humble and a genuinely great guy despite being one of the most famous people in Chile at the time. may he and all the people who were in that plane rest in peace.

"Oh Jesus...... I think that was Scott" from the camera man watching his friends crash in the helicopter got me. It sounded like it physically took his breath away for a moment :(

Soy Chilena y esta es la primera vez que veo este video. Felipe Camiroaga era uno de los más famosos presentadores de la TV Chilena. Que triste de todos los que perdieron la vida ese día. Que estén descansando en paz.🙏♥️

The Bird's Eye View segment really does a succinct job in highlighting how dangerous the media's obsession to be "First" can be. Also, *of course* Philpott was on Jeremy Kyle, a show that just recently had its run halted by being accused of causing a suicide in one of its "contestants" in a similar vein of how "To Catch A Predator" ended, albeit with much less law enforcement involved.

As someone who is into photography, there is something about documenting your last moments and preserving the last records of yourself and the people around you, when no one outside the plane would have otherwise shared your experience the same way, idk. It’s incredibly haunting, and yet there is something so genuine to it that almost makes it beautiful as well as horrifying. It’s the memories, and taking steps in your last moments to keep them safe, knowing that you won’t be there for when the people see them, but wanting to share your experience anyway. I’m not sure I’m wording this well. I don’t want to come off like I think it’s just beautiful and that i feel it’s not tragic and it very much is horrifying, to have any idea at all of what they were feeling, it’s tragic, but there is something so human about wanting others to know. It’s so very personal to preserve it for others, to share your last moments because you yourself won’t be there to remember them. To be remembered. To possibly share even a little of what it felt like. To do what you can to keep those images safe for others to see. I don’t know how to explain it, it’s moving. It’s expressive. It leaves your memory. You feel a connection and it’s incredibly tragic. It’s tragic that this is the last way they had to make a connection. It was deliberate as well. Those pictures weren’t taken by someone else, they were personal and intentionally shared with the people they left behind. It’s like a letter someone left behind in their last moments, but the story is told without words

The helicopter thing is insane. They both wanted the same shot. All that air space, and you end hitting the only other thing in it. Kind of hard to imagine.

the last case perfectly encapsulates the saying "men are afraid that women will laugh at them, women are afraid that men will kill them". what a fragile person to kill someone over some embarassment.

As a Chilean, i must say the death of Felipe Camiroaga still hurts, and this happened 13 years ago. He was such a great person and really beloved by everyone.

The helicopter crash video had me in tears. To be so ironically blinded. The sound of the other news caster having a panic attack. Heart wrenching

I worked at one of the two stations where the helicopter accident happened years after. A memorial is in the back of the station and I'd often walk by it wondering about them because I was a teen when it happened. Every year there's a table set up for the two men from our station in the front lobby. Some folks who used to work with them are still in the industry and have only the warmest things to say about all of them. At the time, there was too much put onto the pilots. They juggled reporting what was in the air, filming and flying. Since the accident, changes were made and the four stations (15, 3, 5 and 12) share the same helicopter with stations passing who will speak to chopper that day. I think one of the stations has their own helicopter again but the rules for the pilots have also changed. One pilot who focuses on flying and the photographer. There is no reporter. As a side, it was known at the time (in the industry I guess) that one of the pilots used to bring his (small) dog with him in the air. He left him home that day

My dad saw that broadcast in the 90s, he told me he was shaking and crying for the rest of that day and couldnt sleep for days. He also told me he still has nightmares about it to this day.

Correction for the last entry: they were not hooked to a polygraph during the show. They would take the test beforehand and be asked a ton of questions, only some of which were actually used in the show. The show would know if the answers were truthful or not based on the results of the earlier test.

The guy burning himself to death didn’t disturb me half as much as him burning his dog to death right along with him. He could have given the dog to a loved one beforehand. He absolutely nullified any moral ground he was standing on.

3:27 that smile sent chills. these kinds of recovered footages are always so sad

for april fools day you should do a video where you talk about something silly and dumb but you use your same spooky narrating voice and treat it the same as your other videos that would be hilarious

Also, for people who are wondering about the Phoenix Pursuit, the man was arrested and the park where the crash happened is now a memorial and phoenix now only has 2 news choppers that are rented by the station's and the only people allowed to do commentary are the people in the studio and also news choppers in the country are not allowed to fly over other choppers or under and must stay the same altitude as others to prevent something like this to happen again. (Also its KNXV not KNVX)

The Chris Benoit situation is such a sad case. I didn't become a fan of wrestling until 2009, but my Dad has been a life long fan and was a big Benoit fan. I remember him being so upset, like not crying, but just sad he was gone. A fact left out of the video is that they actually got the details of the deaths being a murder/suicide during the actual tribute show. The following night on another WWE show (ECW), the WWE's owner Vince McMahon dedicated the show to those effected by Benoit's actions. WWE then proceeded to remove most mentions of Benoit from their website and has only made brief acknowledgments about him since then. They also offered little to no support for Benoit's other son, David Benoit or Nancy Benoit's sister who took Daniel in after everyone's passing. If there is one saving grace from all this, it's that because of Benoit, concussions in pro wrestling have been taken far more seriously since then, with moves that could potentially cause them being banned/rarely used.

As usual Nick, fantastic job. I love the clean and interesting editing and storyboard. Keep up the good work man!

14:50 i think it was scott” CRYING NOOOO HE SOUNDED SO SAD

I knew that Chris Benoit was eventually gonna be featured in this series. The Incident is still the most shocking, out of nowhere tragedy that I can know of. The fact he killed his wife, child and himself over a span of three days is beyond thought. WWE's tribute to him, unaware of his murder suicide, is so sickening to watch to this day. Sad fact about that Raw show was that it was gonna be a funeral proceedings for Vince McMahon's character who was "killed" in a limo explosion for a massive storyline.

It’s so crazy how so many horrifying things are televised.

your stuff is so well put together, this is captivating

The helicopter segment was heartbreaking 😢

People like Mick genuinely make me sick not just because of what happened to those poor children but also because of how people like him cheat our benefits system while genuine claims, like ones I've made, had to be fought tooth-and-nail to finally be accepted.

As a Chilean, thank you for including the plane crash. The morning show Felipe Camiroaga hosted was never the same again. And after a lengthy investigation, there are many questions yet to be answered.

I lived down the street from those helicopter crashes. They charged the guy for the deaths.

La muerte de Felipe Camioraga y de todos los tripulantes del avión es una tragedia que dificilmente podremos olvidar. Thanks for opening the video with the TVN interruption. Regards from Chile.

I still remember that first case. Felipe Camiroaga was incredibly famous and loved by everyone so his horrible death was devastating. I can tell you, even to this day if you talk about him you will notice a tint of sadness in the other person's voice. His merchandising is still selling on some parts.

Your coverage of the Benoit incident in such a short-form video part was masterful. It's one of those incidents that never made sense to anyone that it could happen. If you listened to anyone from 1990 to the incident they would tell you he was the most genuinely sweet man in the business. Just a totally insane moment in time. Lots of wrestlers to this day struggle with the guilt of loving the man so much that could do something so terrible.

Don't know if you've heard about it but here in Brazil we had a very tragic case covered on live televions as well. Eloá Cristiane was held at gun point by her ex boyfriend for days. During this time police tried (and failed) to get the guy to surrender all while she was shown in the windows of the apartament talking to police and asking for help. Some TV channels being the vultures they are showed this all day. One channel in particular somehow got the house phone number, called and was able to interview the kidnapper (while the girl was still held captive). After all the shitshow the police decided to pull a hollywood like strike and failed miserably resulting in her death and getting her friend injured. This said friend wasn't even in the house to begin with, those fuckers thought it would be good to let her get inside and she was held captive as well.

I was 14 years old and saw it live when that man killed himself on live tv. It showed his brains splattering over the freeway and then let the dogs loose on him and ripped his leg apart. That man was clearly dead and when 14 year old me could tell he was dead

As a wrestling fan, it always hurts when I'm reminded of the Benoit incident. What happened was just so... Senseless, and it was so shocking to learn how brutally they were taken from this world. Rest in Peace, Daniel and Nancy. Edited for correct name.

I remember the helicopter story. That man breaking down on camera really hits hard, and I really hope he, along with friends and family involved, is doing okay.

I remember the case of Philpott from when I was younger. The first thing my mum and I noticed was that he and his wife didn’t even shed a tear in the press interview.

I love your editing style, if you have an editor then they are fantastic and if it is you doing all of this it's very impressive 👏

I remember the Benoit situation. My dad actually got us tickets to see Raw on that day. We waited outside for a couple of hours, & eventually, officials came out to tell us the show was postponed, but they didn’t tell us why. When we drove home, we saw the memoriam. My dad told me what actually happened when the news broke. It was always an unsettling part of my life because he was one of my favorite wrestlers at the time. Just a tragic situation overall for his wife and child.

It's crazy that someone created a "fake" wiki entry that Benoit was dead before anyone knew they were dead, and the person that did so was traced back to Stamford, CT, where WWE is headquartered.

PLEASE keep doing more of these Nick!!!! You are an excellent story teller.

nick’s voice is so soothing, i can’t stop listening😭

The last story was the most saddest to me. Not a freak accident, or mental breakdown, but a poor human being. That was exploited because she was born to poverty and low class education. She then is murdered by a lowlife brute as a consequence of being exploited on national tv for giving honest and humiliating answers to perversely designed questions.

The value of Truth is especially haunting when you realized not only both its Peruvian inversion has had dark content but also its American remake as well which had a very dark daughter and father subplot in which the father was revealed to have married a underage wife. So it's kind of shocking that both versions of the series have their own dark twisted content. But I guess that goes to show what you could expect when you strap somebody to chair with a polygraph test and prove them with the darkest possible questions imaginable. Eventually you're going to poke the pinata just right and I was going to pop out something horrifying

Great series man keep it up

If you do a fourth, you need to include the Bud Dwyer incident. When I was in journalism school, we discussed this case and whether or not we would make the decision to re-run the live footage in subsequent coverage of the incident.

The fact that the man that lit his car on fire left his poor doggy in there makes me so mad

I’ll never forget the death of Felipe Camiroaga and Roberto Bruce. I remember staying glued to my TV as the search team looked for survivors. I remember the first large discoveries was Roberto Bruce and he was confirmed dead. I felt like somebody had kicked me in the stomach, and just seeing his face in this video made me cry. That’s a man that I watched every morning for years. Felipe is an idol here and they only discovered his arm. How did they know it was his? He had a very unique tattoo that was well known to his fans. Every year, the country is reminded of the tragedy and they mourn the loss of all those lives. It just hurt a bit more because two huge parts of our mornings were suddenly gone.

This is one of my favorite series of yours.

Really impressive how you got to that peruvian case. I'm from Peru and it was somewhat a major case locally. Nice work

Another important note about Chris Benoit is that he was severely depressed and (by all accounts) not the same after his best friend Eddie Guerrero passed away 2 years prior. There’s a moment during Eddie’s tribute show where Chris is giving his own testimonial and completely broke down by the end of it live. He was severely depressed, his performances in the ring weren’t as exceptional as they used to be, and he was just completely lost. The one silver lining in both instances is the effect both passings had on the business itself. Eddie’s death lead to more in depth drug tests due to him dying of steroid abuse from years prior, and Chris’ death lead to the banning of certain moves that involve damage to the head in order to prevent another tragedy like this from happening.

I love the part where you're finally tackling international disturbing media in your recent videos, Nick. Keep it up!

Fantastic video!

So eerie. New to the channel but so far it doesn’t feel exploitative and anything too gory. The music fits perfectly.

The Value of Truth show came to North America as The Moment of Truth and it pretty much ruined marriages and people’s lives, but it was never that gruesome as Ruth’s story. I’m surprised they even let that show air in both countries . I remember the NA version not lasting too long

Mick Philpot isn't a menace - he's a demon.

How tf do 2 helicopters fly into each other in broad daylight?????? 😳

Although the majority of these are very distressing, and saddening, the clip where the guy abandoned the car and took a stroll while checking his phone did get a chuckle out of me.

there was another factor at play for the benoit tragedy: eddie Guerrero. eddie was a fellow wrestler and chris' best friend in the world. a year before, eddie died in his hotel room, found by his nephew, chavo. when chavo called chris, who was in the same hotel and was waiting for him to come down for a group work out, he told him what happened and let out a gutteral scream that chavo never knew chris could make. needless to say, eddie's death had a massive impact upon him but it was felt that he never got the chance to mourn for him.

The scream from the helicopter crew right at the end is so haunting.

thank you so much for speaking of the aviation incident/felipe camiroaga’s death, as a chilean living in america, his death is something i’ll never forget. a beloved personality on our tv screens that was taken away from us. the calle 7 moment is the perfect way to show how chileans prioritize communication about horrific events since our 9/11. we mourn together as a nation always.

If you ever do another one of these, you should cover Christine Chubbock. It's truly haunting, so much so that I was surprised it wasn't covered in the previous videos.

Felipe Camiroaga is still remembered till this day, people loved him and he was genuinely a really good guy in general. The news of the crash shocked us all in Chile.

Fun fact, The Value of Truth had a almost completely similar show named Moment of Truth where one lady went out on stage and practically admitted to not loving her husband and wanting to be with her ex on live TV.

ive watched this before but it was a long time ago .... im binge watching your channel again now 😊😊😊 make a new one pleaseeeee

17:00 take it from someone who has survived being shot, there is no "leading a normal life" afterwards. trust me.

Don't know if it's been said in the comments, but there was a show exactly like "The Value Of Truth" that aired in the US in January 2008 called "The Moment Of Truth" but was cancelled 7 months later. In the show's 5th episode, Lauren Cleri, just like Ruth, admitted to many heartbreaking deeds, including cheating on her husband. This was a very good accounting of all these tragic events

I think something that makes the last chapter so much darker is the context of culture. There is no way that network, that production, that host, didnt know those last two questions would put her life in danger. And yet the show went on to have a successful run until they just faded in popularity. No reflection, no repercussions.

31:08 keep in mind that polygraphs are not allowed as evidence in US courts and are considered pseudoscience, along with being able to be easily beaten...as Mythbusters and others have shown.

I love "Operative Nick Crowley". His videos are so fun to watch.

Whats even more sad about the Chris Bennoit incident is that the media instead of focusing on the family & victims ( being his wife & son ) they used the tragedy to say steroids or other things even before the brain scan was done were involved while sometimes barely or not even bringing up the two innocent lives that were lost. While steroid use / drug use in pro wrestling is of course a bad thing, the loss of those two should not have been used like that.

Nick Crowley was recently signed by Ballen Studio management, the best of the best in story telling. These guys should be getting time on Netflix, Prime, Hulu etc. Congrats man, we're rooting for all of you from a far.

11:56 those final screams...

The Chris Benoit Story still Feels like it happened a few Months ago.

I remember the day of the Chilean accident. It was a huge deal. To this day the whole thing is remembered as an extremely sad moment, and Felipe Camiroaga is still a beloved and respected figure in the entertainment industry. Fans of his are even self called Widows because of how loved he was.

My family and I had tickets to that show in Corpus Christi, and I was genuinely not upset knowing about what had happened, even feeling bad for Beniot. Of course, knowing what I know now, i can't say much about my respect for Beniot. As someone who is now training to be in the industry, speaking with guys who wrestled him and knew him, they all say the same thing. They say yes, he was a great performer, but he killed his family and that's not something people can just excuse.

Excellent channel. Live long and prosper.😊

This whole video is literally and metaphorically a car crash I can’t look away You ruined my morning but I can’t stop watching

As a huge wrestling fan I'm glad to see you cover the horrible tragedy of Benoit and his family

I'm Chilean, and I still remember how devastating that plane crash was. Felipe Camiroaga was a very influential figure everyone loved.

I was a wrestling fan in the early 2000's, and I can tell you the Benoit killings were earth-shattering. Still makes no sense all these years later. 😔

You might wanna look into the story and broadcast of Alfredo Rampi's death. He was a kid who got stuck inside a well. Every rescue attempt became a major media event, it was constantly broadcasted for all the time until the kid sadly passed away inside that well.