Some mysteries are best left unsolved
Apr. 8—The unknown is usually more interesting than the known, and more daunting, which might explain why I loved the show "Unsolved Mysteries" as a child. Robert Stack describing a perplexing crime scene or a possible alien abduction gave me more chills than any monster on the screen. This is what mysteries do — provide an air of suspense that will abate only once a definitive answer is found.
I find the suspense to normally be more enjoyable than the resolution. That's what made the movie "Alien" work so well. In his review of the film, the late great Roger Ebert cited Alfred Hitchcock's example of a bomb under a table: If the bomb goes off, that's action; if it doesn't, that's suspense.
Our reward for enduring the suspense is an eventual payoff, but that payoff is often disappointing. It's a tricky thing for a fiction writer: You don't want the resolution to be overly simple and insulting to your audience, but you also don't want it to be convoluted and confusing to your audience. One TV show that nailed its payoff was "Breaking Bad," with the suspense of what would happen to Walter White and Jesse Pinkman giving way to an appropriately brutal ending, sprinkled with a dash of sentiment and hope.
Sometimes, though, there is no resolution. As with the final scene of "The Sopranos," we're tasked with solving the mystery ourselves. Or we have to accept that we will never know the resolution, and I like that idea. Because mysteries hold our attention, sometimes for years or decades — or centuries.
Mysteries in fiction are usually solved. Not so in the real world. Was King Arthur an actual person? Was Atlantis a real city? What happened to members of the Roanoke Colony? We'll likely never know, and that's the fun of it.
I remember when the identity of Woodward and Bernstein's "Deep Throat" was revealed a few years ago. The anonymous source who had helped bring down a presidency was a captivating mystery for years. And then when we learned that it was a former FBI assistant director named Mark Felt, it felt (no pun intended) anti-climactic.
It makes me wonder. Do we really want to know the actual identities of Jack the Ripper or D.B. Cooper? Would their stories soon fade away once we found out who they really were? Do we want to find out who killed Jimmy Hoffa and where he's buried? Think of the poor documentary filmmakers, robbed of pursuing any and all theories for our entertainment.
But seriously, I think sometimes it's better not knowing. Some folks can't stand being left in the dark, but those people have major control issues, and that's why therapists exist. Life would be pretty dull if we were able to find the answers to everything. The fun is in the pursuit.
BRAD LOCKE is senior sports writer for the Daily Journal. Contact him on Twitter @bradlocke or via email at brad.locke@journalinc.com