8 TV Mysteries You Didn't Know Were Revealed

The last name of The Big Bang Theory's Penny is...

The Big Bang Theory Penny Teller
CBS

Throughout the decades, many a TV series has left audiences with a loose plot thread or an unresolved cliffhanger ending. Sometimes that's by design, other times that's due to a show being axed before it could get round to fully playing out such threads.

A prime, headache-inducing example of this is Lost, which left fans with a ludicrous amount of questions by the time the powerhouse FOX series wrapped up in 2010 after six seasons. Fear not, though, for there are zero Lost mentions in this article from this point on.

For some of those shows that have left us with burning questions over the years, there are actually a few of them that have answered their mystery without the vast majority of audiences ever really realising it - whether that answer was secretly given in said series or maybe detailed elsewhere.

For instance, were you aware that The Big Bang Theory once revealed Penny's last name? Or that a reason was given as to why young Ben mysteriously vanished without a trace during Friends' eighth season? If you didn't know either of those things, you will by the time you get done with this article.

8. The Haunting Of Hill House - Who Put The Buttons On Nell's Eyes?

The Big Bang Theory Penny Teller
Netflix

Mike Flanagan's The Haunting of Hill House was a brilliant slice of horror TV, landing on Netflix in 2018 and immediately became one of the most talked about shows of its time.

By the time of the series' sixth episode, it's the funeral service of Victoria Pedretti's Nell Crain Vance. Having spent her childhood being haunted by the Bent-Neck Lady, the prior episode revealed how Nell was the Bent-Neck Lady for all of these years and had been tormenting her younger self.

As the Crain family gather round to pay their respects to their fallen member, the lights briefly go out and Nell has had buttons placed over her eyes by the time the power kicks back in - but it's never explained how those buttons got there.

Like pretty much every scene in The Haunting of Hill House, this moment only adds further to the chilling dread of the show, particularly when Nell's open casket shortly falls to the floor.

The answer to this mystery was revealed during a 2019 interview that Carla Gugino did with BuzzFeed. In Hill House, Gugino played Olivia, the matriarch of the Crain family and somebody who died in the titular abode years prior.

Throughout The Haunting of Hill House, Olivia is an oft-erratic presence, equally looking out for her family while also luring them into joining her in the afterlife. As Gugino explained in that '19 interview, it was the spirit of Olivia who had placed the buttons on Nell's eyes as a way to bring peace to her daughter.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

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