Forgotten Felonies
Forgotten Felonies revisits historical crimes that were forgotten—or remembered incorrectly. It’s tempting, looking backward, to fill in the gaps with conclusions that feel obvious now. But that isn’t how history works. Through original newspaper reporting, period advertisements from the years the crimes occurred, and a blend of forensic psychology and genealogical research, each episode restores context to cases history left behind—asking not only what happened, but why.
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Forgotten Felonies
Alfred Knapp: Five Murders and a Confession
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A woman’s body floats more than 150 miles downriver before finally being recovered near New Albany, Indiana. By the time she is identified as Hannah Goddard Knapp, her husband—Alfred Knapp—has already confessed to murdering her.
But Hannah wasn't the first—Not by a long shot.
In 1903, Alfred Knapp shocked the country with confessions involving multiple women and children across Ohio and Indiana. Newspapers called him insane. Doctors blamed brain injuries, “brain fever,” and hereditary degeneration. His family insisted he could not control himself. Others believed he was simply evil.
This episode follows the life, crimes, confessions, and execution of one of the most infamous killers of the early 1900s—the very man who later fascinated child murderer Jesse McClure.
Vintage ads for:
- Dr. Charles Flesh Food, (1903)
- and Tonsiline. (1903)
