The Kidnapping of Charlie Lindbergh (Part 2)
3/23/20261 hr 3 min
(Part 2 of 2) On March 1, 1932, someone crept into a second-floor window of the home of Charles and Ann Lindbergh and kidnapped the couple’s twenty-month-old son, Charlie, leaving behind a ransom note demanding $50,000 for the boy’s return.
Mentions in this episode:
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Reference
American Experience. n.d. Ann Morrow Lindbergh.https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/lindbergh-anne-morrow/.
Associated Press. 1932. "Moore halts plan for state reward." Central New Jersey Home News, March 2: 1.
—. 1932. "Seek Lindbergh baby in Newark after card is discovered in mails." Central New Jersey Home News, March 2: 1.
—. 1932. "Orders that vigilance be not relaxed until killers meet justice." Courier-News (Bridgewater, NJ), May 13: 1.
—. 1932. "Morrow maid a suicide." Herald-News (Passaic, NJ), June 10: 1.
—. 1934. "Hauptman ready to quit US." The Evening Times (Trenton, NJ), September 21: 1.
Cahill, Richard. 2014. Hauptmann's Ladder: A Step-By-Step Analysis of the Lindbergh Kidnapping. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press.
Hauck, Anthony. 1935. "Hauptman's guilt overwhelmingly proved." New York Times, February 12: 12.
Linder, Douglas. n.d. Ransom notes, responses and other communication. Accessed December 29, 2025. https://famous-trials.com/hauptmann/1398-ransom.
New York Times. 1934. "Friends describe Hauptman as shy." New York Times, September 23: 24.
—. 1934. "Hauptman script 'like' kidnappers." New York Times, October 16: 20.
—. 1932. "Test of religion seen in kidnapping." New York Times, May 16: 2.
2013. Who Killed Lindbergh's Baby? Directed by Larry Klein. Performed by Nova.
Shapiro, Stanley. 2009. "The Celebrity of Charles Lindbergh." Air Power History 21-33.
Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)
Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)
Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash Kelley
Listener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra Lally
Listener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025)
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsAsh Kelley· Host0:00
Hey weirdos, I'm Ash.
Alaina Urquhart· Host0:01
And I'm Elena.
Ash Kelley· Host0:02
And this is Morbid.
Alaina Urquhart· Host0:05
[gentle music] This is morbid, y'all.
Ash Kelley· Host0:19
It's morbid.
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We're back from VAIKE. How are you? And we're talking like this because we just finished recording the Re-Watcher.
Ash Kelley· Host0:26
[laughs] I know. I do be getting in a- Yeah ... stuck in a Southern accent after that.
Alaina Urquhart· Host0:29
You're in bon ton.
Ash Kelley· Host0:30
I know. I had a doctor's ap- appointment in between that, and imagine if I, like, walked into my doctor and they're like, "What's your name?" I'm like, "Oh, my name's Ashley Cayley."
Alaina Urquhart· Host0:36
[laughs] You're like, "Hey, y'all."
Ash Kelley· Host0:37
"Hey, y'all. How y'all doing?"
Alaina Urquhart· Host0:38
If you guys aren't watching, re-watching, or watching for the first time, True Blood- Ugh ... get on it, man.
Ash Kelley· Host0:44
It's so good.
Alaina Urquhart· Host0:44
It's fun as hell.
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You gotta do it, you guys.
Alaina Urquhart· Host0:46
It is. It's a fun time.
Ash Kelley· Host0:47
Yeah, I love it.
Alaina Urquhart· Host0:48
This is a natural plug for the Re-Watcher.
Ash Kelley· Host0:51
I mean, holler.
Alaina Urquhart· Host0:51
But Andrew McMahon did our theme song.
Ash Kelley· Host0:53
It's really fucking good.
Alaina Urquhart· Host0:54
So- It's so good, in fact, that all the people who do listen to Re-Watcher are, like, dying to get, um- The full ...
Ash Kelley· Host1:01
like, the full song, like, on, like, Apple or Spotify or something.
Alaina Urquhart· Host1:04
And we're, we're, we're trying to make that happen.
Ash Kelley· Host1:05
Yeah, we, we said to Andrew, "Hey, the people want this."
Alaina Urquhart· Host1:08
The people want it. You gotta give it.
Ash Kelley· Host1:09
Yeah.
Alaina Urquhart· Host1:10
And he said, "I don't know how to do that- He said- ... but we can do it."
Ash Kelley· Host1:12
... "What?" [laughs] But, you know, we'll, we'll work on it.
Alaina Urquhart· Host1:14
We'll figure it out.
Ash Kelley· Host1:15
Yeah. Technology's hard. Um, really quickly, I met a couple of listeners when I was at Disney, and they were so nice.
Alaina Urquhart· Host1:21
Aw.
Ash Kelley· Host1:21
Um, and I remember... Wait. Okay, the first person I met, you didn't say your name, but I saw you at Hollywood Studios, and you were so nice.