Historical Events  People
Lindbergh Baby

Alternate:
The Lindbergh Baby was never found

Current:
The Lindbergh Baby was found

The Lindbergh Baby was never found?

The terrible "crime of the century" happened in 1932 in New Jersey when the eldest son of the aviator Charles Lindbergh was abducted from his family home.

When you read today's reports of this, you see the baby was found dead 2 months later and Richard Hauptmann was executed for the crime, yet those experiencing the Mass Memory Discrepancy Effect claim the baby was never found.

It's always possible these people somehow missed the news at the time, but when they see all the reports of his discovery they find the mismatch between that and their memory pretty disconcerting.

Lindbergh Law

The crime was so shocking it led to a new law - The Federal Kidnapping Act of 1932, popularly called The Lindbergh Law.

lindbergh poster 300x503

Al Capone

Charles Lindbergh was a very wealthy and influential man. When the $75,000 reward money was made public, many prominent figures - both good and bad - offered to help, in particular Al Capone from inside Alcatraz who said he would do so on condition of his early release. This sum of money was enormous at the time, particularly in light of the fact  it was at the time of the great depression.

Ransom money

The money was paid in the form of gold certificates, and the authorities had noted all the serial numbers. After the discovery of the body, it seemed the only hope was to trace these bills, which were occasionally being spent in New York City. A bank teller noticed a New York car license plate number had been written on one, which was traced to a nearby gas station where the cashier noticed a customer was behaving suspiciously, so wrote their number down. It turned out to be that of Richard Hauptmann, a German carpenter. Ultimately, he was tried and executed in the electric chair for the crime, of which he proclaimed his innocence to the grave.