The Kidsgrove Tragedy: Murder, Madness, and the Man Who Vanished Into Himself”

The Kidsgrove Tragedy: Murder, Madness & the Vanished Mind | Staffordshire, 1911
News of the Times | Episode 582 |1911

In October 1911, the quiet mining town of Kidsgrove was shaken to its core.
Inside a secluded villa, three people — a widow, her four-year-old daughter, and their 16-year-old servant — were found brutally murdered. No forced entry. No screams. Just silence… until an eight-year-old child came running for help.

The prime suspect? Karl Kramer — a German labourer with a forged identity, a borrowed bicycle, and a suspicious amount of stolen silver jingling in his pockets.
But when the police finally caught him, a disturbing question emerged:

Was Kramer a calculated killer… or a man whose mind had simply vanished?

This episode follows the manhunt across counties, the extraordinary behaviour of the accused in custody, and the courtroom spectacle that left a jury trying not what the man had done — but whether he knew anything at all.

A chilling story of murder, madness, and a fugue state that baffled doctors, magistrates, and the Edwardian press.

🔎 Featuring:
• The shocking crime at Avenue Villa
• Witness sightings and the frantic police chase
• Kramer’s shifting identity and sudden “collapse”
• Courtroom confusion over sanity vs. shamming
• The extraordinary decision that sent him to Broadmoor

If you enjoy intelligent historical true crime, forensic missteps, and strange Edwardian tragedies, this episode will be right up your cobblestone street.

Stay to the end for today’s Further Particulars:
A nine-year-old boy, a bit of pocket money, and one extremely deceased mother —
proving that some Edwardian “playdates” should really come with a parental advisory.

It’s grim… but in a way the Victorians would have confidently labelled “character-building."

👤 Narrated by Robin Coles

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