On the morning of September 14, 1972, around 11:06am, owner Mrs. Anna Diedrich called police to check on guests at the Kaukauna Motel on route 4 (Highway OO). They were supposed to have checked out the day before but had not been answering knocks at the door. Lieutenant Dean J. Ball discovered a woman dead […]
Camille Quinn and the Kaukauna Motel Read More »
The story of the “Wisconsin Death March” has no business being on the Fox Cities Murder and Mayhem podcast. However, the story is so important and almost completely unknown – I have no better platform to present this dark period of state history. The 1848 annuity payment, called a “swindle” by newspaper reporters, was the
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(This page consists of podcast notes and is not intended to be a fully fleshed-out article.) Ervin Herbert Koehnke was born November 1, 1890 in Appleton to Henry and Sadie (Krohn) Koehnke. July 8, 1918, was sent to the barracks at Columbus, Ohio for training, with the plan to be in France after. He does
Koehnke’s Woods — Grand Chute, Wisconsin Read More »
Born in Germany, Albert E. Schwittay emigrated with his parents to the United States and settled in Marinette County, Wisconsin. Schwittay worked in the lumber business and was a farmer. He went to University of Wisconsin Law School, received his law degree in 1901, and practiced law in Marinette. Schwittay also started a weekly newspaper,
For quite a while, the Peshtigo fire didn’t even cross my mind as an option for a podcast topic. I figured, everyone in northeast Wisconsin knows about it. And it’s always told the same way – it occurred the same day as the Chicago fire, so it was overshadowed, despite being the deadliest fire in
The germ of these notes come from “The Maid and the Socialite,” an article in the Winter/Spring 2024 Voyageur magazine. The article, written by Lynda Drews, is a very condensed version of her book of the same title, released in 2023. I encourage people to pick up a copy. (Because the article is a summary,
The Minahan Scandal Read More »
There is a legend in Appleton about the grave of Kate Blood. Some say that when the moon is just right, you can see ghostly blood oozing from the stone. The reason? Kate is said to have killed her husband with an axe. Sometimes her children, too. Whether or not you think the stone oozes
Kate Blood: The True Story Read More »
Dr William Edward Minahan was born in Chilton, Calumet, Wisconsin on 20 April 1867. He was the son of Irish immigrant parents William Burke Minahan (1833-1906), a county school superintendent, and Mary Shaughnessy (1839-1902), both Limerick natives. He had ten known siblings: Robert (1858-1935) Ellen (1860-1915, later Jaeger), John Robert (1862-1941), Grace (b. 1865), Hugh
Dr. William Edward Minahan Read More »
Notes on the unsolved 1973 murder of William Paul. The building at 311 North Commercial Street in Neenah was built in 1888 and was traditionally known as Charles Herziger’s Saloon, and later Pinky’s Midway Bar. In 1940, the tavern was purchased by William Paul, age 39, who would operate it for over thirty years. On
William Paul of Neenah Read More »
I was asked to provide on-camera history for the Gainor property in Mackville, an unincorporated area north of Appleton, Wisconsin. These are my very rough, incomplete notes. The details of the final fire are not included here (and were not mentioned by me on camera) out of respect for the family’s privacy. This was part
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