The Tragic Death That Haunted the ‘Little House on the Prairie’ Cast
Life can be full of coincidences. Some of them are fun, and some of them are just plain eerie — including a particular coincidence that was so odd that it haunted the cast of Little House on the Prairie for months after it occurred.
If you remember the show’s 1974 debut on NBC, you know it was an instant hit. And it was on Little House on the Prairie that we were first introduced to Walnut Grove’s founder, a kindly man named Lars Hansen, played to perfection by Karl Swenson.
You may have seen Karl on TV and in movies many times over the years before Little House. He played Eddie Haskell’s father, George, in a couple of episodes of Leave It to Beaver, and he made the rounds on many TV westerns like Bonanza and Gunsmoke. He even showed up on Hogan’s Heroes.
Screenshot/Little House on the Prairie
Over the course of Little House’s first five seasons, Karl made 40 appearances as the founding father of Walnut Grove. It was during that fifth season when a strange and very odd coincidence occurred. It took place while the cast and crew were filming an episode titled “There’s No Place like Home.”
In that episode, the Ingalls family, along with other former Walnut Grove citizens, returned to town after an extended absence, only to discover that the town was dying. Along with Walnut Grove’s decay, Lars Hansen was also very ill. The episode is about a rebirth of sorts for Walnut Grove, but things do not go as well for the town’s founder. As the episode comes to an end, we hear Laura Ingalls (Melissa Gilbert) tell us that Lars has passed away. It was a fairly sad episode of Little House on the Prairie, but there was nothing strange about the story up to this point.
Screenshot/Little House on the Prairie
Here’s where things get really odd: it was not the intent of the Little House creative team to have Lars die in this episode. However, according to an article by journalist Peter McDonald in his “Hollywood Hotline” column, Karl had pulled Michael Landon aside and talked to him about being ready to retire. He was, after all, 70 years old and ready to focus on other things. As such, the episode was written with a much sadder ending than was originally anticipated.
Then, eight days before the episode aired on network television, Karl had a heart attack and died while visiting relatives.
Screenshot/Little House on the Prairie
Whether he truly had a premonition or not, the decision was made that the episode would air completely intact even if Karl’s performance served as a haunting memory of their dear friend for the entire cast of the show.
Hollywood Hotline
In that same article by Peter McDonald, Michael Landon said this of his costar and friend, “It’s probably the best thing that I’ve ever seen Karl do and, because of that, there is no way we will drop the episode.”
Screenshot
Sadly, it would only be a handful of years later that Michael, while on a ski trip in my home state of Utah in 1991, started to get unbearable migraines. After visiting with a doctor and having a host of tests, it was determined that he had developed a form of pancreatic cancer that was swift-moving and, unfortunately, very inoperable. A few months later, Michael would leave us as well, another truly heavy blow for those who were big fans of Little House on the Prairie, as well as, his work overall.
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