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.