Framing the Story: Murder, Mystery, and Chicago’s Media Machine & Megiddo’s Historic Headlines

Framing the Story: Adam Selzer on Murder, Mystery, and Chicago’s Media Machine with opening remarks by Kiersten Neumann on Megiddo’s Historic Headlines September 30, 2025 In 1905, Chicago serial killer Johann Hoch was believed to have married more than fifty women—most of whom died under suspicious circumstances. His story became a media sensation just as newspapers were first beginning to use photographs. If not for the press, Hoch might never have been caught; with it, his case unraveled in a tangle of half-truths, sensational headlines, and conflicting accounts. Author and historian Adam Selzer—host of the Tomb Snoopers podcast and author of a new book on Hoch (https://adamselzer.com)—will reveal the pivotal role of the media and specific reporters in the case: how the press nearly got him convicted, nearly got him freed, hopelessly muddled his story in his own time, yet also preserved enough evidence to sort fact from fiction a century later. Selzer, who has also written extensively on H. H. Holmes, will contrast Hoch’s coverage with that of Holmes a decade earlier, revealing shifts in how Chicago’s most notorious figures were framed for public consumption. The program opens with remarks from Kiersten Neumann, curator of Megiddo: A City Unearthed, A Past Imagined, on how ISAC’s Megiddo Expedition (1929–35) was likewise framed for the public through dramatic media hooks—kings, empires, and biblical Armageddon—transforming archaeology into global headlines. Presented in conjunction with the ISAC Museum special exhibition “Megiddo: A City Unearthed, A Past Imagined,” on view September 18, 2025, to March 15, 2026. https://isac.uchicago.edu/megiddoimagined