Cold Open

It’s early morning on February 12th, 1994, outside the National Art Gallery in Oslo, Norway.

Snow falls softly onto the face of 18-year-old William Åsheim as he stops walking and stares up at the arched second-floor window of the grand brick building.

William silences the timer on his wristwatch. The moment he’s been worrying about for weeks has arrived. He signals to his accomplice to get the ladder from the roof of their car, which is parked on the street nearby.

Together, the two men place the ladder against the window, and then William begins to climb. His hands tremble, adrenaline surging through him. William’s heart beats faster and faster. But in the falling snow, the rungs of the ladder are becoming slippery… and William is not eight feet above the ground when he slips.

The soft snow breaks his fall and William is unhurt. His accomplice scowls silently at him though, so, William quickly gets to his feet and starts climbing again.

This time he reaches the top. William checks his watch again. Despite his fall, he’s still on schedule and if all goes to plan, the next action will be perfectly timed with the arrival of the cleaners at the back of the building. From his jacket pocket, William pulls out a small hammer... and breaks the window in front of him.

No alarms sound. Just as expected, the cleaners have switched off the security system. Careful not to cut himself on the glass, William climbs through and into the gallery.

Inside the room is dark, and at first, William finds it hard to make out what’s around him. But slowly, his eyes adjust and he begins scanning the walls for the painting he’s here for.

Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” is one of the most recognizable artworks in the world. This iconic image shows a man with his hands up to his face, howling under a blood-red sky.

Normally, there’d be crowds of people in this room, eager to see the famous painting. But William has it all to himself - though he's not here to admire it.

William lifts the painting from the wall. And again, no alarms sound, and no guards appear.

Then on the floor, William leaves a note, given to him by his boss, the mastermind behind the theft. It reads simply, “Thanks for the bad security.”

Then, with the painting tucked under his arm, William crosses the dark gallery to the broken window, climbs out down the slippery ladder, and flees into the night. 

The disappearance of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” makes headlines around the world. For months, one of the most famous paintings of all time will be in the hands of criminals, until an elaborate sting operation to rescue the painting and catch those behind the crime is launched on May 7th, 1994.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is May 7th, 1994. The Return of The Scream. 

Act One: An Unexpected Call

It’s February 12th, 1994, in Lillehammer, Norway, just a few hours after thieves stole “The Scream” from the National Art Gallery in Oslo.

The opening ceremony of the 1994 Winter Olympics is underway. And among the crowd of cheering spectators is Lief Leir, Norway’s assistant chief of police. He gets to his feet and applauds as a skier carries a flaming torch down a steep slope toward the Olympic cauldron. The beginning of these winter games is a moment of great pride for Lief and all his countrymen.

Watching the torch reach its final destination, Lief feels his pager buzz on his belt. Without thinking too much of it, Lief glances down to read the message - and then swears under his breath. He’s been sent an emergency code - meaning he’ll have to leave the ceremony immediately.

Lief bustles his way past the other spectators, out into the tunnels of the stadium. His pager buzzes again and sensing the urgency, he picks up the pace until he finds a payphone just outside the arena and calls into his office.

Lief is unprepared for the news given to him. He is told that in the early hours of the morning, thieves broke into the National Art Gallery in Oslo and walked away with one of Europe’s greatest paintings, Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”. It’s now Lief’s job to find the painting and bring it back.

Created in 1893, “The Scream” is considered by many to be Edvard Munch’s masterpiece. Edvard’s life was plagued by illness and mental health problems, and he lived at a time of great turbulence. Norway was changing rapidly thanks to industrialization and it was divided by a political dispute over its future. Norway had been part of the United Kingdom with Sweden for decades, but now many Norwegians wanted full independence from their neighbor. With all this unrest, Edvard decided to craft a representation of what he saw around him: the common man struggling with seismic change.

Edvard depicted a lone figure, standing on a bridge, under a crimson sky, his hands covering his ears. The man is not the one screaming, rather his hands are blocking out the scream he hears all around him. It is this gesture that makes many see the painting as the perfect depiction of anxiety and as grimly relevant in the modern world as it was in 1893.

It’s a feeling the investigator Lief Lier shares as he arrives at the crime scene in central Oslo. The gallery is surrounded by reporters and news crews. Most of their attention is on the ladder, still propped up against the wall where William Åsheim and his accomplice left it. But when the journalists spot Lief, they crowd around him, asking how such a theft could happen and who might be behind it. Lief has no way of answering their questions yet.

Leaving the clamor of the reporters behind, Lief heads inside the welcome quiet of the gallery. He climbs the stairs, up into the room where the stolen painting once hung. There are several other police officers there who show Lief the mocking note left by the criminals. That and some grainy CCTV footage are the only clues Lief has.

And as the police in Oslo begin their investigation, different theories crop up in newspapers. Some point to anti-abortion campaigners looking for publicity for their cause. Others think it might just be attention-seekers hoping to take the limelight away from the Olympics. But while the journalists chase sensational headlines, the police keep working. And as officers make inquiries, one name comes up again and again: Pal Enger.

Pal is a former professional footballer. And for him, the adulation of fans was never enough. He only truly felt alive when he turned to crime. After a series of petty thefts, in 1988, Pal raised his game. He stole another Edvard Munch painting from the very same gallery that housed “The Scream”. He was caught and sentenced to four years in prison. Now, though, he’s out, and many Norwegian police officers suspect he’s returned to the scene of his earlier crime for this latest theft.

Lief agrees that Pal is the prime suspect. But compelling evidence proves hard to find. There is CCTV footage of Pal visiting the museum in the weeks before the theft. But visiting an art gallery isn’t a crime. And when Pal is interviewed, his alibi checks out. He wasn’t near the crime scene when the theft took place. And even if he was, the CCTV footage is far too blurry to make an accurate identification.

Complicating the investigation is the fact that no one has yet come forward with a ransom demand. There’s no sign the painting's been sold on the black market. And it’s as if “The Scream” has simply vanished.

Months pass with no breakthrough, and Lief eventually decides he needs help. To retrieve the painting and capture those who stole it, Lief will turn to a group of criminal investigators from England, professionals who have dealt with major art thefts before. Together with these experts, Lief will come up with a plan to lure the thieves out of hiding and finally recover Edvard Munch’s "Scream".

Act Two: The Sting

It’s May 6th, 1994, at the Plaza Hotel in Oslo, nearly three months after the theft of “The Scream” by Edvard Munch.

Charley Hill, a large Englishman in his mid-forties, sits in the hotel restaurant, waiting for his food to arrive. He seems strangely nervous though, and sweats uncomfortably in his expensive rented suit.

Two Norwegian men join him at the table. One is a prominent art dealer, and the other is a member of Norway’s criminal underworld. The three men exchange pleasantries and then discussion soon turns to the recently stolen painting, “The Scream.". As they discuss the possibility of it being ransomed, sweat starts to roll down Charley’s temple.

But what worries Charley isn’t the criminal at his table. He’s dealt with plenty of those over the years. It’s the members of the law enforcement community all around him. There are hundreds of them in the hotel, all here for a police conference. And the reason Charley is nervous is because Charley is one of them.

Charley is a detective from London’s Metropolitan Police. He’s undercover today, trying to find out as much as he can about the theft of “The Scream.” He’s dressed in clothes he wouldn’t usually wear, speaking in an accent that isn’t his own. He even changes his name from Charley Hill to “Chris Roberts”.

But he's still petrified that one of the police officers here will recognize him, waltz over, and say hello. A memo has been circulated to warn those in attendance about Charley’s operation. But all it takes is one man to make a mistake, call him by his real name, and Charley’s cover will be blown - along with weeks of careful planning. 

Charley was first contacted by the Norwegian police in late February. With few clues to work with, and their prime suspect having an alibi, detectives in Oslo had hit a dead end. Lief Lier, the assistant chief of police in Norway, knew that Charley and his team had dealt with high-profile art theft cases before, and they were experienced working undercover. So, he made a request to London for their help.

And once the two police forces linked up, it was quickly established that a sting operation represented the best hope of recovering the lost painting.

“The Scream” would be virtually impossible to sell in the open market. It's too famous and everyone knows it was stolen. So, Charley devised a plan to pretend to be an American art dealer working on behalf of the Getty Museum in California. Word was put out on the street that Charley would pay a sizable reward to those who might return the painting. In other words, he would pay the ransom on behalf of the museum, in order to save a true work of art.

It didn’t take long for the gang behind the theft to rise to the bait. So now, at the Plaza Hotel, the stage is set for the sting. Charley sits opposite the gang member and his art dealer intermediary to negotiate a price for the painting, and arrangements for payment and collection. Charley could simply grab the criminal there and then, but the man doesn’t have the painting with him - and Charley wants to arrest the entire gang, not just one of them. So, when the deal comes to a close, Charley decides to allow the Norwegian gangster to leave freely.

Still, Charley spends the rest of the night worrying he’s blown his chance to make an arrest. All he can do is wait to see if the gang gets in contact again. And at 9 AM the next morning, they do. Charley picks up the phone, puts on his fake American accent, and arranges a rendezvous. Minutes later, a car pulls up outside his hotel to take Charley away.

Charley is then driven 100 miles south, out of Oslo to a summer house in a small coastal town. The whole way Charley sweats nervously, and even more as the gang members lead him into a cellar beneath the house. He worries his cover has been blown and these steps might be his last. But as his eyes grow accustomed to the dark, Charley sees what he was sent to Norway to find. There in a dusty corner of the cellar, is “The Scream.”

It takes Charley very little time to authenticate it. “The Scream” has several distinctive marks on its canvas - candle wax spilt on the painting by Edvard Munch himself. So, certain that the painting is real, Charley makes a call to his team, telling them that the promised “reward” can now be delivered.

But of course, the criminals don’t get what they were expecting. Within seconds police swoop in to arrest them all and recover the painting unharmed.

But while “The Scream” has been found, not all the criminals are yet in custody. The work of Charley Hill and Lief Lier won’t be over until Pal Enger, the suspected mastermind behind the theft, is finally caught and put behind bars.

Act Three: Stung

It’s May 7th, 1994, at a gas station outside central Oslo, a few hours after a police sting operation recovered “The Scream.”

Pal Enger has just filled up his tank and is heading into pay. Strapped to his chest is his infant son. And tucked into his waistband is a pistol. Whether or not he’ll have to use it today, Pal isn’t sure. His eyes dart from face to face, wondering if any of the other customers at their cars are undercover police.

His son begins to cry as Pal makes his way inside. The man behind the counter gives him a comforting smile. It wasn’t too long ago that he too was dealing with a crying newborn. But Pal doesn’t smile back. Just a few hours earlier, he heard the news that the gang he worked with to steal “The Scream” had all been arrested. He fears the net is closing around him.

And sure enough, the moment he finishes his paying, and heads back to his car, police vehicles screech to a stop, blocking Pal in. In this moment Pal has a choice, but he doesn't reach for his weapon. With his son still strapped to his chest and crying pitifully, Pal holds up his hands and surrenders.

Pal Enger has been toying with the police investigation for months. When his son was born, he took out a newspaper ad saying the boy had been born “with a scream.” And he himself was the one who left tips on the police hotline telling the painting was hidden in his car. When the police then stopped him and searched the vehicle, Pal got a kick out of the fact they couldn’t find the painting.

Now though, it seems the police have their man. And with the rest of the gang also in custody, it doesn’t take officers long to find enough evidence linking them all to the theft. 

So, eighteen months later, on January 18th, 1996 Pal Enger is found guilty of conspiring to steal “The Scream”. He is sent away for six years and three months, the longest prison sentence ever given out for a theft in Norway. His accomplices also face prison time, including William Åsheim, the man who took the painting from the gallery in the first place and sparked an international police effort that finally led to the recovery of “The Scream” and the arrest of the gang behind the theft, on May 7th, 1994.  

Outro

Next on History Daily. May 8th, 1886. At a pharmacy in downtown Atlanta, John S. Pemberton sells the first glass of his cure-all tonic, Coca-Cola.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Matthew Filler.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Owen Paul Nicholls.

Edited by William Simpson.

Managing producer Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.