In the episode Look Back to Yesterday, which aired as a two-hour movie for the tenth season of Little House on the Prairie, Albert Ingalls becomes seriously ill with cancer and returns to Walnut Grove to spend the last months of his life.
Albert had been planning to study to become a doctor and follow in Doc Baker’s footsteps when he began suffering from nosebleeds and was diagnosed with leukemia in the hospital.
While Albert is clearly seriously ill, he does not actually die during the episode, which leaves many unsure about whether he really dies or not. Many believe that him walking up the hill with Laura and the other children was him saying goodbye.
In The Last Farewell, where Walnut Grove is blown up, Albert doesn’t appear in the movie, which leads to the belief that he did die during Look Back to Yesterday.
But at the end of season nine, which was officially the series finale (season ten was just 3 TV movies), Laura reveals that Albert returns to Walnut Grove as their town’s doctor… which of course is now unclear since the town was blown up.
So did Albert die or didn’t he? It is still hotly debated by fans today.
