Throughout History there have been a number of women who were sent to their executions
for their involvements in the murder of others.
Women were not exempt the death penalty, as many went to their deaths on the electric
chairs, at the gallows or inside execution chambers via devices such as the guillotine.
But one execution of a woman in Sweden which was incredibly brutal took place in 1889 as
Anna Mansdotter made her way to the executioner’s block where she was executed by axe.
Join us today as we look at the execution of Anne Mansdotter, and remember to support
our channel, please make sure to subscribe.
Anna Mansdotter was born in a village near Kristianstad in southern Sweden in December
1841.
She married a man 13 years her senior named Nils Nilsson and they moved to a farmhouse
on the edge of a village which was close to the Baltic Sea.
The couple had three children, but two of them would die during childhood, and only
her son Per Nilsson survived into adulthood.
But tragedy struck as the farm became seriously in trouble with money, and also Anna’s husband
Nills became sick, and he died in 1883 leaving her a widow, and her 21 year old son to run
the farm with her.
There were very horrific rumours emerging about the mother and son in the local area,
and because of this Anna arranged for her son to marry Hanna Johansdotter who lived
nearby.
The couple married in 1887 and Hanna moved into the farmhouse.
Anna said she would leave but she did not, and the women did not get along.
But on the 28th March 1889, a neighbour visited the house to ask about Hanna.
Her husband Per said she had left, but the trapdoor of the cellar was left open, and
the neighbour looked in and he saw Hanna dead at the bottom of the steps.
Her husband showed no emotion and the neighbour went to get help.
They moved the body to the ground floor bedroom and a priest came, but it was noticed that
Hanna had bruises on her throat and she was not fully dressed.
Following an autopsy it was found she had been strangled, and Anna and Per the mother
and son were arrested.
They were questioned, but Per confessed to the murder however the police thought Anna
was the mastermind.
Hanna’s father showed the police the letters she had written, and she claimed that the
mother Anna had a problem with her.
But Anne later said she was the main murderer, and she tried to save her son, but both were
charged with murder.
To begin with Anna and Per her son were sentenced to death for the murder, but Per’s sentence
was later changed to life imprisonment but this would not happen for Anna.
Anna was held inside of Kristianstad Prison for a short time until her execution came
on the 7th August 1890.
She was to die by the axe, and she was the first woman in Sweden who was executed in
30 years, and she was 48 years old.
She would also be the last woman to be executed in Sweden.
Inside the district jail’s grounds, an executioner Albert Gustaf Dahlman waited for her, and
it was said of Anna Mansdotter’s execution that, ‘On August 6, 1890 at 8:00 a.m.
Anna was led to the low block.
She was dressed up like going to a party in a white dress, that fell beautifully over
her slim figure.
Her steps were unsecure and her big eyes looked around nervously.
Anna made no resistance as she walked to the scaffold.
She kneeled down at the block, looking a last time at her executioner who hided the axe
behind his back.
An assistant blindfolded her and Anna laid down with her head on the block sobbing like
a child.
Just before the blow she moaned and lifted her head.
The assistant had to press it back in position, and this time the soft sound of the blow could
be heard.
Anna's blindfolded head rolled forward while a jet of blood sprayed from her neck which
yellow skin looked like the skin of a goose.
Two seconds after Anna's head fell a medical student examined it.
For one minute her eyes seemed blank and "alive" as if they could see.
The blade stroke her right under her ears, cleaved her tungue and went through her mouth,
leaving her chin with the body.
Anna's body was quickly removed and undresed for scientific experiments.
Her heart was removed while it was still beating.’
Anna Mansdotter’s head was then given to an artist who made a death mask of her head,
but she is remembered today as the final woman who was executed in Sweden.
Her son Per would later be released from prison 23 years after the dearth of his mother, and
he died 5 years later.
But Anna’s story is one which was shocking, and her crime was to plot and plan the murder
of her daughter in law.
Thanks for watching
To support please subscribe
Thanks for watching