Etterstad Execution Ground

Oslo · Norway · Execution site

One April morning in 1864, five thousand people streamed here to watch two heads fall — the last public execution in Christiania.

When Gallows Hill was retired, Christiania's execution ground moved to Etterstadsletta, the open plain above Vålerenga. Here took place what became the city's final public execution: on 19 April 1864, robbery-murderers Friedrich Wilhelm Priess and Knud Fredrik Christian Simonsen were beheaded by executioner Samson Isberg. The pair had killed salmon farmer Knut Grøtte of Lærdal aboard a boat in the harbour basin to steal his money. That morning up to 5,000 spectators — children among them — flocked to the plain to watch the blade fall, a carnival of death that stirred such disgust that public executions were soon abolished. Today Etterstad is allotment gardens and apartment blocks, but beneath the idyll the memory of the scaffold remains.

FAQ

Where is Etterstad Execution Ground located?

Etterstad Execution Ground is in Oslo, Norway.

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Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.