Christina Johansdotter Murders Infant So She'd Die

In 1740 Christina Johandotter lived in Sweden and had no will to live. She missed her fiance who had died and wanted to join him, but suicide is a sin and she did not want to go to hell. If she was in hell then she would not be able to see her fiance again.

She would witness a woman who was executed for infanticide. She decided to commit suicide by execution and repent and admit her crime in order to be forgiven and allowed into Paradise. The problem was that she had to kill someone specifically a child. Killing an adult did not always get the death penalty, but a child does get execution by decapitation.

One day in 1740 Christina would visit a friend and asked them if she could take the child. She told them that she wanted to show the infant to a friend visiting from the country. Christina would instead bring the child outside and chop off their head with an axe. She would be arrested for the murder. 

She would admit that she missed her fiance and thought this was the only way to see him soon. She was prosecuted for the murder and executed. At the time punishment for child murder was decapitation and then her body was burned at the stake. 

At the time suicide executions were a solution for those who wanted to die and go to heaven. Those who committed sins could ask for forgiveness and can enter heaven. Children were seen as being sinless and that 

Suicide executions became a historical phenomenon that created its own culture and customs. By the 1700's killing a child as a means of death was the most common reason to do so, the second being unmarried mothers killing their newborns in secret. 

There were theatrical performances for these suicides. Families of the condemned would buy special costumes decorated with embroidery and ribbons and pay for a suit to escort the condemned to the place of execution. Many who watch sympathized with the condemned especially if they were female.

The government would try to prevent this and issued a new law in 1754. This however did not end this type of suicide method though. The law stated that if those who had done a suicide-execution were to stand on the schavott for two days with the crime stated on a board and the person remaining blindfolded and whipped. This did not deter people from doing this.

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Murderpedia

History Collection