Wanna hear something scary?

Here’s a rabbit hole for you: who the hell were public executioners?

We’ve seen them in movies, (black robes, faceless, terrifying), but what were these guys like?

What must’ve been going through their heads?

Needless to say, the lives of the people they tortured and killed were probably worse, but these guys must’ve been miserable, right? I mean, at the time, they were believed to be necessary members of a community, but they also fucking killed their fellow community members in front of the rest of the community… like, daily.

Were they conflicted? Were they just psychopaths? Turns out, through the years, it was a mixture of both.

I got sucked into this subject years ago and it’s been haunting me ever since. I found a book that became a dark fascination for a while.

It’s called A Hangman’s Diary. A personal, and at times, very detailed journal of a guy named Franz Schmidt, who was the public executioner in the town of Nuremberg from 1573-1617.

(This was the EARLY MODERN PERIOD, or, more specifically, “Early Modern Europe” for those who spotted the mistake in my video! Sorry, and thanks for the correction!)

He took over the position from his father after working and his assistant for several years in a neighboring town. The job was almost exclusively passed down from father to son.

Could this be the actual birthplace of generational trauma? Yikes.

According to the diary, Franz executed 361 people and “punished” another 345 during his time. He’s described as a “stern” and “pious” man, but not inhuman. Apparently, and this was unique to him, he hated punishing people for witchcraft. He also didn’t really care for drowning women. He and I… have that in common.

My point is, he was morally conflicted. In 1585 he had to kill his brother in law by breaking him on the wheel. It took “31 strokes on the bar”. I promise it’s not as awesome as it sounds.

The hook of the book is Franz’s diary itself, which is wild, but the first half of the book is actually a comprehensive history of the execution game from like the 1200’s all the way into the 1700’s, and it’s genuinely just as fascinating as the diary.

They had families, but really no friends. They were considered disgraceful and were expected to keep their distance from the normies. On the other hand, the position was paid a decent living wage, and so, you know tit for tat.

The jails were disgusting, noxious places. Dark, wet, cold, and DIRTY. They were rarely ever cleaned. The Nuremberg jail was apparently the worst. Conditions were so bad that prisoners clothing would sometimes rot… off of them.

The jails weren’t huge spaces though. Just a few cells, each with a wooden shelf. And the torture chamber. And the “stocks”. Punishment in the form of torture was carried out on a lot of the prisoners, and I’m not gonna go into too much detail, but heres some crazy ones -

• the “Aufziehen” - arms tied behind back. Suspended by arms. Weights attached to ankles

• The “Fass”: a cradle with spikes that is rocked back and forth

• The “Kranz”: a strap around the head that tightens and squeezes

• Thumb screws

• Cat of nine tails

• Branding

  

And my personal favorite, tweaking with hot tongs.

There were 3 different classes of prisoners, and the severity of the torture was a reflection of the severity of the crime committed. The same went for the executions. For instance, hanging and beheading were considered more humane than being broken on the wheel or drawn by oxen.

Prisoners would often confess to the crimes to avoid torture. Preferring death. I hadn’t thought about this aspect, but it totally makes sense. Which is crazy.

These were PUBLIC, and although they were meant to be deterrents to crime, they kind of had the opposite affect. They often turned into raucous, rowdy events, with the equivalent of beer tents and merch stands. On several occasions, they had to shut the city walls to limit the crowd size. (A lot of you folks in the comments mentioned that this might also be the birthplace of tailgating. Nice one.)

And even worse, if the crowd thought that the executioner wasn’t doing a quick and clean enough job, they would heckle and turn violent.

Woof.

Anyway, if you’re up for grim history, this book is like stepping back in time. It’s a great toilet read.

And I’m sorry for cursing you with this rabbit hole. Enjoy?

Wanna hear something else?

Old rumors, parties in the woods, a fire, and a great rabbit hole.

Want to hear something wicked cool?

I like weird shit. Weird little stories and mysteries. Unexplained science and architecture. Scary stories that cusp on the edge of truth. Interesting people with interesting thoughts.

I’ll hear or read about something, dive into it, and suddenly I’ve killed an hour glued to a documentary made in somebody’s grandma’s basement in 1986.

Also, I like talking about weird shit with other people who like weird shit. It’s the best.

That’s basically the idea behind Want to Hear Something? No particular subject or rules. Just whatever is fun and interesting or thought-provoking. Call them curiosities. I got a lot. So I’ll share them with you guys!

For the first one, we’re staying close to home in the woods of southern New Hampshire.

I give you Episode 01.

Greystone Lodge.

So, there’s this hotel in the woods.

I live for this stuff. A haunted ruins? Give it to me. I grew up hearing rumors about Greystone Lodge, but had never made the trek up there. Honestly, I’d totally forgotten about the place until we moved back to the East Coast this past summer and my brother-in-law reminded me of it. I’m very grateful he did.

Greystone was this giant luxury lodge built around the turn of the century by a guy named Alford Hazzard. At one point, the place had over 60 guest rooms. HUMONGOUS. Hazzard would invite folks from Boston and New York to come up and enjoy the majesty of the Monadnock Region, and indulge in a fair amount of rowdy partying. I love thinking about this shit. To be a fly on the wall in that place in the 1920’s… or the 60’s… I’ll bet the place was bananas. It also had a nine-hole golf course. Ha!

This all being said, one thing’s for sure - people were getting shithoused.

A former bellhop wrote a play about working at the place called Greystone on the Rocks. He worked there when he was about 14, (yup), and he writes about the kitchen staff getting plastered and chasing him around with knives. Perfect.

In 1970 the place burned to the ground. End of an era for sure. The details of how it burned are still foggy, which is always fun.

My Dad was at school at a place called Hawthorne College in Antrim NH at the time which was very close to the property. He remembers going up there and partying when he was a young buck, and he also remembers the fire. Another kid from the school was actually taking photographs in the woods nearby and happened to snap a few shots of the blaze.

After the fire, the hotel was no more. Abandoned and forgotten. The skeletal structure you see when you go up there now is actually the ruins of the Property Manager’s house.

The rest has been swallowed by the woods. Or at least, this is what I was told.

So I finally went up there.

The trails leading up to the place are narrow and winding and overgrown and BEAUTIFUL. A witch’s tunnel . We were lucky enough to be in the capable hands of my brother and his side-by-side. He’s a beast.

And then you arrive at the ruins.

A castle in the woods.

We found a few little things while we were exploring, including an old shoe and a doorknob. The doorknob was creepy and the shoe didn’t fit me so we left them. Also, as we all know, if I had taken either of them there most definitely would’ve been a curse attached. Fuck that shit.

But here’s the best part.

After we went up there, I obviously got online immediately and started looking for more info on the place.

The first thing that popped up was this documentary from the 80s made by two local dudes who knew everything there was to know about Greystone Lodge.

I cannot explain how much I love this video. It is… chef’s kiss. These two New Hampshire old-timers talking about the history of Greystone. They’re absolute sweethearts. I love them. One dude is wearing Busch suspenders. You can’t write it.

Anyway, watch it. Even just a few minutes. You won’t regret it.

I wish I’d had the motivation to go check this place out when I was a kid. I would’ve fuckin loved it. I’d heard rumors of it. But somehow it took me this long to actually get up there.

Now I can’t stop thinking about what else is out there that I’ve been driving past my whole life without knowing anything about.

Maybe I’ll make more stops.

In the meantime…

Want to hear something else?

Subscribe if you want to come along for the next one.

Want to Hear Something? is a series by Sam Huntington about curious places, fascinating people, forgotten histories, and whatever rabbit hole comes next.