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Anna
MANSDOTTER
A.K.A.:
The Yngsjö Murderess
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Incest - Jealous
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder: March 28, 1889
Date of birth: December 28, 1841
Victim profile:
Hanna
Johansdotter
(her
daughter-in-law)
Method of murder:
Strangulation
Location: Yngsjö,
Skåne County, Sweden
Status:
Executed
by beheading with axe in Kristianstad on August 7, 1890
Anna Månsdotter, a 48 years old widow lived
with her grown son Per in the south of Sweden. Per had been Anna's
lover ever since his early youth. Their sexual relationship even
continued after Per had married, and Anna was jealous on Per's bride.
Together they killed Per's young wife. Per received a life sentence
while Anna was sent to the scaffold.
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.
The head was assigned to an artist, who made a
death mask for the Wax Museum "Panoptikum" in Stockholm.
R
owdiva.com
The Yngsjö murder is the name of one of
Sweden's most notable murder cases, which occurred on March 28, 1889
in Yngsjö, Skåne. Hanna Johansdotter (born 1867) was murdered by her
husband Per Nilsson and his mother Anna Månsdotter (born December 28,
1841), who became known as Yngsjömörderskan (in English:
The Yngsjö Murderess). Both were sentenced to death for the murder,
and Månsdotter became the last woman in Sweden to be executed.
Circumstances
The circumstances of the murder are not entirely
clear, as both Månsdotter and her son gave several different
explanations for it. In later years it has been suggested that she
carried out the murder alone. During the trial it came to light that
she had a sexual relationship with her son, and that this eventually
led to the murder. It is believed, that she murdered her
daughter-in-law because of jealousy, and that she did this with her
son's consent.
Anna Månsdotter had married Nils Nilsson, 13 years
her elder, expecting a wealthy future, but they had become poor and
afflicted with debts. She had three children, of which only one, her
son Per, lived to adulthood. Anna's spouse Nils died in 1883. She had
arranged the marriage between Per and Hanna Johansdotter, possibly as
a way of prevent the spread of rumours about incest. The marriage was
not a happy one. Anna did not move in with her own mother, which had
been the initial plan, and Hanna complained to her father that her
mother-in-law was the cause of her unhappy marriage. One suggestion is
that Hanna had discovered the sexual relationship between her husband
and his mother, and that they together murdered her to prevent her
from being able to tell anyone. One of many summaries given of the
murder was that they beat her with a piece of wood, after which Anna
strangled her. They then dressed her and placed her as if she had
fallen down the stairs.
Månsdotter was executed on the district jail
grounds in Kristianstad on August 7, 1890 by executioner Albert Gustaf
Dahlman. Per Nilsson was pardoned from his death sentence and was
instead sentenced to hard labour for the rest of his life. He was
however released in 1913 and died of consumption in 1918. Månsdotter
was, together with Sofia Maria Ekwall, the most infamous female
murderer in 19th century Sweden.
In media
The Yngsjö Murder has been portrayed in numerous
movies and books over the years:
In 1966 a full-length feature film,
Yngsjömordet, was made about the murder, directed by Arne
Mattsson, with Gösta Ekman (as Per Nilsson), Gunnel Lindblom (as
Anna Månsdotter) and Christina Schollin (as Hanna Johansdotter).
In 1986 a part of the mini-series, Skånska
mord, also entitled "Yngsjömordet", was made, directed by
Richard Hobert.
