The Spitting Stone
Posted by: hstidsen
N 53° 04.550 E 008° 48.542
32U E 487206 N 5880723
Don´t be surprised if you see people spitting at the Domshof square in Bremen, there is a perfectly good explanation for it!
Waymark Code: WMG9TK
Location: Bremen, Germany
Date Posted: 02/03/2013
Views: 48
In the years 1813 to 1827 Gesche Gottfried poisoned 15 people including her entire family, 2 husbands, a fiance and several friends. 19 others where also poisoned but survived. There have been speculations on what her motive was but it is not known.
Because Gesche Gottfried used arsenik for her murders, the Bremen Senate decided that arsenik were only to be sold from pharmacies and under strict control.
Gesche Gottfried was sentenced to death and beheaded at the Domshof Square in 1831 as the last person to be publicly executed in Bremen. At the very spot is the Spitting Stone and even today, people sometimes spit on it to convey their disqust for the murderer.
In more recent times, opponents of the Third Reich carved a swastika into the stone during the second world war. This was, however, quickly noticed and the stone was removed. It has later ben polished and reset at its place at the Domshof Square.
Read more:
http://www.radiobremen.de/wissen/dossiers/gesche/gesche130.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gesche_Gottfried