A discussion on the public execution in Europe during the early 18th and 19th centuries where thousands of people attended to support or witness it. Evans in Rituals of Retribution writes that the public execution was a significant practice that provided support to the condemned.
Thousands of people would gather to witness public executions across Europe in the past. Some argued that the end of public executions deprived the condemned of the only support they had in their final moments.
This episode discusses how intoxication affected executions of the past, particularly if it affected the condemned's ability to make peace with God, as well as the importance of sobriety in truly understanding the experiences of those facing execution.