Gallows − a short word with a long history behind it. A history of cruel and macabre events that took place in the very same plazas we stride through every day, never pondering on the brutality they have witnessed or on how the concept of crime and punishment has changed along the years.

Maltese artist and Italian Fascist Carmelo Borg Pisani was the only person who was hanged for espionage against his motherland during British rule in Malta. Photo: Wikipedia

The gruesome tales dotting the history of judicial hanging in Malta will be recounted in the second webinar organised by Heritage Malta in the Malta Oskura series on April 13 and 14.

The extensive research that this webinar, titled Malta Oskura: Il-Forka, has entailed will ensure a unique audiovisual experience for participants. Rare footage of the old gallows still found in the purposely-built room at the Corradino prison will also be featured.

A virtual tour in the first part of the webinar will take viewers on a journey through time, from the earliest recorded hangings till the last one in 1943, recounting several true stories that took place in public areas and, later, in the privacy of the prison.

As participants will learn along the tour, quite a number of offences could lead you to the gallows centuries ago. Crimes that are nowadays punishable by fines or a short prison term, or even suspended sentences, were considered far more serious at the time. Theft aggravated by violence, for instance, sent one straight to the hangman’s noose, as did the breaking of quarantine rules during an epidemic.

The virtual tour will also visit different places that were used for judicial hanging before public executions came to be concentrated in a single location. Ricasoli Point, the glacis outside Valletta’s walls, and the aptly named Misraħ Forok (Gallows Square), in Rabat are among the areas where our forefathers witnessed the terrible scenes meant to serve both as a deterrent and a show of force portraying the power of the state.

Misraħ Forok, in Rabat, one of the places in Malta where public executions were carried out. Photo: Google Maps

Stories of humiliation and torture for the condemned, on their way to the gallows and even after death, will also be recounted, describing how some were beheaded and even quartered and burnt after being hanged. Others were not buried in a cemetery but in a pit near the gallows, while others still were left dangling on the gallows to rot for days or even months.

Delving in detail into the whole process preceding judicial hanging as well as the execution itself and the burial afterwards, the webinar will also provide insight into the executioner’s role and narrate various spine-chilling stories about some of the men who made a living out of this unpleasant occupation and who were largely despised because of it.

One such story recounts a strange twist of fate where a hangman lost his own life minutes after ending that of the condemned.

Some well-known names are bound to crop up during the webinar. Among them is Carmelo Borg Pisani, the only person during British rule in Malta who was hanged for espionage against his motherland. His was also the only case in Malta in the 20th century where someone was sent to the gallows for a crime that was not murder.

Fort Ricasoli occupies a promontory over the Grand Harbour entrance. The point is named Gallow’s Point after the execution of slaves who tried to escape from the island. Photo: Shutterstock.com

Poignant tales of people who reiterated their innocence until their last breath on the gallows will be recounted as well. Ġużeppi Zammit, for example, was hanged with his brother in 1943 after being found guilty of murdering Spiru Grech. However, Ġużeppi always proclaimed his innocence, insisting that his only role in the crime was to hide the corpse.

There was even one instance in 1908 where the condemned’s burial caused an uproar as rumours spread that he had been buried while still alive. Following this case, death certification was assigned to the best surgeons in the country and the time between execution and burial was extended.

As the virtual tour draws to an end, participants will be guided through more recent decades, when the Maltese Parliament first approved the repeal of capital punishment from the Criminal Code, except in cases where members of the armed forces, in times of war, were caught helping the enemy and,  later, completely abolished the death penalty.

Malta Oskura: Il-Forka, the webinar will be aired on Tuesday, April 13 and Thursday, April 15 at 8.30pm. The virtual tour, approximately 30 minutes long, will be in Maltese, with English subtitles and will be followed by a question and answer session. Participants are requested to register beforehand via these links: 

April 13: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_m2MjmN1yRp2F3n8ptJgiIg
April 15: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_38Ini79hQM2VjFpFUvjulw.

Daniela Attard Bezzina is communications executive at Heritage Malta.

The noose on the gallows in the purposely-built room at Corradino prison. Photo: Heritage Malta

A marble slab at Corradino prison commemorating those executed on the gallows. Photo: Heritage Malta