The Laughing Stock in Moss 1840

The laughing stock (gapestokk in Norwegian) was used in
the old times as an educational punishment on public places
or in front of the church.
The crimes that could cause such punishment could be
swearing, talking against the church or the authorities,
immoral behaviour and unruly behaviour in public places.

The last time this punishment was used in Norway was in
1840 in front of the church in Moss.
A man popularly called Ola Mann had been hired to work
as a farm hand.
Then he was offered a better job working in a shop.
He accepted.
But the farmer was not having such behaviour, and managed
to persuade the authorities that Ola Mann must be put
in the laughing stock.

So as the churchgoers came out of the church,
there was poor Ola Mann stuck in this contraption.
Instead of laughing at him and perhaps even
spitting at him, people walked up to him and
put money in his pockets!

Not only that, but people shunned away from the farmer,
not wanting any contact with him. The situation got so bad
for the farmer, he sold his farm and emigrated to the States!

It turns out somebody even wrote a little book for children
about this event.

Gapestokken i Moss / Magne og Marit Aasbrenn ;
illustrert av John Andersen. -
Fredrikstad : Hvitveis, cop. 1992. - 56 s. : ill..


This story I heard for the first time this evening on a guided tour of Moss.