Falks grav

Falcon's grave

"Don't be in such a hurry, my friends, it won't happen until I get there!" the bound Jonas Falk is said to have shouted from the prison cart to the crowd that was on its way to the execution site at Svedmon to witness the beheading.

He had already spent a year in prison in Mariestad, but on November 19, 1855, after taking communion in prison, the now 27-year-old Jonas Falk was on his way to his execution.

Falk grew up at Tranemaden in Habo and became a tailor by trade. In his youth, he was known to be a petty criminal and early on he is said to have devised a plan to rob the post office to get hold of money. His partner in crime was Anders Frid, who was Jonas' stepfather. For a while they both worked in Stockholm, Falk as a tailor and Frid as a construction worker, before they decided to put the plan into action. After they arrived by boat in Hjo, they had to lie low so that no one would recognize them. They slept during the day and walked towards Tunarp in Sandhem parish at night. It was here, at one of the many gates that the stagecoach had to pass, that the robbery would take place. When the coach stopped one August evening to open the gate, Falk shot the postillion in the back while Frid hit the coachman with a stick so that he fainted. Falk and Frid turned their horses around and found a hiding place where they went through the loot, which amounted to 2000 Riksdaler banco, a considerable sum of money. Now they had to get to Stockholm quickly. They did not dare to take the regular boat from Hjo but were given a nighttime ride across Lake Vättern by a fisherman and after a couple of weeks they were both back in the capital. The injured driver eventually woke up and was able to report what had happened. The postillion also survived for a few days before dying of his gunshot wound.

Back in Stockholm, they both realized that the police were looking for them. It turned out that the gang wanted information about another, much less serious crime, but as it turned out, Frid got caught up in explanations and before he knew it, he had confessed to the robbery. Eventually Falk also confessed to what they had both done. At Slättäng District Court they were both sentenced to death for robbery-murder. Frid applied for a pardon and had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment, while Falk, who had been saved during his time in prison, took his punishment there at the Svedmon stump surrounded by a large crowd of spectators. The burial took place not far from there and an iron cross with the inscription "FALK-1855" was erected over the grave, which today is an ancient monument and has the number L1972:5047 in Fornsök.

There are many myths surrounding Jonas Falk's grave. One of them is that there are always fresh flowers on the grave and that no one knows who put them there. It is true that many people put flowers on the grave, but often without much secrecy. The grave is also said to be haunted, but it is up to the curious to find out if this is true.

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