Executioner. That single word can send a shiver down the spine of even the toughest convict. While the condemned usually dominate the headlines, the men and women who wielded the axe, the rope, or the gun have stories that are often just as gripping. Without further ado, let’s explore the lives of the 10 extremely bloody executioners who made history, each one more fascinating than the victims they claimed.
10 Louis Congo
Louis Congo, a freed Black man, rose to the grim post of Louisiana’s official executioner in 1725, holding the role for roughly twelve years. As the sole individual officially empowered to mete out capital punishment and torture in the colony, Congo administered a grim menu of punishments: hanging, severing limbs, whipping, and even the dreaded breaking wheel. In one notorious case, he shattered eight enslaved men on the wheel; in another, he flogged a Frenchman accused of stabbing someone with a knife. For Congo, the color of the condemned mattered not—white, brown, or Black—all faced his relentless discipline.
One might assume that being the exclusive executioner granted Congo a position of prestige in colonial society. In reality, the French viewed the job as lowly and contemptible, relegating him to the outskirts of town as a social outcast. This marginalization left him vulnerable; on two separate occasions, angry slaves assaulted his home in retaliation for his cooperation with colonial authorities.
9 Nabi
Ever have those days when you just want to quit your job? Take a cue from Hajj Abd Al-Nabi, whose devotion to his role as Egypt’s official executioner is nothing short of legendary. As a child, Hajj described himself as a “little Satan,” spending his free time strangling cats and dogs for sport. His parents warned that such tendencies might land him in hell, but the same dark impulse later proved useful when he pursued the executioner’s office.
When he finally secured the position, his superiors issued a single, unusual request: grow a mustache. Hajj obliged at first, but quickly realized that “executing comes from the heart, not the mustache,” and he possessed a heart of stone to match his grim trade.
Hajj claims to have personally carried out 800 executions. He loves his work so much that, even in retirement, he says he would sprint back into duty at a moment’s notice if the state ever needed his services again.
8 Lady Betty
In the serene Irish town of Roscommon during the late 1700s, folk legend tells of a woman named Lady Betty. A single mother, she saw her son leave for the United States to pursue education. Years later, the now well‑dressed and successful son returned to visit his mother. Unable to recognize him, Lady Betty invited him inside, only to stab him in his sleep to steal his belongings.
When the horrific truth dawned on her—that she had murdered her own child—Lady Betty erupted in fury. She was sentenced to death, but on the day of her execution the hangman failed to appear. Sensing a chance, she bargained with the sheriff: if he commuted her sentence, she would take over the gallows and hang the other criminals for free.
The sheriff agreed, and for three decades Lady Betty performed her grim duties with murderous glee. Witnesses claimed she let the bodies swing like pendulums while she sketched each condemned in charcoal. When she finally passed away, her room was reportedly filled with hundreds of charcoal portraits of the people she had hanged.
7 Albert Pierrepoint
Albert Pierrepoint’s ascent to fame as England’s premier hangman was hardly a surprise—he hailed from a lineage of executioners. Yet Albert eclipsed his forebears through sheer skill and efficiency. His victims ranged from ordinary convicts to notorious Nazi war criminals. He boasted of personally executing at least 400, possibly as many as 600, individuals over a career that began in 1932 and spanned more than two decades.
During his prime, Pierrepoint reportedly managed to hang 17 people in a single day. After resigning in 1956 over a fee dispute, he underwent a dramatic transformation, becoming an outspoken campaigner against capital punishment. His resignation even prompted the Home Office to persuade him to return, as officials recognized that he truly was England’s finest hangman.
6 Henri Sanson
Arguably the only family more adept at executions than the Pierrepoints were the Sansons, who dominated French capital punishment for over a century and a half. The most renowned member, Charles‑Henri Sanson, carried out roughly 3,000 executions during the reign of Louis XVI and throughout the French Revolution.
With the invention of the guillotine, Sanson could behead scores of victims daily. Yet, despite his prolific output, he was not a cold‑hearted killer; he expressed genuine remorse for the thousands of lives he ended. His most harrowing experience was executing King Louis XVI himself. Sanson had hoped a rescue might intervene, but none came, forcing him to carry out the monarch’s death.
Ill health eventually compelled Sanson to resign, passing the grim baton to his son Henry, who later achieved fame by executing Marie Antoinette.
5 Antonina Makarova
During World War II, Antonina Makarova transformed from a Soviet volunteer nurse into a notorious executioner for the Nazis. As the German advance swept into Soviet territory, Makarova found herself deep behind enemy lines, captured by the SS, and subsequently appointed the official executioner for the puppet state of Lokot in central Russia—a regime that lasted only a year.
She wielded a machine gun to dispatch approximately 1,500 people, earning the moniker “Antonina the Machine Gunner.” After the war, she married a veteran and settled in Belarus. However, KGB agents eventually tracked her down in 1976. Though she initially denied the accusations, she ultimately broke down and confessed to the killings.
Seeking leniency, Makarova cooperated fully, even guiding investigators to the execution sites. The court showed little mercy; two years after her capture, she found herself on the opposite side of the gun, facing a firing squad herself.
4 Giovanni Bugatti
During an almost 70‑year tenure (1796–1864) as the Papal States’ executioner, Giovanni Bugatti was treated like a rock star. Known as “Mastro Titta” (Latin for “Master of Justice”), Bugatti performed 516 executions with an almost clinical professionalism, sometimes offering snuff to the condemned as a final gesture of empathy.
Bugatti’s executions attracted massive crowds, often whole families gathered to watch. His early methods included hanging and beheading with an axe. For particularly gruesome crimes, he employed quartering or the brutal “mazzatello,” in which the victim’s head was smashed with a mallet before the throat was cut.
After the French introduced the guillotine in 1808, Bugatti adopted it as his preferred method, using it on more than 50 occasions. He finally retired at the age of 85, receiving a lifetime pension from the Pope in recognition of his dedicated service.
3 Franz Schmidt
Serving as Nuremberg’s official executioner from 1578 to 1618, Franz Schmidt carried out almost 400 executions and tortured hundreds more. Yet his memoirs paint a picture of a sober man who performed his grim duties against his will.
The Schmidt family entered the trade after a noble forced Franz’s father—a woodsman by trade—to become the town’s executioner. Franz inherited the mantle because he had no other options. Although the pay should have elevated his status, the profession left his family shunned by society. Nevertheless, Schmidt achieved a degree of respect, even working as a healer on the side.
His perseverance paid off when the emperor granted him citizenship in Nuremberg, restoring the honor typically denied to executioners.
2 Johann Reichhart
Born into a lineage boasting eight generations of executioners, Johann Reichhart’s destiny seemed pre‑ordained. Over a career that spanned three employers and two world wars, Reichhart executed more than 3,000 people.
His first executions took place in Bavaria in 1924 under the Weimar Republic; the job earned him many enemies, forcing him to flee to Holland in 1929. He returned after the Nazis reinstated him in the 1930s, and during their regime he carried out the bulk of his work—an astonishing 2,876 executions—using a miniature guillotine called the “Fallbeil,” which allowed rapid, efficient killings.
After the Allies arrived, Reichhart switched sides, hanging over 20 convicted war criminals at Landsberg in 1946. However, his Nazi Party affiliation later led to his arrest and hefty fines. Personal tragedies followed, including a divorce and the suicide of one of his sons. He spent his final years in a nursing home, passing away in relative obscurity in 1972.
1 Souflikar
The Bostanji gardeners held a crucial role in Ottoman society: besides tending the sultan’s gardens, they were also tasked with executing the condemned. The chief of this group, the Chief Royal Gardener, was responsible for informing and carrying out executions of nobles.
The chief occasionally gave a high‑ranking official—especially a grand vizier—a chance at life by challenging him to a race across the palace grounds. If the condemned reached the finish line first, he was spared; otherwise, death awaited.
Among all the chiefs, Souflikar stands out. During the reign of Mehmed IV in the 17th century, he carried out more than 5,000 executions in just five years. His method was brutally efficient—rather than using tools, Souflikar preferred to strangle his victims with his bare hands.
+ Vasili Blokhin
Although we already mentioned him in a previous list, how could we omit Vasili Blokhin from a roundup of the 10 extremely bloody executioners? Known as history’s most prolific executioner, Soviet Major‑General Blokhin personally shot and killed more than 10,000 people during Stalin’s purges and World War II.
Like any true professional, Blokhin used his own set of German pistols, which proved more reliable than the standard Soviet sidearms. At the height of his career, he could perform up to 300 executions in a single session.
Stalin rewarded him handsomely for his service. Yet after Stalin’s death in 1953, his successor Khrushchev, in a rare moment of sobriety, stripped Blokhin of all awards and privileges. Shamed and disgraced, Blokhin reportedly ended his own life by hanging himself inside his home.
Marc V. is always open for a conversation, so do drop him a line sometime.