From the sixteenth to the middle of the eighteenth century, public executions in france were extraordinarily popular with spectators from all social classes. Many so desperate to watch that they rented out windows overlooking the place of execution at exor ton sums or staked out prime viewing spots near the scaffold and on nearby roof tops. Terror could not have been further from their minds, unless, of course, we count the terror of missing even a minute of the spectacular show that was about to take place.