Hangman's Gate
The town's western gate is also called Hangman's Gate for obvious reasons. Hanged right outside the city gate were prosecuted individuals that served as a warning to those inside and outside the wall of the once Free Imperial City. I won't say criminals, because petty bakers who were found to shortchange their customers were dunked in the river, and you were not pulled up from the submerged cage on your second offense...ouch. The town's heavy duty wall protected it well, and there is even a story from the Thirty Years' War (which was basically a large 17th century Protestant-Catholic war) where the mayor of the town had the town spared when he bet the invaders that he could drink 9 liters of wine and survive. Damn! Probably the only one to have ever done this, survive he did. The invading general kept his word and spared Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Every year, there is a large reenactment to celebrate this event where the whole town takes place.
