It Came to Me on a Whim, the Story of Ingeborg Andersson, Child Murderess
I was recently asked to review a book called It Came to Me on a Whim, the Story of Ingeborg Andersson, Child Murderess. The book is written by Maria Bouroncle, a distant relative of Ms. Andersson.
The story begins at the funeral of the three little children who Ingeborg, on a whim, strangled when she was supposed to be bathing them in an old fashioned wash tub, circa 1929.
After the murders. Ingeborg confessed and was taken to prison, tried for her crimes and ultimately declared insane. Curiously, although she tried, Ingeborg was never able to articulate why she murdered her little ones. The murderous act that resulted in the death of the three young children truly was the tragic result of a “whim” in their mother’s mind.
About 10 years after the murders, Ingeborg had recovered her equilibrium sufficiently to be released back into the community and she spent the rest of her life, until 1978, rotating back and forth between the asylum at Restad and the homes of relatives. Ingeborg died in 1978 at the age of 77. By that point, she seemed to no longer remember her little ones, though she would often scream in terror during the night.
What I found especially interesting about Ingeborg’s story is that her insanity and its accompanying murderous rage seemed to come out of nowhere, and once it was all over seemed to retreat back to the same elusive nowhere. In short, although Ingeborg was at some point diagnosed as a catatonic schizophrenic, at no time during her sad story do we ever get a clear understanding of why she murdered her children for the simple reason that she herself did not know what triggered her awful deed.
Maria Bouroncle, the author of It Came to Me on a Whim, is a distant relative of Ingeborg. She encountered Ingeborg on multiple occasions during those intervals when Ingeborg was living back in the community. Maria describes Ingeborg as a somewhat chubby older woman who wore flowery dresses and was prone to screaming at night.
Which sets this book apart from many other true crime stories is the author’s superb prose style which is calm, measured and seems to reflect the rural communities that she is describing. There’s an earthy naturalness about the prose that seems appropriate for this story that begins and ends in rural Sweden. Reading this story, despite the sad event that occasioned did, was pure pleasure simply because the story was so well written.
There’s one other point that I would like to comment upon. After her arrest, Ingeborg was taken to prison and then was later housed in the asylum at Restad. With a single exception, all of the prison and asylum officials who dealt with Ingeborg treated her with kindness and respect. At no time was she dehumanized or treated like a despised animal. Rather, the dedicated individuals who worked in the Swedish penal and mental health systems treated Ingeborg, her hideous crime notwithstanding, like an actual living breathing human being worthy of respect. I was touched by the kindness Ingeborg received from almost everyone who cared for her. I only wish that here in the United States we had a system in which those who deviate from the norm, however dramatically, are still treated as worthwhile human beings. Reading It Came to Me on a Whim is a dramatic reminder of how far we here in America have to go if we ever want to be thought of as a truly civilized nation.
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Sounds interesting
Thanks for your great review about an astounding crime. The way Ingeborg was treated for this crime in Sweden is markedly different from the way it would be handled here in the U.S. and says so much about the maturity level of our culture here in the States, in its apparent adolescence, compared to the culture of post World Wars Europe, which has earned its place in the world more mature nations that understand that punishment only creates more crimes and mostly punishes the families of the criminals, only creating a new generation of criminals in the long run.
Thanks for your astute comment, Susan. I agree completely.
Great commentary, Mr. Moore and your point is well made.
Our nation is psychologically damaged to the point that I doubt we will ever become truly civilized. Reagan created the homelessness that has now become a flood of unwanted, uncared for humans discarded by a society that predominantly looks through them; someone else’s problem when, in point of fact, it’s all our problem.
Yep, drugs and alcohol abuse abound, but surely the root cause is mental illness. But we have become a society so obsessed with fame, the ideal that young people strive to achieve through social media, that very few truly see the horror that’s racing toward us.
Social media has ripped the scab off revealing the selfish pus that’s now spewing out, enveloping our everyday lives. We don’t care about each other. We care about ourselves. The exploding wealth gap, destruction of the middle class, dark money corrupting politics to the point no one has any faith anymore in the system, that perhaps it is, to a degree, understandable that people simply step over the bodies littering the streets.
Give up hope all ye who sail in her, for the Kraken has been awakened and will devour us all in her putrid jaws.
Brilliant analysis of our social woes as a nation.
Thanks for taking the time to articulate your thoughts.
If you would like to expand your thoughts into a 1,000 blog post, I would gladly post it as a stand-alone
article.
Thanks very much,
Patrick
All too often the justice system will lock up and disregard the mentally ill who commit crimes instead of rendering services desperately needed. This resonates deeply with me because my mentally ill brother committed a crime while in a fugue state and off his medication. The courts were aware that he was mentally ill and instead of getting him proper care they remanded him to prison with no mental health treatment. As expected he lashed out and was given more time on his sentence. He ultimately spent 26 years in prison for a punishment that should have been no more than six years.
I watched a documentary regarding the mentally ill in prisons. A lot of people commit crimes so that they can receive medication and have a place to stay with three meals a day. It’s sad to think that our “civilized” society would rather incarcerate than treat a mentally ill person. It’s reminiscent of the days when the mentally ill were shipped off to asylums to die because they were an embarrassment to the family and “polite society.”
Your commentary touched me and brought to light just how cruel the US is when punishing the mentally ill for crimes they commit. Other countries treat them with respect whereas ours ostracizes and commits even crueler acts upon the mentally ill. Thank you for bringing this issue to light.
Hi Diana,
Thank you for your thoughtful and highly-relevant comment on the plight of the mentally ill here in the US.
I think you are right in all respects and I feel terrible for your brother.
If you would like to write a post about this topic, I would be delighted to post it. Please let me know if you are interested.
Thank you,
Patrick