Drekkingarhylur (Drowning Pool)

Drekkingarhylur, also known as the Drowning Pool, is a deep water pool in the river near the bridge over the Öxará River, located in the heart of the Þingvellir National Park. It is a historic place with a dark past.
In ancient times, when drowning was a common method of execution, the fate was sealed here in the deep waters of the pool. Women, often accused of witchcraft, were tied in sacks and thrown into Drekkingarhylur. A macabre ritual: if the woman drowned, she was considered innocent; If she managed to free herself, she was branded a witch and put to death again.

Here the stream, which comes almost directly from America, flows over to Europe (continental fissure).

IN OLDEN TIMES drowning was-widely used as a method of execution. People were drowned in marshes, in fresh water and in the sea. In Iceland, provision was made in law for execution by drowning from 1281, but written sources make no reference to such executions until after the Reformation in the 16th century.

At Þingvellir, women were drowned in Drekkingarhylur, but one case is recorded of a woman being drowned in the Öxará river below the meeting-place of the Law Council. No reliable accounts exist of drownings at Þingvellir, but women are said to have been tied up in a sack, pushed out into the pool,
and held under.

Source: Local signage