Lisbon is an ancient city full of stories and legends, some of which continue to this day. Among the neighborhoods, streets, alleys and abandoned houses, there are ‘haunted’ and/or ‘mysterious’ places that dominate the urban imagination, such as the Pátio do Carrasco.
In the Alfama area, opposite Largo do Limoeiro, this place is known for having served as the home of Luís António Alves (1806-1873), who became known as “O Negro”. Many believe that he was Portugal’s last executioner, hence the place’s place name.
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Toponymy of Pátio Carrasco
According to VortexMag, legend has it that there was an underground tunnel linking the Pátio do Carrasco to the Limoeiro Prison, which was used so that the ‘executioner’ could more easily carry out his ‘work’. Due to the nature of his work, it is said that screams are still heard here today.
On the one hand, in the urban imagination there are those who attribute the screams to the executioner’s ‘victims ‘. On the other hand, the old inhabitants believed that the moans came from Luís Alves himself, in a kind of torment due to his profession. However, it is not known for sure whether he actually executed anyone. But we’ll get to that.
The truth is that there are many ‘loose ends’ to the story of Portugal’s last executioner. After all, who was Luís Alves? And why was he known as “The Black One”? Now it’s time to learn more about the figure who ‘inspired’ the dark aura of the Pátio do Carrasco.
Who was Luís Alves?
In the various sources of information consulted on this subject, there is one thing in common. In other words, it’s difficult to establish the extent to which the executioner went to ‘kill‘. But we’ll get to that. To tell his troubled story, you have to travel to the north of Portugal.
According to A Voz de Trás Os Montes, Luís António Alves was born in 1806, in the small village of Capeludos, in the Trás-os-Montes municipality of Vila Pouca de Aguiar, into an honorable family. His childhood is said to have been happy, but the rest of his life was not.
In 1822, at the age of 16, he moved to Lisbon and joined the military. However, by joining ‘bad companies’, he found himself involved in outlaw scenarios, including a robbery at a house in Campo Grande that resulted in at least one murder.
Luís Alves, then still far from the figure of the executioner, had no choice but to flee to his homeland, where he lived underground. However, he was eventually caught in Vila Pouca de Aguiar and charged with 18 crimes, which he contested.
However, this was only the beginning of his many ‘adventures’:
He had a troubled life, always persecuted by the absolutists. He got mixed up in gangs and remained on the fringes, always trying to elude the authorities. Until one day the police captured him. He was taken to Chaves,” reads A Voz de Trás Os Montes.
The hangman before he was… was about to go to the gallows
After being imprisoned and between trials, Luís Alves thought about fleeing to Brazil. But he ended up being betrayed and brought to justice once again. He was sentenced to death and sent to the Limoeiro prison – yes, the one located near the current Pátio do Carrasco.
Luckily or unluckily, depending on your perspective, the man from Trás-os-Montes ended up avoiding the gallows in an unusual way. In 1845, he was offered the task of killing in order not to be killed. Luís Alves ended up accepting the role of executioner and thus began his ‘legend’.
From theories to the epithet of “The Negro”
There are those who believe that “O Negro”, as Luís Alves became known for his austere pose and dark-colored clothes, never actually killed anyone in the course of his duties, which were equivalent to an annual salary of 49$200 réis.
According to A Voz de Trás Os Montes, which quotes Maria João Medeiros in “Almanaque do crime português” (1921), Camilo Castelo Branco himself wrote in “Noites de Insónia” that Luís Alves “was only commissioned to carry out one execution, in Tavira, in 1845“.
However, he is said to have offered money to an individual to take his place. Truth or lie? We don’t have an answer to this question, but here’s an episode that piques curiosity even more.
Other curiosities
With the abolition of the death penalty for common crimes in 1867, “The Negro” lost his ‘job’ and source of income. However, he was condemned to perform this function exclusively until his death, so he ended up becoming a craftsman and settled in the Pátio do Carrasco.
After experiencing various economic difficulties, Luís Alves returned to Vila Pouca de Aviar, where he lived in what became known as the “Black Room” until the end of his days (1873): sad, alone and ‘abandoned’.
In Trás-os-Montes, his existence faded with time, but in Lisbon it lives on with the Pátio do Carrasco. A Lisbon space that is still sought after as a tourist attraction, despite its gloomy aura.