The state of Kentucky is famed for a lot of things, and it is known as the location of the last public execution in the United States. In the early morning hours of Aug. 14, 1936, some 20,000 spectators turned out in the city of Owensboro to watch the public execution of 26-year-old Rainey Bethea. Bethea, who was Black, had been charged with the rape of a 70-year-old white woman, reports the Death Penalty Information Center. The punishment for his crime: public hanging.

In makeshift gallows constructed on a lot near the Ohio River, thousands of people from all over Kentucky and the U.S. came to see Bethea’s execution (pictured above). Some say the bigger story was really due to the fact that it was going to be the first execution led by a woman. Sheriff Florence Thompson was responsible for overseeing the execution, but she didn’t follow through with the grim task (per Timeline).

Photos of events that day show a large crowd of mostly white onlookers, looking up at the gallows. Some are seen watching on from building windows, roofs, and trees. Negative media attention followed in the aftermath of Bethea’s execution, which subsequently led to Kentucky outlawing public executions. But the state remains as one of the 28 states that has the death penalty.

Public executions are a thing of the past in the U.S. now, but in other parts of the world like Saudi Arabia, Iran, and South Sudan, state-sanctioned executions for public viewing are still happening, says Amnesty International.