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The plaguestone in Älmeboda

Next to the church ruins in Älmeboda is a memorial stone about the tough years 1710 to 1711, when the plague ravaged through the parish. The inscriptions are written in Latin and shall be translated: "The year 1711, many died in this parish of plague. Master A. Megalinus was then vicar"

The plague that originated from east Asia spread through eastern Europe and came in May 1710 to Riga and from there with soldiers to Sweden. To Älmeboda parish, the epidemic came from Karlskrona and the first deaths occurred in November 1710. How many that died in the parish is unknown, as there are no funeral registered for the years in question. Magnus Megalinus has only noted that "from November 1710 to 1712 died of plague, many of whom Reverend didn't knew the names of many that wasn't of Reverend buried". It was strictly forbidden to bury the contaminated in the public cemetery, instead they should be buried in special plague-cemeteries.

There is indication that 400 people died, thus, around a third of the parish's population should have died in the epidemic.