Members of the black metal band Mayhem lived in a house near the village in the early 1990s, and became infamous when vocalist Dead committed suicide inside the house on 8 April 1991 by slitting his wrists and neck and then shooting himself in the forehead with a shotgun.

Guitarist Euronymous then took photographs of Dead's corpse, one of which became the cover of their Dawn of the Black Hearts album.

Dead's suicide was said to cause "a change in mentality" in the black metal scene and was the first in a string of infamous events carried out by its members.

[2] There are some remains of an old hillfort in the forest above Vientjern (a small lake), a few kilometers outside Kråkstad.

The municipality (originally the parish) was named after the old farm Kråkstad (Norse Krákustaðir), since the first church was built there.