Thursday, January 8, 2026

41st year - N° 8 Thursday, 8 January 2026

BIRTH(+)FACT(᙮)DEATH(-)
41st year - N° 8 Thursday, 8 January 2026


8 January / Today's 24 Events:
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425 years ago 

Monday 8th of January 1601

Writer and philosopher Baltasar Gracián y Morales is born in Belmonte, Aragón, Spain.


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384 years ago 

Wednesday 8th of January 1642

Astronomer, engineer, philosopher and mathematician Galilei Galileo aka The Father of Science dies of fever and heart palpitations at the age of 78 in Arcetri, Toscana, Italy.


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251 years ago 

Sunday 8th of January 1775

Printer and type designer John Baskerville dies of unknown causes at the age of 69 in Easy Hill, Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom.


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130 years ago 

Wednesday 8th of January 1896

Poet Paul Marie Verlaine dies of a kidney and stomach disease at the age of 52 in 39 Rue Descartes, Ve, Paris, Île-de-France, France.


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122 years ago 

Friday 8th of January 1904

SS-Gruppenführer and leader of the Aktion T4 euthanasia program Karl Brandt is born in Mülhausen, Elsass, Germany.


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100 years ago 

Friday 8th of January 1926

Murderer William Lawrence is executed by hanging at the age of 26 in Arizona State Prison Complex, 1305 E Butte Avenue, Florence, Arizona, United States.


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91 years ago He Was No Hound Dog

Tuesday 8th of January 1935

Singer and actor Elvis Aaron Presley aka The King of Rock and Roll is born in 306 Old Saltillo Road, Tupelo, Mississippi, United States.


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89 years ago 

Friday 8th of January 1937

Singer Shirley Veronica Bassey is born in Tiger Bay, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.


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89 years ago 

Friday 8th of January 1937

Murderer Frank Duarte is executed by the gas chamber at the age of 25 in Arizona State Prison Complex, 1305 E Butte Avenue, Florence, Arizona, United States.


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83 years ago 

Friday 8th of January 1943

Murderer Charles Sanders is executed by the gas chamber at the age of 22 in Arizona State Prison Complex, 1305 E Butte Avenue, Florence, Arizona, United States.


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83 years ago 

Friday 8th of January 1943

Murderer J. C. Levice is executed by the gas chamber at the age of 23 in Arizona State Prison Complex, 1305 E Butte Avenue, Florence, Arizona, United States.


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83 years ago 

Friday 8th of January 1943

Murderer Grady B. Cole is executed by the gas chamber at the age of 29 in Arizona State Prison Complex, 1305 E Butte Avenue, Florence, Arizona, United States.


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79 years ago 

Wednesday 8th of January 1947

Musician and actor David Bowie, originally David Robert Jones is born in 40 Stansfield Road, Brixton, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.


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79 years ago 

Wednesday 8th of January 1947

Serial killer William George Bonin aka The Freeway Killer is born in Willimantic, Connecticut, United States.


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78 years ago 

Thursday 8th of January 1948

Dada artist Kurt Hermann Eduard Karl Julius Schwitters dies of acute pulmonary edema and myocarditis at the age of 61 in Westmorland General Hospital, Burton Road, Kendal, Cumbria, United Kingdom.


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64 years ago 

Monday 8th of January 1962

93 die in passenger train 464 and express train 164 collision in De Putkop, Harmelen, Utrecht, Netherlands.


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58 years ago 

Monday 8th of January 1968

the painting 'La Vierge à l'Enfant entourée des saints Innocents' by 391-year-old Painter Peter Paul Rubens is cut into with a knife by an unidentified mentally disturbed person in Musée du Louvre, Ier, Paris, Île-de-France, France.


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52 years ago 

Tuesday 8th of January 1974

Josette Routier is shot dead and violated by serial killer Marcel Barbeault aka Le Tueur de L'Ombre in 19 Rue du Docteur Roux, Nogent-sur-Oise, Oise, France.


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51 years ago 

Wednesday 8th of January 1975

Maria Fasching is stabbed to death by serial killer Joseph Kallinger aka The Shoemaker in 124 Glenwood Avenue, Leonia, New Jersey, United States.

Kallinger had entered the house with his son Mike and tied up 26-year-old Edwina Dee Dee Wiseman, her 4-year-old son Robert, her 90-year-old grandmother Blanche Smith, 21-year-old Randi Romaine, her mother Mrs DeWitt Romaine, her twin sister Rettaand Retta's boyfriend Jeffrey Welby to ransack the house and assault the women. Fasching passed by later and refused to cooperate so Kallinger stabbed her in the back and breast.


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43 years ago 

Saturday 8th of January 1983

Supreme leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Jong-un Kim is born in Pyongyang, P'yŏngan, North Korea.


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37 years ago 

Sunday 8th of January 1989

47 die in British Midland Boeing 737-400 Flight 92 crash in East Midlands Airport, Kegworth, Leicestershire, United Kingdom.

The plane crashed on to the embankment of the M1 motorway in an attempt to make an emergency landing. Of the 126 people aboard, 47 died and 74 sustained serious injuries.


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30 years ago 

Monday 8th of January 1996

237 die in Air Africa Antonov An-32B crash in Simbazikita Street Market, Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Congo.

All fatalities were on the ground while the six crew members survived.


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30 years ago 

Monday 8th of January 1996

President of the French Republic François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterand dies of prostate cancer at the age of 80 in Paris, Île-de-France, France.

A few days before his death Mitterand was joined by family members and close friends for a "last meal" that attracted controversy because it included the serving of roast ortolan bunting, a small wild songbird that is a protected species whose sale is illegal in France.



27 years ago 

Friday 8th of January 1999

A water pump on a bridge near my quarters in Taling Chan, Central Thailand, Thailand.




Concept and design © 1985-2026 Danny Devos

Wednesday, January 7, 2026

41st year - N° 7 Wednesday, 7 January 2026

BIRTH(+)FACT(᙮)DEATH(-)
41st year - N° 7 Wednesday, 7 January 2026


7 January / Today's 28 Events:
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524 years ago 

Tuesday 7th of January 1502

226th Pope Gregorius XIII, originally Ugo Boncompagni is born in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy.


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490 years ago 

Tuesday 7th of January 1536

Princess of Wales and first wife of Henry VIII Catalina de Aragón dies of cancer at the age of 51 in Kimbolton Castle, Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom.

Rumours of poisoning were born after the apparent discovery during Catalina's embalming that there was a black growth on her heart that might have been caused by poisoning. Modern medical experts are in agreement that her heart's discolouration was due not to poisoning but to cancer, something which was not understood at the time.


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415 years ago 

Friday 7th of January 1611

Start of the trial against 51-year-old Countess and serial killer Erzsébet de Ecsed Báthory aka Die Blutfrau in Nagybiccse, Žilina, Hungary.

Báthory and her accomplices were on trial for violating and killing over 650 girls and maidens in Austria, Hungary and Czechoslowakia. Her servants Ilona Nagy’s fingers were torn off with red hot pincers, Dorottya Szentes Szeoch and Janos Ficzko Ujvary were decapitated, drained of all their blood and thrown into the fire, while Báthory is sentenced to be walled in in her own castle.


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371 years ago 

Thursday 7th of January 1655

236th Pope Innocentius X, originally Giovanni Battista Pamphilj dies of natural causes at the age of 81 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.


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226 years ago 

Tuesday 7th of January 1800

13th President of the United States Millard Fillmore is born in Park Road, Moravia, New York, United States.


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134 years ago 

Thursday 7th of January 1892

Serial killer Joe Joseph D. Ball aka The Alligator Man aka The Butcher of Elmendorf is born in The Sociable Inn, Farm to Market Road 327, Elmendorf, Texas, United States.


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128 years ago He Met Death Like a Man and Hoped

Friday 7th of January 1898

Presumed murderer Jack O’Neil is executed by hanging in Buckland, Massachusetts, United States.

O'Neil's last words were "I shall meet death like a man and I hope those who see me hanged will live to see the day when it is proved I am innocent - and it will be, some time". A few months later a dying Shellburne Falls soldier fighting the Spaniards in Cuba confessed to the murder. O'Neil became the last man to be executed in Massachussetts.


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128 years ago 

Friday 7th of January 1898

Double murderer Theodore William Henry Durrant aka The Demon in the Belfry is executed by hanging at the age of 27 in San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, California, United States.


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101 years ago 

Wednesday 7th of January 1925

Suspected serial killer Pietro Pacciani aka Il Mostro di Firenze is born in Mercatale, Toscana, Italy.


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88 years ago 

Friday 7th of January 1938

Artist, writer and filmmaker Roland Topor is born in 11 Rue Corbeau, Xe, Paris, Île-de-France, France.


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83 years ago 

Thursday 7th of January 1943

Inventor, electrical engineer, physicist and futurist Nikola Tesla aka The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century dies of coronary thrombosis at the age of 87 in New Yorker Hotel Room #3327, 481 Eighth Avenue, New York City, New York, United States.

Tesla's corpse was found by his maid Alice Monaghan after she had ignored the 'do not disturb' sign that he had placed on his door two days prior to his death.


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80 years ago 

Monday 7th of January 1946

Suzanne Degnan is abducted, killed and cut to pieces by serial killerWilliam Heirens aka Catch Me Before I Kill More in 5943 North Kenmore Avenue, Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois, United States.


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77 years ago 

Friday 7th of January 1949

Victim of Jerry Brudos aka The Lust Killer Linda Katherine Slawsonis born in Olmsted County, Minnesota, United States.


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59 years ago 

Saturday 7th of January 1967

Mass murderer Richard James Paris hands his 22-year-old bride Christine 14 sticks of dynamite and shoots into the package at the age of 28 in The Orbit Inn Motel, Fremont at 7th St., Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.

Also died in the blast: 68-year-old George Brooks and his 57-year-old new bride Arnell, and 60-year-old John Auwaerter and his 58-year-old wife Lillian, while several others were severely injured. All of the victims were decapitated and one skull was found lying in an adjoining alley - it had been blown through the roof and over the wall. The leg of a woman was found embedded in a wall.


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54 years ago 

Friday 7th of January 1972

104 die in Iberia Airlines Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle Flight 602 crash and explosion in Ibiza Town, Islas Baleares, Spain.

The aircraft captain's last words were "Get me a beer ready, we are here."


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53 years ago Africa Greeted You

Sunday 7th of January 1973

Spree killer Mark James Robert Essex is killed in a bullet spray at the age of 24 in Downtown Howard Johnson's Hotel, 330 Loyola Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.

Essex confronted 11 hours of siege during which he killed 7 and wounded 13 people, including a police officer with a a 5-shot Ruger Model 44 .44-caliber semi-automatic carbine. Essex was barraged with fatal gunfire from police sharpshooters on the roofs of adjacent buildings as well as the automatic weapons aboard a helicopter. An autopsy later revealed more than 200 gunshot wounds. On New Year's Eve 1972 Essex had already killed two cops. Before the attack the television station WWL received a handwritten note from Essex. It read: "Africa greets you. On December 31, 1972, aprx. 11 p.m., the downtown New Orleans Police Department will be attacked. Reason — many, but the death of two innocent brothers will be avenged. And many others."


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53 years ago 

Sunday 7th of January 1973

Cynthia Ann 'Cindy' Schall is abducted and killed by serial killerEdmund Kemper aka The Co-ed Killer in Cabrillo College, Aptos, California, United States.

Kemper kept Schall's body hidden in a closet in his room overnight. When his mother left for work the next morning he had sex with Schall's corpse and removed the bullet before dismembering and decapitating it in his mother's bathtub. Kemper kept the severed head for several days before burying it in his mother's garden facing upward toward her bedroom – later remarking that his mother always wanted 'people to look up to her'.


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53 years ago 

Sunday 7th of January 1973

Double murderer Jason Eric Massey is born in Ellis County, Texas, United States.


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49 years ago 

Friday 7th of January 1977

Barbara Kiel is attacked by serial killer Bernd Bopp aka Der Hammermörder in Mainz, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany.

Kiel survived.


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38 years ago 

Thursday 7th of January 1988

Murderer Robert Streetman is executed by lethal injection at the age of 28 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.


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37 years ago 

Saturday 7th of January 1989

Emperor of Japan Hirohito aka Emperor Shōwa dies of duodenal cancer at the age of 88 in Fukiage Palace, Tokyo, Kantō, Japan.


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36 years ago 

Sunday 7th of January 1990

40-year-old Self-proclaimed prophet and cult leader Jeffrey Don Lundgren aka The Volunteer is arrested with his wife Alice Keelerand his son Damon in Santa Fe Motel, National City, California, United States.

In the next days 10 more members of his cult are arrested. They were charged with the murder of the Avery family of five on 10 April 1989 in Kirtland, Ohio.


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32 years ago 

Friday 7th of January 1994

Catherine Rocher is raped and stabbed to death by serial killer Guy Georges aka Le Tueur de la Bastille in 70 du bd Reuilly, XIIe, Paris, Île-de-France, France.


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28 years ago 

Wednesday 7th of January 1998

56-year-old Mathematician and serial bomber Theodore John 'Ted' Kaczynski aka The Unabomber attempts to commit suicide by hanging in his prison cell in Sacramento, California, United States.


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27 years ago 

Thursday 7th of January 1999

Double murderer John Walter Castro is executed by lethal injection at the age of 37 in Oklahoma State Penitentiary, McAlester, Oklahoma, United States.



22 years ago 

Wednesday 7th of January 2004

A snappy shot of my home-made Guillotine in Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.


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8 years ago 

Sunday 7th of January 2018

Yé-yé singer France Isabelle Geneviève Marie Anne Gall dies of infection complicated from cancer at the age of 71 in American Hospital, 63 Blvd Victor Hugo, Neuilly-sur-Seine, Île-de-France, France.


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4 years ago 

Friday 7th of January 2022

57-year-old Heart patient David Bennett becomes the first man to have a heart transplant from a genetically modified pig in University of Maryland Medical Center, 22 S. Greene Street, Baltimore, Maryland, United States.




Concept and design © 1985-2026 Danny Devos