41st year - Nr 288 Thursday, 15 October 2026

BIRTH(+)FACT(᙮)DEATH(-)
41st year - Nr 288 Thursday, 15 October 2026

15 October / Today's 34 Events:

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(-) 628 years ago Monday 15th of October 1398 202nd Pope Urbanus VI, originally Bartolomeo Prignano dies of injuries suffered in a fall from his mule during a march at the age of 80 in Vatican City, Rome, Lazio, Italy.

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(-) 462 years ago Thursday 15th of October 1564 Anatomist and physician Andreas Vesalius, originally Andries van Wesel dies of unknown causes at the age of 50 in Zakynthos, Ionian Islands, .

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(x) 210 years ago Tuesday 15th of October 1816 28-year-old Poet George Gordon Byron aka Lord Byron visits the library to read the love letters of Lucrezia Borgia and steals a lock of her hair in Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Piazza Pio XI 2, Milano, Lombardia, Italy.

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(+) 182 years ago Tuesday 15th of October 1844 Philosopher and philologist Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche is born in Pfarrhaus, Röcken, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany.

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(-) 109 years ago Monday 15th of October 1917 Exotic dancer, courtesan and spy Margaretha Geertruida 'Margreet' MacLeod Zelle aka Mata Hari is executed by the firing squad at the age of 41 in Château de Vincennes, Vincennes, Val-de-Marne, France.

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(+) 106 years ago Friday 15th of October 1920 Writer Mario Gianluigi Puzo known for his novel ‘The Godfather’ is born in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States.

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(+) 100 years ago Friday 15th of October 1926 Philosopher Michel Paul Foucault is born in Poitiers, Poitou-Charentes, France.

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(-) 91 years ago Tuesday 15th of October 1935 Murderer Gerald T. 'Jerry' Thompson is executed by Old Smokey at the age of 26 in Joliet Prison, Joliet, Illinois, United States.

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(-) 91 years ago Tuesday 15th of October 1935 Murderer John Favorito is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 25 in Trenton State Prison, Trenton, New Jersey, United States. The executioner is almost knocked out when he touches Favorito's body which was loaded with electric current after the execution.

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(x) 87 years ago Sunday 15th of October 1939 4-year-old Serial killer Joseph Kallinger, originally Joseph Lee Brenner III aka The Shoemaker is adopted by Stephen and Anna Kallinger in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Kallinger was abused by both his adoptive parents so severely that at age six he suffered a hernia inflicted by his adoptive father. The punishments Kallinger endured included kneeling on jagged rocks, being locked inside closets, consuming excrement, committing self-injury, being burned with irons, being whipped with belts and being starved.

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(+) 86 years ago Tuesday 15th of October 1940 Student Benno Ohnesorg is born in Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany.

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(-) 81 years ago The Poison Was Too Old Monday 15th of October 1945 French politician and collaborator Pierre Jean Marie Laval is executed by the firing squad at the age of 62 in Prison de Fresnes, Fresnes, Val-de-Marne, France. On the morning of his execution Laval attempted to cheat the firing squad by taking poison from a vial stitched inside the lining of his jacket. The poison was so old that it was ineffective and repeated stomach-pumpings revived Laval.

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(+) 80 years ago Tuesday 15th of October 1946 Member of the Rote Armee Fraktion Bernard Rößner is born in München, Bayern, Germany.

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(-) 80 years ago Tuesday 15th of October 1946 Reichsmarschall and Nazi leader Hermann Wilhelm Göring commits suicide by cyanide poisoning at the age of 53 in Justizpalast, Fürther Straße 110, Nürnberg, Bayern, Germany. In 2005 former U.S. Army Private Herbert Lee Stivers, who served in the 1st Infantry Division's 26th Infantry Regiment - the honour guard for the Nuremberg Trials - claimed he gave Göring "medicine" hidden inside a fountain pen that a German woman had asked him to smuggle into the prison.

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(+) 80 years ago Tuesday 15th of October 1946 Musician Richard Lynn Carpenter is born in Grace-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Connecticut, United States.

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(+) 70 years ago Monday 15th of October 1956 Mass murderer George Jo Hennard, originally Georges Pierre Hennard is born in Sayre, Pennsylvania, United States.

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(x) 67 years ago Thursday 15th of October 1959 20-year-old Foot fetishist and serial killer Jerry Jerome Henry Brudos aka The Lust Killer is discharged from the US Army because of his bizarre obsessions in Fort Gordon, Georgia, United States.

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(+) 64 years ago Monday 15th of October 1962 Serial killer Guy Georges, originally Guy Rampillon aka Le Tueur de la Bastille is born in Vitry-le-François, Seine-et-Marne, France.

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(-) 62 years ago Thursday 15th of October 1964 Composer and songwriter Cole Albert Porter dies of kidney failure at the age of 73 in Santa Monica, California, United States.

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(x) 60 years ago Saturday 15th of October 1966 Revolutionary black nationalist and socialist organization the Black Panther Party is founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, California, United States.

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(-) 59 years ago Sunday 15th of October 1967 Unitarian peace activist Florence Beaumont commits suicide by self-immolation at the age of 58 in Federal Building, 300 N. Los Angeles Street, Los Angeles, California, United States. Beaumont was protesting the US involvement in the war in Vietnam. "She was a perfectly normal, dedicated person, and felt she had to do this just like the monks and nuns who burned themselves in Vietnam. This was no suicide. There were no indications of escapism or frustration. This was an immolation, a supreme sacrifice to humanity, to peace and freedom for all mankind."

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(x) 57 years ago Wednesday 15th of October 1969 44-year-old Wiener Aktionist Otto Muehl performs 'Aktion nr. 57 / Der Tod der Sharon Tate' with Charlotte Moorman in Kunsthalle, Cäcilienstraße, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

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(-) 55 years ago Friday 15th of October 1971 Marie-Thérèse Rosseel is stabbed to death, raped and mutilated by serial killer Gustaaf Van Eyken aka De Vampier van Muizen in Muizenhoek 1, Muizen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

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(-) 54 years ago Sunday 15th of October 1972 Leslie Laura Brock is abducted and bludgeoned to death by serial killer Harvey Carignan aka The Want-Ad Killer aka Harv the Hammer in Bellingham, Washington, United States.

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(-) 49 years ago Saturday 15th of October 1977 17-year-old Christine Eadie and 17-year-old Helen Scott are beaten, gagged, tied up, raped and strangled by 32-year-old Serial killer Angus Robertson Sinclair aka The World's End Murderer in Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom. On 25 November 2004 Sinclair's DNA matched. On 31 March 2005 Sinclair was arrested. At a trial in 2007 Sinclair was acquitted by lack of evidence. At a second trial in 14 November 2014 Sinclair was found guilty of the murders and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 37 years.

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(x) 44 years ago Friday 15th of October 1982 24-year-old Ralf Erb is sentenced to life imprisonment for a murder committed by 22-year-old Serial killer Kurt-Friedhelm Steinwegs aka Die Bestie vom Niederrhein in Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

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(x) 44 years ago Friday 15th of October 1982 36-year-old Serial killer Richard Francis Cottingham aka The Torso Killer is sentenced to 25 years to life in prison in Hackensack, New Jersey, United States.

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(x) 42 years ago Monday 15th of October 1984 Fourth bomb attack by Terrorist organisation Les Cellules Communistes Combattantes aka CCC in Centre Paul Hymans, 39 Rue de Naples, Ixelles, Brussel, Brabant, Belgium. It was the fourth action in their Première Campagne Anti-Impérialiste d’Octobre.

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(-) 40 years ago Wednesday 15th of October 1986 Muse and second wife of Pablo Picasso Jacqueline Roque commits suicide by a shot through the heart at the age of 59 in Villa Notre Dame de la Vie, Avenue Orangeraie, Mougins, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

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(x) 34 years ago He Kicked His Bench Across His Cage Thursday 15th of October 1992 56-year-old Serial killer Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo aka The Rostov Ripper is sentenced to death plus 86 years for 52 murders and five counts of sexual assault by Judge Akubzhanov in Courtroom Number 5, ul. Socialist, 164/35, Rostov, Rostov Oblast, Russia. Chikatilo kicked his bench across his cage when he heard the verdict and began shouting abuse. However, when given an opportunity to make a speech in response to the verdict he again remained silent.

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(-) 31 years ago Sunday 15th of October 1995 Performance artist Michel Journiac dies of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 60 in XVe, Paris, Île-de-France, France.

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24 years ago The Eyes had it Tuesday 15th of October 2002 A stressful audience for the first round of a campaign about the new artist social statute in Zuiderpershuis, Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

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2 years ago The Eyes had it Tuesday 15th of October 2024 Harm me at the Harmacie in Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis, Xe, Paris, Île-de-France, France.

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(x) 2 years ago Fire Erupted Tuesday 15th of October 2024 104 die in fuel tanker explosion and fire in Majia, Jigawa, Nigeria. "We tried our best to stop people going to the vehicle to get petrol but despite cordoning the area we were overpowered and as people were scooping fuel, fire erupted."

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