41st year - Nr 137 Sunday, 17 May 2026

BIRTH(+)FACT(᙮)DEATH(-)
41st year - Nr 137 Sunday, 17 May 2026

17 May / Today's 27 Events:

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(-) 516 years ago Tuesday 17th of May 1510 Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli, originally Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi dies of unknown causes at the age of 65 in Firenze, Toscana, Italy.

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(+) 162 years ago Tuesday 17th of May 1864 Murderer John Alexander Dickman is born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, United Kingdom.

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(+) 160 years ago Thursday 17th of May 1866 Pianist and composer Erik Satie, originally Éric Alfred Leslie Satie is born in Honfleur, Basse-Normandie, France.

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(+) 158 years ago He Was no Veg-O-Matic Sunday 17th of May 1868 Automobile manufacturing pioneer Horace Elgin Dodge is born in Niles, Michigan, United States.

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(+) 153 years ago Saturday 17th of May 1873 Writer Henri Barbusse is born in Asnières-sur-Seine, Île-de-France, France.

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(+) 151 years ago Monday 17th of May 1875 Executioner Alwin Engelhardt is born in Nordhausen, Thüringen, Germany.

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(x) 126 years ago Thursday 17th of May 1900 25-year-old Mass murderer John Filip Nordlund aka Mälarmördaren aka Mordlund aka Svarte Filip kills the Princ Carl steamboat's captain Olof Rönngren, a butcher, an old lady, a farmer and a cattle merchant and wounds another nine passengers in Arboga, Västmanlands Län, Sweden. Nordlund's plan was to rob and kill as many people as possible on the ship and steal the ship's register. To avoid early detection he also planned to torch the ship. This plan failed because scared passengers on the boat managed to attract the attention of the Köping ferry.

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(+) 122 years ago Il n'Était pas un Moko Tuesday 17th of May 1904 Actor Jean Gabin, originally Jean-Alexis Moncorgé is born in 23 Boulevard Rochechouart, IXe, Paris, Île-de-France, France.

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(x) 102 years ago Saturday 17th of May 1924 Numerous skulls and bones are found in the river Leine between Schloss Herrenhausen and the Bruckmühle. They are all presumed victims of 45-year-old Serial killer Fritz Friedrich Heinrich Karl Haarmann aka Der Hannover Werwolf in Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany.

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(x) 99 years ago Tuesday 17th of May 1927 28-year-old Serial killer John Reginald Halliday Christie aka The Strangler of 10 Rillington Place is sentenced to 6 months imprisonment for malicious wounding in South Western Magistrates Court, 176A Lavender Hill, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

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(-) 99 years ago Tuesday 17th of May 1927 Cop killer Albert Brownlee is executed by hanging at the age of 29 in Oregon State Penitentiary, Salem, Oregon, United States.

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(+) 95 years ago Sunday 17th of May 1931 Founder of Heaven's Gate religious cult Marshall Herff Applewhite aka Bo and Do is born in Spur, Texas, United States.

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(+) 89 years ago He Rode Easy Monday 17th of May 1937 Actor and film director Dennis Lee Hopper known from the film ‘Easy Rider’ is born in Dodge City, Kansas, United States.

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(+) 86 years ago Friday 17th of May 1940 Performance and video artist Valie Export, originally Waltraud Lehner is born in Linz, Oberösterreich, Austria.

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(x) 85 years ago Saturday 17th of May 1941 36-year-old Geisha, prostitute, actress and murderess Sada Abe is released from prison on the occasion of the 2.600th anniversary celebrations of the mythical founding of Japan in Tochigi, Kantō, Japan.

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(+) 76 years ago Wednesday 17th of May 1950 Founding member of the Symbionese Liberation Army Patricia Monique Soltysik aka Mizmoon is born in Goleta, California, United States.

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(+) 63 years ago Friday 17th of May 1963 Victim of Lawrence Singleton Mary Bell Vincent is born in El Centro, California, United States.

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(+) 63 years ago Friday 17th of May 1963 Victim of Bobby Joe Long aka The Adman Rapist Kim Marie Swann is born in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States.

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(x) 52 years ago They Were Six to 400 Friday 17th of May 1974 Six members of the Symbionese Liberation Army are killed in a shootout more than 400 LAPD officers under the command of Captain Mervin King, along with the FBI, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD), California Highway Patrol (CHP) and Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) in 1466 East 54th Street, Alameda, Los Angeles, California, United States. The SLA dead were: Nancy Ling Perry aka Fahizah, Angela Atwood aka General Gelina, Camilla Hall aka Gabi, Willie Wolfe aka Kahjoh, Donald DeFreeze aka Cinque and Patricia Soltysik aka Mizmoon< /strong>. All of the bodies but one were found huddled in a crawl space under the house which had burned down around them.

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(-) 46 years ago Saturday 17th of May 1980 Martyn Duffey is drowned in the kitchen sink by serial killer Dennis Nilsen aka Killing For Company in 195 Melrose Avenue, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

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(+) 38 years ago Tuesday 17th of May 1988 Mass murderer Robert Arthur Hawkins aka The Omaha Mall Gunman is born in RAF Lakenheath, Lakenheath, Suffolk, United Kingdom.

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(-) 36 years ago Thursday 17th of May 1990 Murderer Johnny Ray Anderson is executed by lethal injection at the age of 31 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States. Anderson's last meal request was for three hamburgers, french fries, chocolate ice cream with nuts and iced tea.

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(-) 32 years ago There Was Laughter from the Darkest Caverns of His Soul Tuesday 17th of May 1994 Triple murderer John Frederick Thanos is executed by lethal injection at the age of 45 in Maryland State Penitentiary, East Madison Street, Baltimore, Maryland, United States. At his trial in 1992 Thanos taunted the families of his victims saying he wished he could dig up their bodies and defile their corpses. Thanos stated: "their cries bring laughter from the darkest caverns of my soul. I don't believe I could satisfy my thirst yet in this matter unless I was to be able to dig these brats' bones up out of their graves right now and beat them into powder and urinate on them and then stir it into a murky yellowish elixir and serve it up to their loved ones" during his se ntencing hearing for the murder of 16-year-old Billy Winebrenner and 14-year-old Melody Pistorio in September 1990. Thanos' last words were "Adios!"

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(-) 20 years ago Wednesday 17th of May 2006 Double murderer Jermaine Herron is executed by lethal injection at the age of 27 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States. Herron's last meal request was for sirloin steak, spicy worcestershire sauce, a bacon cheeseburger with ten slices of bacon, onion rings and fries with cheese, french dressing, a butterfinger blizzard with carmel, pecan pie, vanilla ice cream and peach cobbler.

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19 years ago The Eyes had it Thursday 17th of May 2007 On the way from Tampere for a performance in Kulttuuritalo Annis, Annankatu 6, Pori, Satakunta, Finland.

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(-) 16 years ago Monday 17th of May 2010 Entertainer, entrepreneur, singer-songwriter and professional whistler Bobbejaan Schoepen, originally Modest Schoepen dies of cardiac arrest at the age of 85 in Turnhout, Antwerpen, Belgium.

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(-) 14 years ago Thursday 17th of May 2012 Singer-songwriter Donna Summer, originally LaDonna Adrian Gaines aka The Queen of Disco dies of lung cancer at the age of 64 in Naples, Florida, United States. Summer believed she developed her lung cancer by inhaling toxic particles following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York.

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