38th year - N° 357 Saturday, 23 December 2023

BIRTH(+)FACT(᙮)DEATH(-)
38th year - N° 357 Saturday, 23 December 2023

23 December / Today's 27 Events:

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(+) 218 years ago Monday 23rd of December 1805 Founder of the Latter Day Saint movement aka Mormonism Joseph Smith is born in Sharon, Vermont, United States.

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(+) 198 years ago Friday 23rd of December 1825 Showman and circus proprietor George Sanger is born in Newbury, Berkshire, United Kingdom.

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(-) 133 years ago Tuesday 23rd of December 1890 Double murderess Mary Pearcey, originally Mary Eleanor Wheeler is executed by hanging at the age of 24 in Newgate Prison, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

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(-) 97 years ago Thursday 23rd of December 1926 Murderer Petrus Stephanus François Hauptfleisch is executed by hanging at the age of 40 in Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa. Hauptfleisch killed his elderly mother and burnt the body on the stove.

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(+) 95 years ago Sunday 23rd of December 1928 Spree killer Billy William Edward Cook aka Billy Boy Cockeyed Cook is born in Joplin, Missouri, United States.

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(x) 91 years ago Friday 23rd of December 1932 31-year-old Wife of Joseph Goebbels Magda Johanna Maria Magdalena Ritschel aka Engelchen suffers a miscarriage in München, Bayern, Germany.

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(+) 82 years ago Tuesday 23rd of December 1941 Musician Tim James Timothy Hardin is born in Eugene, Oregon, United States.

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(-) 75 years ago Thursday 23rd of December 1948 General of the Imperial Japanese Army Hideki Tōjō is executed by hanging at the age of 64 in Sugamo Prison, Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Kantō, Japan. On the same day 6 more officals were hanged for war-crimes.

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(-) 71 years ago Tuesday 23rd of December 1952 Murderer Leslie Green is executed by hanging at the age of 29 in Stafford Goal, Gaol Road, Stafford, Staffordshire, United Kingdom.

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(-) 69 years ago Thursday 23rd of December 1954 Wesley Whitney Kerr is shot in the head by serial killer Leslie Irvin aka The Mad Dog Killer in Evansville, Indiana, United States.

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(x) 62 years ago Saturday 23rd of December 1961 71 die in train derailment in Fiumarella Viaduct, Catanzaro, Calabria, Italy.

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(-) 51 years ago Saturday 23rd of December 1972 Aircraft designer Andrei Nikolayevich Tupolev dies of unknown causes at the age of 84 in Moscow, Central Federal District, Russia.

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(-) 44 years ago Sunday 23rd of December 1979 Art collector, bohemian and socialite Peggy Marguerite Guggenheim dies of a stroke at the age of 81 in Camposampiero, Veneto, Italy. Guggenheim's ashes are buried in the garden of the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni in Venice next to her beloved dogs.

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(x) 39 years ago Sunday 23rd of December 1984 17 die in Rapido 904 train bomb explosion in Apennine Base Tunnel, San Benedetto Val di Sambro, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. There were 267 injured. The motive behind the bomb attack was to distract Italian security forces from investigating the Sicilian Mafia.

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(-) 38 years ago He Did It Monday 23rd of December 1985 Heavy Metal fan Raymond Eugene Belknap commits suicide by a shot through the head at the age of 18 in Reno, Nevada, United States. Belknap and his 20-year-old friend James Vance engaged in a suicide pact after listening intensively to the Judas Priest song "Better by You, Better than Me" that supposedly contained a subliminal message "do it". Vance followed but survived the self-inflicted gunshot wound with a severely disfigured face. He died three years later after a suicidal overdose of painkillers.

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(x) 37 years ago Tuesday 23rd of December 1986 Lisa Thomas is abducted and held imprisoned by serial killer Gary Heidnik aka The Cellar of Horror Murderer in 3520 North Marshall Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.

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(x) 36 years ago Wednesday 23rd of December 1987 39-year-old Member of the 'Manson Family' Lynette Alice Fromme aka Squeaky known for attempting to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford escapes in Federal Prison Camp, Alderson, West Virginia, United States. Fromme attempted to meet Charles Manson who she had heard had testicular cancer. She was captured again two days later and incarcerated at the Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas.

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(x) 36 years ago Wednesday 23rd of December 1987 15-year-old Hijacker Adalgiso Scioni hijacks KLM Flight 343 Boeing 737 from Amsterdam to Milan with 97 people on board, claiming to have a bomb in his luggage which could be detonated by a control on his wristwatch in Rome, Lazio, Italy. Scioni allowed about 60 passengers to deplane while he negotiated with authorities. He was eventually overpowered by police when he was apparently lured from the aircraft on the pretence of being driven to another aircraft for a flight to New York.

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(x) 28 years ago Saturday 23rd of December 1995 The charred bodies of 13 adults and three 2, 4, and 6-year-old children, members of Secret society L'Ordre International Chevaleresque de Tradition Solaire aka Ordre du Temple Solaire are found in Trou de l'Enfer, Saint-Pierre-de-Chérennes, Rhône-Alpes, France. In the night of 15-16 December 1995, 14 victims, including Edith and Patrick Vuarnet, overdosed on sedatives before being shot dead by André Friedli and Jean-Luc Lardanchet. Then the bodies were doused with petrol and set ablaze before the two men shot themselves in the head.

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(x) 26 years ago Tuesday 23rd of December 1997 The New Year, a two-story houseboat where 28-year-old Serial killer Andrew Phillip Cunanan aka American Gigolo/American Psycho shot himself through the head, days after killing Gianni Versace in July, sinks to the bottom in Indian Creek, Miami Beach, Florida, United States. Workers believe the boat developed a leak that caused it to sink overnight.

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(x) 26 years ago Tuesday 23rd of December 1997 48-year-old Terrorist Ilich Ramírez Sánchez aka Carlos the Jackal is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in Paris, Île-de-France, France.

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(x) 20 years ago Tuesday 23rd of December 2003 Noise music band Club Moral record their 100th concert live in Stanleystraat, Berchem, Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium. The recording was released as 'Living(Stone)' in 2004.

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20 years ago The Eyes had it Tuesday 23rd of December 2003 The Club Moral flag on the balcony of Lies and Marthe's house where we performed our 'Livingstone' concert in Stanleystraat, Berchem, Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

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17 years ago The Eyes had it Saturday 23rd of December 2006 An anti-riot van of the Swiss police stationed in Bern, Mittelland, Switzerland.

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(x) 17 years ago Saturday 23rd of December 2006 Noise music band Club Moral play their 123rd concert as Bum Collar in Dampfzentrale, Marzilistrasse 47, Bern, Mittelland, Switzerland.

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(-) 10 years ago Monday 23rd of December 2013 Serial killer András Pándy aka Father Bluebeard dies of natural causes at the age of 86 in Penitentiair Complex, Legeweg 200, Brugge, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

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(-) 10 years ago Monday 23rd of December 2013 Weapon designer Mikhail Kalashnikov known for the AK-47 assault rifle dies of cancer at the age of 94 in Izhevsk, Udmurtia, Russia.

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