38th year - N° 364 Saturday, 30 December 2023

BIRTH(+)FACT(᙮)DEATH(-)
38th year - N° 364 Saturday, 30 December 2023

30 December / Today's 31 Events:

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(-) 432 years ago Monday 30th of December 1591 230th Pope Innocentius IX, originally Giovanni Antonio Facchinetti dies of unknown causes at the age of 72 in Vatican City, Rome, Lazio, Italy.

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(x) 413 years ago Thursday 30th of December 1610 50-year-old Countess and serial killer Erzsébet de Ecsed Báthory aka Die Blutfrau and four of her servants, who were accused of being her accomplices: Dorotya Semtész, Ilona Jó, Katarína Benická and János Újváry aka Ibis aka Fickó are arrested in Csejte Vára, Čachtice, Trenčín, Slowakia. One girl was found dead and one dying in Báthory's castle.

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(+) 158 years ago Saturday 30th of December 1865 Writer Rudyard Joseph Kipling known for his novel ‘Jungle Book’ is born in J.J. School, Bombay, Bombay Presidency, India.

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(+) 137 years ago Thursday 30th of December 1886 Artist and occultist Austin Osman Spare is born in Bloomfield House, Bloomfield Place, King Street, Snow Hill, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

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(x) 120 years ago Wednesday 30th of December 1903 605 die in Iroquois Theatre fire in Iroquois Theatre, 24–28 West Randolph Street, Chicago, Illinois, United States. At the beginning of the second act, a dance number in the popular Drury Lane musical 'Mr. Bluebeard', was in progress when an arc light shorted out and sparks ignited a muslin curtain.

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(+) 114 years ago Thursday 30th of December 1909 Victim of Fritz Haarmann aka Der Hannover Werwolf Heinz Martin is born in Chemnitz, Sachsen, Germany.

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(+) 113 years ago Friday 30th of December 1910 Composer and writer Paul Frederic Bowles is born in Queens, New York, New York, United States.

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(-) 107 years ago He Asked for Some Madeira Wine Saturday 30th of December 1916 Mystic and self-proclaimed holy man Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin aka The Mad Monk is assassinated by a group of conservative noblemen led by Felix Yusupov at the age of 47 in Moika Palace, St. Petersburg, Northwestern Federal District, Russia. Yusupov offered Rasputin tea and cakes which had been laced with cyanide. To Yusupov's surprise Rasputin did not appear to be affected by the poison. Rasputin then asked for some Madeira wine (which had also been poisoned) and drank three glasses but still showed no sign of distress. At around 2:30 am Yusupov excused himself to go upstairs where his fel low conspirators were waiting. Taking a revolver from Dmitry Pavlovich, Yusupov returned to the basement and, referring to a crucifix that was in the room, told Rasputin that he'd "better look at the crucifix and say a prayer" then shot him once in the chest. Believing him to be dead they then drove to Rasputin's apartment with Sukhotin wearing Rasputin's coat and hat in an attempt to make it look as though Rasputin had returned home that night. Upon returning to the Moika Palace, Yusupov went back to the basement to ensure that Rasputin was dead. Suddenly Rasputin leapt up and attacked Yusupov, who freed himself and fled upstairs. Rasputin followed and made it into the palace's courtyard before being shot by Vladimir Purishkevich and collapsing into a snowbank.

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(+) 95 years ago He Originated Sunday 30th of December 1928 Musician Bo Diddley, originally Ellas Otha Bates aka The Originator is born in McComb, Mississippi, United States.

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(-) 91 years ago Friday 30th of December 1932 Trained nurse and triple murderess Daisy de Melker, originally Daisy Louisa Hancorn-Smith is executed by hanging at the age of 46 in Pretoria Central Prison, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. De Melker poisoned her husband and son with arsenic. Two other husbands and four children had died suspiciously.

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(+) 89 years ago He Was no Runaway Sunday 30th of December 1934 Singer-songwriter and musician Del Shannon, originally Charles Weedon Westover is born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States.

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(-) 86 years ago Thursday 30th of December 1937 Child killer Frederick Nodder aka Uncle Fred Hudson is executed by hanging by Thomas Pierrepoint at the age of 50 in Lincoln Prison, Greetwell Road, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom.

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(-) 82 years ago Tuesday 30th of December 1941 Artist, designer, photographer and architect El Lazar Markovich Lissitzky dies of tuberculosis at the age of 51 in Moscow, Central Federal District, Russia.

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(+) 77 years ago Monday 30th of December 1946 Poet and musician Patti Patricia Lee Smith aka The Godmother of Punk is born in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

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(-) 76 years ago Tuesday 30th of December 1947 Art forger Han Henricus Antonius van Meegeren dies of a heart attack at the age of 58 in Valeriuskliniek, Valeriusplein, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.

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(x) 67 years ago Sunday 30th of December 1956 41-year-old Art vandal Hugo Unzaga Villegas throws a brick at Leonardo Da Vinci's 'Mona Lisa' in Musée du Louvre, Ier, Paris, Île-de-France, France. A psychiatric report on Villegas by Dr. Gouriou on 14 January 1957 found that the man was insane, heard strange voices, and had intended to murder the Argentinean dictator Juan Perón but went instead for the less well protected Mona Lisa.

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(+) 64 years ago Wednesday 30th of December 1959 Actress and comedian Tracey Ullman, originally Trace is born in Slough, Berkshire, United Kingdom.

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(+) 57 years ago Friday 30th of December 1966 Murderer Stanley Allison Baker is born in Paris, Île-de-France, France. Baker's father was in the US Army in Paris.

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(-) 53 years ago Wednesday 30th of December 1970 Boxer Sonny Charles Liston dies of a heroin overdose at the age of 38 in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Liston was found by his wife Geraldine returning home from a two-week trip on 5 January 1971.

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(x) 49 years ago It Didn't Work Out Monday 30th of December 1974 16-year-old School shooter Anthony Barbaro known for the Olean High School shooting  indiscriminately shoots at people on the street from windows at the third floor of the school building with a Remington .30-06-caliber rifle with telescopic sight and a 12-gauge shotgun in Olean High School, Olean, New York, United States. 62-year-old Earl Metcalf, 58-year-old Neal Pilon and 25-year-old Carmen Wright Drayton were killed and another 11 people were injured during the shooting. In a note explaining his motives Barbaro wrote: "I guess I just wanted to kill the person I hate most -- myself, I just didn't have the courage. I wanted to die, but I couldn't do it, so I had to get someone to do it for me. It didn't work out."

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(x) 46 years ago The Police Believed Him Friday 30th of December 1977 Robert Donnelly is raped and tortured by serial killer John Wayne Gacy aka The Killer Clown in 8213 West Summerdale Avenue, Cook, Chicago, Illinois, United States. After several hours of assaulting and torturing the youth Gacy drove Donnelly to his place of work, removed the handcuffs from the youth's wrists and released him. Donnelly reported the assault and Gacy was questioned about it on 6 January 1978. Gacy admitted to having had 'slave-sex' with Donnelly but insisted everything was consensual. The police believed him and no charges were filed.

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(x) 45 years ago Saturday 30th of December 1978 32-year-old Serial killer Ted Theodore Robert Bundy aka The Only Living Witness escapes in County Jail, 107 8th Street, Glenwood Springs, Colorado, United States. Bundy piled books and files in his bunk bed under a blanket to simulate his sleeping body and slipped into the crawlspace above his cell. He broke through the ceiling into the apartment of the chief jailer who was out for the evening with his wife, changed into street clothes from the jailer's closet and walked out the front door to freedom.

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(-) 45 years ago Saturday 30th of December 1978 Stephen Dean Holmes is strangled and drowned by serial killer Dennis Nilsen aka Killing For Company in 195 Melrose Avenue, London, Greater London, United Kingdom. Holmes was Nilsen's first victim. Holmes' dead body remained beneath the floorboards for almost eight months before Nilsen built a bonfire in the garden behind his flat and burned it on 11 August 1979.

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(-) 41 years ago Thursday 30th of December 1982 David M. Block is stabbed to death by serial killer Larry Eyler aka The Leather Boy Killer in Deerfield, Illinois, United States. Block's body was found on 7 May 1984 in Zion, Illinois.

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(-) 36 years ago Wednesday 30th of December 1987 Mass murderer Robert J. Dreesman commits suicide by a shot in the head at the age of 40 in Algona, Iowa, United States. During a family reunion Dreesman shot dead his parents 79-year-old John and 74-year-old Agnes Dreesman, his widowed sister Marilyn Chuang and her three children 12-year-old Jason, 11-year-old Jennifer and 8-year-old Joshua.

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(x) 27 years ago Monday 30th of December 1996 Over 100 die in Brahmaputra Mail passenger train bomb explosion in Fakiragram, Assam, India. The Indian government blamed the attack on an Assamese separatist organisation Bodo Security Force.

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(x) 24 years ago He Wasn't Auditioning for the Traveling Wilburys Thursday 30th of December 1999 56-year-old Guitarist and singer-songwriter George Harrison known from the Beatles is attacked with a kitchen knife by 34-year-old paranoid schizophrenic Michael Abram in his home in Friar Park, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. Harrison was hospitalised with more than 40 stab wounds and part of his punctured lung was removed. Harrison released a statement soon afterwards regarding his assailant: "He wasn't a burglar and he certainly wasn't auditioning for the Traveling Wilburys."

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(x) 19 years ago People Would not Enter Without Paying Thursday 30th of December 2004 194 die in República Cromañón nightclub fire in República Cromañón, 3060/3066/3070 Bartolomé Mitre, Balvanera, Buenos Aires, Gran Buenos Aires, Argentina. The blaze was started when a pyrotechnic flare was set off during a concert by the rock group 'Callejeros', and ignited foam in the ceiling. Four of the six doors had been wired shut to keep out "people who would not enter without paying".

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(-) 17 years ago Saturday 30th of December 2006 Dictator of Iraq Saddam Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti Hussein is executed by hanging at the age of 69 in Camp Justice, Al-Kāẓimiyyah, Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq.

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17 years ago The Eyes had it Saturday 30th of December 2006 Detail of a blood painting by Hermann Nitsch in a retrospective exhibition in Martin-Gropius-Bau, Niederkirchnerstraße 7, Kreuzberg, Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

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(-) 14 years ago Wednesday 30th of December 2009 Doctor and a double agent suicide bomber Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi aka Abu Dujana al-Khurasani commits suicide by suicide bombing at the age of 32 in Camp Chapman, Khost, Khost, Afghanistan. Seven American CIA officers and contractors, an officer of Jordan's intelligence service and an Afghan working for the CIA were killed when al-Balawi detonated a bomb sewn into a vest he was wearing. Six other American CIA officers were wounded.

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