41st year - Nr 145 Monday, 25 May 2026

BIRTH(+)FACT(᙮)DEATH(-)
41st year - Nr 145 Monday, 25 May 2026

25 May / Today's 44 Events:

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(-) 941 years ago Monday 25th of May 1085 157th Pope Gregorius VII, originally Ildebrando da Soana dies of unknown causes at the age of 70 in Salerno, Campania, Italy. "I have loved justice and hated iniquity; therefore, I die in exile."

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(-) 765 years ago Wednesday 25th of May 1261 181st Pope Alexander IV, originally Rinaldo di Jenne dies of unknown causes at the age of 62 in Viterbo, Lazio, Italy.

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(x) 161 years ago Thursday 25th of May 1865 Over 300 die in federal ammunition depot explosion in Beauregard Street, Mobile, Alabama, United States.

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(+) 161 years ago Thursday 25th of May 1865 Leader of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) John Raleigh Mott is born in Livingston Manor, New York, United States.

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(-) 160 years ago Friday 25th of May 1866 Johanna Swanenburg is poisoned with arsenic by serial poisoner Maria Swanenburg aka Goeie Mie in Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands.

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(-) 160 years ago Friday 25th of May 1866 Catharina Swanenburg is poisoned with arsenic by serial poisoner Maria Swanenburg aka Goeie Mie in Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands.

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(+) 144 years ago Thursday 25th of May 1882 Anti-war protester Alice Herz, originally Alice Strauß is born in Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.

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(+) 139 years ago Wednesday 25th of May 1887 Stigmatised monk Pio of Pietrelcina, originally Francesco Forgione is born in Pietrelcina, Campania, Italy.

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(+) 137 years ago Saturday 25th of May 1889 Aviation pioneer Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky is born in 15-a Yaroslaviv Val, Kiev, Ukraine, Russia.

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(x) 131 years ago Saturday 25th of May 1895 41-year-old Poet and writer Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde is convicted of 'committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons' and sentenced to two years hard labour in London, Greater London, United Kingdom. Judge Justice Wills described the sentence, the maximum allowed, as "totally inadequate for a case such as this" and that the case was "the worst case I have ever tried". Wilde's response was "And I? May I say nothing, my Lord?"

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(-) 113 years ago Sunday 25th of May 1913 Christine Klein is throatcut by serial killer Peter Kürten aka The Vampire of Düsseldorf in Mulheim-am-Rhein, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

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(+) 99 years ago Wednesday 25th of May 1927 Writer Robert Ludlum is born in New York City, New York, United States.

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(x) 90 years ago Monday 25th of May 1936 30-year-old Wife of camp commandant and human-skin-handywoman Ilse Koch, originally Margarete Ilse Köhler aka Die Hexe von Buchenwald aka Die Buchenwälder Schlampe marries SS-Mann Karl Otto Koch in KZ Sachsenhausen, Oranienburg, Brandenburg, Germany.

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(x) 83 years ago Tuesday 25th of May 1943 In a letter to Enrico Fermi, 39-year-old Theoretical physicist Robert Julius Oppenheimer aka The Father of the Atomic Bomb discusses the possibility of infecting food with Strontium 90 whereby easily about 1/2 million people could be killed at once in Los Alamos, New Mexico, United States.

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(+) 80 years ago Saturday 25th of May 1946 Kidnapper and murderer Richard Gerald Jordan is born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, United States.

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(-) 80 years ago Saturday 25th of May 1946 Doctor and serial killer Marcel André Henri Félix Petiot aka The Triangular Chamber of Death Murderer is executed by the Guillotine at the age of 49 in Prison de la Santé, 42 Rue de la Santé, XIVe, Montparnasse, Paris, Île-de-France, France.

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(+) 70 years ago Friday 25th of May 1956 Irish republican hunger striker Kevin Lynch, originally Caoimhghin O Loinsigh is born in Park, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.

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(+) 69 years ago Saturday 25th of May 1957 Victim of Edmund Kemper aka The Co-ed Killer Aiko Koo is born in San Francisco, California, United States.

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(-) 65 years ago Thursday 25th of May 1961 Murderer Victor John Terry is executed by hanging at the age of 20 in Wandsworth Prison, Wandsworth, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

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(x) 63 years ago Saturday 25th of May 1963 28-year-old Serial killer Joseph Kallinger, originally Joseph Lee Brenner III aka The Shoemaker sets fire to the 2nd floor of a building he owns in 2039 East Fletcher Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. He collected 15.000$ on insurance money.

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(-) 58 years ago Saturday 25th of May 1968 Martin Brown is strangled by child killer Mary Bell aka Child of Hell in 85 St. Margaret’s Road, Scotswood, Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, United Kingdom. "There has been a boy who Just lay down and Died."

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(x) 57 years ago Sunday 25th of May 1969 30-year-old Foot fetishist and serial killer Jerry Jerome Henry Brudos aka The Lust Killer is arrested and questioned but released by the FBI in Corvallis, Oregon, United States.

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(x) 52 years ago Saturday 25th of May 1974 After a botched abduction of a Puerto Rican boy on 15 May 1974, Erno Soto is arrested on suspicion of being Unidentified serial killer Charlie Chop-off in New York City, New York, United States. He was never brought to trial due to lack of evidence.

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(x) 49 years ago Wednesday 25th of May 1977 Two unidentified burglars are blown to pieces while robbing a safe in a dynamite warehouse in Hunneberg, Västergötland, Sweden.

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(x) 48 years ago Thursday 25th of May 1978 36-year-old Mathematician and serial bomber Theodore John 'Ted' Kaczynski aka The Unabomber leaves Bomb #1 in the parking lot in University of Illinois Science & Engineering Building, Chicago Circle, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Campus security officer Terry Marker is injured on his left hand when he opens the package and the bomb explodes the next day at the Northwestern Technological Institute.

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(-) 47 years ago Friday 25th of May 1979 Murderer John Arthur Spenkelink is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 30 in Florida State Prison, 23916 NW 83rd Ave., Raiford, Florida, United States. Spenkelink's last meal request was for two swigs of Jack Daniels. After the execution, unfounded rumors spread that the fighting, shouting Spenkelink was dragged to the electric chair, gagged, beaten and had his neck broken.

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(x) 47 years ago Friday 25th of May 1979 273 die in American Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 Flight 191 crash in Ravenswood Airport, Des Plaines, Illinois, United States.

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(x) 46 years ago Sunday 25th of May 1980 42-year-old Wiener Aktionist Hermann Nitsch performs his 67. Aktion for Pfingsfest in Schloss Prinzendorf, Schloss Straße 1, Prinzendorf an der Zaya, Niederösterreich, Austria. Nitsch' 67. Aktion for Pfingsfest lasted 12 hours.

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(x) 43 years ago Wednesday 25th of May 1983 294 die in 10th of the Ramadan Ferry fire and sinking in Lake Nasser, Egypt.

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(x) 42 years ago Friday 25th of May 1984 Noise music band Club Moral play their 35th concert in Gladhouse, Schrijnmakersstraat 11, Leuven, Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium.

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(-) 42 years ago Friday 25th of May 1984 An unidentified boy is stabbed to death by serial killer Andrei Chikatilo aka The Rostov Ripper in Rostov, Rostov Oblast, Russia.

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(-) 42 years ago Friday 25th of May 1984 Sue Luna is abducted and killed by serial killer Robert Hansen aka The Aviation Hunter in Anchorage, Alaska, United States.

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(+) 42 years ago Friday 25th of May 1984 The first daughter of 28-year-old Child killer Mary Flora Bell aka Child of Hell is born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

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(+) 40 years ago Sunday 25th of May 1986 School shooter Andrew Douglas Golden aka Drew Douglas Grant is born in Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States.

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(x) 40 years ago Sunday 25th of May 1986 Some 600 die in M.V. Shamia Ferry capsizing in Meghna River, Barisal, Bangladesh.

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(-) 36 years ago Friday 25th of May 1990 Member of the Grupos de Resistencia Antifascista Primero de Octubre José Manuel Sevillano dies after 177 days hungerstriking at the age of 30 in Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Calle Doctor Esquerdo 46, Madrid, Área metropolitana de Madrid, Spain.

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(-) 26 years ago Thursday 25th of May 2000 Murderer James Edward Clayton is executed by lethal injection at the age of 34 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

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(x) 24 years ago Saturday 25th of May 2002 192 die in train derailment in Tenga, Maputo, Mozambique.

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(x) 23 years ago No Debris Has Been Found Sunday 25th of May 2003 Shortly before sunset it is believed that two men, US pilot and flight engineer Ben C. Padilla and Congolese mechanic John M. Mutantu, boarded a Boeing 727-223 airliner with serial number 20985. With no lights, the aircraft took off, heading southwest over the Atlantic Ocean before disappearing. in Quatro de Fevereiro Airport, Luanda, Luanda, Angola. Neither the aircraft nor the two men have been seen since and no debris from the aircraft has been found.

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(-) 20 years ago Thursday 25th of May 2006 Musician Desmond Dekker, originally Desmond Adolphus Dacres dies of a heart attack at the age of 65 in Thornton Heath, Croydon, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

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(x) 19 years ago Friday 25th of May 2007 21-year-old School shooter Andrew Douglas Golden aka Drew Douglas Grant is released from prison in Arkansas Juvenile Assessment & Treatment Center, 1501 Woody Drive, Bryant, Arkansas, United States. Golden served nine years for the Jonesboro Massacre.

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13 years ago The Eyes had it Saturday 25th of May 2013 John Cale pretty in pink surveying the audience for his video-installation 'Diddiau Du/Dark Days' in Middelheimmuseum, Wilrijk, Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

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(-) 10 years ago Wednesday 25th of May 2016 Accomplice of serial killer William Bonin aka The Freeway Killer Gregory Matthew Miley dies after being beaten by another inmate at the age of 55 in Mule Creek State Prison, 4001 Highway 104, Ione, California, United States.

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(-) 1 years ago Sunday 25th of May 2025 Kidnapper and murderer Richard Gerald Jordan is executed by lethal injection at the age of 79 in Mississippi State Penitentiary, Parchman, Mississippi, United States. Jordan was executed for the 1976 murder of 34-year-old Edwina Marter. He was the state's oldest and longest-serving death row inmate. Jordan's last meal request was for chicken tenders, french fries, strawberry ice cream, and a root beer float.

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