41st year - Nr 236 Monday, 24 August 2026

BIRTH(+)FACT(᙮)DEATH(-)
41st year - Nr 236 Monday, 24 August 2026

24 August / Today's 32 Events:

---

(x) 1947 years ago Thursday 24th of August 0079 Eruption of the volcano in Mount Vesuvius, Pompeii, Campania, Italy. Mount Vesuvius violently spewed forth a deadly cloud of super-heated tephra and gases to a height of 33 km, ejecting molten rock, pulverized pumice and hot ash at 1.5 million tons per second. The remains of over 1.500 people have so far been found. The total number of fatalities remains unknown.

---

(-) 256 years ago Friday 24th of August 1770 Poet and forger of pseudo-medieval poetry Thomas Chatterton commits suicide by arsenic poisoning at the age of 18 in Brooke Street, Holborn, London, Greater London, United Kingdom. After drinking the poison Chatterton tore into fragments whatever literary remains were at hand.

---

(-) 162 years ago Wednesday 24th of August 1864 Christian mystic and visionary Jakob Lorber aka Der Schreibknecht Gottes dies of pneumonia at the age of 64 in Graz, Steiermark, Austria.

---

(-) 157 years ago Tuesday 24th of August 1869 Jean Kinck is poisoned with prussic acid by mass murderer Jean-Baptiste Troppmann aka Le Massacreur de Pantin in Uffholtz, Haut-Rhin, France. Troppmann had hoped to find 5.500 Francs that Kinck had promised to start up a company together. Kinck's body was found on 25 November.

---

(x) 151 years ago He Set Off at a Steady Breaststroke Tuesday 24th of August 1875 27-year-old Swimmer Matthew Webb known for swimming the Channel becomes the first man to swim across the Channel. in Admiralty Pier, Dover, Kent, United Kingdom. Backed by three escort boats and smeared in porpoise oil Webb set off into the ebb tide at a steady breaststroke. Despite stings from jellyfish and strong currents off Cap Gris Nez after approximately 21 hours and 40 minutes he landed near Calais. Webb's zig-zag course across the Channel was nearly 66 km long.

---

(-) 131 years ago Saturday 24th of August 1895 Dame Morand is killed and raped by serial killer Joseph Vacher aka L’Eventreur du Sud-Est in Saint-Ours, Haute-Savoie, France.

---

(+) 111 years ago Tuesday 24th of August 1915 Science fiction writer Alice Bradley Sheldon aka James Tiptree Jr. is born in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

---

(+) 107 years ago Sunday 24th of August 1919 Singer and band leader Benny Moré, originally Bartolomé Maximiliano Moré Gutiérrez aka El Bárbaro del Ritmo aka El Sonero Mayor is born in Lajas, Santa Clara, Cuba.

---

(-) 103 years ago Friday 24th of August 1923 Heinrich Struß is killed and his meat sold by serial killer Fritz Haarmann aka Der Hannover Werwolf in Das Mordhaus, Rote Reihe 4, Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany.

---

(-) 97 years ago Saturday 24th of August 1929 Louise Lenzen is strangled and stabbed to death by serial killer Peter Kürten aka The Vampire of Düsseldorf in Aachener Straße, Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

---

(+) 97 years ago Saturday 24th of August 1929 Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, originally Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa is born in Caïro, Al Qahirah, Egypt.

---

(-) 97 years ago Saturday 24th of August 1929 Gertrud Hamacher is strangled and throatcut by serial killer Peter Kürten aka The Vampire of Düsseldorf in Aachener Straße, Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

---

(-) 87 years ago Thursday 24th of August 1939 Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run suspect Frank Dolezal commits suicide by hanging in his cell at the age of 52 in Cuyahoga County Jail, Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Dolezal was suspected of being the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run and badly beaten to force a confession.

---

(+) 86 years ago Saturday 24th of August 1940 Serial killer Richard Fran Biegenwald aka The Jersey Shore Thrill Killer is born in Trenton, New Jersey, United States.

---

(-) 83 years ago Tuesday 24th of August 1943 Philosopher, mystic and political activist Simone Adolphine Weil dies of cardiac failure due to anorexia nervosa at the age of 34 in Grosvenor Sanatorium, Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom.

---

(+) 82 years ago Thursday 24th of August 1944 News reporter Christine Chubbuck is born in Hudson, Ohio, United States.

---

(-) 64 years ago Friday 24th of August 1962 Cop killer James Dukes is executed by Old Sparky in Stateville Correctional Center, Crest Hill, Illinois, United States.

---

(x) 49 years ago Wednesday 24th of August 1977 40-year-old Serial art vandal Hans-Joachim Bohlmann The painting 'Albrecht von Österreich' by Rubens is attacked with acid by in Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

---

(x) 45 years ago Monday 24th of August 1981 26-year-old Murderer Mark David Chapman aka The Man Who Shot John Lennon is sentenced to 20-years-to-life in Manhattan, New York, New York, United States.

---

(x) 42 years ago Friday 24th of August 1984 The Texas School Book Depository from where 45-year-old Assassin Lee Harvey Oswald presumably operated is destroyed by arson in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas, United States.

---

(x) 41 years ago The Night Stalker was There Saturday 24th of August 1985 30-year-old Bill Carns and his 29-year-old fiancée Inez Erickson are attacked and robbed by 25-year-old Serial killer Richard Ricardo Leyva Muñoz Ramirez aka The Night Stalker in Mission Viejo, California, United States. Cairns was shot in the head three times and Erickson was beaten, raped and sodomised. Before leaving the home Ramirez told Erickson "Tell them the Night Stalker was here."

---

(-) 39 years ago Monday 24th of August 1987 Rapist and murderer Sterling J. Rault is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 36 in Louisiana State Penitentiary, Angola, Louisiana, United States. Rault's final meal request was for a T-bone steak, 12 shrimps, French fries, Pepsi and strawberry shortcake.

---

(-) 39 years ago He Couldn't Be Dead Monday 24th of August 1987 Fictitious Robol scientist Edward Moolenbeek dies of unknown causes in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, United Kingdom. In fact Moolenbeek was a fictional character created by Andrew M. McKenzie of The Hafler Trio.

---

(-) 33 years ago Tuesday 24th of August 1993 Serial killer David Edwin Mason is executed by the gas chamber at the age of 37 in San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, California, United States. Mason was the last man to die in San Quentin's Gas Chamber. Mason refused any last meal, requesting only ice water while in the death watch cell. Mason told the warden that he had no final words to impart.

---

(-) 33 years ago Tuesday 24th of August 1993 Murderer Ruben Montoya Cantu is executed by lethal injection at the age of 27 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States. Cantu's final request was for a piece of bubble gum, which was denied.

---

(x) 32 years ago Wednesday 24th of August 1994 A five kg pipe-bomb by 45-year-old Xenophobic serial bomber Franz Fuchs is found near the Rennerschule and transported to the airport for closer examination in Flughafen Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt, Kärnten, Austria. Police officer Theo Kelz examined the package and it exploded, ripping off both Kelz' hands. Kelz had a transplant of two new hands six years later.

---

27 years ago The Eyes had it Tuesday 24th of August 1999 A stairway down into the ocean in Auckland, North Island, New Zealand.

---

(-) 25 years ago Friday 24th of August 2001 Murderer Clifton Allen White is executed by lethal injection at the age of 43 in Raleigh State Prison, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States.

---

(-) 20 years ago Thursday 24th of August 2006 Murderer Justin Chaz Fuller is executed by lethal injection at the age of 28 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States. Fuller declined a last meal request.

---

19 years ago The Eyes had it Friday 24th of August 2007 The house where on 14 May 1970 Ulrike Meinhof assisted in the freeing of Andreas Baader with Gudrun Ensslin, Irene Goergens and Ingrid Schubert, and jumped in the underground in Deutsches Zentralinstitut für Soziale Fragen, Miquelstraße 83, Dahlem, Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

---

(-) 16 years ago He Lived on Cigarettes and Beer Tuesday 24th of August 2010 Snooker player Alex Alexander Gordon Higgins aka Hurricane dies of a combination of malnutrition, pneumonia, tooth decay and a bronchial condition at the age of 61 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. Higgins had cancerous growths removed from his mouth in 1994 and 1996. He lost his teeth after intensive radiotherapy used to treat his throat cancer and had been living on liquid food, often Guinnes, for the last years of his life.

---

(-) 12 years ago Sunday 24th of August 2014 Actor Richard Samuel Attenborough dies of heart failure at the age of 91 in London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

---

41st year - Nr 235 Sunday, 23 August 2026

BIRTH(+)FACT(᙮)DEATH(-)
41st year - Nr 235 Sunday, 23 August 2026

23 August / Today's 30 Events:

---

(+) 272 years ago Friday 23rd of August 1754 King of France and Navarre Louis XVI, originally Louis-Auguste de France is born in Palais de Versailles, Versailles, Île-de-France, France.

---

(-) 128 years ago Tuesday 23rd of August 1898 Artist Félicien Rops aka The Satanic Eroticist dies of unknown causes at the age of 65 in Essonnes, Île-de-France, France.

---

(+) 114 years ago He Was an American in Pittsburgh Friday 23rd of August 1912 Dancer, actor, singer, film director and choreographer Gene Eugene Curran Kelly is born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.

---

(-) 100 years ago The Sheik Lapsed in a Coma Monday 23rd of August 1926 Actor and sex symbol Rudolph Valentino, originally Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla aka Latin Lover dies of pleurisy at the age of 31 in Polyclinic Hospital, 345 West 50th Street, New York City, New York, United States.

---

(-) 99 years ago Tuesday 23rd of August 1927 Anarchist Bartolomeo Vanzetti is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 39 in Charlestown State Prison, Charlestown, Massachusetts, United States.

---

(-) 99 years ago Tuesday 23rd of August 1927 Anarchist Nicola Sacco is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 36 in Charlestown State Prison, Charlestown, Massachusetts, United States.

---

(+) 97 years ago Friday 23rd of August 1929 Actress Vera Miles, originally Vera June Ralston is born in Boise City, Oklahoma, United States.

---

(+) 90 years ago Sunday 23rd of August 1936 Serial killer Henry Lee Lucas aka The Hand of Death is born in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States.

---

(+) 80 years ago Friday 23rd of August 1946 Drummer Keith John Moon known from the band The Who is born in Central Middlesex Hospital, Wembley, Middlesex, United Kingdom.

---

(+) 77 years ago Tuesday 23rd of August 1949 Manson Family member Leslie Louise Van Houten aka Lulu is born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States.

---

(+) 74 years ago Saturday 23rd of August 1952 Gangster Yvan Somville is born in Gembloux, Namur, Belgium.

---

(-) 68 years ago Saturday 23rd of August 1958 Artist and radical lesbian Marlow Marjorie Jewel Moss dies of cancer at the age of 69 in Penzance, Cornwall, United Kingdom.

---

(+) 56 years ago He Was Named after a River Sunday 23rd of August 1970 Actor and musician River Phoenix, originally River Jude Bottom is born in Madras, Oregon, United States. Phoenix's parents named him after the river of life from the Hermann Hesse novel 'Siddhartha' and he received his middle name from the Beatles' song 'Hey Jude'.

---

(-) 52 years ago Friday 23rd of August 1974 Kathie Sue Pearce is strangled by serial killer Paul John Knowles aka The Casanova Killer in Musella, Georgia, United States. Knowles left Pearce's three-year-old sun physically unharmed.

---

(x) 51 years ago They Danced to the Radio Saturday 23rd of August 1975 Musician Ian Kevin Curtis known from the band Joy Division is strangled by serial killer Paul John Knowles aka The Casanova Killer in St Thomas' Church, Henbury, Cheshire, United Kingdom.

---

(+) 44 years ago Monday 23rd of August 1982 Juvenile child killer Robert Thompson known for the murder of James Bulger is born in Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom.

---

(-) 37 years ago Wednesday 23rd of August 1989 Psychiatrist Ronald David Laing, originally R. D. Laing dies of a heart attack at the age of 62 in .

---

(x) 26 years ago Wednesday 23rd of August 2000 143 die in Gulf Air Flight 072 Airbus A320-212 crash in Bahrein International Airport, Muharraq, Bahrein.

---

(-) 26 years ago Wednesday 23rd of August 2000 Triple murderer David Earl Gibbs is executed by lethal injection at the age of 39 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

---

(x) 24 years ago Friday 23rd of August 2002 Noise music band Club Moral play their 89th concert in Stubnitz, Graaf Visartkaai, Brugge, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

---

24 years ago The Eyes had it Friday 23rd of August 2002 Party time after our Club Moral music performance on the Stubnitz in Brugge, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

---

(-) 21 years ago Tuesday 23rd of August 2005 Murderer Robert Alan Shields is executed by lethal injection at the age of 30 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

---

(x) 20 years ago Wednesday 23rd of August 2006 18-year-old Kidnap victim Natascha Maria Kampusch aka The Girl in the Cellar escapes after being held in captivity for over 8 years by Wolfgang Přiklopil in Heinestrasse 60, Strasshof an der Nordbahn, Niederösterreich, Austria.

---

(-) 20 years ago Wednesday 23rd of August 2006 Kidnapper Wolfgang Přiklopil commits suicide by throwing himself before a Wiener S-Bahn train at the age of 44 in Praterstern Station, Wien, Wien, Austria.

---

(-) 19 years ago Thursday 23rd of August 2007 Triple murderer Hifumi Takezawa is executed by hanging at the age of 69 in Tokyo Detention House, Katsushika, Tokyo, Kantō, Japan.

---

(-) 19 years ago Thursday 23rd of August 2007 Murderer Yoshio Iwamoto is executed by hanging at the age of 63 in Tokyo Detention House, Katsushika, Tokyo, Kantō, Japan.

---

(-) 19 years ago Thursday 23rd of August 2007 Murderer Kozo Segawa is executed by hanging at the age of 60 in Nagoya, Chūbu, Japan.

---

8 years ago The Eyes had it Thursday 23rd of August 2018 AMVK at Hotel Alt Weimar where Rudolf Steiner lived from 1892 to 1896 in Steiner Wohnhaus, Prellerstraße 2, Weimar, Thüringen, Germany.

---

8 years ago The Eyes had it Thursday 23rd of August 2018 Electric light switches in Schloss Tiefurt, Weimar, Thüringen, Germany.

---

4 years ago The Eyes had it Tuesday 23rd of August 2022 The Red Dahlia on our terrace in Oudstrijdersstraat 35, Borgerhout, Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

---