41st year - Nr 263 Sunday, 20 September 2026

BIRTH(+)FACT(᙮)DEATH(-)
41st year - Nr 263 Sunday, 20 September 2026

20 September / Today's 66 Events:

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(x) 507 years ago They Were Setting Sail Saturday 20th of September 1519 39-year-old Explorer Ferdinand Magellan, originally Fernão de Magalhães sets sail in the first attempt to circumnavigate the earth in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Cádiz, Spain. The fleet included five ships: the flagship Trinidad,  San Antonio, Concepcion, Santiago and Victoria. The crew of about 270 included men from several nations including Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Greece, England and France.

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(+) 204 years ago Friday 20th of September 1822 Carpenter and inventor Peter Mitterhofer known for inventing the typewriter is born in Partschins, Südtirol, Austria.

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(+) 173 years ago Tuesday 20th of September 1853 King of Siam Rama V, originally Phra Bat Somdet Phra Poraminthra Maha Chulalongkorn Phra Chunla Chom Klao Chao Yu Hua aka The Royal Buddha is born in Phra Borom Maha Ratcha Wang, Phra Nakhon, Phra Nakhon, Kingdom of Siam.

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(+) 167 years ago Tuesday 20th of September 1859 Naturalist writer Cyriel Cyrillus Gustave Emile Buysse is born in Nevele, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

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(-) 163 years ago Sunday 20th of September 1863 Philologist, folklorist and mythologist Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm dies of natural causes at the age of 78 in Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

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(+) 146 years ago Monday 20th of September 1880 Prostitute cum serial killer Louise Peete, originally Lofie Louise Preslar is born in Bienville, Louisiana, United States.

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(x) 113 years ago Saturday 20th of September 1913 The first stone of the first Goetheanum is laid by 52-year-old Philosopher, social reformer, architect and esotericist Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner aka The Father of Anthroposophy in Goetheanum, Dornach, Solothurn, Switzerland. The building was destroyed by arson on New Year's Eve, 31 December 1922 - 1 January 1923.

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(+) 110 years ago Wednesday 20th of September 1916 Food entrepreneur Rudolf-August Oetker is born in Bielefeld, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

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(x) 108 years ago Friday 20th of September 1918 31-year-old Stigmatised monk Pio of Pietrelcina, originally Francesco Forgione has his first occurence of stigmata while kneeling before a cross in Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie, San Giovanni Rotondo, Puglia, Italy. This phenomenon continued for fifty years, until Pio's death in 1968.

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(+) 101 years ago Sunday 20th of September 1925 King of Thailand Rama VIII, originally Phra Bat Somdet Phra Poramentharamaha Ananda Mahidol Phra Atthama Ramathibodindara aka Ananda Mahidol is born in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

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(+) 97 years ago Friday 20th of September 1929 Experimental filmmaker Kurt Kren aka Lord of the Frames is born in Wien, Wien, Austria.

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(x) 95 years ago Sunday 20th of September 1931 Thousands surround the county jail where 39-year-old Serial killer Harry Powers, originally Herman Drenth aka Cornelius O. Pierson aka A. R. Weaver is being held and demanded that he be given to them to render mob justice in Clarksburg, West Virginia, United States. The Clarksburg Fire Department tried fire hoses to disperse the crowd, and eventually tear gas was used.

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(x) 94 years ago Tuesday 20th of September 1932 63-year-old Indian nationalist leader Mahatma Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi aka The Apostle of Non-violence embarks on a six-day fast as start of a new campaign to improve the lives of untouchables in Yerwada Central Jail, Pune, Maharashtra, India.

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(-) 93 years ago Wednesday 20th of September 1933 Theosophist, writer and women's rights activist Annie Wood Besant dies of unknown causes at the age of 86 in The Theosophical Society, Adyar, Madras, India.

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(-) 93 years ago Wednesday 20th of September 1933 Assassin of SA-leader Horst Wessel Albrecht Höhler aka Ali is abducted and shot to pieces by an SA commando at the age of 35 in Frankfurt an der Oder, Brandenburg, Germany. Berlin SA-Gruppenführer Karl Ernst ordered Höhler to be taken from a Gestapo prison at Alexanderplatz to Frankfurt an der Oder. In a wooded area near the highway Höhler was surrounded by armed men, riddled with bullets and buried in a shallow grave.

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(+) 92 years ago Thursday 20th of September 1934 Actress Sophia Loren, originally Sofia Villani Scicolone is born in Clinica Regina Margherita, Rome, Lazio, Italy.

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(+) 90 years ago Sunday 20th of September 1936 Criminal Roger Bontems is born in Aydoilles, Vosges, France.

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(+) 89 years ago Monday 20th of September 1937 Serial art vandal Hans-Joachim Bohlmann is born in Breslau, Schlesien, Germany.

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(x) 86 years ago Friday 20th of September 1940 The one and only concentration camp for Belgium is inaugurated by 38-year-old SS-Sturmbannführer and commandant of Fort Breendonk Philipp Johann Adolf Schmitt in Breendonk KZ, Breendonk, Antwerpen, Belgium. Initially prisoners were petty criminals, people deemed anti-social or trespassers of the new race laws. Later on resistance fighters, political prisoners and innocent hostages were detained as well. Another section was used as a transit camp for Jews being sent to death camps such as Auschwitz.

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(x) 86 years ago Friday 20th of September 1940 Frau Lausche is thrown out of a train by serial killer Paul Ogorzow aka Der Schnell-Bahn Mörder in Karlshorst, Berlin, Berlin, Germany. Lausche survived.

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(+) 84 years ago Sunday 20th of September 1942 Film director Robbe De Hert is born in Farnborough, Hampshire, United Kingdom.

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(-) 81 years ago Thursday 20th of September 1945 Occultist, explorer, traveller, cannibal and journalist William Buehler Seabrook aka The White Cannibal of New York commits suicide by a drug overdose at the age of 39 in Rhinebeck, New York, United States. "It was like good, fully developed veal, not young, but not yet beef. It was very definitely like that, and it was not like any other meat I had ever tasted. It was so nearly like good, fully developed veal that I think no person with a palate of ordinary, normal sensitiveness could distinguish it from veal. It was mild, good meat with no other sharply defined or highly characteristic taste such as for instance, goat, high game, and pork have. The steak was slightly tougher than prime veal, a little stringy, but not too tough or stringy to be agree ably edible. The roast, from which I cut and ate a central slice, was tender, and in color, texture, smell as well as taste, strengthened my certainty that of all the meats we habitually know, veal is the one meat to which this meat is accurately comparable."

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(-) 81 years ago Thursday 20th of September 1945 SS-Standortarzt at Auschwitz KZ Eduard Wirths commits suicide by hanging in his cell at the age of 36 in Civil Internment Camp No. 5, Staumühle in der Senne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. Wirth was found hanging in his cell but still alive a few days before, he nevertheless died of his injuries.

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(x) 80 years ago Friday 20th of September 1946 The first Cannes Film Festival opens in Casino Municipal, Boulevard de la Croisette, Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes, France.

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(x) 79 years ago Saturday 20th of September 1947 23-year-old Miscarriage of justice victim Timothy John Evans aka The Innocent Strangler of 10 Rillington Place marries Beryl Suzanna Thornley in Kensington Registry Office, Kings Road, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

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(-) 78 years ago Gab es Ein Zimmer Frei Monday 20th of September 1948 KZ-Aufseherin Emma Zimmer, originally Emma Anne Mezel is executed by hanging at the age of 60 in Zuchthaus Hameln, Hameln, Sachsen, Germany. Zimmer was known for her extreme sadistic behaviour. In late 1943 she was discharged from Auschwitz-Birkenau KZ due to alcohol problems.

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(x) 75 years ago Thursday 20th of September 1951 Monkey astronaut Yorick aka Albert VI along with 11 mouse crewmates becoms the first animal to survive a flight in an Aerobee rocket in Holloman Air Force Base, Alamogordo, New Mexico, United States. Yorick died 2 hours after landing. Two of the mice also died after recovery. All of the deaths were thought to be related to stress from overheating in the sealed capsule in the New Mexico sun while awaiting the recovery team.

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(+) 75 years ago Thursday 20th of September 1951 Victim of Ted Bundy aka The Only Living Witness Caryn Ilene Campbell is born in Dearborn, Michigan, United States.

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(x) 72 years ago Magte Sie Beerdigungen Monday 20th of September 1954 32-year-old Serial poisoner Christa Lehmann, originally Christa Ambros aka The Mass Poisoner of Worms is sentenced to life-imprisonment in Mainz, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. Imprisoned in Neuwied, Lehmann tried to commit suicide several times. She was released from prison after 23 years and changed her name. Her last words to a journalist after sentencing were "Ich mag Beerdigungen."

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(-) 69 years ago Friday 20th of September 1957 Composer Jean Johan Julius Christian Sibelius dies of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 92 in Ainola, Järvenpää, Uusimaa, Finland. Sibelius was buried in his garden. His wife Aino died on 8 June 1969 and was buried next to him.

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(x) 68 years ago Saturday 20th of September 1958 Martin Luther King, originally Michael King is stabbed in the upper left side of his chest with a letter opener by would-be assassin Izola Curry in Blumstein's Department Store, Harlem, New York, New York, United States. King was signing copies of his book 'Stride Toward Freedom' when Curry said "I've been looking for you for five years" and stabbed him in the chest with a ivory handled steel letter opener. When the ambulance arrived King was sitting in a chair with the letter opener protruding from his chest. At Harlem Hospital Chief of Surgery Aubre de Lambert Maynard attempted to pull out the letter opener but cut his glove on the blade. A surgical c lamp was finally used to pull out the blade.

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(x) 67 years ago They Cut it Up Sunday 20th of September 1959 43-year-old Artist, writer and sound poet Brion John Clifford Gysin aka The Father of Cut-up introduces his friend William Burroughs to the Cut-up technique in Beat Hotel Room #15, 9 Rue Gît-le-Cœur, VIe, Paris, Île-de-France, France.

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(x) 67 years ago Sunday 20th of September 1959 20-year-old Assassin Lee Harvey Oswald starts a journey to Russia when boarding the SS Marion Lykes in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. He first arrived in Le Havre, from there to London, then Helsinki where he got a 6-day-visa for the Soviet Union.

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(x) 67 years ago Sunday 20th of September 1959 44-year-old Singer Édith Piaf, originally Édith Giovanna Gassion aka La Môme Piaf breaks down on stage with stomach bleedings due to alcohol and drug abuse in Waldorf Astoria Hotel, 301 Park Avenue, New York City, New York, United States.

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(+) 67 years ago Sunday 20th of September 1959 Performance artist Danny Devos aka DDV is born in Parkstraat 17, Vilvoorde, Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium.

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(+) 65 years ago Wednesday 20th of September 1961 Consensual victim of Robert Frederick Glass Sharon Rina Lopatka, originally Sharon Denburg is born in Baltimore, Maryland, United States.

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(+) 62 years ago Sunday 20th of September 1964 Actress Maggie Man Yuk Cheung is born in Hong Kong, China.

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(x) 61 years ago Monday 20th of September 1965 36-year-old Serial killer Charles Ray Hatcher aka Evil Incarnate is sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for burglary in Maitland, Missouri, United States.

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(x) 60 years ago Tuesday 20th of September 1966 The US Surveyor 2 lunar lander is launched aboard an Atlas Centaur rocket in Cape Kennedy, Cape Canaveral, Florida, United States. Two days later it crashed onto the Moon surface near Copernicus Crater.

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(x) 59 years ago Wednesday 20th of September 1967 38-year-old Experimental filmmaker Kurt Kren aka Lord of the Frames shoots his film '16/67:20. September' aka "the legendary eating, drinking, pissing, shitting film" with Wiener Aktionist Günter Brus in Wien, Wien, Austria.

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(+) 56 years ago Sunday 20th of September 1970 Bank robber Larry Eugene Phillips is born in Los Angeles, California, United States.

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(x) 56 years ago Sunday 20th of September 1970 27-year-old Singer-songwriter and poet Jim James Douglas Morrison aka The Lizard King aka Mr. Mojo Risin' known from The Doors is convicted of indecent exposure and profanity by a three-man, three-women jury in Dade County Courthouse, 73 West Flagler Street, Miami, Florida, United States.

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(x) 54 years ago Wednesday 20th of September 1972 31-year-old Mass murderer Richard Benjamin Speck aka Born to Raise Hell has his death-sentence voided by the Supreme Court in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

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(x) 54 years ago War Sie die Meinhof Wednesday 20th of September 1972 38-year-old Journalist and leader of the Rote Armee Fraktion Ulrike Marie Meinhof is transferred from Ossendorf Prison to take part in an identification line-up in Untersuchungsgefängnis, Johann-Schwebel-Straße 33, Zweibrücken, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. Determined to ruin the process, Meinhof screams "Ich bin die Meinhof - mich sollt ihr identifizieren!" upon which the police instructs the five other women in the line-up to do the same.

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(-) 53 years ago Thursday 20th of September 1973 Singer-songwriter Jim James Joseph Croce dies in a Beechcraft E18S plane crash while taking off at the age of 30 in Natchitoches Regional Airport, Natchitoches, Louisiana, United States. Apart from Croce, 24-year-old guitarist Maury Muehleisen, 57-year-old charter pilot Robert N. Elliott, 36-year-old comedian George Stevens, 28-year-old manager and booking agent Kenneth D. Cortose and 30-year-old road manager Dennis Rast also died. The plane crashed an hour after the end of a concert at Northwestern State University's Prather Coliseum.

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(-) 52 years ago Friday 20th of September 1974 Kathy Schultz is beaten to death by serial killer Harvey Carignan aka The Want-Ad Killer aka Harv the Hammer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States.

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(-) 49 years ago The Postman never Rang Again Tuesday 20th of September 1977 Postman to David Berkowitz aka Son of Sam Andrew Dupay commits suicide by a shot through the head at the age of 24 in Lincoln Terrace, Yonkers, New York, United States. Dupay told a friend “Sometimes a mailman learns things about the people on his route he’d be better off not knowing, and he sees things he’d be better off not seeing”.

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(-) 47 years ago Thursday 20th of September 1979 8th President of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic Ludvík Svoboda dies of unknown causes at the age of 84 in Praha, Bohemia, Czechoslovakia.

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(x) 47 years ago Thursday 20th of September 1979 An undercover commando squad from the French intelligence agency SDECE and Special Forces' 1st Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment take over the airport in France's last colonial expedition, 'Operation Barracuda' to overthrow 58-year-old Self-proclaimed Emperor of Central Africa Jean-Bédel Bokassa in M'Poko International Airport, Ombella-M'Poko, Central African Republic.

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(x) 47 years ago He Had Problems with the Owner of the Gallery Thursday 20th of September 1979 20-year-old Performance artist Danny Devos aka DDV performs 'Anarchy!' in Galerie Valckesteyn, Koevoetstraat 23, Bergen op Zoom, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands. Because I had problems with the owner of the gallery concerning my performance I tied him up read an explaining text and hung him with his feet from the ceiling.

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(+) 40 years ago Saturday 20th of September 1986 Child killer Travis James Mullis is born in Abingdon, Maryland, United States. Mullis was orphaned at about ten months old when his mother died, his father having abandoned the family shortly after his birth. Due to this, Mullis was adopted by his uncle and aunt, Gary and Anne Mullis.

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(x) 37 years ago Wednesday 20th of September 1989 29-year-old Serial killer Richard Ricardo Leyva Muñoz Ramirez aka The Night Stalker is convicted of forty-three charges, including thirteen counts of murder in Los Angeles, California, United States.

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(-) 37 years ago Emery Left the Building Wednesday 20th of September 1989 Triple murderer James Emery Paster aka Skip is executed by lethal injection at the age of 44 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States. Paster attempted to escape his death row cell by slathering himself with hair tonic and then crawling through an air vent. In his free time he was an Elvis Presley impersonator. His last meal request was for T-bone steak, salad, French fries and watermelon.

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(x) 33 years ago Monday 20th of September 1993 Noise music band Club Moral play their 82nd concert in Filmmuseum, Meir 50, Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

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(-) 32 years ago Tuesday 20th of September 1994 Double murderer George Douglas Lott aka The Fort Worth Courthouse Gunman is executed by lethal injection at the age of 47 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States. Lott shot 41-year-old District Attorney Chris Marshall and 33-year-old defense attorney John Edwards with a semi-automatic Glock handgun at Tarrant County Courthouse in Fort Worth for no apparant reason.

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(-) 27 years ago Monday 20th of September 1999 Raisa Gorbachova, originally Raisa Maximovna Titarenko dies of leukemia at the age of 67 in Universitätsklinikum, Münster, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

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(-) 26 years ago Wednesday 20th of September 2000 Cosmonaut Gherman Stepanovich Titov dies of a heart attack at the age of 65 in Moscow, Central Federal District, Russia. Titov was the second person to orbit the earth aboard Vostok 2 on 6 August 1961, preceded by Yuri Gagarin.

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23 years ago The Eyes had it Saturday 20th of September 2003 An announcement for computer classes telling me that everything ends on 20 September in Pont Marie Métro, IVe, Paris, Île-de-France, France.

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(+) 23 years ago Saturday 20th of September 2003 Would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks known for attempting to assassinate Ex-President Donald Trump is born in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, United States.

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(x) 22 years ago Monday 20th of September 2004 36-year-old School attacker Jia Qingyou injures 24 schoolchildren with a knife in No. 1 Experimental Primary School, Juxian, Shandong, China.

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(x) 21 years ago Tuesday 20th of September 2005 An inquest in the death of 51-year-old Artist Richard Sumner told that he had deliberately handcuffed himself to a tree and threw the keys out of reach in Clocaenog Forest, Clawddnewydd, Wales, United Kingdom. Sumner had disappeared in March 2002 and his skeleton was found by a woman who had become lost while walking her dog in April 2005. His sister Patricia Jones told the court that her brother had spoken of taking his own life and she confirmed there had been three previous attempts.

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(-) 21 years ago Tuesday 20th of September 2005 Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal dies of natural causes at the age of 97 in Wien, Wien, Austria.

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(x) 20 years ago Wednesday 20th of September 2006 47-year-old Performance artist Danny Devos aka DDV performs 'Corner Push Re-Formance' in Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium. During the ‘official opening’ of the Bastard Art Gallery I did a ‘re-formance’ of the piece ‘Corner Push’ by Terry Fox.

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(-) 16 years ago There Was Nowhere to Run Monday 20th of September 2010 Murderess Laurie Lawrencia Bembenek aka Run, Bambi, Run dies of liver and kidney failure at the age of 52 in Portland, Oregon, United States.

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(x) 7 years ago Friday 20th of September 2019 Unit 1 of the Nuclear Generating Station is shut down in Three Mile Island, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. The plant is widely known for having been the site of the most significant accident in United States commercial nuclear energy on 28 March 1979 when TMI-2 suffered a partial meltdown.

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(-) 2 years ago Friday 20th of September 2024 Double murderer Freddie Eugene Owens is executed by lethal injection at the age of 46 in Broad River Correctional Institution, Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Owens' last meal request was for two cheeseburgers, some french fries, a well-done ribeye steak, six chicken wings and two strawberry sodas as well as a slice of apple pie.

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