Monday 29th of December 1721

Courtisane and official chief mistress of King Louis XV Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson aka Madame de Pompadour is born in Rue de Cléry, Paris, IIe, Île-de-France, France.

Monday 29th of December 1800

Engineer and chemist Charles Goodyear is born in New Haven, Connecticut, United States.

Thursday 29th of December 1808

17th President of the United States Andrew Johnson is born in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States.

Thursday 29th of December 1825

Painter Jacques-Louis David is struck by a carriage upon leaving the Théatre de la Monnaie and dies of a stroke at the age of 77 in Rue Léopold 7, Brussel, Brabant, Belgium.

Monday 29th of December 1834

Poet Charlotte Stieglitz commits suicide by driving a dagger through her heart at the age of 28 in Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

Friday 29th of December 1865

Murderer John Hundley is executed by hanging in Lawrence, Kansas, United States.

Friday 29th of December 1876

92 die in Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Pacific Express Train n° 5 derailment in Ashtabula River Bridge, Edgewood, Ohio, United States.

The train plunged off a poorly constructed bridge. The survivors were led, carried and conveyed on sleds to hotels and private houses in the town, there being no hospital. However, people assisting also stole money and valuables from the survivors and dead, $1500 (about $33000 today). Bridge designer Amasa Stone committed suicide seven years later after experiencing financial difficulties with some foundries he had interests in, suffering from severe ulcers that kept him from sleeping and scorn from the public over the disaster.

Monday 29th of December 1890

Between 175 and 300 Lakota Indians are massacred by the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment commanded by Major Samuel M. Whitside in Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota, United States.

Tuesday 29th of December 1903

Murderess Emily Swan is executed by hanging by William Billington at the age of 42 in Armley Gaol, Gloucester Terrace, Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

Swan was hanged with 31-year-old John Gallagher for the murder of her husband William. Hooded and noosed on the gallows Swan said "Good morning John" to which Gallagher replied "good morning love".

Tuesday 29th of December 1903

Murderer John Gallagher is executed by hanging by William Billington at the age of 31 in Armley Gaol, Gloucester Terrace, Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

Gallagher was hanged with 42-year-old Emily Swan for the murder of her husband William. Hooded and noosed on the gallows Swan said "Good morning John" to which Gallagher replied "good morning love".

Thursday 29th of December 1921

Founder of the Solar Lodge secret society Georgina Jean Brayton aka Soror Capricornus is born in London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Saturday 29th of December 1923

Victim of Charles Starkweather aka Little Red Merle Collison is born in Great Falls, Montana, United States.

Saturday 29th of December 1923

Presumed murderer Sam Samuel Holmes Sheppard is born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States.

Saturday 29th of December 1923

Serial killer Johann Mayer aka Stumpfarm is executed by the Guillotine at the age of 37 in Klingelputz Gefängnis, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Mayer killed three women and two men for no reason in 1918 and 1919. "Ein Schuss, ein Schrei, alles vorbei."

Wednesday 29th of December 1926

Poet and writer Rainer Maria Rilke dies of leukemia at the age of 51 in Clinique de Valmont, Route de Valmont, Glion sur Montreux, Vaud, Switzerland.

Rilke suffered ulcerous sores in his mouth, pain troubled his stomach and intestines and he struggled with increasingly low spirits.

Friday 29th of December 1933

Quaker and anti-war protester Norman Morrison is born in Erie, Pennsylvania, United States.

Tuesday 29th of December 1936

Actress Mary Tyler Moore known from The Mary Tyler Moore Show is born in New York, Brooklyn, New York, United States.

Wednesday 29th of December 1937

Mass murderer Gian Luigi Ferri is born as Gianluigi Ettore Ferri in Asmara, Maekel, Ethiopia.

Thursday 29th of December 1938

Actor Jon Jonathan Vincent Voight is born in Yonkers, New York, United States.

Wednesday 29th of December 1943

12-year-old Serial killer Albert Henry DeSalvo aka The Boston Strangler aka The Measuring Man aka The Green Man is charged with burglary and committed to the Lyman School for Boys in Lyman School for Boys, Lyman School Road, Westborough, Massachusetts, United States.

Saturday 29th of December 1945

Augusta Gein dies at the age of 67 of a cerebral hemorrhage, leaving her son 39-year-old Murderer and body snatcher Ed Edward Theodore Gein aka America’s Most Bizarre Murderer all alone on the farm and his fantasies on the loose in La Crosse, Wisconsin, United States.

Sunday 29th of December 1946

Singer-songwriter Marianne Evelyn Faithfull is born in London, Hampstead, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Saturday 29th of December 1956

Victim of Randy Kraft aka The Scorecard Killer Michael Joseph Inderbieten is born in Los Angeles, California, United States.

Sunday 29th of December 1957

The skeletonised remains of 19-year-old Victim of Harvey Glatman aka The Pin-Up Killer Judy Ann Dull are found in a shallow grave in Thousand Palms, Indio, California, United States.

Dull was abducted, raped and strangled on 1 August 1957. Glatman took several photos before and after the murder.

Saturday 29th of December 1962

Serial killer Sergei Vasilyevich Ryakhovsky aka The Hippopotamus aka The Balashikha Ripper is born in Moscow, Central Federal District, Russia.

Monday 29th of December 1969

55-year-old Deputy to Rupert Murdoch Muriel McKay is kidnapped and held for ransom by Arthur and Nizamodeen Hosein in 20 Arthur Street, London, Wimbledon, Greater London, United Kingdom.

The Hosein brothers were arrested on 7 February 1970 and convicted on the charges of blackmail, kidnap and murder without a body at the Old Bailey on 6 October 1970. It was never established what happened to McKay's remains, though there was speculation that the Hoseins had fed them to their pigs.

Friday 29th of December 1972

101 die in Eastern Air Lines Lockheed L-1011-1 TriStar Flight 401 crash in Area 3A, The Everglades, Florida, United States.

The crash occurred as a result of the entire flight crew becoming preoccupied with a burnt-out landing gear indicator light and failing to notice the autopilot had inadvertently been disconnected. 75 people survived.

Saturday 29th of December 1973

23-year-old Vincent Cruz Mestas is found tortured and killed by serial killer Randy Kraft aka The Scorecard Killer in San Bernardino, California, United States.

Thursday 29th of December 1977

51-year-old Ambrose Griffin is shot dead by serial killer and cannibal Richard Chase aka The Vampire of Sacramento in 3734 Robertson Avenue, Sacramento, California, United States.

Monday 29th of December 1980

Musician Tim James Timothy Hardin dies of a heroin overdose at the age of 39 in Hollywood, California, United States.

Monday 29th of December 1986

Film director Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky dies of lung cancer at the age of 54 in Paris, Île-de-France, France.

Friday 29th of December 1995

Actress Lita Grey dies of cancer at the age of 87 in Los Angeles, California, United States.

Wednesday 29th of December 1999

Late night dinner at my favourite foodstall at the busstop in Taling Chan, Central Thailand, Thailand.

Saturday 29th of December 2001

291 die in Mesa Redonda shopping center fire in Mesa Redonda, Lima, Lima Metropolitana, Peru.

The fire started when a fireworks display created a chain reaction, setting off the fireworks of other nearby vendors. The aftermath created a "wall of fire" that spread for four blocks and raged for several hours.

Tuesday 29th of December 2009

Pakistani-British businessman and drug trafficker Akmal Shaikh is executed by lethal injection at the age of 53 in Xishan Detention Centre, Ürümqi, Xinjiang Uyghur, China.

On 12 September 2007 Shaikh was arrested at Ürümqi Airport carrying 4 kilograms (9 lb) of heroin of 84.2% purity hidden in a compartment of his case which was "practically empty" but for a few clothes.

Tuesday 29th of December 2020

Fashion designer Pierre Cardin dies of unknown causes at the age of 98 in American Hospital, 63 Blvd Victor Hugo, Neuilly-sur-Seine, Île-de-France, France.

Thursday 29th of December 2022

Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood dies of natural causes at the age of 81 in London, Clapham, Greater London, United Kingdom.