Thursday 20th of March 1760

A fire of unknown cause breaks out at a dwelling causing the Great Fire in Boston, Cornhill, Massachusetts, United States.

174 houses and 175 warehouses, shops and other buildings were destroyed in the blaze, leaving some two hundred and twenty families homeless.

Tuesday 20th of March 1770

Poet Friedrich Johann Christian Hölderlin is born in Schweizerhof, Neckarsteige 1, Lauffen-am-Neckar, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Thursday 20th of March 1828

Poet and playwright Henrik Johan Ibsen is born in Skien, Grenland, Norway.

Wednesday 20th of March 1895

Psychiatrist Fredric Wertham is born as Friedrich Ignatz Wertheimer in München, Bayern, Germany.

Monday 20th of March 1899

Murderess Martha Place is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 50 in Sing Sing Prison, Ossining, New York, United States.

Place was the first woman to die in the electric chair.

Tuesday 20th of March 1917

Singer and entertainer Vera Margaret Lynn aka the Forces' Sweetheart is born as Vera Margaret Welch in East Ham, Essex, United Kingdom.

Tuesday 20th of March 1923

17-year-old Wilhelm Schulze is killed and his meat sold by serial killer Fritz Haarmann aka Der Hannover Werwolf in Neue Straße 8, Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany.

Sunday 20th of March 1927

Albert Snyder is garrotted and has his nose stuffed full of chloroform-soaked rags by 32-year-old Murderess Ruth Brown Snyder aka The Granite Woman and her lover Judd Gray in 93-27 222nd Street, New York, Queens, New York, United States.

Ruth had made at least seven attempts to kill her husband, all of which he survived.

Wednesday 20th of March 1929

Murderer John Clark is executed by Old Sparky in Georgia State Penitentiary, Milledgeville, Georgia, United States.

Monday 20th of March 1933

Assassin Giuseppe Zangara is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 33 in Florida State Prison, 23916 NW 83rd Ave., Raiford, Florida, United States.

Zangara's final statement was "Viva l'Italia! Goodbye to all poor peoples everywhere!... Push the button! Go ahead, push the button!"

Wednesday 20th of March 1940

Serial rapist and murderer Mike James Mitchell DeBardeleben aka The Lethal Shadow is born in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States.

Friday 20th of March 1942

Triple murderer John Anthony Soto is executed by the gas chamber at the age of 17 in Oregon State Penitentiary, Salem, Oregon, United States.

Wednesday 20th of March 1946

185 die in suburban service train derailment in Aracaju, Sergipe, Brazil.

The train was carrying about 1000 passengers. Grief-stricken relatives came to the scene and nearly lynched the surviving locomotive engineer who took refuge in a police station. The train conductors also fled.

Sunday 20th of March 1955

Rapist and murderer Thomas Martin Thompson is born in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Thursday 20th of March 1958

Actress Holly Hunter is born in Conyers, Georgia, United States.

Wednesday 20th of March 1968

Film director Carl Theodor Dreyer dies of pneumonia at the age of 79 in Copenhagen, Hovedstaden, Denmark.

Thursday 20th of March 1969

29-year-old Musician John Winston Lennon known from The Beatles marries 36-year-old Yoko Ono in Gibraltar, Overseas Territory, United Kingdom.

Wednesday 20th of March 1974

26-year-old Psychotic Ian Ball uses his white Ford Escort to force Princess Anne and Mark Phillips' Rolls Royce to stop and kidnap the Princess for ransom in The Mall, London, Westminster, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Ball shot and wounded the Princess’s driver Alexander Callender and Royal protection officer Inspector James Beaton, whose gun jammed as he confronted the attacker. Ball then demanded that the Princess get out of the car but she told him: "Not bloody likely." Passing pedestrian and former boxer Ron Russell punched Ball in the back of the head and then led Anne away from the scene.

Thursday 20th of March 1980

15-year-old Harry Todd Turner is sodomised, beaten and strangled by serial killer William Bonin aka The Freeway Killer in Hollywood, California, United States.

Bonin was assisted by 17-year-old William Ray Pugh who bludgeoned and beat Turner about the head and body for several minutes.

Tuesday 20th of March 1984

19-year-old Linda Grover is abducted, raped and tortured by serial killer Christopher Wilder aka The Beauty Queen Killer in Governor's Square Mall, Tallahassee, Florida, United States.

Wilder tied Grover's hands, wrapped her in a blanket and put her in the trunk of his car. Grover was taken to Glen Oaks Motel in Bainbridge, Georgia and raped. Wilder blinded her with a blow dryer and super glue. He applied copper wires to her feet and passed an electric current through them. She escaped and locked herself in the bathroom where she began pounding on the walls. Wilder fled in his car and took all of her belongings with him.

Sunday 20th of March 1988

27-year-old Daniël Pándy is shot dead by serial killer András Pándy aka Father Bluebeard in Nijverheidskaai, Brussel, Sint-Jans-Molenbeek, Brabant, Belgium.

Daniël was shot by Ágnes then dismembered and dissolved in acid by András.

Monday 20th of March 1995

12 people die in five coordinated attacks with perpetrators led by 40-year-old Doomsday cult leader Shoko Asahara known for the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway released sarin poison on three lines in Tokyo Metro, Tokyo, Chiyoda, Kantō, Japan.

Wednesday 20th of March 1996

40-year-old Kidnapper, serial killer and child molester Marc Paul Alain Dutroux is released from prison in Prison de Jamioulx, Rue Vandamme 120, Ham-sur-Heure-Nalinnes, Hainaut, Belgium.

While Dutroux was in prison 8-year-old Julie Lejeune and Mélissa Russo starved to death in a dungeon in his basement in Marcinelle. His wife Michelle Martin allegedly fed her Dutroux's German shepherd dogs but did not follow his orders to feed the girls claiming she was too afraid to go into the dungeon.

Friday 20th of March 1998

Enzo Gorni is shot dead by serial killer Donato Bilancia aka Il Mostro della Liguria in Ventimiglia, Liguria, Italy.

Thursday 20th of March 2003

Murderer Keith Bernard Clay is executed by lethal injection at the age of 35 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Clay's last meal request was for four pieces of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, two pints of ice cream, bacon cheeseburger and two vanilla cokes.

Sunday 20th of March 2005

Mountain walks and oddities in Sierre, Valais, Switzerland.