Wednesday 23rd of March 1555

221st Pope Julius III dies of unknown causes at the age of 68 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Wednesday 23rd of March 1842

Writer Stendhal known for his novel Le Rouge et le Noir dies of apoplexy at the age of 59 in Hotel de Nantes, 22 Rue Danielle-Casanova, Paris, Ier, Île-de-France, France.

Friday 23rd of March 1860

Poisoner Ann Bilansky is executed by hanging at the age of 40 in Fifth and Cedar streets, Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States.

Bilansky requested a private execution but at this point in the 19th century public executions were typical as they served civil and religious purposes to deter crime and demonstrate the danger of sin. The gallows were set up in an enclosure in Court House Square. Around 100 onlookers watched from inside the enclosure while thousands more watched from outside the enclosure.

Tuesday 23rd of March 1875

Mass murderer John Filip Nordlund aka Mälarmördaren aka Mordlund aka Svarte Filip is born in Säter, Dalarna, Sweden.

Friday 23rd of March 1877

Perpetrator of the Mountain Meadows massacre John Doyle Lee is executed by the firing squad at the age of 65 in Mountain Meadows, Utah, United States.

Lee had 19 wives and 56 children and his descendants are now numerous.

Wednesday 23rd of March 1887

Russian aristocrat Felix Felixovich Yusupov aka Count Sumarokov-Elston known for participating in the assassination of Grigori Rasputin is born in Moika Palace, St. Petersburg, Northwestern Federal District, Russia.

Thursday 23rd of March 1893

Inventor and engineer Gopalswamy Doraiswamy Naidu aka The Edison of India is born in Coimbatore, Kalangal, Tamil Nadu, India.

Friday 23rd of March 1900

Black Louis Rice is lynched because he testified in favor of another black man, accused of murdering a white man in Ripley, Tennessee, United States.

Rice's friend Henderson House was not lynched until 18 September 1900. 

Friday 23rd of March 1900

Social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist and humanistic philosopher Erich Seligmann Fromm is born in Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany.

Wednesday 23rd of March 1904

Actress Joan Crawford is born as Lucille Fay LeSueur in San Antonio, Texas, United States.

Wednesday 23rd of March 1910

Film director Akira Kurosawa is born in Ōimachi, Tokyo, Ōmori, Kantō, Japan.

Saturday 23rd of March 1912

Rocket engineer and space architect Wernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun is born in Wyrzysk, Województwo Wielkopolskie, Poland.

Monday 23rd of March 1914

Serial killer Karl Hopf is executed by the Guillotine at the age of 51 in Strafgefängnis Frankfurt-Preungesheim, Frankfurt am Main, Preungesheim, Hessen, Germany.

Hopf poisoned his wives Josefa Henel and Christine Schneider, his parents, a child and probably others.

Thursday 23rd of March 1933

Psychologist Philip George Zimbardo known for the 1971 Stanford prison experiment is born in New York City, New York, United States.

Monday 23rd of March 1936

Arte Povera artist Jannis Kounellis is born in Piraeus, Attica, Greece.

Thursday 23rd of March 1944

Singer-songwriter and musician Ric Ocasek known from the band The Cars is born as Richard Theodore Otcasek in Baltimore, Maryland, United States.

Tuesday 23rd of March 1948

Victim of Peter Sutcliffe aka The Yorkshire Ripper Irene Richardson is born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

Monday 23rd of March 1959

Victim of John Wayne Gacy aka The Killer Clown Gregory Godzik is born in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Friday 23rd of March 1962

Mass murderer Vincent Ciucci is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 35 in Cook County Jail, 2700 South California Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Monday 23rd of March 1964

Actor Peter Lorre dies of a stroke at the age of 60 in Hollywood, California, United States.

Saturday 23rd of March 1968

Cult leader Louwrens Lou Voorthuyzen aka Lou De Palingboer dies of pneumonia at the age of 70 in Agimont, Namur, Belgium.

Believed to be immortal his followers attempted to bring Voorthuyzen back to life when he died by lying on him in order to keep him warm and calling for several hours "Lou come back!"

Saturday 23rd of March 1968

30-year-old Wiener Aktionist Hermann Nitsch performs his 27. Aktion in Judson Memorial Church, Washington Square South, New York, Manhattan, New York, United States.

Tuesday 23rd of March 1971

Writer Simon Vestdijk dies of Parkinson's disease at the age of 73 in Academisch Ziekenhuis, Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands.

Friday 23rd of March 1973

32-year-old Mafia pentito Leonardo Vitale walks into a police station and declares that he was a member of the Mafia and confessed to various acts of extortion, arson and two homicides in Palermo, Sicilia, Italy.

Vitale's case came to trial in 1977. His testimony lead to a number of alleged mobsters being indicted but all were acquitted when their defence lawyers cast doubt on Vitale's mental state by pointing out his self-mutilation and other odd habits. In the end only Vitale and his mafioso uncle were imprisoned and Vitale spent most of his time in a mental asylum.

Tuesday 23rd of March 1976

Pornographic actor and suicide pilot Mitsuyasu Maeno crashes a rented Piper Cherokee JA3551 airplane kamikaze-style into the mansion of multi-millionaire right-wing leader and leading figure in the Lockheed bribery scandals Yoshio Kodama at the age of 29 in Tokyo, Setagaya, Kantō, Japan.

Maeno's last words on the radio were “Long live the emperor! Banzai!” Kodama was in another part of the building convalescing from a stroke and escaped harm. 

Wednesday 23rd of March 1983

Artificial-heart patient Barney Clark dies of a stroke at the age of 62 in University of Utah Medical Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States.

Clark spent the last 112 days of his life in a hospital bed attached to the Jarvik 7, a 180 kgs console that pumped air in and out of the aluminum-and-plastic implant through a system of hoses. Clark was constantly plagued by infections, drifting into and out of consciousness, at several points asking to be allowed to die.

Friday 23rd of March 1984

25-year-old Terry Walden is abducted and stabbed to death by serial killer Christopher Wilder aka The Beauty Queen Killer in Beaumont, Texas, United States.

Friday 23rd of March 1984

Nude model and pornographic performer Shauna Grant aka Callie Aimes is disconnected from life support system at the age of 21 in Desert Hospital, 1150 N Indian Canyon Drive, Palm Springs, California, United States.

Two days before Grant shot herself through the head with a .22 Long Rifle.

Monday 23rd of March 1987

24-year-old Agnes Adams is abducted and held imprisoned by serial killer Gary Heidnik aka The Cellar of Horror Murderer in 3520 North Marshall Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.

Tuesday 23rd of March 1993

Murderer Sandoval Carlos Santana is executed by lethal injection at the age of 41 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Wednesday 23rd of March 1994

75 die in Aeroflot Airbus A310-304 Flight 593 crash in Kuznetsk Alatau, Mezhdurechensk, Kemerovo Oblast, Russia.

Pilot Yaroslav Kudrinsky had given the controls of the plane to his 15-year-old son Eldar for amusement. Eldar pushed the control column for 30 seconds causing the autopilot to switch to manual.

Sunday 23rd of March 1997

Five members of the Organisation Internationale Chevaleresque, Tradition Solaire commit suicide in Saint-Casimir, Quebec, Canada.

A small house erupted in flames, leaving behind five charred bodies for the police to pull from the rubble. Three teenagers aged 13, 14 and 16, the children of one of the couples that died in the fire, were discovered in a shed behind the house, alive but heavily drugged.

Sunday 23rd of March 1997

48-year-old Serial killer Robert William 'Willie' Pickton aka The Pig Farmer Killer is charged with the attempted murder of prostitute Wendy Lynn Eistetter in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada.

Eistetter informed police that Pickton handcuffed her but that she escaped after suffering several lacerations, disarming him and stabbing him with his weapon. Pickton was released on $2,000 bond but the charge was dismissed in January 1998. Pickton was arrested on 22 February 2002 and confessed to 49 murders.

Monday 23rd of March 1998

Serial killer Gerald Eugene Stano aka Blind Fury is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 47 in Florida State Prison, 23916 NW 83rd Ave., Raiford, Florida, United States.

Stano's last meal request was for Delmonico steak, a baked potato with sour cream and bacon bits, tossed salad with blue cheese dressing, lima beans, a half gallon of mint chocolate-chip ice cream, and 2 litres of Pepsi.

Tuesday 23rd of March 1999

47-year-old Multiple murderer Yuhui Li is sentenced to death for poisoning three Hong Kong women and two teenage girls in Hong Kong, China.

Tuesday 23rd of March 2010

42-year-old Mass murderer Zheng Minsheng stabs eight children to death and seriously wounds five others in Nanping City Experimental Elementary School, Nanping, Fujian, China.

Minsheng said that he performed the attack after being turned down by a girl and suffering 'unfair treatment' from the girl's wealthy family.