Sunday 27th of May 1827

18-year-old Writer of mystery and the macabre Edgar Allan Poe enlists in the US Army as private Edgar A. Perry in Fort Independence, Boston, Castle Island, Massachusetts, United States.

Poe claimed he was 22 years old even though he was 18 and first served at Fort Independence for five dollars a month.

Saturday 27th of May 1837

Lawman, gunfighter and gambler Bill James Butler Hickok is born as Wild Bill Hickok in Troy Grove Park, Homer, Illinois, United States.

Wednesday 27th of May 1840

Composer Niccolò Paganini dies of internal hemorrhaging due to pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 58 in Nice, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

Because a priest arrived too late to perform the last rites on Paganini, and his widely rumored association with the devil, the Church denied his body a Catholic burial.

Thursday 27th of May 1847

26-year-old Murderess Marie Manning aka The Bermondsey Horror marries Frederick George Manning in St James's Church, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Monday 27th of May 1850

Serial killer Thomas Neill Cream aka The Strychnine Specialist is born in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom.

Saturday 27th of May 1854

Slave and murderess Jane Elkins is executed by hanging in Dallas, Texas, United States.

Elkins was the first woman to be executed in Texas. She was convicted of killing her master named Wisdom with an axe-blow to the head.

Wednesday 27th of May 1863

Murderer Claudius C. Frizell is executed by hanging in Fort Scott, Kansas, United States.

Monday 27th of May 1878

Dancer Isadora Angela Duncan aka The Mother of Modern Dance is born in San Francisco, California, United States.

Thursday 27th of May 1886

Oberschwester in Ravensbrück KZ Elisabeth Marschall is born in Meiningen, Thüringen, Germany.

Wednesday 27th of May 1891

37-year-old Poet Arthur Jean Nicolas Rimbaud has his right leg amputated because of carcinoma in Hôpital de la Conception, Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

The post-operative diagnosis was that Rimbaud suffered bone cancer—probably osteosarcoma.

Sunday 27th of May 1894

Writer Louis-Ferdinand Celine is born as Louis Ferdinand Auguste Destouches in 11 Rampe du Pont-de-Neuilly, Courbevoie, Île-de-France, France.

Sunday 27th of May 1894

Writer Samuel Dashiell Hammett is born in Saint Mary's County, Maryland, United States.

Thursday 27th of May 1897

14-year-old Claudius Beaupied is strangled by serial killer Joseph Vacher aka L’Eventreur du Sud-Est in Tassin-la-Demi-Lune, Rhône-Alpes, France.

Saturday 27th of May 1911

Actor Vincent Leonard Price is born in St. Louis, Missouri, United States.

Tuesday 27th of May 1919

Bacteriologist Robert Heinrich Herman Koch dies of a heart attack at the age of 76 in Baden-Baden, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Friday 27th of May 1921

Robber and rapist Caryl Whittier Chessman aka The Red Light Bandit is born in St. Joseph, Michigan, United States.

Saturday 27th of May 1922

Actor Christopher Frank Carandini Lee known for his role as Count Dracula is born in London, Belgravia, West London, United Kingdom.

Sunday 27th of May 1923

Politician and diplomat Henry Alfred Kissinger is born as Heinz Alfred Kissinger in Fürth, Bayern, Germany.

Tuesday 27th of May 1924

Spree killer Ernest Ernie Ingenito is born in Wildwood, New Jersey, United States.

Monday 27th of May 1940

Murderer Mateo Quinionis is executed by hanging at the age of 44 in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States.

Tuesday 27th of May 1941

37-year-old Nazi leader and SS-Gruppenführer Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich is fatally wounded in an assault by Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík in Heydrich's bend, Vychovatelna, Praha, Libeň, Bohemia, Czechoslovakia.

The Czechoslovak government-in-exile in London resolved to kill Heydrich in Operation Anthropoid. Heydrich survived with severe injuries to his left side, with major damage to his diaphragm, spleen, and lung and a fractured rib. Heydrich slipped in a coma on 2 June and died on 4 June 1941.

Tuesday 27th of May 1958

Serial killer Wayne Williams aka The Atlanta Child Murderer is born in Atlanta, Dixie Hills, Georgia, United States.

Friday 27th of May 1960

Broker and reporter David Hans Schmidt aka The Sultan of Sleaze is born in Rochester, Minnesota, United States.

Thursday 27th of May 1993

5 people die in a car bomb attack by the Sicilian Mafia in Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze, Toscana, Italy.

The most severe damage was to the Niobe room and classical sculptures and neoclassical interior, its frescoes were damaged beyond repair.

Friday 27th of May 1994

Triple murderer Charles Rodman Campbell is executed by hanging at the age of 40 in Washington State Penitentiary, Walla Walla, Washington, United States.

Friday 27th of May 1994

Cop killer Stephen Ray Nethery is executed by lethal injection at the age of 34 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Monday 27th of May 2002

A rainbow over the rooftops in Borgerhout, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Tuesday 27th of May 2003

Composer Luciano Berio dies of unknown causes at the age of 78 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Tuesday 27th of May 2014

Plants growing in my installation 'Picnic at Hansenspark' in Cultuurcentrum De Bond, Brugge, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.