Friday 11th of April 1890

Joseph Carey Merrick aka The Elephant Man dies of a dislocation of the vertebrae of the neck at the age of 28 in The London Hospital, Whitechapel Road, London, Whitechapel, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Merrick had always slept sitting upright out of necessity, during the autopsy Dr. Frederick Treves came to the conclusion that he must have 'made the experiment', attempting to sleep lying down, trying to sleep like other people.

Saturday 11th of April 1908

President of Panama José Antonio Remón Cantera is born in Panama City, Provincia de Panamá, Panama.

Tuesday 11th of April 1911

Propaganda of the Deed anarchist Anteo Zamboni is born in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy.

Sunday 11th of April 1915

Serial poisoner Maria Catherina Swanenburg aka Goeie Mie dies of unknown causes at the age of 76 in Gorinchem, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands.

Swanenburg was locked up in a correctional facility since 1885. It was established with certainty she poisoned at least 102 people with arsenic of whom 27 died.

Friday 11th of April 1930

Founder of the Church of Satan Anton Szandor LaVey is born as Howard Stanton Levey in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Saturday 11th of April 1936

Composer Mitya Stillman dies of unknown causes at the age of 44 in New York City, New York, United States.

Wednesday 11th of April 1945

A detachment of troops of the U.S. 9th Armored Infantry Battalion, from the 6th Armored Division, part of the U.S. Third Army arrives at 15:15hrs to liberate the concentration camp in KZ Buchenwald, Weimar, Thüringen, Germany.

Thursday 11th of April 1946

Performance and installation artist Chris Christopher Burden is born in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

Friday 11th of April 1947

Prostitute cum serial killer Louise Peete is executed by the gas chamber at the age of 67 in San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, California, United States.

Peete was the second woman to be executed in the gas chamber.

Friday 11th of April 1952

Member of the Rote Armee Fraktion Karl-Heinz Dellwo is born in Opladen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Friday 11th of April 1958

Murderer John McMiller is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 44 in Louisiana State Penitentiary, Angola, Louisiana, United States.

Thursday 11th of April 1968

28-year-old Rudi Alfred Willi Dutschke aka Rote Rudi is shot twice in the head and once in the shoulder by assassin Josef Bachmann in Kurfürstendamm 141, Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

"Ich möchte zu meinem Bedauern feststellen, dass Dutschke noch lebt. Ich hätte eine Maschinenpistole kaufen können. Wenn ich das Geld dazu gehabt hätte, hätte ich Dutschke zersägt."

Sunday 11th of April 1971

Murderer Raymond Dale Rowsey is born in Burlington, North Carolina, United States.

Friday 11th of April 1975

29-year-old Performance and installation artist Chris Christopher Burden performs 'Doomed' in Museum of Contemporary Art, 237 East Ontario Street, Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Monday 11th of April 1977

Poet Jacques Prévert dies of lung cancer at the age of 77 in Maison Jacques-Prévert, Omonville-la-Petite, Basse-Normandie, France.

Thursday 11th of April 1985

First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania Enver Halil Hoxha dies of heart failure at the age of 77 in Tirana, Qarku Tiranë, Albania.

Saturday 11th of April 1987

Writer Erskine Preston Caldwell dies of emphysema and lung cancer at the age of 84 in Paradise Valley, Arizona, United States.

Saturday 11th of April 1987

Noise music band Club Moral play their 68th concert during the Haters tour in V2, Vughterstraat 234, Den Bosch, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands.

Also played: The Haters, Death Pact, Gore

Tuesday 11th of April 1989

The body of     21-year-old Human sacrifice Mark James Kilroy and 14 others are discovered     in Santa Elena Ranch, Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico.

Kilroy was abducted on 14 March, tortured and sodomized. He was then killed by chopping the back of his neck and head with a machete. His brain was boiled in a nganga. Kilroy's legs were chopped off above his knees to facilitate his burial. A wire was inserted in his spinal cord to pull the bones out once the body decomposed.    

Wednesday 11th of April 1990

Psychic Nina Sergeyevna Kulagina dies of unknown causes at the age of 64 in Leningrad, Northwestern Federal District, Russia.

Sunday 11th of April 1999

Scoring locations for a public art project by Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven in Offerandestraat, Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Thursday 11th of April 2002

Murderer William Kendrick Burns is executed by lethal injection at the age of 44 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Wednesday 11th of April 2007

Double murderer James Lee Clark is executed by lethal injection at the age of 39 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Clark's last word was “Howdy". On the day of Clark's execution, the Steinway piano that John Lennon used to compose the 1971 song 'Imagine' was placed outside the front door of the prison as a protest to the execution, a sign of peace and statement that there is too much violence in the world.

Wednesday 11th of April 2007

Writer Kurt Vonnegut dies from head injuries suffered while falling down a flight of stairs in his home at the age of 85 in New York City, New York, United States.

Wednesday 11th of April 2012

78-year-old Family leader Charles Milles Manson known for conspiracy to murder Sharon Tate is denied parole for the twelfth time in Los Angeles, California, United States.