Thursday 21st of August 1614

Countess and serial killer Erzsébet de Ecsed Báthory aka Die Blutfrau dies of starvation at the age of 54 in Csejte Vára, Čachtice, Trenčín, Slowakia.

Báthory was imprisoned in her own castle. She was kept bricked in a set of rooms with only small slits left open for ventilation and the passing of food. She remained there for four years, until her death.

Saturday 21st of August 1858

Crown Prince of Austria Rudolf von Österreich-Ungarn is born as Rudolf Franz Karl Joseph von Habsburg-Lorraine in Schloss Laxenburg, Laxenburg, Niederösterreich, Austria.

Wednesday 21st of August 1872

Artist Aubrey Vincent Beardsley is born in Brighton, Sussex, United Kingdom.

Sunday 21st of August 1904

Musician and bandleader Count William James Basie is born in Red Bank, New Jersey, United States.

Monday 21st of August 1911

30-year-old Thief Vincenzo Peruggia known for stealing the Mona Lisa steals Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa from the Salon Carré in Musée du Louvre, Paris, Ier, Île-de-France, France.

Peruggia wanted to bring the painting back for display in Italy "after it was stolen by Napoleon". After keeping the painting hidden in a trunk in his apartment for two years Peruggia returned to Italy with it. He kept it in his apartment in Firenze but grew impatient and was finally caught when he contacted Alfredo Geri, the owner of an art gallery in Firenze, Italy.

Sunday 21st of August 1921

35-year-old Marie Theresia Nitschke is sexually assaulted and strangled by serial killer and cannibal Karl Großmann aka Die Bestie vom Schlesischen Bahnhof in Langen Straße 88/89, Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

Nitsche's cries alerted neighbours who called in the police. Upon his arrest by Oberwachtmeisters Richard Klähn and Ernst Engesser, Großmann was found naked and covered in Nitsche's blood, ready to drink a cup of cyanide laced coffee.

Wednesday 21st of August 1929

22-year-old Painter Frida Kahlo marries 43-year-old artist Diego Rivera in Coyoacán, Mexico City, Mexico.

Their marriage was called a union between an elephant and a dove.

Wednesday 21st of August 1929

28-year-old Anna Goldhausen is attacked by serial killer Peter Kürten aka The Vampire of Düsseldorf in Gumbertstraße, Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Goldhausen suffered a "Zwischenrippenraum links, [der] Leber und Magen durchdrang und zu einem langwierigen Krankenlager führte" but survived.

Wednesday 21st of August 1929

31-year-old Olga Mantel is attacked by serial killer Peter Kürten aka The Vampire of Düsseldorf in Erkrather Straße, Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Mantel was stabbed in the back but survived. While running away from the scene of the crime, Kürten bumped into 30-year-old Heinrich Kornblum and stabbed him in the back. Kornblum survived."Den Dolch steckte ich in die Scheide und verbarg ihn an der Erkrather Straße. Ich sah noch, wie Arzt und und Krankenwagen ankamen und viele Neugierige herumstanden. Ich malte mir die Empörung der Bevölkerung aus und ging heim; es war 2 1/2 Uhr."

Friday 21st of August 1931

Murderer Herbert Young is executed by hanging at the age of 27 in Arizona State Prison Complex, 1305 E Butte Avenue, Florence, Arizona, United States.

Young was the last person to be executed by hanging in Arizona. On 6 July 1934 the Hernandez brothers were the first to die in the Arizona State Prison Gas Chamber.

Wednesday 21st of August 1935

Cop killer Rudy Ramos Esquivel is born in Houston, Texas, United States.

Wednesday 21st of August 1940

Julie Schuhmacher is attacked and raped by serial killer Paul Ogorzow aka Der Schnell-Bahn Mörder in Zobtener Straße, Berlin, Rummelsburg, Berlin, Germany.

Schuhmacher survived.

Wednesday 21st of August 1940

61-year-old Leon Trotsky is hacked to death by Catalan communist and assassin Ramón Mercader aka Jacques Mornard aka Frank Jacson in Viena Street, Coyoacán, Mexico City, Mexico.

The blow to Trotsky's head was bungled and failed to kill him instantly. Witnesses stated that Trotsky spat on Mercader and began struggling fiercely with him. Hearing the commotion Trotsky's bodyguards burst into the room and nearly killed Mercader but Trotsky stopped them, laboriously stating that the assassin should be made to answer questions. Trotsky was taken to a hospital, operated on and survived for more than a day, dying as a result of loss of blood and shock.

Saturday 21st of August 1943

21-year-old Ruth Fuerst is strangled by serial killer John Christie aka The Strangler of 10 Rillington Place in 10 Rillington Place, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Christie buried Fuerst's body in the back garden after initially hiding it beneath the floorboards of his front living room.

Monday 21st of August 1944

Film director Peter Lindsay Weir is born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Thursday 21st of August 1947

Automobile designer and manufacturer Ettore Arco Isidoro Bugatti dies of paralysis of his mental faculties at the age of 66 in American Hospital, 63 Blvd Victor Hugo, Neuilly-sur-Seine, Île-de-France, France.

Monday 21st of August 1950

Would-be assassin Arthur Herman Bremer is born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States.

Saturday 21st of August 1954

Victim of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley aka The Moors Murderers Lesley Ann Downey is born in Manchester, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom.

Wednesday 21st of August 1957

Victim of Ted Bundy aka The Only Living Witness Laura Ann Aime is born in Lehi, Utah, United States.

Friday 21st of August 1959

Hawaii is admitted as 50th of the United States in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States.

Hawaii is the only U.S. state located outside North America.

Monday 21st of August 1961

32-year-old Serial killer Charles Ray Hatcher aka Evil Incarnate is put in solitary confinement for the rape and stabbing to death of inmate Jerry Tharrington on the prison's kitchen loading dock on 2 July 1961 in Missouri State Penitentiary aka The Walls, 115 Lafayette Street, Jefferson City, Missouri, United States.

Tuesday 21st of August 1962

Serial killer, cannibal and necrophile Tsutomu Miyazaki aka The Little Girl Murderer is born in Itsukaichi, Kantō, Japan.

Miyazaki's premature birth left him with deformed hands which were permanently gnarled and fused directly to the wrists, which meant he needed to move his entire forearm in order to rotate the hand.

Wednesday 21st of August 1968

32-year-old Barbara Locci is shot dead with a .22 Beretta by unidentified serial killer Il Mostro di Firenze in Signa, Toscana, Italy.

In the same event, Locci's 29-year-old lover Antonio Lo Bianco was also shot dead. They were the first victims of Il Mostro.

Thursday 21st of August 1969

40-year-old Serial killer Charles Ray Hatcher aka Evil Incarnate escapes from a prison farm in Kansas City, Missouri, United States.

Saturday 21st of August 1971

Black Panther George Lester Jackson aka Soledad Brother is shot dead during an attempt to escape at the age of 30 in San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, California, United States.

During the attempt Jackson and several other inmates killed six hostages.

Saturday 21st of August 1971

Mary Brunner aka Mother Mary, Catherine Share aka Gypsy, Charles Lovett aka Chuckleberry, Lawrence Bailey aka Little Larry, Kenneth Como and Dennis Rice aka Fatherman of Criminal hippy gang the Manson Family are involved in a shoot-out with the police after robbing a gun-shop in Western Surplus Store, 13355 South Hawthorne Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, United States.

The group had stolen close to 150 guns which they intended on using while hijacking a 747 jumbo jet, in which they would kill one passenger every hour until Manson and company were released from prison. They were all arrested.

Monday 21st of August 1978

20-year-old Schipka Postalnyi is raped and strangled by serial killer Metod Trobec aka The Monster of Dolenja Vas in Prezid, Primorsko-Goranska, Yugoslavia.

Friday 21st of August 1981

Irish republican hunger striker Michael James 'Mickey' Devine dies after 60 days hungerstriking at the age of 27 in Maze Prison, Lisburn, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.

Devine was the tenth and last to die in the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike.

Sunday 21st of August 1983

Leader of the opposition Benigno Simeon Aquino aka Ninoy is shot dead upon returning from a 3-year self-imposed exile in the USA at the age of 51 in Manila International Airport, Parañaque, Metro Manila, Philippines.

Aquino's body lay in state in a glass coffin. No effort was made to disguise a bullet wound that had disfigured his face. In an interview with Aquino's mother Aurora told the funeral parlor not to apply makeup nor embalm her son, to see "what they did to my son". Thousands of supporters flocked to see the bloodied body of Aquino, which took place at the Aquino household in Times St., Quezon City for nine days.

Tuesday 21st of August 1984

32-year-old Serial killer Larry Eyler aka The Leather Boy Killer is arrested and charged with the murders of at least 15 young men in 1628 West Sherwin Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Eyler's neighbours had noticed him putting foul smelling trash bags outside. The bags contained parts of Daniel Bridges' body whom Eyler had killed two days before.

Sunday 21st of August 1994

44 die in Royal Air Maroc ATR 42-312 Flight 630 crash in Douar Izounine, Agadir, Souss-Massa-Drâa, Morocco.

The pilot, 32-year-old Younes Khayati deliberately crashed the aircraft because of a flight union dispute. Among the forty passengers on board were a Kuwaiti Prince and his wife.

Saturday 21st of August 2004

Noise music band Club Moral play their 104th concert in Forum ModeNatie, Nationalestraat 28, Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Sunday 21st of August 2005

Electronic music pioneer Robert Arthur 'Bob' Moog known for the Moog synthesizer dies of a glioblastoma multiforme brain tumor at the age of 71 in Asheville, North Carolina, United States.

Saturday 21st of August 2010

The moon and clouds in Oudstrijdersstraat 35, Antwerpen, Borgerhout, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Thursday 21st of August 2014

Serial killer Robert Christian Hansen aka The Aviation Hunter dies of undisclosed lingering health conditions at the age of 75 in Alaska Regional Hospital, 2801 Debarr Road, Anchorage, Alaska, United States.

Hansen was transported from the Anchorage Correctional Complex for health reasons.

Saturday 21st of August 2021

Singer-songwriter Don Isaac Donald Everly known from The Everly Brothers dies of undisclosed causes at the age of 84 in Nashville, Tennessee, United States.

Saturday 21st of August 2021

An evening with filmmaker Babeth Van Loo in Photo Museum Antwerp, Waalsekaai 47, Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.