Thursday 24th of August 0079

Eruption of the volcano in Mount Vesuvius, Pompeii, Campania, Italy.

Mount Vesuvius violently spewed forth a deadly cloud of super-heated tephra and gases to a height of 33 km, ejecting molten rock, pulverized pumice and hot ash at 1.5 million tons per second. The remains of over 1.500 people have so far been found. The total number of fatalities remains unknown.

Friday 24th of August 1770

Poet and forger of pseudo-medieval poetry Thomas Chatterton commits suicide by arsenic poisoning at the age of 18 in Brooke Street, London, Holborn, Greater London, United Kingdom.

After drinking the poison Chatterton tore into fragments whatever literary remains were at hand.

Wednesday 24th of August 1864

Christian mystic and visionary Jakob Lorber aka Der Schreibknecht Gottes dies of pneumonia at the age of 64 in Graz, Steiermark, Austria.

Tuesday 24th of August 1869

43-year-old Jean Kinck is poisoned with prussic acid by mass murderer Jean-Baptiste Troppmann aka Le Massacreur de Pantin in Uffholtz, Haut-Rhin, France.

Troppmann had hoped to find 5.500 Francs that Kinck had promised to start up a company together. Kinck's body was found on 25 November.

Tuesday 24th of August 1875

27-year-old Swimmer Matthew Webb known for swimming the Channel becomes the first man to swim across the Channel. in Admiralty Pier, Dover, Kent, United Kingdom.

Backed by three escort boats and smeared in porpoise oil Webb set off into the ebb tide at a steady breaststroke. Despite stings from jellyfish and strong currents off Cap Gris Nez after approximately 21 hours and 40 minutes he landed near Calais. Webb's zig-zag course across the Channel was nearly 66 km long.

Saturday 24th of August 1895

58-year-old Dame Morand is killed and raped by serial killer Joseph Vacher aka L’Eventreur du Sud-Est in Saint-Ours, Haute-Savoie, France.

Tuesday 24th of August 1915

Science fiction writer Alice Bradley Sheldon aka James Tiptree Jr. is born in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Sunday 24th of August 1919

Singer and band leader Benny Moré aka El Bárbaro del Ritmo aka El Sonero Mayor is born as Bartolomé Maximiliano Moré Gutiérrez in Lajas, Santa Clara, Cuba.

Friday 24th of August 1923

18-year-old Heinrich Struß is killed and his meat sold by serial killer Fritz Haarmann aka Der Hannover Werwolf in Das Mordhaus, Rote Reihe 4, Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany.

Saturday 24th of August 1929

5-year-old Gertrud Hamacher is strangled and throatcut by serial killer Peter Kürten aka The Vampire of Düsseldorf in Aachener Straße, Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Saturday 24th of August 1929

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is born as Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa in Caïro, Al Qahirah, Egypt.

Saturday 24th of August 1929

14-year-old Louise Lenzen is strangled and stabbed to death by serial killer Peter Kürten aka The Vampire of Düsseldorf in Aachener Straße, Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Thursday 24th of August 1939

Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run suspect Frank Dolezal commits suicide by hanging in his cell at the age of 52 in Cuyahoga County Jail, Cleveland, Ohio, United States.

Dolezal was suspected of being the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run and badly beaten to force a confession.

Saturday 24th of August 1940

Serial killer Richard Fran Biegenwald aka The Jersey Shore Thrill Killer is born in Trenton, New Jersey, United States.

Tuesday 24th of August 1943

Philosopher, mystic and political activist Simone Adolphine Weil dies of cardiac failure due to anorexia nervosa at the age of 34 in Grosvenor Sanatorium, Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom.

Thursday 24th of August 1944

News reporter Christine Chubbuck is born in Hudson, Ohio, United States.

Friday 24th of August 1962

Cop killer James Dukes is executed by Old Sparky in Stateville Correctional Center, Crest Hill, Illinois, United States.

Wednesday 24th of August 1977

40-year-old Serial art vandal Hans-Joachim Bohlmann The painting 'Albrecht von Österreich' by Rubens is attacked with acid by in Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Monday 24th of August 1981

26-year-old Murderer Mark David Chapman aka The Man Who Shot John Lennon is sentenced to 20-years-to-life in New York, Manhattan, New York, United States.

Friday 24th of August 1984

The Texas School Book Depository from where 45-year-old Assassin Lee Harvey Oswald presumably operated is destroyed by arson in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas, United States.

Saturday 24th of August 1985

30-year-old Bill Carns and his 29-year-old fiancée Inez Erickson are attacked and robbed by 25-year-old Serial killer Richard Ricardo Leyva Muñoz Ramirez aka The Night Stalker in Mission Viejo, California, United States.

Cairns was shot in the head three times and Erickson was beaten, raped and sodomised. Before leaving the home Ramirez told Erickson "Tell them the Night Stalker was here."

Monday 24th of August 1987

Rapist and murderer Sterling J. Rault is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 36 in Louisiana State Penitentiary, Angola, Louisiana, United States.

Rault's final meal request was for a T-bone steak, 12 shrimps, French fries, Pepsi and strawberry shortcake.

Monday 24th of August 1987

Fictitious Robol scientist Edward Moolenbeek dies of unknown causes in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, United Kingdom.

In fact Moolenbeek was a fictional character created by Andrew M. McKenzie of The Hafler Trio.

Tuesday 24th of August 1993

Murderer Ruben Montoya Cantu is executed by lethal injection at the age of 27 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Cantu's final request was for a piece of bubble gum, which was denied.

Tuesday 24th of August 1993

Serial killer David Edwin Mason is executed by the gas chamber at the age of 37 in San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, California, United States.

Mason was the last man to die in San Quentin's Gas Chamber. Mason refused any last meal, requesting only ice water while in the death watch cell. Mason told the warden that he had no final words to impart.

Wednesday 24th of August 1994

A five kg pipe-bomb by 45-year-old Xenophobic serial bomber Franz Fuchs is found near the Rennerschule and transported to the airport for closer examination in Flughafen Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt, Kärnten, Austria.

Police officer Theo Kelz examined the package and it exploded, ripping off both Kelz' hands. Kelz had a transplant of two new hands six years later.

Tuesday 24th of August 1999

A stairway down into the ocean in Auckland, North Island, New Zealand.

Friday 24th of August 2001

Murderer Clifton Allen White is executed by lethal injection at the age of 43 in Raleigh State Prison, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States.

Thursday 24th of August 2006

Murderer Justin Chaz Fuller is executed by lethal injection at the age of 28 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Fuller declined a last meal request.

Friday 24th of August 2007

The house where on 14 May 1970 Ulrike Meinhof assisted in the freeing of Andreas Baader with Gudrun Ensslin, Irene Goergens and Ingrid Schubert, and jumped in the underground in Deutsches Zentralinstitut für Soziale Fragen, Miquelstraße 83, Berlin, Dahlem, Berlin, Germany.

Tuesday 24th of August 2010

Snooker player Alex Alexander Gordon Higgins aka Hurricane dies of a combination of malnutrition, pneumonia, tooth decay and a bronchial condition at the age of 61 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.

Higgins had cancerous growths removed from his mouth in 1994 and 1996. He lost his teeth after intensive radiotherapy used to treat his throat cancer and had been living on liquid food, often Guinnes, for the last years of his life.

Sunday 24th of August 2014

Actor Richard Samuel Attenborough dies of heart failure at the age of 91 in London, Greater London, United Kingdom.