Monday 14th of December 1503

Apothecary and seer Nostradamus known for his collections of prophecies is born as Michel de Nostredame in Rue Hoche, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Provence, France.

Saturday 14th of December 1799

Founding Father and 1st President of the United States George Washington dies of epiglottitis and hypovolemic shock after a ride in snow and rain around his estate at the age of 67 in Mount Vernon, Virginia, United States.

Thursday 14th of December 1865

Serial poisoner George Chapman aka The Borough Poisoner is born as Seweryn Antonowicz Kłosowski in Nagórna, Województwo Wielkopolskie, Poland.

Sunday 14th of December 1879

Murder plotter Arthur Covell is born in Geuda Springs, Kansas, United States.

Monday 14th of December 1896

Surrealist poet Paul Éluard is born as Eugène Émile Paul Grindel in Saint-Denis, Île-de-France, France.

Monday 14th of December 1903

Murderer William H. Ennis is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 31 in Sing Sing Prison, Ossining, New York, United States.

Ennis was the first policeman to be executed by the Electric Chair.

Thursday 14th of December 1911

39-year-old Explorer Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen becomes the first man to reach the South-Pole in Polheim, the South Pole.

Amundsen arrived at Polheim (Home at the Pole) along with four other members of his expedition: Helmer Hanssen, Olav Bjaaland, Oscar Wisting, and Sverre Hassel.

Sunday 14th of December 1913

Victim of Fritz Haarmann aka Der Hannover Werwolf Friedrich Abeling is born in Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany.

Friday 14th of December 1923

Writer Gerard Reve is born as Gerard Kornelis van het Reve in Van Hallstraat 25, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.

Wednesday 14th of December 1927

Radical artist and poet Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven aka The Dadaist Baroness dies of gas suffocation at the age of 53 in Paris, Île-de-France, France.

von Freytag-Loringhoven may have forgotten to turn the gas off, someone else may have turned it on, or it may have been an intentional act.

Saturday 14th of December 1935

Actress Lee Ann Remick is born in Quincy, Massachusetts, United States.

Thursday 14th of December 1939

Frau Jablinski is stabbed in the head by serial killer Paul Ogorzow aka Der Schnell-Bahn Mörder in Berlin, Rummelsburg, Berlin, Germany.

Jablinski survived and later testified against Ogorzow.

Tuesday 14th of December 1943

Advocate of dietary reform John Harvey Kellogg dies of natural causes at the age of 91 in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States.

Saturday 14th of December 1946

Actress and singer Jane Mallory Birkin is born in London, Marylebone, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Sunday 14th of December 1952

54-year-old Ethel Simpson is gassed and strangled by serial killer John Christie aka The Strangler of 10 Rillington Place in 10 Rillington Place, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Monday 14th of December 1959

Ethel Little is tortured to death by an unidentified sexual deviate at the age of 53 in 1220 NW Thirty-first Street, Miami, Florida, United States.

Little was confronted in her own home and savagely attacked and died of shock and blood loss. One of her breasts had been cut off and stuck onto a bedroom dresser mirror. Over 4000 palm prints were taken but a suspect was never found.

Saturday 14th of December 1968

47-year-old Artist and pedagogue Joseph Heinrich Beuys performs 'Ja ja ja ja ja, nee nee nee nee nee' in Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Tuesday 14th of December 1976

35-year-old Serial killer Marcel Henri Barbeault aka Le Tueur de L'Ombre is arrested after eight years of terror in Nogent-sur-Oise in Montataire, Martinets, Oise, France.

Wednesday 14th of December 1977

17-year-old Kimberly Diane Martin is abducted, raped and strangled by serial killers The Hillside Stranglers in 2006 N. Alvarado, Los Angeles, Echo Park, California, United States.

Wednesday 14th of December 1977

25-year-old Marilyn Moore is attacked with a hammer by serial killer Peter Sutcliffe aka The Yorkshire Ripper in Prince Philip Playing Fields, Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

Moore had been hit eight times with the hammer and had bruises on her hands where she had tried to protect her head. Due to the severity of Moore's injuries the police thought that her description of her suspect might not be reliable.

Thursday 14th of December 1989

Nuclear physicist, Soviet dissident and human rights activist Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov dies of arrhythmia consequent to dilated cardiomyopathy at the age of 68 in Moscow, Central Federal District, Russia.

Tuesday 14th of December 1999

Murderer Robert Ronald Atworth is executed by lethal injection at the age of 31 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Tuesday 14th of December 1999

A busdriver manoeuvering his vehicle through the traffic jam in Thanon Samdet Phra Pin Klao, Bangkok, Central Thailand, Thailand.

Sunday 14th of December 2003

Musician Patrick Miller aka Minimal Man dies of unknown causes at the age of 51 in Los Angeles, Eagle Rock, California, United States.

Wednesday 14th of December 2005

Murderer John B. Nixon is executed by lethal injection at the age of 77 in Mississippi State Penitentiary, Parchman, Mississippi, United States.

Nixon's last meal request was for a well-done T-bone steak, buttered asparagus spears, a baked potato with sour cream, peach pie, vanilla ice cream and sweet tea.

Wednesday 14th of December 2011

143 die in home-brewed alcoholic beverage known as chepti poisoning in Sangrampur, West Bengal, India.

The Government of West Bengal arrested seven people for distributing the liquor.

Friday 14th of December 2012

School shooter Adam Peter Lanza commits suicide by a shot in the head at the age of 20 in Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut, United States.

Before Lanza shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children between six and seven years old and six adult staff members with a Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle and Glock 20SF handgun. Before driving to the school Lanza shot and killed his 52-year-old mother Nancy at their Newtown home.

Friday 14th of December 2012

53-year-old Performance artist Danny Devos aka DDV performs 'The Sower of Fear' in Musis Sacrum, Koningsplein 12, Arnhem, Gelderland, Netherlands.

Saturday 14th of December 2013

Actor Peter Seamus O'Toole dies of cancer at the age of 81 in Wellington Hospital, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.