Monday 30th of December 1591

230th Pope Innocentius IX dies of unknown causes at the age of 72 in Vatican City, Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Thursday 30th of December 1610

50-year-old Countess and serial killer Erzsébet de Ecsed Báthory aka Die Blutfrau and four of her servants, who were accused of being her accomplices: Dorotya Semtész, Ilona Jó, Katarína Benická and János Újváry aka Ibis aka Fickó are arrested in Csejte Vára, Čachtice, Trenčín, Slowakia.

One girl was found dead and one dying in Báthory's castle.

Saturday 30th of December 1865

Writer Rudyard Joseph Kipling known for his novel ‘Jungle Book’ is born in J.J. School, Bombay, Bombay Presidency, India.

Thursday 30th of December 1886

Artist and occultist Austin Osman Spare is born in Bloomfield House, Bloomfield Place, King Street, London, Snow Hill, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Wednesday 30th of December 1903

605 die in Iroquois Theatre fire in Iroquois Theatre, 24–28 West Randolph Street, Chicago, Illinois, United States.

At the beginning of the second act, a dance number in the popular Drury Lane musical 'Mr. Bluebeard', was in progress when an arc light shorted out and sparks ignited a muslin curtain.

Thursday 30th of December 1909

Victim of Fritz Haarmann aka Der Hannover Werwolf Heinz Martin is born in Chemnitz, Sachsen, Germany.

Friday 30th of December 1910

Composer and writer Paul Frederic Bowles is born in New York, Queens, New York, United States.

Saturday 30th of December 1916

Mystic and self-proclaimed holy man Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin aka The Mad Monk is assassinated by a group of conservative noblemen led by Felix Yusupov at the age of 47 in Moika Palace, St. Petersburg, Northwestern Federal District, Russia.

Yusupov offered Rasputin tea and cakes which had been laced with cyanide. To Yusupov's surprise Rasputin did not appear to be affected by the poison. Rasputin then asked for some Madeira wine (which had also been poisoned) and drank three glasses but still showed no sign of distress. At around 2:30 am Yusupov excused himself to go upstairs where his fellow conspirators were waiting. Taking a revolver from Dmitry Pavlovich, Yusupov returned to the basement and, referring to a crucifix that was in the room, told Rasputin that he'd "better look at the crucifix and say a prayer" then shot him once in the chest. Believing him to be dead they then drove to Rasputin's apartment with Sukhotin wearing Rasputin's coat and hat in an attempt to make it look as though Rasputin had returned home that night. Upon returning to the Moika Palace, Yusupov went back to the basement to ensure that Rasputin was dead. Suddenly Rasputin leapt up and attacked Yusupov, who freed himself and fled upstairs. Rasputin followed and made it into the palace's courtyard before being shot by Vladimir Purishkevich and collapsing into a snowbank. 

Sunday 30th of December 1928

Musician Bo Diddley aka The Originator is born as Ellas Otha Bates in McComb, Mississippi, United States.

Friday 30th of December 1932

Trained nurse and triple murderess Daisy de Melker is executed by hanging at the age of 46 in Pretoria Central Prison, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa.

De Melker poisoned her husband and son with arsenic. Two other husbands and four children had died suspiciously.

Sunday 30th of December 1934

Singer-songwriter and musician Del Shannon is born as Charles Weedon Westover in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States.

Thursday 30th of December 1937

Child killer Frederick Nodder aka Uncle Fred Hudson is executed by hanging by Thomas Pierrepoint at the age of 50 in Lincoln Prison, Greetwell Road, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom.

Tuesday 30th of December 1941

Artist, designer, photographer and architect El Lazar Markovich Lissitzky dies of tuberculosis at the age of 51 in Moscow, Central Federal District, Russia.

Monday 30th of December 1946

Poet and musician Patti Patricia Lee Smith aka The Godmother of Punk is born in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Tuesday 30th of December 1947

Art forger Han Henricus Antonius van Meegeren dies of a heart attack at the age of 58 in Valeriuskliniek, Valeriusplein, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.

Sunday 30th of December 1956

41-year-old Art vandal Hugo Unzaga Villegas throws a brick at Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’ in Musée du Louvre, Paris, Ier, Île-de-France, France.

A psychiatric report on Villegas by Dr. Gouriou on 14 January 1957 found that the man was insane, heard strange voices, and had intended to murder the Argentinean dictator Juan Perón but went instead for the less well protected Mona Lisa.

Wednesday 30th of December 1959

Actress and comedian Tracey Ullman is born as Trace in Slough, Berkshire, United Kingdom.

Friday 30th of December 1966

Murderer Stanley Allison Baker is born in Paris, Île-de-France, France.

Baker's father was in the US Army in Paris.

Wednesday 30th of December 1970

Boxer Sonny Charles Liston dies of a heroin overdose at the age of 38 in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.

Liston was found by his wife Geraldine returning home from a two-week trip on 5 January 1971.

Monday 30th of December 1974

16-year-old School shooter Anthony Barbaro known for the Olean High School shooting  indiscriminately shoots at people on the street from windows at the third floor of the school building with a Remington .30-06-caliber rifle with telescopic sight and a 12-gauge shotgun in Olean High School, Olean, New York, United States.

62-year-old Earl Metcalf, 58-year-old Neal Pilon and 25-year-old Carmen Wright Drayton were killed and another 11 people were injured during the shooting. In a note explaining his motives Barbaro wrote: "I guess I just wanted to kill the person I hate most -- myself, I just didn't have the courage. I wanted to die, but I couldn't do it, so I had to get someone to do it for me. It didn't work out."

Friday 30th of December 1977

19-year-old Robert Donnelly is raped and tortured by serial killer John Wayne Gacy aka The Killer Clown in 8213 West Summerdale Avenue, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States.

After several hours of assaulting and torturing the youth Gacy drove Donnelly to his place of work, removed the handcuffs from the youth's wrists and released him. Donnelly reported the assault and Gacy was questioned about it on 6 January 1978. Gacy admitted to having had 'slave-sex' with Donnelly but insisted everything was consensual. The police believed him and no charges were filed.

Saturday 30th of December 1978

14-year-old Stephen Dean Holmes is strangled and drowned by serial killer Dennis Nilsen aka Killing For Company in 195 Melrose Avenue, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Holmes was Nilsen's first victim. Holmes' dead body remained beneath the floorboards for almost eight months before Nilsen built a bonfire in the garden behind his flat and burned it on 11 August 1979.

Saturday 30th of December 1978

32-year-old Serial killer Ted Theodore Robert Bundy aka The Only Living Witness escapes in County Jail, 107 8th Street, Glenwood Springs, Colorado, United States.

Bundy piled books and files in his bunk bed under a blanket to simulate his sleeping body and slipped into the crawlspace above his cell. He broke through the ceiling into the apartment of the chief jailer who was out for the evening with his wife, changed into street clothes from the jailer's closet and walked out the front door to freedom.

Thursday 30th of December 1982

20-year-old David M. Block is stabbed to death by serial killer Larry Eyler aka The Leather Boy Killer in Deerfield, Illinois, United States.

Block's body was found on 7 May 1984 in Zion, Illinois.

Wednesday 30th of December 1987

Mass murderer Robert J. Dreesman commits suicide by a shot in the head at the age of 40 in Algona, Iowa, United States.

During a family reunion Dreesman shot dead his parents 79-year-old John and 74-year-old Agnes Dreesman, his widowed sister Marilyn Chuang and her three children 12-year-old Jason, 11-year-old Jennifer and 8-year-old Joshua.

Monday 30th of December 1996

Over 100 die in Brahmaputra Mail passenger train bomb explosion in Fakiragram, Assam, India.

The Indian government blamed the attack on an Assamese separatist organisation Bodo Security Force.

Thursday 30th of December 1999

56-year-old Guitarist and singer-songwriter George Harrison known from the Beatles is attacked with a kitchen knife by 34-year-old paranoid schizophrenic Michael Abram in his home in Friar Park, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.

Harrison was hospitalised with more than 40 stab wounds and part of his punctured lung was removed. Harrison released a statement soon afterwards regarding his assailant: "He wasn't a burglar and he certainly wasn't auditioning for the Traveling Wilburys."

Thursday 30th of December 2004

194 die in República Cromañón nightclub fire in República Cromañón, 3060/3066/3070 Bartolomé Mitre, Buenos Aires, Balvanera, Gran Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The blaze was started when a pyrotechnic flare was set off during a concert by the rock group 'Callejeros', and ignited foam in the ceiling. Four of the six doors had been wired shut to keep out "people who would not enter without paying".

Saturday 30th of December 2006

Dictator of Iraq Saddam Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti Hussein is executed by hanging at the age of 69 in Camp Justice, Baghdad, Al-Kāẓimiyyah, Baghdad, Iraq.

Saturday 30th of December 2006

Detail of a blood painting by Hermann Nitsch in a retrospective exhibition in Martin-Gropius-Bau, Niederkirchnerstraße 7, Berlin, Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany.

Wednesday 30th of December 2009

Doctor and a double agent suicide bomber Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi aka Abu Dujana al-Khurasani commits suicide by suicide bombing at the age of 32 in Camp Chapman, Khost, Khost, Afghanistan.

Seven American CIA officers and contractors, an officer of Jordan's intelligence service and an Afghan working for the CIA were killed when al-Balawi detonated a bomb sewn into a vest he was wearing. Six other American CIA officers were wounded.

Thursday 30th of December 2021

An exclusive bathtub in Villa Les Zéphyrs, Henri Jasparlaan 173, Westende, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.