Tuesday 31st of December 0335

33rd Pope Silvester I dies of unknown causes in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Thursday 31st of December 1378

209th Pope Callixtus III is born as Alfons de Borja in Valencia, Valencia, Spain.

Thursday 31st of December 1514

Anatomist and physician Andreas Vesalius is born as Andries van Wesel in Brussel, Brabant, Belgium.

Friday 31st of December 1869

Artist Henri Émile-Benoît Matisse is born in Le Cateau-Cambrésis, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France.

Monday 31st of December 1877

Painter Gustave Jean Désiré Courbet dies of a liver disease aggravated by heavy drinking at the age of 58 in La Tour-de-Peilz, Vaud, Switzerland.

Saturday 31st of December 1898

Serial killer Joseph Vacher aka L’Eventreur du Sud-Est is executed by the Guillotine at the age of 29 in Bourg-en-Bresse, Rhône-Alpes, France.

Saturday 31st of December 1898

Singer and actress Umm Kulthum aka The Nightingale of the Nile is born as Fātimah ʾIbrāhīm as-Sayyid al-Biltāǧī in Tamay e-Zahayra, El Senbellawein, Dakahlia, Egypt.

Some sources say Kulthum was born on 4 May 1904.

Thursday 31st of December 1908

Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal is born in Buczacz, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine.

Sunday 31st of December 1922

The Goetheanum, built by 61-year-old Philosopher, social reformer, architect and esotericist Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner aka The Father of Anthroposophy is destroyed by arson during the night of New Year's Eve in Goetheanum, Dornach, Solothurn, Switzerland.

One suspect was Jakob Ott, a clockmaker and anthroposophist with positions opposite to those of Steiner. He was seen at the crime scene and most likely died in the fire. However a later report in 2007 claimed he was there to help put the fire out.

Friday 31st of December 1937

Actor Anthony Philip Hopkins known for his portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in the movie ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ is born in Port Talbot, Margam, Wales, United Kingdom.

Friday 31st of December 1943

Singer-songwriter John Denver is born as Henry John Deutschendorf in Roswell, New Mexico, United States.

Friday 31st of December 1943

Actor Ben Kingsley is born as Krishna Bhanji in Snainton, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

Friday 31st of December 1948

Singer-songwriter Donna Summer aka The Queen of Disco is born as LaDonna Adrian Gaines in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

Thursday 31st of December 1959

Actor Val Edward Kilmer is born in Los Angeles, California, United States.

Saturday 31st of December 1960

Serial killer John Allen Muhammad aka The Beltway Sniper is born as John Allen Williams in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States.

Monday 31st of December 1962

23-year-old Patricia Bissette is raped and strangled by serial killer Albert DeSalvo aka The Boston Strangler aka The Measuring Man aka The Green Man in 515 Park Drive, Boston, Back Bay, Massachusetts, United States.

Saturday 31st of December 1966

20-year-old Tuula Hoeoek is presumably battered to death by Satan worshipper and serial rapist Edward Paisnel aka The Beast of Jersey in Rue Laurens, St. Clement, Jersey, United Kingdom.

In July 2013 the case was reopened.

Sunday 31st of December 1967

An unidentified woman is raped and robbed by serial killer Gustaaf Van Eyken aka De Vampier van Muizen in Wielewaalreservaat Zellaar, Bonheiden, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Wednesday 31st of December 1969

Labor leader of the United Mine Workers Joseph Albert Yablonski aka Jock is shot dead in his house by three hitmen hired by a union political opponent at the age of 59 in Clarksville, East Bethlehem Township, Pennsylvania, United States.

Yablonski's wife Margaret and 25-year-old daughter Charlotte were also shot dead. Their bodies were found on 5 January 1970 by Yablonski's son Kenneth.

Wednesday 31st of December 1980

Philosopher Marshall Herbert McLuhan known for “the medium is the message” dies of complications from a stroke at the age of 69 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Friday 31st of December 1982

Toshimitsu Ozawa is attacked by serial killer Dennis Nilsen aka Killing For Company in 23 Cranley Gardens, London, Muswell Hill, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Monday 31st of December 1984

37-year-old Bernhard Hugo Goetz aka The Subway Vigilante turns himself in for the shooting of four robbers in a subway train in Concord, New Hampshire, United States.

Goetz shot them on a New York City Subway train in Manhattan on 22 December 1984.

Tuesday 31st of December 1985

Teen idol Ricky Eric Hilliard Nelson dies in a Douglas DC-3 plane crash at the age of 45 in US-82, De Kalb, Texas, United States.

Seven of the nine occupants were killed: Nelson and his 27-year-old companion Helen Blair, 35-year-old bass guitarist Patrick Woodward, 22-year-old drummer Rick Intveld, 34-year-old keyboardist Andy Chapin, 38-year-old guitarist Bobby Neal, and 35-year-old road manager/soundman Donald Clark Russell. Pilots Ken Ferguson and Brad Rank escaped via cockpit windows, although Ferguson was severely burned.

Wednesday 31st of December 1986

97 die in Dupont Plaza Hotel fire in Dupont Plaza, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The fire was set with the intention of scaring tourists away by Héctor Escudero Aponte, José Rivera López and Arnaldo Jiménez Rivera, three disgruntled employees of the hotel who were in the middle of a labor dispute with the owners.

Wednesday 31st of December 1986

Noise music band Club Moral play their 61st concert at the New Noise Year's Party in Club Moral, Kattenberg 122, Antwerpen, Borgerhout, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Also played: H64, Con-Dom, Victor/im, Iron Brotherhood, Export

Monday 31st of December 1990

30-year-old Heidemarie Heidi Hammerer is found strangled by serial killer Jack Unterweger aka Jack the Writer aka Der Häfenpoet aka The Pug Dumper in Bregenz, Vorarlberg, Austria.

Hammerer was abducted on 6 December.

Friday 31st of December 1993

First democratically elected President of Georgia in the post-Soviet era Zviad Gamsakhurdia commits suicide by a shot in the head at the age of 54 in Khibula, Mingrelia, Georgia.

Gamsakhurdia shot himself when he and a group of colleagues found the building where he was sheltering surrounded by forces of the pro-Shevardnadze Mkhedrioni militia.

Friday 31st of December 1999

An actor on a street stage in Bangkok, Pahurat, Central Thailand, Thailand.

Monday 31st of December 2007

77-year-old Attempted assassin of President Gerald Ford Sara Jane Kahn Moore is released from prison on parole after serving 32 years of her life sentence in Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, California, United States.

Sunday 31st of December 2017

A forgettable New Year's eve in Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Thursday 31st of December 2020

A rainbow standing on the beach in San Rocco, Oostende, Mariakerke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

Saturday 31st of December 2022

265th Pope Benedictus XVI dies of old age at the age of 95 in Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, Rome, Vatican City, Lazio, Italy.