Tuesday 4th of January 1785

Philologist, folklorist and mythologist Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm is born in Hanau, Hessen, Germany.

Wednesday 4th of January 1809

Inventor Louis Braille is born in Coupvray, Seine-et-Marne, France.

Thursday 4th of January 1838

Charles Sherwood Stratton aka General Tom Thumb is born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States.

Tuesday 4th of January 1881

Sculptor Wilhelm Lehmbruck is born in Duisburg, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Saturday 4th of January 1890

Con artist Victor Lustig aka The Count known for trying to sell the Eiffel Tower twice is born in Hostinné, Sudetenland, Austria-Hungary.

Saturday 4th of January 1896

Surrealist artist André Aimé-René Masson is born in Balagny-sur-Therain, Oise, France.

Monday 4th of January 1909

40-year-old Serial killer Henri Désiré Landru aka Le Barbe-Bleue de Gambais is sentenced in absentia to five years imprisonment for fraud in Paris, Île-de-France, France.

Monday 4th of January 1915

Automobile designer and manufacturer Armand Peugeot dies of unknown causes at the age of 66 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Île-de-France, France.

Friday 4th of January 1924

Cop killer George Parker is executed by hanging at the age of 32 in Oregon State Penitentiary, Salem, Oregon, United States.

Wednesday 4th of January 1939

11-month-old Peter Seaton dies of Spontaneous Human Combustion in London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Seaton was found in his cot in an inferno of blazing flames strong enough to push back a rescuer who had heard him screaming. After the firemen had put the flames out investigators revealed that nothing was found that could have caused the fire. What was especially remarkable was that the surrounding furniture was hardly damaged.

Tuesday 4th of January 1949

66-year-old Janet Fay is beaten to death with a hammer by serial killer Martha Beck aka The Lonely Hearts Killers (with Raymond Fernandez) in 15 Adeline Place, Long Island, New York, United States.

Wednesday 4th of January 1950

Robber, kidnapper and murderer John Louis Evans is born in Beaumont, Texas, United States.

Saturday 4th of January 1958

39-year-old Mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist Edmund Percival Hillary reaches the South Pole overland in Polheim, the South Pole.

Monday 4th of January 1960

Writer Albert Camus dies in a car crash at 180 km/h at the age of 47 in Petit-Villeblévin, Yonne, France.

The driver of the Facel-Vega FV3B car, Michel Gallimard, who was Camus' publisher and close friend, also died in the accident.

Saturday 4th of January 1964

20-year-old Mary Ann Sullivan is raped with a broomstick and strangled by serial killer Albert DeSalvo aka The Boston Strangler aka The Measuring Man aka The Green Man in 44a Charles Street, Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

Monday 4th of January 1965

Poet and playwright Thomas Stearns Eliot aka T. S. Eliot dies of emphysema at the age of 77 in 3 Kensington Court Gardens, London, Kensington, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Wednesday 4th of January 1967

Victim of Joachim Kroll aka The Ruhr Hunter Adolf Schickel commits suicide by drowning at the age of 27 in Wiesbaden, Hessen, Germany.

Schickel was falsely accused of killing his 20-year-old girlfriend Ursula Rohling on 13 September 1966, who was actually killed by Joachim Kroll aka The Ruhr Hunter.

Friday 4th of January 1974

18-year-old Joni Lenz aka Karen Sparks or Sharon Clarke is beaten and sexually assaulted by serial killer Ted Bundy aka The Only Living Witness in University District, Seattle, Washington, United States.

Clarke was probably Bundy's first known victim. A bed rod had been torn away from the bed and savagely rammed into her vagina. Clarke was transported to the hospital in a comatose state, suffering from damages that would affect her for the rest of her life.

Friday 4th of January 1974

Inventor and engineer Gopalswamy Doraiswamy Naidu aka The Edison of India dies of unknown causes at the age of 81 in Coimbatore, Kalangal, Tamil Nadu, India.

Wednesday 4th of January 1984

18-year-old Sigrid Poeltz is attacked and raped by serial killer Thomas Rath aka Der Moormörder in Bremen, Freie Hansestadt Bremen, Germany.

Wednesday 4th of January 1995

Murderer Jesse DeWayne Jacobs is executed by lethal injection at the age of 45 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Thursday 4th of January 1996

42-year-old Carmelina Russo is presumably abducted and killed by unidentified serial killer Le Dépeceur de Mons aka The Trash Bag Killer in Mons, Hainaut, Belgium.

Russo's remains were found in pieces floating in the river Escaut 17 days later in Chateau L'Abbaye, France.

Tuesday 4th of January 2000

Cars and trucks in the evening traffic jam in Bangkok, Central Thailand, Thailand.

Tuesday 4th of January 2005

Double murderer James Scott Porter is executed by lethal injection at the age of 34 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Porter's last meal request was for two extra crispy fried chicken breasts, two thighs, onion rings, french fries, fried okra, five slices of buttered garlic bread, a bowl of country gravy, a couple slices of onions, pickles, jalapeno peppers, ketchup, mustard, sliced tomato, one pot of thick coffee and a banana split.

Wednesday 4th of January 2012

32-year-old Céline Vidal is attacked by serial killer Philippe Pacque aka L'Épervier d'Amiens in Caen, Normandie, France.

Vidal survived.