Monday 26th of June 1284

A Pied Piper lures 130 boys and girls out of the village in Hameln, Sachsen, Germany.

All of the children were taken to the Weser river and drowned.

Wednesday 26th of June 1613

Carpenter John Hitchen dies of Spontaneous Human Combustion in Christchurch, Dorset, United Kingdom.

Hitchen's body was dragged into the street and continued to burn for three days.

Sunday 26th of June 1892

Writer Pearl S. Buck aka Sai Zhenzhu is born as Pearl Sydenstricker in Stulting House, Seneca Trail, Hillsboro, West Virginia, United States.

Wednesday 26th of June 1895

Double murderer Carl Otto Wanderer known for The Case of the Ragged Stranger is born in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Sunday 26th of June 1898

Aircraft designer and manufacturer Willy Wilhelm Emil Messerschmitt is born in Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany.

Sunday 26th of June 1904

Actor Peter Lorre is born as László Löwenstein in Rózsahegy, Tatra, Hungary.

Friday 26th of June 1908

28th President of Chile Salvador Guillermo Gossens Allende is born in Valparaíso, Región de Valparaíso, Chile.

Saturday 26th of June 1909

Entertainment impresario Tom Parker aka Colonel Parker known for the management of Elvis Presley is born as Andreas Cornelis 'Dries' van Kuijk in Breda, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands.

Saturday 26th of June 1915

47-year-old Thérèse Laborde-Line is murdered by serial killer Henri Désiré Landru aka Le Barbe-Bleue de Gambais in The Lodge, 47 Rue de Mantes, Vernouillet, Île-de-France, France.

Tuesday 26th of June 1917

48-year-old Presumed murderess Marguerite Jeanne 'Meg' Japy Steinheil aka Lady Abinger aka Mme de Serignac known for her many love affairs with important men marries Robert Brooke Campbell Scarlett, 6th Baron Abinger in London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Tuesday 26th of June 1923

Murderess Barbara Graham aka Bloody Babs is born as Barbara Elaine Ford in Oakland, California, United States.

Friday 26th of June 1925

Cosmonaut Pavel Ivanovich Belyayev is born in Chelishchevo, Vologda Oblast, Russia.

Friday 26th of June 1931

Angry Young Writer Colin Henry Wilson is born in Leicester, Leicestershire, United Kingdom.

Wednesday 26th of June 1946

18-year-old Serial killer William George Heirens aka Catch Me Before I Kill More is arrested prowling in Wayne Manor Apartments, Wayne Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, United States.

A scuffle resulted that ended only when an off-duty policeman dropped three clay flowerpots on Heirens’ head, one at a time from the top of the stairs, rendering him unconscious. According to Heirens, he remembered drifting into unconsciousness under questioning. At one point someone punched him in the testicles causing him to nearly vomit. They also burned them with ether. On his fifth day in custody Heirens was given a lumbar puncture without anesthesia. Moments later Heirens was driven to police headquarters for a polygraph test. They tried for a few minutes to administer the test but it was rescheduled for several days later after they found him to be in too much pain to cooperate.

Friday 26th of June 1953

Serial killer Robert John Maudsley aka The Brain Eater is born in Liverpool, Speke, Merseyside, United Kingdom.

Maudsley was one of 12 children.

Tuesday 26th of June 1956

The books of 59-year-old Psychoanalist and pioneer of sexual freedom Wilhelm Reich are destroyed by FDA officials in Orgonon, Rangely, Maine, United States.

Wednesday 26th of June 1957

Writer Alfred Bruno Döblin known for his novel Berlin Alexanderplatz dies of Parkinson's disease at the age of 79 in Psychiatrischen Landeskrankenhaus, Neubronnstraße 25, Emmendingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Wednesday 26th of June 1957

Margaret Harold is shot dead by serial killer Melvin Rees aka The Sex Beast in Annapolis, Maryland, United States.

Rees removed the deceased Harold's clothing and sexually assaulted her.

Wednesday 26th of June 1957

Poet and writer Malcolm Clarence Lowry known for his novel Under the Volcano dies of inhalation of stomach contents, barbiturate poisoning and excessive consumption of alcohol at the age of 48 in Ripe, East Sussex, United Kingdom.

It has been suggested that Lowry's death was a suicide. Inconsistencies in the accounts given by his wife Margerie at various times about what happened at the night of his death have also given rise to suspicions of murder. Lowry reputedly wrote his own epitaph: "Here lies Malcolm Lowry, late of the Bowery, whose prose was flowery, and often glowery. He lived nightly, and drank daily, and died playing the ukulele," but the epitaph does not appear on his gravestone.

Wednesday 26th of June 1963

46-year-old 35th President of the United States John Fitzgerald Kennedy aka JFK delivers his famous 'Ich bin ein Berliner' speech in Rathaus Schöneberg, Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

Wednesday 26th of June 1968

Comedian and actor Tony Anthony John Hancock commits suicide by an overdose of vodka and amylo-barbitones at the age of 44 in 98 Birriga Road, Sydney, Bellevue Hill, New South Wales, Australia.

In one of his suicide notes Hancock wrote: "Things just seemed to go too wrong too many times".

Sunday 26th of June 1977

24-year-old Serial killer David Richard Berkowitz aka Son of Sam shoots 17-year-old Judy Placido and 20-year-old Salvatore Lupo as they were sitting in their car in 211th Street south of 45th Road, New York, Queens, New York, United States.

Placido suffered wounds of the right temple, the right shoulder and the back of the neck. Lupo suffered a wound of the right forearm.

Sunday 26th of June 1977

17-year-old Jayne Michelle MacDonald is hammered and stabbed to death by serial killer Peter Sutcliffe aka The Yorkshire Ripper in Reginald Street, Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

"When I saw in the papers that MacDonald was so young and not a prostitute, I felt like someone inhuman and I realised that it was a devil driving me against my will and that I was a beast."

Sunday 26th of June 1988

3 die in Air France Flight 296 new Airbus A320-111 crash in Mulhouse–Habsheim Airport, Mulhouse, Alsace, France.

This particular flight was not only the A320's first passenger flight (most of those on-board were journalists and raffle winners) but it was also the first public demonstration of any civilian fly-by-wire aircraft. The low-speed flyover with landing gear down was supposed to take place at an altitude of 30m; instead, the plane performed the flyover at 9,1m, skimmed the treetops of the forest at the end of the runway and crashed. All the passengers survived the initial impact apart from a disabled boy in seat 4F who was unable to move, a girl in seat 8C who was unable to remove her seatbelt (her younger brother had removed his own seatbelt but was carried away by the rush of people before he could help his sister) and a woman who had reached the front door and then returned to help the girl.

Tuesday 26th of June 1990

Murderer James Edward Smith is executed by lethal injection at the age of 38 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Before he died Smith warned prison officials that his ghost would haunt over Huntsville for another 300 years.

Friday 26th of June 1998

Mass murderer Leopoldo Narvaiz is executed by lethal injection at the age of 30 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Narvaiz stabbed to death his 17-year-old ex- girlfriend Shannon Mann, her 19-year-old sisters Jennifer and 15-year-old Martha and her 11-year-old brother Ernest Jr in San Antonio on 15 April 1988. The victims suffered more that 100 wounds and some of the knife blades were broken and embedded in their bodies.

Saturday 26th of June 1999

Visitors at the opening of 'Nursing Care, in Melancholy Stupor' by Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven aka AMVK in M_hka, Leuvenstraat 32, Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Tuesday 26th of June 2001

Double murderer Miguel A. Richardson is executed by lethal injection at the age of 47 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Richardson's last meal request was for chocolate birthday cake with "2/23/90" written on top, seven pink candles, one coconut, kiwi fruit juice, pineapple juice, one mango, grapes, lettuce, cottage cheese, peaches, one banana, one delicious apple, chef salad without meat and with thousand island dressing, fruit salad, cheese, and tomato slices.

Wednesday 26th of June 2002

Murderer Jeffery Lynn Williams is executed by lethal injection at the age of 31 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Williams' last meal request was for six pieces of fried chicken, French fries, six rolls, Tin Roof ice cream, strawberry soda, and chocolate cake.

Saturday 26th of June 2004

Noise music band Club Moral play their 101st concert at the  Ironflame festival in Gewölbe Jannowitzbrücke, Brückenstraße, Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

Saturday 26th of June 2010

The taped door of a burglarised abandoned house in Borgerhout, Antwerpen, Belgium.