Wednesday 25th of March 1801

Romantic poet and writer Novalis dies of tuberculosis at the age of 29 in Weißenfels, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany.

Monday 25th of March 1867

Conductor Arturo Toscanini is born in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy.

Thursday 25th of March 1875

Actor Spencer Charters is born in Duncannon, Pennsylvania, United States.

Friday 25th of March 1881

Composer Béla Viktor János Bartók is born in Nagyszentmiklós, Timiș, Austria-Hungary.

Wednesday 25th of March 1891

Writer Filip De Pillecyn aka De Prins der Nederlandse Letteren known for his novel ‘Monsieur Hawarden’ is born in Plezantstraat, Hamme aan de Durme, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

Friday 25th of March 1910

Black Judge Jones is lynched by hanging from a water tank at the age of 27 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, United States.

Saturday 25th of March 1911

Nightclub operator Jack Ruby is born as Jacob Leon Rubenstein in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Saturday 25th of March 1911

146 die in Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, Greene Street and Washington Place, New York, Manhattan, New York, United States.

A large crowd of bystanders gathered on the street, witnessing 62 people jumping or falling to their deaths from the burning building.

Monday 25th of March 1918

Presumed illegitimate son of Adolf Hitler Jean-Marie Loret is born as Jean-Marie Lobjoie in Seboncourt, Aisne, France.

Monday 25th of March 1918

Composer Claude Achille Debussy dies of rectal cancer at the age of 56 in Paris, Île-de-France, France.

In December 1915 Debussy underwent one of the earliest colostomy operations ever performed.

Tuesday 25th of March 1919

Sculptor Wilhelm Lehmbruck commits suicide due to distress in his ongoing state of depression at the age of 38 in Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

Friday 25th of March 1921

Actress Simone Signoret is born as Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker in Wiesbaden, Hessen, Germany.

Monday 25th of March 1935

65-year-old Serial killer, child rapist and cannibal Albert Hamilton Howard Fish aka The Cannibal aka The Werewolf of Wysteria aka The Moon Maniac is sentenced to die in the Electric Chair in Westchester County Courthouse, White Plains, New York, United States.

Monday 25th of March 1940

Multiple murderer Douglas Franklin Wright is born in Spirit Lake, Iowa, United States.

Monday 25th of March 1940

Singer and anti-gay rights activist Anita Jane Bryant is born in Barnsdall, Oklahoma, United States.

Wednesday 25th of March 1942

Singer and musician Aretha Louise Franklin aka The Queen of Soul is born in 406 Lucy Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee, United States.

Wednesday 25th of March 1942

55-year-old Marthe Khait is presumably murdered by doctor and serial killer Marcel Petiot aka The Triangular Chamber of Death Murderer in 21 Rue Le Sueur, Paris, XVIe, Île-de-France, France.

Monday 25th of March 1946

Serial killer Gerard John Schaefer is born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States.

Schaefer's actual birth place is unknown.

Tuesday 25th of March 1947

111 die in No. 5 coal mine dust explosion in Centralia, Illinois, United States.

Tuesday 25th of March 1947

Singer-songwriter and composer Elton Hercules John is born as Reginald Kenneth Dwight in Pinner, Middlesex, United Kingdom.

Monday 25th of March 1957

The poem 'Howl' by 31-year-old Beat poet Allen Irwin Ginsberg being imported from the printer in London is seized by customs as obscene in San Francisco, California, United States.

On 3 October 1957 Judge Clayton W. Horn ruled that the poem was not obscene.

Tuesday 25th of March 1969

29-year-old Musician John Winston Lennon known from The Beatles and artist Yoko Ono start their first ‘Bed-in for Peace’ in Hilton Hotel, Apollolaan 138, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.

Tuesday 25th of March 1975

King of Saudi Arabia Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is shot point-blank and killed by his half-brother's 28-year-old son Faisal bin Musaid at the age of 69 in Riyāḍ, Manţiqat ar Riyāḍ, Saudi Arabia.

Thursday 25th of March 1976

Artist Josef Albers dies of natural causes at the age of 88 in New Haven, Connecticut, United States.

Tuesday 25th of March 1980

26-year-old Donna Marie Hensley is beaten and stabbed by serial killer Gerald Stano aka Blind Fury in Tower Motel, 1116 Mason Avenue, Daytona, Florida, United States.

Hensley escaped, reported her assault and ID'd Gerald Stano as her assailant. Stano was brought in on 1 April to be questioned about the assault on Hensley to which his confesses along with the murder of Mary Carol Maher.

Friday 25th of March 1983

17-year-old Mass murderer Daniel Scholeer aka Het Monster van Elverdinge shoots and kills his 79-year-old grandmother Jeannette Lacante, his 62-year-old uncle Albert Druelle, his 53-year-old mother Antoinette Barbez, his 53-year-old aunt Gabriëlle Barbez and his 56-year-old father Gerard Scholeer in Steenstraat 4/6, Elverdinge, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

Afterwards Scholeer said "They were good people, but so old-fashioned. I wasn't even allowed to be a rally pilot or a rock singer like Elvis Presley. And actually, I wanted to make the world a better place." In his room a list was found with 80 names of people he planned to kill.

Sunday 25th of March 1984

35-year-old Murderer Peter Carlier attempts to escape from prison by keeping the director as a hostage in Leuven Centraal, Geldenaaksevest 64, Leuven, Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium.

Carlier surrenders when his accomplice Andreino Fabris is shot dead by police snipers.

Wednesday 25th of March 1987

Noise music band Club Moral play their 65th concert in The Globe, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Wednesday 25th of March 1987

44-year-old Serial killer Gary Michael Heidnik aka The Cellar of Horror Murderer is arrested in 3520 North Marshall Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.

Saturday 25th of March 1989

24-year-old Anthony Sears is drugged, strangled and dismembered by serial killer and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer aka The Milwaukee Cannibal in 2357 South 57th Street, West Allis, Wisconsin, United States.

Dahmer cleaned the Sears' skull and kept the scalp because he liked his ponytail and wanted to keep it. Sears' skull and scalp were found three years later in Dahmer’s apartment. 

Sunday 25th of March 1990

87 die in Happy Land unlicensed social club fire in Happy Land, 1959 Southern Boulevard, New York, Bronx, New York, United States.

The evening of the fire, unemployed Cuban refugee Julio González had argued with his former girlfriend Lydia Feliciano, a coat check girl at the Happy Land, urging her to quit. She claimed that she had had enough of him and did not want anything to do with him anymore. González tried to fight back into the club but was ejected by the bouncer. González returned to the establishment with a plastic container of gasoline. He spread the fuel on a staircase, the only access into the club, and then ignited the gasoline. González was charged with 174 counts of murder - two for each victim - and was found guilty on 87 counts of arson and 87 counts of murder on 19 August 1991. For each count he received the sentence maximum of 25 years to life (a total of 4,350 years).

Thursday 25th of March 1993

Cop killer Ramon Montoya Facundo is executed by lethal injection at the age of 39 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Tuesday 25th of March 1997

Murderer Pedro Luis Medina is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 40 in Florida State Prison, 23916 NW 83rd Ave., Raiford, Florida, United States.

With the first jolt of electricity, blue and orange flames sparked from the mask covering Medina's face. Flames up to a foot long shot out from the right side of Medina's head for 6 - 10 seconds. The execution chamber clouded with smoke and the smell of burnt flesh filled the witness room.

Thursday 25th of March 1999

Double murderer Charles Henry Rector is executed by lethal injection at the age of 45 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Saturday 25th of March 2006

Photographer Bob Carlos Clarke commits suicide by jumping in front of a train at the age of 56 in London, Barnes, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Clarke checked himself out of the Priory Hospital just minutes before.

Saturday 25th of March 2006

Film director Richard O. Fleischer dies of natural causes at the age of 90 in Woodland Hills, California, United States.

Saturday 25th of March 2006

A bright lit corridor in a U-Bahn station in Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

Sunday 25th of March 2007

58-year-old Member of the Rote Armee Fraktion and Sozialistisches Patientenkollektiv Brigitte Margret Ida Mohnhaupt is released from prison after 24 years in Zuchthaus, Aichach, Bayern, Germany.

Mohnhaupt was the longest ever imprisoned member of the Rote Armee Fraktion.

Thursday 25th of March 2010

Spring time on our back terrace in Oudstrijdersstraat 35, Antwerpen, Borgerhout, Antwerpen, Belgium.