Monday 3rd of May 1469

Political philosopher and poet Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli aka The Prince is born in Firenze, Toscana, Italy.

Wednesday 3rd of May 1662

Isobel Gowdie confesses a second encounter with the Devil in Auldearn, Scotland, United Kingdom.

Gowdie expanded on details about the coven by providing the nicknames of its members and as many of the spirits that waited on them as she could remember; her own servant spirit, dressed in black, was called the Read Reiver.

Tuesday 3rd of May 1729

Composer Florian Leopold Gassmann is born in Brüx, Bohemia, Czechoslovakia.

Wednesday 3rd of May 1758

247th Pope Benedictus XIV dies of gout at the age of 83 in Vatican City, Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Tuesday 3rd of May 1898

Teacher, kibbutznik and politician Golda Meyerson Meir is born as Golda Mabovitch in Kiev, Ukraine, Russia.

Tuesday 3rd of May 1904

Multiple murderer Allan Mooney aka The Saranac Lake Murderer is executed by Old Sparky by Robert Elliott in Dannemora Prison, Dannemora, New York, United States.

Tuesday 3rd of May 1904

Singer and actor Bing Harry Lillis Crosby is born in 1112 North J Street, Tacoma, Washington, United States.

Wednesday 3rd of May 1911

Murderer Joseph Nash aka Joseph Nesce is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 44 in Auburn Prison, State Street, Auburn, New York, United States.

Wednesday 3rd of May 1933

Singer-songwriter, dancer and bandleader James Joseph Brown aka The Godfather of Soul is born in Barnwell, South Carolina, United States.

Thursday 3rd of May 1934

Singer Frankie Valli is born as Francesco Stephen Castelluccio in First Ward, Newark, New Jersey, United States.

Thursday 3rd of May 1934

Singer-songwriter Georges Moustaki is born as Giuseppe Mustacchi in Alexandria, Alexandria, Egypt.

Thursday 3rd of May 1934

Murderer Reginald Ivor Hinks is executed by hanging by Thomas Pierrepoint at the age of 34 in Horfield Prison, Bristol, South West England, United Kingdom.

Friday 3rd of May 1940

Sound engineer and producer Conny Konrad Plank is born in Hütschenhausen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany.

Sunday 3rd of May 1942

40-year-old Ivy McLeod is raped and strangled by serial killer Edward Leonski aka The Singing Strangler in Bleak House Hotel, Victoria Avenue, Melbourne, Albert Park, Victoria, Australia.

Saturday 3rd of May 1947

The 'Bullies of Ravensbrück' are executed by hanging by 42-year-old Chief executioner Albert Pierrepoint in Zuchthaus Hameln, Hameln, Sachsen, Germany.

The first Ravensbrück trial was held from 5 December 5 1946 until 3 February 1947 against sixteen Ravensbrück concentration camp staff and officials. Executed on this day were 43-year-old Schutzhaftlagerführer Johann Schwarzhuber, 37-year-old SS-Unterscharführer Gustav Binder, 38-year-old Kriminalsekretär Ludwig Ramdohr, 36-year-old SS-Obersturmführer Rolf Rosenthal and 41-year-old SS-Hauptsturmführer Gerhard Schiedlausky. The women were hanged on 2 May 1947.

Monday 3rd of May 1948

Rex Farran is killed by a terrorist mail bomb at the age of 26 in Codsall, Staffordshire, United States.

The bomb was intended to kill his brother Major Roy Farran, court martialled on a charge of murdering an unarmed 16-year-old member of the Jewish underground militant group Lehi during his command of an undercover Palestine Police unit.

Tuesday 3rd of May 1949

Murderer Manuel Pina 'Manny' Babbitt is born in Wareham, Massachusetts, United States.

Wednesday 3rd of May 1950

Self-proclaimed prophet and cult leader Jeffrey Don Lundgren aka The Volunteer is born in Independence, Missouri, United States.

Wednesday 3rd of May 1961

Phenomenological philosopher Maurice Jean Jacques Merleau-Ponty dies of a heart attack at the age of 53 in Paris, Île-de-France, France.

Thursday 3rd of May 1962

160 die in freight train No. 287, passenger train 2117H and passenger train 2000H collision in Mikawashima Station, Tokyo, Arakawa, Kantō, Japan.

Sunday 3rd of May 1970

24-year-old Serial killer Richard Francis Cottingham aka The Torso Killer marries Jamey in Our Lady of Lourdes Church, 92-96 220th Street, New York, Queens, New York, United States.

In April 1979 Jamey filed for divorce due to extra-marital affairs and known sightings of Cottingham at local gay bars. In June 1980, after Cottingham's arrest, Jamey resubmitted her divorce claim.

Tuesday 3rd of May 1977

25-year-old Member of the Rote Armee Fraktion Verena Christiane Becker is arrested after a shootout with the police in Cafe Hanser, August-Ruf-Straße 4, Singen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Becker and fellow terrorist Günter Sonnenberg were spotted by police and tried to flee. A gunfight ensued which left two police officers badly wounded. They attempted to drive off in a stolen vehicle only to drive into a dead-end street. They abandoned the vehicle and ran but were shot down and arrested. Sonnenberg was seriously injured by a gunshot wound to the head and Becker was shot in the leg. A submachine gun was found in their abandoned car. It turned out to be the gun used to assassinate Siegfried Buback.

Thursday 3rd of May 1979

50-year-old Serial killer Charles Ray Hatcher aka Evil Incarnate is arrested posing as Ron Springer for the assault of 7-year-old Thomas Morton in Omaha, Nebraska, United States.

Sunday 3rd of May 1981

22-year-old Performance artist Danny Devos aka DDV performs 'On a Sundaymorning' in Odessa Rood, Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands.

In a closed off garage I made an installation on a sunday morning with loud noise music and slide-projections.

Monday 3rd of May 1982

36-year-old Serial killer Michel Bellen aka The Strangler of the Left Bank is released after serving 17 years of a life sentence in Centrale Gevangenis, Geldenaakse Vest, Leuven, Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium.

Six months later Bellen strangled a woman in Leuven.

Thursday 3rd of May 1984

19-year-old Beate Koch is abducted by sex researcher Ulrich Kochwald in Pillnach, Bayern, Germany.

Koch was raped and then forced into Kochwald's basement where he was keeping 24-year-old Sabine Pauli as a sex slave for several weeks. Koch managed to escape the same evening.

Friday 3rd of May 1985

Noise music band Club Moral play their 44th concert in Staalplaat, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.

Sunday 3rd of May 1987

Singer and actress Dalida commits suicide by an overdose of sleeping pills at the age of 54 in Rue d'Orchampt 11 bis, Paris, XVIIIe, Île-de-France, France.

Dalida left behind a note which read "La vie m'est insupportable... Pardonnez-moi."

Friday 3rd of May 1991

Writer Jerzy Kosiński commits suicide by ingesting a lethal amount of alcohol and drugs and wrapping a plastic bag around his head and suffocating to death at the age of 58 in New York, Manhattan, New York, United States.

Kosiński suffered from multiple illnesses towards the end of his life and he was under attack from journalists who accused him of plagiarism. By his late 50s he was suffering from an irregular heartbeat as well as severe physical and nervous exhaustion. His parting note read: "I am going to put myself to sleep now for a bit longer than usual. Call it Eternity."

Tuesday 3rd of May 1994

Murderer Paul Rougeau is executed by lethal injection at the age of 47 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Wednesday 3rd of May 1995

Murderer Emmit Foster aka John Lee is executed by lethal injection at the age of 44 in Potosi Correctional Center, Bonne Terre, Missouri, United States.

Friday 3rd of May 1996

Triple murderer Keith Daniel Williams is executed by lethal injection at the age of 50 in San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, California, United States.

Williams' last meal request was for fried pork chops, a baked potato with real butter, asparagus, salad with bleu cheese dressing, apple pie, and whole milk.

Monday 3rd of May 1999

18-year-old Mass murderer Christopher C. Churchill is sentenced to life imprisonment in Olney, Illinois, United States.

On 11 February 1998 Churchill killed his 17-year-old half-brother Jonathan Lloyd along with Lloyd's 32-year-old girlfriend Debra Smith and her three children, 12-year-old Kenny, 7-year-old Jennifer and 5-year-old Corey at their rural Richland County home by only using a hammer. In a videotaped statement Churchill said he wanted to "relieve stress.''

Tuesday 3rd of May 2005

Murderer Lonnie Wayne Pursley is executed by lethal injection at the age of 44 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Pursley's last meal request was for a cheeseburger, four fried pork chops, french fries, two dinner rolls, a piece of cheesecake and iced tea with sugar.

Tuesday 3rd of May 2005

A stuffed fox in the Natural History Museum in Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia.

Wednesday 3rd of May 2006

113 die in Armavia Airbus A320-211 Flight 967 crash in Sochi airport, Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia.

Wednesday 3rd of May 2006

Artist Karel Christiaan Appel dies of heart failure at the age of 85 in Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.

Thursday 3rd of May 2007

Double murderer Aaron Lee Jones is executed by lethal injection at the age of 55 in Holman Correctional Facility, Ross Road, Atmore, Alabama, United States.

Jones' final meal request was for black-eyed peas, pepper steak and an orange-flavored drink. Earlier in the day he had a cheeseburger and a Pepsi from a prison vending machine.

Thursday 3rd of May 2007

Weird technical architectures for aerospace experiments in Aerodynamischer Park, Berlin, Adlershof, Berlin, Germany.