Tuesday 7th of May 1748

Feminist, activist, playwright and abolitionist Olympe de Gouges is born as Marie Gouze in Montauban, Tarn-et-Garonne, France.

Friday 7th of May 1824

The Symphony No. 9 in D minor by 54-year-old Composer Ludwig van Beethoven is premiered in Theater am Kärntnertor, Wien, Wien, Austria.

This was Beethoven's first on-stage appearance in 12 years; the hall was packed with an eager audience and a number of musicians. The whole audience acclaimed Beethoven through standing ovations five times; there were handkerchiefs in the air, hats, raised hands, so that Beethoven, who could not hear the applause, could at least see the ovation gestures.

Tuesday 7th of May 1833

Romantic composer Johannes Brahms is born in Caffamacherreihe, Hamburg, Gängeviertel, Hamburg, Germany.

Thursday 7th of May 1840

Composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is born in Votkinsk, Udmurtia, Russia.

Thursday 7th of May 1840

Romantic landscape painter Caspar David Friedrich dies of complications from a stroke at the age of 66 in Dresden, Sachsen, Germany.

Sunday 7th of May 1882

Writer Willem Elsschot is born as Alphonsus Josephus de Ridder in De Keyserlei 32, Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Saturday 7th of May 1892

Yugoslav statesman Josip Broz Tito is born in Muzeja Staro Selo, Kumrovec, Hrvatsko Zagorje, Austria-Hungary.

Thursday 7th of May 1896

Serial killer Henry Howard Holmes aka The Torture Doctor is executed by hanging at the age of 35 in Moyamensing Prison, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.

Holmes' neck did not snap; he instead was strangled to death slowly, twitching over 15 minutes before being pronounced dead 20 minutes after the trap had been sprung.

Tuesday 7th of May 1901

Actor Gary Cooper is born as Frank James Cooper in 730 Eleventh Avenue, Helena, Montana, United States.

Monday 7th of May 1906

Founder of the Bride of Christ Church Edmund Franz Creffield aka Joshua is assassinated by his brother in law, George Mitchell at the age of 36 in Seattle, Washington, United States.

Thursday 7th of May 1914

Black Charley Jones is lynched for stealing a pair of cheap shoes in Grovetown, Georgia, United States.

Friday 7th of May 1915

1.198 die in RMS Lusitania ocean liner sinking in Old Head of Kinsale, Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland.

The RMS Lusitania was torpedoed by the German U-boat U-20 and sank in 20 minutes.

Wednesday 7th of May 1919

Spiritual Leader of the Nation of Argentina Eva María Duarte de Perón aka Evita is born in Casa Natal Eva Perón, Los Toldos, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Thursday 7th of May 1925

Writer and revolutionary Boris Viktorovich Savinkov commits suicide by jumping from a window at the age of 46 in Lubyanka Prison, Lubyanskaya Square, Moscow, Meshchansky, Central Federal District, Russia.

According to modern publications by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and others Savinkov was killed in prison by OGPU officers.

Saturday 7th of May 1932

13th President of the Third Republic and 14th President of France Paul Doumer dies from gunshot wounds suffered the day before at the age of 75 in Hôpital Beaujon, 100 Boulevard du Général-Leclerc, Paris, VIIIe, Île-de-France, France.

Friday 7th of May 1937

World War I veteran Harold B. Wobber commits suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge at the age of 47 in Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California, United States.

During a stroll on the walkway Wobber took off his coat and vest, threw them to a passer-by and declared "This is where I get off. I'm going to jump." After his death newspapers reported Wobber was a victim of shell shock and had been under mental health treatment. It was the first suicide on the Golden Gate Bridge, just a little over three months past its opening.

Thursday 7th of May 1942

An unidentified male headless body is fished out of the Seine and presumed to be the first victim of 45-year-old Doctor and serial killer Marcel André Henri Félix Petiot aka The Triangular Chamber of Death Murderer in Saint-Ouen, Île-de-France, France.

Thursday 7th of May 1942

Member of the Rote Armee Fraktion Sigurd Debus is born in Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.

Tuesday 7th of May 1946

Leider van het Nederlandse Volk Anton Adriaan (Ad) Mussert is executed by the firing squad at the age of 52 in Waalsdorpervlakte, Den Haag, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands.

Friday 7th of May 1948

Member of the 'Manson Family' Susan Denise Atkins aka Sadie Mae Glutz is born in San Gabriel, California, United States.

Thursday 7th of May 1964

Hijacker and mass murderer Francisco Paula Gonzales commits suicide by a shot in the head at the age of 28 in Sheriff Hill, San Ramon, California, United States.

Gonzales shot both 52-year-old pilot Ernest Clark and 31-year-old copilot Ray Andress of Pacific Air Lines Flight 773 Fairchild F-27A in the head with a Smith & Wesson Model 27 .357 Magnum revolver, causing the plane to crash and killing all 41 other passengers and one more crew member on board.

Saturday 7th of May 1966

24-year-old Serial killer Myra Hindley aka The Moors Murderers (with Ian Brady) enters the first day of her two life sentences as prisoner 964055 in Holloway Prison, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

For her safety Hindley was first kept in the hospital C Wing until it was deemed safe to move her to D Wing.

Saturday 7th of May 1966

28-year-old Serial killer Ian Brady aka The Moors Murderers (with Myra Hindley) enters the first day of his three life sentences in Durham Gaol, Durham, Elvet, North East, United Kingdom.

For his safety Brady asked to be held in solitary confinement in E Wing under Rule 43.

Sunday 7th of May 1967

Mass murderer Martin Bryant is born in Lenah Valley, Tasmania, Australia.

Tuesday 7th of May 1968

Underage pornographic actress, model and singer Traci Lords is born as Nora Louise Kuzma in Steubenville, Ohio, United States.

Sunday 7th of May 1972

19-year-old Anita Mary Luchessa     is abducted and strangled by serial killer Edmund Kemper aka The Co-ed Killer in Berkeley, California, United States.

Luchessa was abducted with her 18-year-old roommate Mary Anne Pesce. Kemper beheaded Luchessa's and Pesce’s body and kept the heads for a while, eventually disposing them in a ravine. Pesce was found and identified, nothing of Luchessa was ever found.

Sunday 7th of May 1972

19-year-old Mary Ann Pesce is abducted and strangled by serial killer Edmund Kemper aka The Co-ed Killer in Berkeley, California, United States.

Pesce was abducted with her 18-year-old roommate Anita Luchessa. Kemper beheaded Luchessa's and Pesce’s body and kept the heads for a while, eventually disposing them in a ravine. Pesce was found and identified, nothing of Luchessa was ever found.

Sunday 7th of May 1972

11-year-old Jack Owen Blake is abducted, raped and strangled by serial killer Arthur Shawcross aka The Genesee River Killer in Watertown, New York, United States.

Monday 7th of May 1973

25-year-old Serial killer Edmund Emil Kemper aka The Co-ed Killer is charged with eight counts of first-degree murder in Santa Cruz, California, United States.

Tuesday 7th of May 1974

28-year-old Performance and installation artist Chris Christopher Burden performs 'Velvet Water' in School of the Art Institute, Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Monday 7th of May 1979

Aristocrat and patient of Sigmund Freud Sergei Konstantinovitch Pankejeff aka Der Wolfsmann dies of unknown causes at the age of 93 in Wien, Wien, Austria.

Monday 7th of May 1979

9/11 terrorist Mohand Muhammed Fayiz al-Shehri is born in 'Asir, Saudi Arabia.

On 11 September 2001 Shehri boarded Flight 175 with four other hijackers. About a half an hour into the flight the plane was hijacked and was flown into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

Wednesday 7th of May 1980

23-year-old Gabriele Roesner is raped and strangled by serial killer Michael Wolpert aka Der Neu-Isenburger Frauenmörder in Langen, Hessen, Germany.

Thursday 7th of May 1981

20-year-old Mass murderer Lawrence William Moore known for the Oregon Museum Tavern Shooting bursts into the tavern during a Ladies Night and opens fire with a 9mm Browning HP handgun, killing four and injuring 20 in Oregon Museum Tavern, Front Street NE, Salem, Oregon, United States.

Moore stated the reason for the shooting that he was trying to get members of a 'syndicate' of millionaires, Jews and criminals who had been trying to poison him.

Friday 7th of May 1982

53-year-old Serial killer Charles Ray Hatcher aka Evil Incarnate is discharged in Mental Health Institute, Mount Pleasant, Iowa, United States.

Monday 7th of May 1984

The body of 22-year-old Victim of Larry Eyler aka The Leather Boy Killer David M. Block is found in Crawford Road, South R 173, Zion, United States.

Block was beaten and stabbed to death by Larry Eyler aka The Leather Boy Killer on 30 December 1982.

Tuesday 7th of May 1991

14-year-old Laurence Guillaume is raped and strangled by serial killer Francis Heaulme aka The Emmaus Murderer aka Le Routard du Crime in Metz, Lorraine, France.

In this murder Heaulme was accompanied by the 19-year-old cousin of the victim Michel Guillaume, whom he had met less than an hour earlier at the fair in Metz. Guillaume was convicted of rape and complicity in the murder and sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Tuesday 7th of May 1991

25-year-old Karin Eroglu-Sladky is strangled by serial killer Jack Unterweger aka Jack the Writer aka Der Häfenpoet aka The Pug Dumper in Wien, Wien, Austria.

Eroglu-Sladky was found on 23 May 1991.

Thursday 7th of May 1992

Multiple murderer Justin Lee May is executed by lethal injection at the age of 46 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Monday 7th of May 2001

72-year-old Great Train Robber Ronnie Ronald Arthur Biggs returns voluntarily to Britain after being on the run for 25 years in London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Friday 7th of May 2004

An installation with two movies by Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven aka AMVK and music by Mauro Pawlowski in the 'Mariages' series in ModeMuseum, Nationalestraat 28, Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Monday 7th of May 2012

Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven aka AMVK on the Prime Meridian in Royal Observatory, London, Greenwich, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Saturday 7th of May 2022

Filing cabinets in Boekentoren, Rozier 9, Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

Tuesday 7th of May 2024

Musician, record producer and audio engineer Steve Albini dies of a heart attack at the age of 63 in Chicago, Illinois, United States.