Monday 26th of September 1791

Artist Théodore Jean-Louis André Géricault is born in Rouen, Haute-Normendie, France.

Wednesday 26th of September 1849

Physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov is born in Ryazan, Russia.

Saturday 26th of September 1868

Mathematician and astronomer August Ferdinand Möbius known for his discovery of the Möbius strip dies of unknown causes at the age of 78 in Leipzig, Sachsen, Germany.

Wednesday 26th of September 1888

Poet and playwright Thomas Stearns Eliot aka T. S. Eliot is born in St. Louis, Missouri, United States.

Thursday 26th of September 1889

Philosopher Martin Heidegger is born in Mesnerhaus, Kirchplatz, Meßkirch, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Sunday 26th of September 1897

262nd Pope Paulus VI aka The Pilgrim Pope is born as Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini in Concesio, Lombardia, Italy.

Monday 26th of September 1898

Composer George Gershwin is born as Jacob Gershwine in New York, Brooklyn, New York, United States.

Friday 26th of September 1902

Clothing manufacturer Levi Strauss known for Levi Strauss & Co. blue jeans dies of unknown causes at the age of 73 in San Francisco, California, United States.

Thursday 26th of September 1929

28-year-old Maria Radusch is attacked by serial killer Peter Kürten aka The Vampire of Düsseldorf in Düsseldorf, Gerresheim, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Radusch managed to free herself from Kürten's grip and escaped.

Sunday 26th of September 1937

Blues singer Bessie Smith aka aka the Empress of the Blues dies of critical injuries suffered in a car crash on U.S. Route 61 at the age of 43 in G.T. Thomas Hospital, Clarksdale, Mississippi, United States.

Thursday 26th of September 1940

Philosopher Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin commits suicide by an overdose of morphine tablets at the age of 48 in Hotel de Francia, Portbou, Catalonia, Spain.

A fierce critic of Nazism, Benjamin was on the run for the Gestapo. Benjamin wanted to cross the border into Portugal and then sail to the United States.

Wednesday 26th of September 1945

Singer-songwriter and musician Bryan Ferry known from the art rock band Roxy Music is born in Washington, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom.

Wednesday 26th of September 1945

Composer Béla Viktor János Bartók dies of secondary polycythemia at the age of 64 in West Side Hospital, 57 West 57th Street, New York City, New York, United States.

Wednesday 26th of September 1951

Mass murderer Ronald Joseph 'Butch' DeFeo aka The Amityville Horror Murderer is born in Adelphi Hospital, New York, Brooklyn, New York, United States.

Sunday 26th of September 1954

1159 die in Tōya Maru ferry capsizing during Typhoon Marie in Tsugaru Strait, Hokkaidō, Japan.

Of the 1309 passengers and crew on board only 150 people survived. Four other ferries sank in the same typhoon, making a total loss of life of 1430.

Wednesday 26th of September 1962

Double murderer Robert Lloyd Henry is born in Corpus Christi, Texas, United States.

Saturday 26th of September 1970

A wildfire destroys all of the Spahn Movie Ranch's film sets and residential structures in Spahn Ranch, 12000 Santa Susana Pass Road, Chatsworth, California, United States.

Monday 26th of September 1977

31-year-old Serial killer Peter William Sutcliffe aka The Yorkshire Ripper and his wife Sonia Szurma move into their new house in 6 Garden Lane, Heaton, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

Friday 26th of September 1980

German right-wing extremist Gundolf Köhler dies in a pipe bomb attack at the age of 21 in Oktoberfest, München, Bayern, Germany.

Köhler did not get away fast enough and was killed in the attack himself. 12 other people died and 211 were injured. The area affected by the bombing was the size of a football field, approximately 100 metres by 60 metres. Reconstruction from the site of the bombing indicates that it was created from a British mortar projectile manufactured in 1954.

Monday 26th of September 1983

Singer and actor Tino Constantin Rossi dies of pancreatic cancer at the age of 76 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Île-de-France, France.

Monday 26th of September 1983

Mystery writer Muriel Davidson aka The Thursday Woman is shot dead by 51-year-old alcoholic Robert Thom at the age of 60 in Benedict Canyon, California, United States.

Davidson met Thom at a hospital where she counseled alcoholics once a week. A police report called the two quite close. A county probation officer said that just prior to her murder Davidson had tried to sever her sporadic sexual relationship with Thom. Thom pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and was given a sentence of 17 years to life.

Thursday 26th of September 1985

20-year-old James Walter Ferris is abducted, tortured and killed by serial killer Robert Berdella aka The Kansas City Butcher in 4315 Charlotte Street, Kansas City, Missouri, United States.

Berdella brought Ferris home and drugged him with crushed tranquilizers he had concealed in a meal an then tied him to his bed before torturing him almost constantly for approximately 27 hours. The torture included repeated administering of 7.700-volt electrical shocks to the shoulder and testicles for up to five minutes in each instance and acupuncture via hypodermic needles to the neck and genitals.

Friday 26th of September 1986

Noise music band Club Moral play their 57th concert in Mermaid, Stratford/Warwick Road, Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom.

Also played: Con-Dom, Victor/im, Iron Brotherhood.

Monday 26th of September 1988

43-year-old Serial killer Randy Steven Kraft aka The Scorecard Killer start of the trial against in Superior Court of California, 700 W Civic Center Dr, Santa Ana, California, United States.

Monday 26th of September 1988

13-year-old Keison Sinthasomphone is drugged and sexually assaulted by serial killer and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer aka The Milwaukee Cannibal in Oxford Apartments #213, 924 25th North Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States.

Sinthasomphone reported the incident to the police and Dahmer was charged with sexual assault and enticing a child for immoral purposes. He spent one week in jail before getting released on bail. On 30 January 1990 Dahmer was found guilty but sentencing wouldn’t take place for another four months.

Wednesday 26th of September 1990

Writer Alberto Moravia aka Il Conformista dies of a heart attack at the age of 83 in Lungotevere della Vittoria 1, Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Friday 26th of September 1997

234 die in Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 Airbus A300B4-220 crash in Medan, Pancur Batu, Sumatera Utara, Indonesia.

Thursday 26th of September 2002

1.863 die in MV Le Joola roll-on/roll-off ferry capsizing in the Atlantic Ocean, Gambia.

The ship was en route from Ziguinchor to Dakar when it ran into a violent storm farther out to sea than it was licensed to sail. The estimated 2000 passengers aboard would have amounted to at least three times the ship's design capacity. The large numbers sleeping on-deck added further instability. Only 64 passengers survived.

Friday 26th of September 2003

Murderer Joseph Earl Bates is executed by lethal injection at the age of 35 in Raleigh State Prison, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States.

Bates' last meal request was for fried pork chops, French fries, hush puppies, apple pie, a Pepsi and a Dr. Pepper.

Monday 26th of September 2005

Photographer Wang Wei overseeing her most smelly job at the Tattooed Pig installation of Wim Delvoye in 798 Art District, Beijing, Dashanzi, Hebei, China.

Wednesday 26th of September 2007

A mistrial is declared in the case against 67-year-old Record producer and songwriter Phil Harvey Phillip Spector known for the ‘Wall of Sound’ production method for the murder of 40-year-old nightclub hostess and B movie-actress Lana Clarkson in Los Angeles, California, United States.

Friday 26th of September 2008

Actor Paul Leonard Newman dies of lung cancer at the age of 83 in Westport, Connecticut, United States.

Saturday 26th of September 2009

76-year-old Film director Roman Polanski is arrested with a 2005 international arrest warrant for his 1977 sexual assault case involving then 13-year-old Samantha Geimer in Zürich Airport, Kloten, Zürich, Switzerland.

Polanski was jailed near Zürich for two months, then put under house arrest at his home in Gstaad while awaiting decision of appeals.

Monday 26th of September 2016

Film director Herschell Gordon Lewis aka The Godfather of Gore dies of natural causes at the age of 87 in Pompano Beach, Florida, United States.

Thursday 26th of September 2024

Murderer Emmanuel Antonia Littlejohn is executed by lethal injection at the age of 53 in Oklahoma State Penitentiary, McAlester, Oklahoma, United States.

Littlejohn's last meal request was for meat pizza, Coca-Cola and two slices of cheesecake.

Thursday 26th of September 2024

Spree killer Alan Eugene Miller is executed by nitrogen hypoxia at the age of 59 in Holman Correctional Facility, Ross Road, Atmore, Alabama, United States.

Miller's last meal request was for a hamburger steak, a baked potato and french fries. Miller’s final words were “I didn’t do anything to be in here” and “I didn’t do anything to be on death row”.