Tuesday 21st of April 1699

Dramatist Jean Baptiste Racine dies of liver cancer at the age of 60 in Paris, Île-de-France, France.

Sunday 21st of April 1816

Poet and writer Charlotte Brontë aka Currer Bell known for Jane Eyre is born in Thornton, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

Thursday 21st of April 1831

Serial poisoner Gesche Margarethe Gottfried aka Der Engel von Bremen is executed by beheading at the age of 46 in Domshof, Bremen, Freie Hansestadt Bremen, Germany.

Gottfried killed at least 15 relatives including her parents and three children and friends with arsenic. Gottfried was the last person to be publicly executed (for a crowd of 35.000) in Bremen.

Saturday 21st of April 1849

Double murderer James Bloomfield Rush aka The Killer in the Fog known for the Murders at Stanfield Hall is executed by hanging at the age of 49 in Norwich Castle, Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom.

Friday 21st of April 1899

36-year-old Serial killer and cannibal Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Großmann aka Die Bestie vom Schlesischen Bahnhof assaults 10-year-old Maria Gottwald and 4-year-old Babette Burkel in Bayreuth, Bayern, Germany.

Großmann was found nearby with blood on his hands and trousers. When taken into custody a doctor also found traces of his victim's blood on his still aroused penis. Burkel died later of her injuries.

Tuesday 21st of April 1908

Victim of Fritz Haarmann aka Der Hannover Werwolf Hermann Speichert is born in Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany.

Thursday 21st of April 1910

Writer Mark Twain known the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn dies of a heart attack at the age of 75 in Redding, Connecticut, United States.

Wednesday 21st of April 1915

Actor Anthony Quinn is born as Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico.

Friday 21st of April 1916

Murderer Joe Lee is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 83 in Virginia State Penitentiary, Richmond, Virginia, United States.

Lee claimed to be 83 years old but the court had reason to believe he was more realistically 68 years old. Nevertheless Lee is still the oldest person executed in Virginia's electric chair.

Sunday 21st of April 1918

Fighter pilot and flying ace Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen aka The Red Baron is fatally shot in his Fokker Dr.I 425/17 by Canadian Captain Arthur 'Roy' Brown at the age of 26 in Route de Bray, Vaux-sur-Somme, Hauts de France, France.

von Richthofen died from an extremely serious and inevitably fatal chest wound from a single .303 bullet penetrating from the right armpit and resurfacing next to the left nipple. von Richthofen's last word was "kaputt".

Wednesday 21st of April 1926

Queen of the United Kingdom Elizabeth II is born as Elizabeth Alexandra Mary in 17 Bruton Street, London, Mayfair, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Monday 21st of April 1930

332 die in prison fire in Ohio State Penitentiary, Columbus, Ohio, United States.

Monday 21st of April 1930

Artist Dieter Roth is born in Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany.

Saturday 21st of April 1934

Self-trepanation pioneer Bart Hugo Huges is born in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.

Monday 21st of April 1941

Axe murderess Germaine Leloy-Godefroy is executed by the Guillotine by Jules-Henri Desfourneaux at the age of 24 in Angers, Pays de la Loire, France.

Leloy-Godefroy was the last woman executed in France.

Tuesday 21st of April 1942

Spree killer James Douglas Latham is born in Mauriceville, Texas, United States.

Monday 21st of April 1947

Musician Iggy Pop is born as James Newell Osterberg in Muskegon, Michigan, United States.

Monday 21st of April 1947

23-year-old Serial killer Rudolf Pleil aka Der Großten Todmacher is arrested in Zorge, Niedersachsen, Germany.

Thursday 21st of April 1949

Murderer Harry Lewis is executed by hanging by Albert Pierrepoint at the age of 22 in HM Prison Pentonville, Caledonian Road, London, Islington, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Saturday 21st of April 1951

Serial killer Gustaaf Van Eyken aka De Vampier van Muizen is born in Mechelen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Friday 21st of April 1967

42-year-old Wiener Aktionist Otto Muehl performs 'Materialaktion nr. 37 / Zock – festival' in Gasthaus Grünes Tor, Lerchenfelder Straße 14, Wien, Wien, Austria.

Friday 21st of April 1967

29-year-old Wiener Aktionist Hermann Nitsch performs his 23. Aktion im Rahmen des Zock-Festes in Gasthaus Grünes Tor, Lerchenfelder Straße 14, Wien, Wien, Austria.

Monday 21st of April 1969

24-year-old Sharon Wood is attacked by foot fetishist and serial killer Jerry Brudos aka The Lust Killer in Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, United States.

Wood attempted to fend off Brudos' attack by biting his thumb until it bled. Brudos beat her unconscious but an oncoming car caused him to flee the scene of the crime.

Wednesday 21st of April 1971

President of Haiti François Duvalier aka Papa Doc dies of heart disease and diabetes at the age of 64 in Port-au-Prince, Ouest, Haiti.

Saturday 21st of April 1973

52-year-old Clarnell Elizabeth Stage Strandberg-Kemper is bludgeoned to death and her throat slit by serial killer Edmund Kemper aka The Co-ed Killer in 609A Ord Street, Aptos, California, United States.

Kemper then decapitated his mother and engaged in irrumatio with her severed head before using it as a dart board. He also cut out her tongue and larynx and put them in the garbage disposal. The garbage disposal could not break down Clarnell's tough vocal cords and ejected the tissue back into the sink. "That seemed appropriate," Kemper later said "as much as she'd bitched and screamed and yelled at me over so many years."  

Saturday 21st of April 1973

60-year-old Sara Taylor 'Sally' Hallett is strangled by serial killer Edmund Kemper aka The Co-ed Killer in 609A Ord Street, Aptos, California, United States.

Kemper invited his mother's best friend Sally over to the house for dinner and a movie. When Hallett arrived Kemper strangled and decapitated her and spent the night with her body.

Saturday 21st of April 1990

Double murderer Jerome Butler is executed by lethal injection at the age of 54 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Tuesday 21st of April 1992

Double murderer Robert Alton Harris is executed by the gas chamber at the age of 39 in San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, California, United States.

Harris' last meal request was for a 21-piece bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken, two large Domino's pizzas, a bag of jelly beans, a six-pack of Pepsi, and a pack of Camel cigarettes. Harris' last words were "You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everybody dances with the grim reaper."

Monday 21st of April 1997

Double murderer Benjamin Herbert Boyle is executed by lethal injection at the age of 54 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Tuesday 21st of April 1998

Philosopher, sociologist and literary theorist Jean-François Lyotard dies of leukemia at the age of 74 in Paris, Île-de-France, France.

Monday 21st of April 2003

Singer, songwriter, musician and civil rights activist Nina Simone aka The High Priestess of Soul dies of breast cancer at the age of 70 in Carry-le-Rouet, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

Thursday 21st of April 2005

Traffic below the window of Alexander Gorodny in Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia.

Saturday 21st of April 2007

48-year-old Performance artist Danny Devos aka DDV plays with Tim Vanhamel as Vel at the Nuit et Brouillard festival in CC Luchtbal, Columbiastraat 8A, Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Thursday 21st of April 2016

Musician Prince dies after suffering from flu-like symptoms for over two weeks at the age of 58 in Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen, Minnesota, United States.

Friday 21st of April 2017

An unfortunate chance encounter between my thumb and a woodsaw in Stuivenberg Ziekenhuis, Lange Beeldekensstraat 267, Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.