Sunday 5th of August 1764

Cop killer Whiting Sweeting is born in Norton, Massachusetts, United States.

Monday 5th of August 1850

Writer Guy Henri René Albert de Maupassant is born in Château de Miromesnil, Tourville-sur-Arques, Seine-Maritime, France.

Sunday 5th of August 1860

Joseph Carey Merrick aka The Elephant Man is born in 50 Lee Street, Leicester, Leicestershire, United Kingdom.

Merrick began to develop swellings on his lips at the age of 21 months followed by a bony lump on his forehead and a loosening and roughening of the skin. The Merrick family explained his symptoms as the result of his mother Mary Jane Potterton being knocked over and frightened by a fairground elephant while she was pregnant with Joseph.

Monday 5th of August 1895

Philosopher Friedrich Engels dies of throat cancer at the age of 75 in London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Monday 5th of August 1895

40-year-old Bigamist and multiple murderer Johann Otto Hoch aka The Bluebeard Murderer marries Mrs. Maria Steimbucher as Jacob Hoch in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Steimbucher died four months later and Hoch sold property for $4.000. Before dying Steimbucher made a declaration that she had been poisoned but no notice was taken of her statement.

Sunday 5th of August 1906

Film director John Marcellus Huston is born in Nevada, Missouri, United States.

Monday 5th of August 1907

Artist, recurring mental hospital patient and murderer Robert George Irwin aka The Mad Sculptor is born in Arroyo Seco Park, Pasadena, California, United States.

Thursday 5th of August 1909

Bank robber Adam 'Eddie' Richetti is born in Strawn, Texas, United States.

Monday 5th of August 1918

Mrs. Edward Schneider is attacked by serial killer The Axeman of New Orleans in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.

Schneider had a serious gash in her head and some teeth were knocked out but she and her unborn child survived.

Tuesday 5th of August 1930

Astronaut Neil Alden Armstrong known for becoming the first person to walk on the Moon is born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, United States.

Wednesday 5th of August 1931

Murderer William 'Moosh' Shelley is executed by hanging by Robert Baxter at the age of 57 in HM Prison Pentonville, Caledonian Road, London, Islington, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Wednesday 5th of August 1931

Murderer Oliver 'Tiggy' Newman is executed by hanging by Robert Baxter at the age of 61 in HM Prison Pentonville, Caledonian Road, London, Islington, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Sunday 5th of August 1934

Victim of Joachim Kroll aka The Ruhr Hunter Klara Frieda Tesmer is born in Thüringen, Germany.

Tuesday 5th of August 1952

61-year-old Jack Cecil Drummond is presumably shot dead by presumed murderer Gaston Dominici in La Grand'Terre, Lurs, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

Also killed were his 44-year-old wife Anne Drummond and their 10-year-old daughter Elizabeth.

Friday 5th of August 1960

33-year-old Serial killer Harvey Louis Carignan aka The Want-Ad Killer aka Harv the Hammer is arrested on charges of burglary and assault in Duluth, Minnesota, United States.

Sunday 5th of August 1962

Actress Marilyn Monroe commits suicide by acute barbiturate poisoning at the age of 36 in 12305 Fifth Helena Drive, Los Angeles, Brentwood, California, United States.

At the subsequent autopsy eight mg/dL of chloral hydrate and 4.5 mg/dL of Nembutal were found in Monroe's system. It was reported that President Kennedy was the last person Monroe called.

Tuesday 5th of August 1975

Communist militant group the Japanese Red Army takes over 50 hostages including the U.S. consul and the Swedish chargé d'affaires in American Insurance Associates Building, 99 Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Malaysia.

The gunmen won the release of five imprisoned comrades and flew with them to Libya.

Thursday 5th of August 1976

Murderer Napoleon Beazley is born in Houston, Texas, United States.

Friday 5th of August 1977

20-year-old Anna Kenny is abducted and strangled by serial killer The Bible John Killer in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom.

Kenny's body was found in Argyll on 23 April 1979.

Sunday 5th of August 1979

Nurse Sally Potterton commits suicide by a shot in the head in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom.

The same day she lured 21-year-old drug dealer Maurice Searle to her house, whom she held responsible for her 17-year-old daughter Penny's drug addiction, aborted pregnancy and suicide. Searle was knocked out and tied to a bed, then slowly drained of all his blood while Sally explained her revenge on him. Then she called the police and told them what she had done and turned a German army pistol at herself.

Sunday 5th of August 1979

17-year-old Marcus Grabs is beaten and stabbed 77 times by serial killer William Bonin aka The Freeway Killer in Pacific Coast Highway, Newport Beach, California, United States.

Grabs is presumed to be Bonin's first victim.

Sunday 5th of August 1984

Actor Richard Burton dies of a brain haemorrhage at the age of 59 in Céligny, Genève, Switzerland.

Wednesday 5th of August 1987

Circus acrobat and director Joseph Bouglione aka The King of Circus dies of unknown causes at the age of 83 in Paris, Île-de-France, France.

Wednesday 5th of August 1987

20-year-old Larry Wayne Pearson is suffocated by a plastic bag by serial killer Robert Berdella aka The Kansas City Butcher in 4315 Charlotte Street, Kansas City, Missouri, United States.

After six weeks of captivity Pearson deeply bit into Berdella's penis before screaming he could not continue to tolerate being treated in this manner. In response Berdella killed Pearson by first bludgeoning him into unconsciousness with a tree limb, then suffocating him with a bag and ligature, before driving to hospital to receive treatment for his wound.

Monday 5th of August 1991

Engineer and industrialist Soichiro Honda dies of liver failure at the age of 85 in Tokyo, Kantō, Japan.

Thursday 5th of August 1993

Murderer Joseph Paul Jernigan known from the Visible Human Project is executed by lethal injection at the age of 39 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Jernigan's cadaver was sectioned and photographed for the Visible Human Project and the University of Colorado School of Medicine by Dr. Vic Spitzer and associates.

Thursday 5th of August 1999

Triple murderer Charles Anthony Boyd aka The Bathroom Slayer is executed by lethal injection at the age of 40 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Saturday 5th of August 2000

Actor Alec Guinnes dies of liver cancer at the age of 86 in King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst, Sussex, United Kingdom.

Tuesday 5th of August 2003

Preparations for a Buddhist ceremony in Gaeyling in Singapore, Singapore.

Friday 5th of August 2005

Game addict Lee Seungseob dies of cardiac arrest due to exhaustion and dehydration at the age of 28 in Daegu, Yeongnam, South Korea.

Seungseob had played StarCraft almost continuously for fifty hours.

Tuesday 5th of August 2008

Actor and political activist Charlton Heston dies of pneumonia at the age of 85 in Beverly Hills, California, United States.

Monday 5th of August 2013

70-year-old Accomplice of spree killer Charles Starkweather aka Little Red Caril Ann Fugate is seriously injured in a single vehicle accident in Interstate 69, Tekonsha, Michigan, United States.

Fugate's husband Fredrick Clair, who was driving their SUV when it went off the road and overturned, died at the scene of the accident.