Friday 8th of August 1879

Revolutionary leader and founder of Zapatismo Emiliano Zapata is born in Anenecuilco, Morelos, Mexico.

Tuesday 8th of August 1905

Composer André Jolivet is born in Montmartre, Paris, XVIIIe, Île-de-France, France.

Wednesday 8th of August 1906

Murderer and body snatcher Ed Edward Theodore Gein aka America’s Most Bizarre Murderer is born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, United States.

Wednesday 8th of August 1906

Serial killer and rapist Johann Eichhorn aka Die Bestie aus Aubing is born in München, Aubing, Bayern, Germany.

Saturday 8th of August 1914

Aristocratic socialite and devotee of Adolf Hitler Unity Valkyrie Mitford is born in London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Mitford was conceived in the town of Swastika, Ontario where her family had gold mines.

Wednesday 8th of August 1923

Multiple murderer Albert Edwards Burrows is executed by hanging by John Ellis at the age of 52 in Bagthorpe Gaol, The Lace Market, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom.

Burrows murdered 28-year-old Hannah Calladine, 1-year-old Albert Edward and 5-year-old Elsie Calladine and 4-year-old Thomas Johnson Wood.

Saturday 8th of August 1925

30.000 – or up to 50.000 according to some sources – white robed members of the Ku Klux Klan march 22 abreast and 14 rows deep blocks in Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, District of Columbia, United States.

Thursday 8th of August 1929

Great Train Robber Ronnie Ronald Arthur Biggs is born in London, Lambeth, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Saturday 8th of August 1931

39-year-old Mass murderer Szilveszter Matuska aka The Orient-Express Wrecker places a bomb on the Basel-Berlin Express D-train track in Jüterbog, Brandenburg, Germany.

Sunday 8th of August 1937

Actor Dustin Lee Hoffman is born in Los Angeles, California, United States.

Saturday 8th of August 1942

The bodies of the Kneller family, victims of 45-year-old Doctor and serial killer Marcel André Henri Félix Petiot aka The Triangular Chamber of Death Murderer are found floating in the Seine in Asnières-sur-Seine, Île-de-France, France.

Sunday 8th of August 1943

15-year-old Serial killer William George Heirens aka Catch Me Before I Kill More is arrested for prowling in the Rogers Park Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Tuesday 8th of August 1944

Pornographic actor John Curtis Holmes aka Johnny Wadd is born in Ashville, Ohio, United States.

Sunday 8th of August 1948

Intruder Michael Fagan is born in London, Clerkenwell, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Tuesday 8th of August 1950

SS-Sturmbannführer and commandant of Fort Breendonk Philipp Johann Adolf Schmitt is executed by the firing squad at the age of 48 in Antwerpen, Hoboken, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Schmitt was the only German Nazi to be executed in Belgium.

Friday 8th of August 1952

Murderer Wayne Leroy Long is executed by the gas chamber at the age of 26 in Oregon State Penitentiary, Salem, Oregon, United States.

All Oregon executions except for that of Long have been held within the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem. Long died in a special concrete structure built near the prison because the superintendent believed it would have less of a 'bad psychological effect' on other inmates. But the state later determined that the penal code required executions to occur within the penitentiary walls.

Wednesday 8th of August 1956

262 die in coal-mine fire in Bois du Cazier, Marcinelle, Hainaut, Belgium.

Wednesday 8th of August 1962

Murderess Elizabeth Ann Duncan aka Ma Duncan is executed by the gas chamber at the age of 58 in San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, California, United States.

Duncan ordered the murder of her 29-year-old daughter-in-law Olga Kupczyk. In the Gas Chamber she was accompanied by 25-year-old Luis Moya and 31-year-old Augustine ‘Gus’ Baldonado who actually killed the victim.

Thursday 8th of August 1963

32-year-old Great Train Robber Bruce Richard Reynolds known for masterminding the 1963 Great Train Robbery leads a gang of 15 criminals in the robbery of the Royal Mail train from Glasgow Central Station to London Euston Station cashing £2.600.000 in Bridego Railway Bridge, Ledburn, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom.

The bulk of the stolen money was never recovered. After the train heist Reynolds escaped to Mexico with his wife Angela and son Nick.

Tuesday 8th of August 1972

Andy Warhol Superstar Andrea Feldman aka Whips commits suicide by jumping from the fourteenth floor at the age of 24 in 51 Fifth Avenue, New York City, New York, United States.

Feldman summoned several ex-boyfriends including poet Jim Carroll to the New York City apartment of her parents to witness what she called her 'final starring role'. Holding a Bible in one hand and a crucifix in the other she jumped from the window. Feldman left a note that said “I’m headed for the big time. I’m on my way up there with James Dean and Marilyn Monroe.”

Wednesday 8th of August 1973

34-year-old Dean Arnold Corll aka The Candyman is shot dead by serial killer Elmer Wayne Henley in 2020 Lamar Drive, Pasadena, Texas, United States.

Henley would later lead the police to 27 bodies of boys he delivered to Corll, who tortured and killed them.

Thursday 8th of August 1974

Nazi leader and Reichsjugendführer Baldur Benedikt von Schirach dies of unknown causes at the age of 67 in Pension Müllen, Im Flurgarten 3, Kröv-an-der-Mosel, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany.

Thursday 8th of August 1974

61-year-old 37th President of the United States Richard Milhous Nixon delivers his resignation speech due to the Watergate scandal in Oval Office, Washington, District of Columbia, United States.

Saturday 8th of August 1981

Irish republican hunger striker Thomas McElwee dies after 62 days of hungerstriking at the age of 24 in Maze Prison, Lisburn, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.

McElwee was the ninth to die in the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike.

Thursday 8th of August 1985

29-year-old Member of the Rote Armee Fraktion Birgit Elisabeth Hogefeld lures 20-year-old US-Soldier Edward Pimental from a nightclub to obtain his ID-Card in Western Saloon, Dotzheimer Straße 19, Wiesbaden, Hessen, Germany.

Pimental was shot dead by Hogefeld and Eva Haule. Pimental's ID-Card was used  to gain access to the Rhein-Main Air Base and place a car bomb.

Thursday 8th of August 1985

Members of die Rote Armee Fraktion aka Baader-Meinhof Gruppe drive a Volkswagen Passat loaded with about 240 kg of explosives into a US Army base in Rhein-Main Air Base, Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany.

The explosion resulted in the death of Becky Jo Bristol and 19-year-old Airman Frank H. Scarton and the wounding of eleven other American servicemen as well as substantial material damage.

Thursday 8th of August 1985

37-year-old Elyas Abowath is shot in the head by serial killer Richard Ramirez aka The Night Stalker in Diamond Bar, California, United States.

Ramirez then handcuffed and beat 27-year-old Sakina Abowath while forcing her to reveal the locations of the family's jewelry and then brutally raped and sodomized her.

Wednesday 8th of August 2001

Double murderer Mack Oran Hill is executed by lethal injection at the age of 48 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Hill's last meal request was for six eggs scrambled, hash browns with onions, two saucage patties, biscuits with butter, two pints of strawberry cheesecake yoghurt, two pitchers of sweet milk and a pint of strawberry ice cream. His last words were "I'll be waiting for everybody."

Thursday 8th of August 2002

Murderer T. J. Jones is executed by lethal injection at the age of 26 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Saturday 8th of August 2009

Two Muslim women preparing to take off on their motorbike after attending a wedding in Mersing, Johor, Malaysia.