Tuesday 5th of December 1443

216th Pope Julius II is born as Giuliano della Rovere in Albisola, Liguria, Italy.

Wednesday 5th of December 1590

The papacy of 55-year-old 229th Pope Gregorius XIV begins in Vatican City, Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Thursday 5th of December 1782

8th President of the United States Martin Van Buren is born in Kinderhook, New York, United States.

Monday 5th of December 1791

Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart dies of 'hitziges Frieselfieber' at the age of 35 in Wien, Alsergrund, Wien, Austria.

Researchers have posited at least 118 causes of Mozart's death, including acute rheumatic fever, streptococcal infection, trichinosis, influenza, mercury poisoning and a rare kidney ailment.

Monday 5th of December 1825

Johann Mosees is poisoned with arsenic by serial poisoner Gesche Gottfried aka Der Engel von Bremen in Bremen, Freie Hansestadt Bremen, Germany.

Monday 5th of December 1870

Writer Alexandre Dumas known for Les Trois Mousquetaires dies of natural causes at the age of 68 in Puys, Seine-Maritime, France.

Friday 5th of December 1890

Film director Fritz Friedrich Christian Anton Lang is born in Wien, Wien, Austria.

Saturday 5th of December 1891

Constructivist and productivist artist Alexander Mikhailovich Rodchenko is born in St. Petersburg, Northwestern Federal District, Russia.

Thursday 5th of December 1901

Film director and animator Walt Walter Elias Disney is born in 2156 North Tripp Avenue, Chicago, Hermosa, Illinois, United States.

Tuesday 5th of December 1905

Film director Otto Ludwig Preminger is born in Vyzhnytsya, Chernivtsi, Austria-Hungary.

Sunday 5th of December 1915

46-year-old Serial killer Henri Désiré Landru aka Le Barbe-Bleue de Gambais rents a villa in l'Ermitage, Allée des Tilleuls et la Roserale, Gambais, Île-de-France, France.

Saturday 5th of December 1925

Victim of Leslie Irvin aka The Mad Dog Killer Wesley Whitney Kerr is born in Dayton, Tennessee, United States.

Sunday 5th of December 1926

Impressionist painter Claude Oscar Monet dies of lung cancer at the age of 86 in Maison Monet, 84 Rue Claude Monet, Giverny, Eure, France.

Friday 5th of December 1930

66 die in sulphurous anhydride poison gas cloud in Liège, Liège, Belgium.

In the fatal cases an acute circulatory insufficiency set in, with rapid and poor pulse, face pale - more rarely cyanotic - and an extension of the cardiac dulness. Other symptoms were changes in the tone of the voice, increasing to hoarseness, nausea, occasional vomiting, and lachrymation.

Monday 5th of December 1932

Musician Little Richard is born as Richard Wayne Penniman in Macon, Georgia, United States.

Saturday 5th of December 1942

Baronet and murderer Jock John Henry Delves Broughton aka Sir Murder commits suicide by an overdose of morphine tablets at the age of 59 in Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom.

The inquest recorded a verdict of suicide while the balance of Broughton's mind was disturbed.

Friday 5th of December 1947

The remains of 72-year-old Occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter and mountaineer Aleister Edward Alexander Crowley aka The Great Beast are cremated in Woodvale Crematorium, Brighton, Sussex, United Kingdom.

About a dozen people attended and Louis Wilkinson read excerpts from the Gnostic Mass, The Book of the Law, and Hymn to Pan. Crowley's ashes were sent to Karl Germer in the United States, who buried them in his garden in Hampton, New Jersey.

Friday 5th of December 1947

23-year-old Serial killer Rudolf Pleil aka Der Großten Todmacher is sentenced to 12 years hard labour in Braunschweig, Niedersachsen, Germany.

Monday 5th of December 1949

34-year-old Rapist and murderer Frederick Ducharme is arrested wearing only a raincoat and rubber boots in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Ducharme confessed to the murder of 45-year-old spinster Ferne Blanche Fisher when some of her belongings were found in his cottage.

Wednesday 5th of December 1951

Artist Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven aka AMVK is born in Arenbergstraat 10, Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Saturday 5th of December 1953

22-year-old Serial killer Albert Henry DeSalvo aka The Boston Strangler aka The Measuring Man aka The Green Man marries Irmgard Beck in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

Wednesday 5th of December 1962

21-year-old Sophie Clark is sexually assaulted and strangled by serial killer Albert DeSalvo aka The Boston Strangler aka The Measuring Man aka The Green Man in 315 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Back Bay, Massachusetts, United States.

Monday 5th of December 1966

Physician John Irving Bentley dies of Spontaneous Human Combustion at the age of 92 in Coudersport, Pennsylvania, United States.

All that was left of the aged Dr. Bentley was the lower half of his right leg with the slipper still on it. The rest of his body had been reduced to a pile of ashes in the basement below.

Monday 5th of December 1966

Murderer Ruben Montoya Cantu is born in San Antonio, Texas, United States.

Thursday 5th of December 1968

Start of the trial against 12-year-old Child killer Mary Flora Bell aka Child of Hell and Norma Bell in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, United Kingdom.

Mary and Norma were charged with two counts of manslaughter.

Saturday 5th of December 1970

Five members of Radical left organisation the Weather Underground are arrested for bomb attacks in New York City, New York, United States.

All of the Weather Undergrounders plead guilty.

Friday 5th of December 1975

39-year-old Serial killer Henry Lee Lucas aka The Hand of Death marries Betty Crawford in Chatham, Pennsylvania, United States.

Lucas and Crawford divorced in summer 1977 when she accused him of interfering with her young daughters from her first marriage.

Wednesday 5th of December 1979

19-year-old Mira Kosecki is raped and strangled by serial killer Metod Trobec aka The Monster of Dolenja Vas in Stari Log, Primorsko-Goranska, Yugoslavia.

Monday 5th of December 1983

Film director Robert Burgess Aldrich dies of kidney failure at the age of 65 in Los Angeles, California, United States.

Thursday 5th of December 1991

Mass murderer Richard Benjamin Speck aka Born to Raise Hell dies of a heart attack at the age of 50 in Silver Cross Hospital, 1200 Maple Road, Joliet, Illinois, United States.

Speck had been taken to Silver Cross after complaining of chest pains and nausea at Stateville Correctional Center.

Sunday 5th of December 1993

Third bomb attack by 44-year-old Xenophobic serial bomber Franz Fuchs in Wien, Wien, Austria.

Former Viennese Major Helmut Zilk lost a large part of his left hand in the explosion. Two other bomb-letters were detected before they explode.

Friday 5th of December 1997

30-year-old Serial killer Moses Sithole aka The ABC Killer is sentenced to fifty years imprisonment for thirty-eight murders, twelve years imprisonment for forty rapes, and five years imprisonment for six robberies in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa.

Since Sithole's sentences run consecutively the total effective sentence is one of 2410 years.

Sunday 5th of December 1999

Self-portrait near an abandoned shack on a military airfield in Singapore, Singapore.

Tuesday 5th of December 2000

Murderer Garry Dean Miller is executed by lethal injection at the age of 33 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Miller's last meal were two grilled cheese sandwiches, french fries, ketchup, two boiled eggs, two cinnamon rolls with icing, two cans of grape juice and coffee.

Friday 5th of December 2003

Murderer Robbie James Lyons is executed by lethal injection at the age of 31 in Raleigh State Prison, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States.

Lyons' final meal was pizza and lasagna, both prepared in accordance with Islamic dietary laws, and a Pepsi.

Wednesday 5th of December 2007

105 die in Ruizhiyuan Mining Company coal mine explosion in Linfen, Hongdong County, Shanxi, China.

Wednesday 5th of December 2007

Mass murderer Robert Arthur Hawkins aka The Omaha Mall Gunman commits suicide by a shot through the head at the age of 19 in Westroads Mall, intersection of 100th and Dodge Streets, Omaha, Nebraska, United States.

Hawkins stepped out of the elevator on the third floor and opened fire. He killed eight people and wounded four others over the course of six minutes, before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head near the customer service desk. An hour before the rampage, Hawkins' mother gave the Sarpy County Sheriff's Department his suicide note which stated, "I just want to take a few peices  of shit with me... just think tho, I'm gonna be fuckin famous."

Wednesday 5th of December 2007

Composer Karlheinz Stockhausen dies of heart failure at the age of 79 in Kürten, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Thursday 5th of December 2019

Murderer Lee Hall is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 53 in Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, Nashville, Tennessee, United States.

Hall's last meal request was for Philly cheesesteak, two orders of onion rings, a slice of cheesecake and a Pepsi. Witnesses reported "You could see a wisp of steam or smoke coming off the side of his head."