Saturday 16th of January 1864

19-year-old Victim of Jack the Ripper Mary Ann Nichols aka Polly marries John Nichols in London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Between 1866 and 1879, the couple had five children: Edward John, Percy George, Alice Esther, Eliza Sarah, and Henry Alfred.

Sunday 16th of January 1898

43-year-old Bigamist and multiple murderer Johann Otto Hoch aka The Bluebeard Murderer marries Mrs. Winnie Westphal as William Frederick Bessing in Jersey City, New Jersey, United States.

Hoch disappeared with $900,-.

Wednesday 16th of January 1907

24-year-old Serial killer Peter Kürten aka The Vampire of Düsseldorf tries to commit suicide by lacerating the skin over a main artery in Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

He was sentenced to three years imprisonment for 34 burglaries and thefts in 1905.

Thursday 16th of January 1930

Triple murderer Clarence Ray Allen is born in Blair, Oklahoma, United States.

Monday 16th of January 1933

Writer, filmmaker, philosopher, teacher and political activist Susan Sontag is born as Susan Rosenblatt in New York City, New York, United States.

Wednesday 16th of January 1935

Crime matriarch Ma Kate Barker is killed along her son Fred by federal agents after an intense hours-long shootout at the age of 62 in 13250 East Highway C-25, Ocklawaha, Florida, United States.

Thursday 16th of January 1936

Serial killer, child rapist and cannibal Albert Hamilton Howard Fish aka The Cannibal aka The Werewolf of Wysteria aka The Moon Maniac is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 66 in Sing Sing Prison, Ossining, New York, United States.

The first blow short-circuited because of a number of needles Fish had inserted in his scrotum during his lifetime. He was the oldest man ever to be executed in Sing Sing. Fish' last words were reportedly "I don't even know why I'm here."

Saturday 16th of January 1943

Photographer and Wiener Aktionist model Heinz Cibulka is born in Wien, Wien, Austria.

Thursday 16th of January 1947

Member of the Symbionese Liberation Army Sara Jane Olson is born as Kathleen Ann Soliah in Fargo, North Dakota, United States.

Thursday 16th of January 1947

20-year-old Margot M. is beaten to death by serial killer Rudolf Pleil aka Der Großten Todmacher in Abbenrode, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany.

M.'s body was thrown in a ditch near the road between Abbenrode and Stapelburg.

Friday 16th of January 1948

Film director John Howard Carpenter is born in Carthage, New York, United States.

Wednesday 16th of January 1957

Conductor Arturo Toscanini dies of inner bleedings at the age of 90 in Riverdale, New York, Bronx, New York, United States.

Monday 16th of January 1961

19-year-old Serial killer Myra Hindley aka The Moors Murderers (with Ian Brady) starts working as a shorthand typist in Millwards Merchandising, Levenshulme Road, Manchester, Gorton, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom.

She would type plenty of letters for her later companion and Moors Murderer Ian Brady.

Monday 16th of January 1961

Double murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner is born in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States.

Saturday 16th of January 1965

27-year-old Wiener Aktionist Hermann Nitsch performs his 7. Aktion 'für dr. Wolfgang Tunner' in his house and studio in Wien, Wien, Austria.

Thursday 16th of January 1969

21-year-old Revolutionary student Jan Palach aka Pochodeň č. 1 puts himself on fire as a political protest against the end of the Prague Spring in Wenceslas Square, Praha, Bohemia, Czechoslovakia.

“Given the fact that our nations are on the verge of desperation and resignation, we have decided to express our protest and stir the sleeping conscience of the nation.” Palach died three days later in the Charles University Faculty Hospital.

Friday 16th of January 1970

24-year-old Jean Way is strangled by serial killer Wayne Boden aka The Vampire Rapist in Lincoln Street, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Way was naked on her bed with bite marks on her breasts.

Monday 16th of January 1978

Child killer and would-be serial killer Ronald Frank Cooper is executed by hanging at the age of 27 in Pretoria Central Prison, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa.

In his diary Cooper had written: "I shall not kill all the boys the same way. Some I shall strangle with my hands. Other boys I shall strangle with a piece of cord or rope. Others again I shall stab to death and others I shall cut their throats. I can also suffocate or smother other boys".

Wednesday 16th of January 1980

21-year-old Performance artist Danny Devos aka DDV performs 'Das Berchtesgaden Diner' in 't Fabrieksken, Burchtstraat 20, Aalst, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

I was laying on the floor, tied up and my right arm pulled up by a piece of wood. Speeches of Adolf Hitler sounded very loud from speakers. With my head in a plate, I ate a mixture of salad, raw eggs and red wine. After about 15 minutes I got cramps in my stomach and threw up, after 25 minutes someone from the audience untied me.

Wednesday 16th of January 1985

Cop killer Doyle Edward Skillern is executed by lethal injection at the age of 49 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Saturday 16th of January 1988

Noise music band Club Moral play their 76th concert in Kunstencentrum Carlos De Meester, Stationsdreef, Roeselaere, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

Saturday 16th of January 1988

15-year-old James Edward 'Jamie' Doxtator is drugged, strangled and dismembered by serial killer and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer aka The Milwaukee Cannibal in 2357 South 57th Street, West Allis, Wisconsin, United States.

A week later Dahmer 'defleshed' the corpse with either acid or a knife, smashed the bones with a sledgehammer, packed the whole bloody mess into a couple of binbags and left them out for the garbage truck.

Wednesday 16th of January 2002

Murderer Jermarr Carlos Arnold is executed by lethal injection at the age of 44 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

After Arnold signaled the warden to begin the lethal injection, he began singing 'Amazing Grace' and kept singing as the chemicals coursed into his veins.

Friday 16th of January 2004

AMVK interviewed in her Headroom installation in Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Nicolaas de Liemaeckereplein 2, Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

Tuesday 16th of January 2007

Food entrepreneur Rudolf-August Oetker dies of pneumonia at the age of 91 in Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.

Thursday 16th of January 2014

Murderer Dennis McGuire is executed by lethal injection at the age of 53 in Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, Lucasville, Ohio, United States.

McGuire made several loud snorting or snoring sounds while straining to catch his breath as he experienced a medical phenomenon known as air hunger. Ohio officials used intravenous doses of two drugs, the sedative midazolam and the painkiller hydromorphone.

Saturday 16th of January 2021

Murder plotter Dustin John Higgs is executed by lethal injection at the age of 49 in United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute, Indiana, United States.

Higgs was convicted for his role in the January 1996 murders of 19-year-old Tamika Black, 21-year-old Tanji Jackson, and 23-year-old Mishann Chinn, who were all shot and killed near the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center on the Patuxent Research Refuge in Maryland.

Saturday 16th of January 2021

Record producer and songwriter Phil Harvey Phillip Spector known for the ‘Wall of Sound’ production method dies of complications of COVID-19 at the age of 81 in Stockton, California, United States.

Saturday 16th of January 2021

The snow covered beach in San Rocco, Oostende, Mariakerke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

Monday 16th of January 2023

Actress Gina Luigina Lollobrigida dies of undisclosed causes at the age of 95 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Thursday 16th of January 2025

Film director David Keith Lynch dies of emphysema at the age of 79 in Los Angeles, California, United States.

Lynch evacuated his Los Angeles home due to the Southern California wildfires. Deadline Hollywood reported that these events preceded a terminal decline in Lynch's health.