Saturday 27th of January 1596

Sea Captain, slaver and pirate Sir Francis Drake aka el Draque dies of dysentery at the age of 56 in Portobelo, Colón, Panama.

Before dying, Drake asked to be dressed in his full armour. He was buried at sea in a lead coffin, near Portobelo. Divers continue to search for the coffin.

Tuesday 27th of January 1756

Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is born as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart in Getreidegasse 9, Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.

Friday 27th of January 1832

Writer, mathematician and photographer Lewis Carroll known for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is born as Charles Lutwidge Dodgson in Daresbury, Cheshire, United Kingdom.

Wednesday 27th of January 1836

Writer Leopold von Sacher-Masoch is born in Lemberg, Halych-Volyn, Austria.

Friday 27th of January 1854

John Palmer is poisoned by serial poisoner William Palmer aka The Prince of Poisoners in Rugeley, Staffordshire, United Kingdom.

John was about three or four days old at the time of death.

Tuesday 27th of January 1874

New York State Electrician aka executioner Robert Greene Elliott is born in Hamlin, New York, United States.

Wednesday 27th of January 1892

Composer Mitya Stillman is born in Il’intsy, Ukraine, Russia.

Sunday 27th of January 1901

Composer Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi dies of complications from a stroke at the age of 88 in Milano, Lombardia, Italy.

Saturday 27th of January 1906

Actress Starr Wyman Faithfull aka The Drowned Girl is born in Evanston, Illinois, United States.

Friday 27th of January 1928

Murderer Daniel Driscoll is executed by hanging by Robert Baxter at the age of 38 in Cardiff Prison, Cardiff, Adamsdown, Wales, United Kingdom.

Friday 27th of January 1928

Murderer Edward Rowlands is executed by hanging by Robert Baxter in Cardiff Prison, Cardiff, Adamsdown, Wales, United Kingdom.

Tuesday 27th of January 1931

Great Train Robber Buster Ronald Christopher Edwards is born in London, Lambeth, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Saturday 27th of January 1945

The 322nd Rifle Division of the Russian Red Army liberates the Auschwitz concentration camp in KZ Auschwitz-Birkenau, Birkenau, Małopolska, Poland.

The soldiers found 7.500 prisoners alive and over 600 corpses. Among items found by the Soviet soldiers were 370.000 men's suits, 837.000 women's garments, and 7.7 tonnes of human hair.

Thursday 27th of January 1949

Over 1500 die in Taiping steamer collision in Zhoushan Archipelago, Zhejiang, China.

Taiping was packed to nearly twice her rated capacity carrying over 1.000 refugees fleeing advancing Chinese Communist forces during the Chinese Civil War, when she departed Shanghai on 26 January 1949 bound for Keelung, Taiwan.

Monday 27th of January 1958

71-year-old August Meyer is shot in the head by spree killer Charles Starkweather aka Little Red in Meyer Farm, Bennet, Nebraska, United States.

Starkweather also killed Meyer's dog.

Monday 27th of January 1958

18-year-old Robert W. Jensen is shot in the head by spree killer Charles Starkweather aka Little Red in Bennet, Nebraska, United States.

Starkweather and Fugate drove their car into mud and abandoned the vehicle. When Jensen and his 16-year-old girlfriend Carol King stopped to give them a ride Starkweather forced them to drive back to an abandoned storm cellar and shot Jensen in the back of the head. He then attempted to rape King but was unable to do so, became angry with her and fatally shot her.

Friday 27th of January 1961

74-year-old Postal worker and would-be assassin Richard Paul Pavlick is committed to a mental hospital in Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, Springfield, Missouri, United States.

Pavlick planned to blow up President Kennedy in Palm Beach on 11 December 1960.

Saturday 27th of January 1962

North Korean Agent Hyun-Hui Kim aka Ok Hwa is born in Kaesŏng, North Hwanghae, North Korea.

She was responsible for the Korean Air Boeing 707-3B5C Flight 858 bombing on 29 November 1987.

Sunday 27th of January 1963

18-year-old John Lindsay Sturkey is shot dead by serial killer Eric Edgar Cooke aka The Australian Nightmare aka The Nedlands Monster in Cottesloe, Western Australia, Australia.

Nicholas August, his 40-year-old lover Roweena Reeves and 29-year-old Brian Weir were also shot and woonded in separate events on the same night.

Friday 27th of January 1967

US-astronauts 40-year-old Gus Grisson, 33-year-old Edward H. White and 31-year-old Roger B. Chaffee are burned alive in their Apollo/Saturn 204 in John F. Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, Florida, United States.

Grissom suffered severe third degree burns on over one-third of his body and his spacesuit was mostly destroyed. White suffered third degree burns on almost half of his body and a quarter of his spacesuit had melted away. Chaffee suffered third degree burns over almost a quarter of his body and a small portion of his spacesuit was damaged. The autopsy report confirmed that the primary cause of death for all three astronauts was cardiac arrest caused by high concentrations of carbon monoxide. Burns suffered by the crew were not believed to be major factors, and it was concluded that most of them had occurred postmortem. Asphyxiation occurred after the fire melted the astronauts' suits and oxygen tubes, exposing them to the lethal atmosphere of the cabin.

Wednesday 27th of January 1971

46-year-old Wiener Aktionist Otto Muehl performs 'SS und Judenstern' in Praterstraße 32, Wien, Wien, Austria.

Thursday 27th of January 1977

28-year-old Member of the Rote Armee Fraktion and Sozialistisches Patientenkollektiv Brigitte Margret Ida Mohnhaupt is released from prison in Justizvollzugsanstalt Stammheim, Asperger Straße 60, Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Mohnhaupt was arrested in Berlin on 9 June 1972 in connection with the Rote Armee Fraktion and sentenced to prison for involvement with a criminal organization, identity document forgery, and illegal weapon possession. Upon her release Mohnhaupt immediately went underground and continued her work with the Rote Armee Fraktion.

Friday 27th of January 1978

37-year-old Evelyn Elizabeth Ferreira Miroth is shot dead by serial killer and cannibal Richard Chase aka The Vampire of Sacramento in Merrywood Drive 3207, Sacramento, California, United States.

Chase encountered Miroth's 51-year-old friend Danny Meredith whom he shot with his .22 handgun and took his wallet and car keys. He then fatally shot Miroth, her six-year-old son Jason and her 22-month-old nephew David Ferreira before mutilating Miroth and engaging in necrophilia and cannibalism with her corpse. He then took the baby’s body home, decapitated it and ate parts of its brains before dumping it in a cardboard box.

Tuesday 27th of January 1981

666 die in Tampomas II ocean liner fire and sinking in Masalembo Islands, Java Sea, Indonesia.

Around 20:00 on 25 January some parts of the engine experienced fuel leaks and cigarette butts coming down from the vents ignited the leaking fuel. The crews saw the fire and tried to snuff it out using portable fire extinguishers but failed. In the morning of 27 January there was an explosion in the engine room which created an entrance for the sea water to fill the compartments. Finally at 12:45 on 27 January (about 30 hours after the first spark) the ship sank to the bottom of the Java Sea.

Thursday 27th of January 1983

Actor Louis de Funès aka FuFu dies of a massive stroke at the age of 69 in Nantes, Pays de la Loire, France.

Friday 27th of January 1984

26-year-old Singer-songwriter and actor Michael Joseph Jackson aka The King of Pop suffers second and third degree burns on his scalp during the filming of a Pepsi commercial in Shrine Auditorium, 665 W. Jefferson Blvd, Los Angeles, California, United States.

Monday 27th of January 1992

Writer and wife of Baldur von Schirach Henriette 'Henny' Hoffman dies of unknown causes at the age of 79 in München, Schwabing, Bayern, Germany.

Thursday 27th of January 2000

Double murderer James Walter Moreland is executed by lethal injection at the age of 40 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Moreland's last words were "I believe I'm going home."

Thursday 27th of January 2000

49-year-old Murderer Robert Frederick 'Bobby' Glass aka Slowhand pleads guilty to voluntary manslaughter of 35-year-old Sharon Lopatka and six sexual exploitation charges in Lenoir, North Carolina, United States.

Glass was sentenced to a minimum four years and nine months in prison, 36 to 53 months in prison for manslaughter and 21 to 26 months on the first of the other six other charges. Sentences for the other counts were suspended.

Sunday 27th of January 2002

A walk in Rivierenhof park in Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Tuesday 27th of January 2009

Writer John Hoyer Updike dies of lung cancer at the age of 77 in Danvers, Massachusetts, United States.

Wednesday 27th of January 2010

Writer J. D. Jerome David Salinger known for his novel ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ dies of natural causes at the age of 91 in Cornish, New Hampshire, United States.

Sunday 27th of January 2013

242 die in Kiss nightclub fire in Kiss Nightclub, 1925 Andradas Street, Santa Maria, Sede, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

The fire started when the band Gurizada Fandangueira ignited fireworks during their show. The high death toll was due to the lack of emergency exits (the only access in and out of the building was the front door) and the fact that the number of people inside exceeded the maximum capacity by hundreds.

Friday 27th of January 2017

Actor John Vincent Hurt dies of pancreatic cancer at the age of 77 in London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Thursday 27th of January 2022

Double murderer Donald Anthony Grant is executed by lethal injection at the age of 46 in Oklahoma State Penitentiary, McAlester, Oklahoma, United States.

Grant had asked a federal judge to intervene and allow execution by the firing squad rather than lethal injection.