Friday 18th of October 1405

210th Pope Pius II is born as Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini in Corsignano, Toscana, Italy.

Enea was born to Silvio and Vittoria Forteguerri who had 18 children including several twins, though most died at a young age.

Saturday 18th of October 1417

Gregorius XII dies of unknown causes at the age of 91 in Recanati, Marche, Italy.

Sunday 18th of October 1503

215th Pope Pius III dies of an ulcer in the leg at the age of 64 in Vatican City, Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Pius III had been on his deathbed with gout since 13 October. Some alleged Pius III died of poison administered at the instigation of Pandolfo Petrucci, the ruler of Siena.

Saturday 18th of October 1777

Poet and writer Heinrich Bernd Wilhelm von Kleist is born in Frankfurt an der Oder, Brandenburg, Germany.

Saturday 18th of October 1851

The novel 'Moby Dick' by 32-year-old Writer Herman Melville known for his novel ‘Moby-Dick’ is first published as 'The Whale' by Richard Bentley in London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Tuesday 18th of October 1898

Singer, diseuse and actress Lotte Lenya is born as Karoline Wilhelmine Charlotte Blamauer in Ameisgasse 38, Wien, Penzing, Wien, Austria.

Monday 18th of October 1909

Murderer Gerald T. 'Jerry' Thompson is born in Joliet, Illinois, United States.

Monday 18th of October 1920

Double murderer LeRoy Sanford McGahuey is born in Saint Helens, Oregon, United States.

Monday 18th of October 1926

Actor Klaus Kinski is born as Klaus Gunther Nakszynski in Zoppot, Pomorze Wschodnie, Poland.

Monday 18th of October 1926

Singer-songwriter and musician Chuck Charles Edward Anderson Berry is born in St. Louis, Missouri, United States.

Tuesday 18th of October 1927

Serial killer Zdzisław Marchwicki aka The Zagłębie Vampire is born in Dąbrowa Górnicza, Województwo Sląskie, Poland.

Sunday 18th of October 1931

Inventor Thomas Alva Edison aka The Wizard of Menlo Park dies of complications from diabetes at the age of 84 in Glenmont, West Orange, Llewellyn Park, New Jersey, United States.

Edison's last breath is reportedly contained in a test tube at The Henry Ford Museum near Detroit. Ford reportedly convinced Charles Edison to seal a test tube of air in the inventor's room shortly after his death as a memento.

Wednesday 18th of October 1939

Assassin Lee Harvey Oswald is born in Old French Hospital, 1818 Orleans Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.

Wednesday 18th of October 1944

Cop killer Barry Peter Prudom aka The Phantom in the Forest is born as Barry Edwards in 39 Grosvenor Place, Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

Saturday 18th of October 1947

Leader of the l'Ordre International Chevaleresque de Tradition Solaire cult Luc Jouret is born in Kikwit, Bandundu, Belgian Congo.

Tuesday 18th of October 1960

Actor Jean-Claude Van Damme aka The Muscles from Brussels is born as Jean-Claude Camille François van Varenberg in Brussel, Sint-Agatha-Berchem, Brabant, Belgium.

Wednesday 18th of October 1961

Victim of Arthur Shawcross aka The Genesee River Killer Jack Owen Blake is born in Mercy Hospital, Watertown, New York, United States.

     

Monday 18th of October 1971

An unidentified man jumps on the back of 67-year-old Soviet statesman Alexei Nikolayevich Kosygin shouting “Long live free Hungary!” in Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Kosygin was not physically hurt by the attack.

Friday 18th of October 1974

17-year-old Melissa Anne Smith is abducted, assaulted and strangled by serial killer Ted Bundy aka The Only Living Witness in Midvale, Utah, United States.

Smith's body was found nine days later by hunters in Summit Park.

Friday 18th of October 1974

36-year-old Wiener Aktionist Hermann Nitsch performs his 47. Aktion in Kunstmesse, Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Tuesday 18th of October 1977

The Lufthansa Flight 181 'Landshut' Boeing is stormed by German GSG9 commandos in Operation Feuerzauber Hijackers Wabil Harb and Hind Alameh were killed, Zohair Akache and Suhaila Sayeh were wounded and all hostages were rescued. Akache died later in hospital. in Mogadishu International Airport, Mogadishu, Banadir, Somalia.

Two hijackers were killed all hostages are rescued.

Tuesday 18th of October 1977

Member of the Rote Armee Fraktion Gudrun Ensslin is found hanging from a length of speaker cable in cell 720 at the age of 37 in Justizvollzugsanstalt Stammheim, Asperger Straße 60, Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

"I am afraid of being suicided in the same way as Ulrike. If there is no letter from me and I’m found dead; in this case it is an assassination."

Tuesday 18th of October 1977

Member of the Rote Armee Fraktion Jan-Carl Raspe is found shot in the head with a Heckler & Koch 9mm pistol in cell 716 at the age of 33 in Justizvollzugsanstalt Stammheim, Asperger Straße 60, Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Raspe was found still alive but died in the hospital hours later. There were no fingerprints found on Raspe's gun and there were no gunpowder traces on Raspe's hands while Raspe was still holding the gun inside his hand when he was found, something considered at least unusual.

Tuesday 18th of October 1977

Leader of the Baader-Meinhof-Gruppe aka Rote Armee Fraktion Andreas Bernd Baader is found shot in the head with a FEG 7.65 pistol in cell 719 at the age of 34 in Justizvollzugsanstalt Stammheim, Asperger Straße 60, Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

The autopsy concluded that Baader shot himself to the neck, 3 cm above the hairline in a direction that made the bullet come out through the forehead from a straight trajectory, with a 7.65 calibre pistol which is considered implausible. Moreover the investigation carried out by the ballistic expert Dr Roland Hoffman using Baader's gun showed that the bullet must have been fired from a distance of between 30 and 40 centimetres which is considered likely impossible.

Tuesday 18th of October 1977

30-year-old Member of the Rote Armee Fraktion Irmgard Möller is found stabbed four times in the chest in cell 725 in Justizvollzugsanstalt Stammheim, Asperger Straße 60, Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Möller has always maintained that she did not attempt suicide and that there was no pre-arranged suicide pact between the RAF prisoners.

Tuesday 18th of October 1977

Vorsitzender des Bundesverbandes der Deutschen Industrie Hanns Martin Schleyer is executed after being held prisoner of the Rote Armee Fraktion commando Siegfried Hausner for 44 days at the age of 62 in Rue Charles Péguy, Mulhouse, Alsace, France.

Schleyer was taken from Brussels and shot dead en route to Mulhouse where his body was left in the trunk of a green Audi 100.

Tuesday 18th of October 1977

19-year-old Yolanda Washington is found raped and strangled by serial killers The Hillside Stranglers in 6510 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles, California, United States.

Washington was the first victim of the Hillside Stranglers.

Tuesday 18th of October 1977

Triple murderer Lamont D. Reese is born in Tarrant, Texas, United States.

Wednesday 18th of October 1978

Catalan communist and assassin Ramón Mercader aka Jacques Mornard aka Frank Jacson known for the assassination of Russian Marxist revolutionary Leon Trotsky dies of unknown causes at the age of 65 in Havana, Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba.

Mercader is buried under the name Ramon Ivanovich Lopez in Moscow's Kuntsevo Cemetery.

Tuesday 18th of October 1983

Four skeletonised victims of 31-year-old Serial killer Larry Eyler aka The Leather Boy Killer are found in Lake Forest, Illinois, United States.

Friday 18th of October 1991

Murderer Michael Van McDougall is executed by lethal injection at the age of 36 in Raleigh State Prison, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States.

Monday 18th of October 2004

Tamil brigand and dacoit Veerappan and two of his associates are killed by the K Special Task Force at the age of 52 in Papparapatti, Tamil Nadu, India.

Veerappan and his men were lured into an ambulance by an undercover policeman under the pretext of taking them to Dharmapuri for medical treatment. The Tamil Nadu Special Task Force surrounded the ambulance and the gangsters were killed in the ensuing gunfight.

Tuesday 18th of October 2005

46-year-old Performance artist Danny Devos aka DDV performs '2 Throatstuckers' with Hanggai throatsinger Yilichi in 2 Kolegas Bar, 21 Liangmaqiao Lu, Beijing, Chaoyang, Hebei, China.

A music performance using only voices with Hanggai throatsinger Yilichi.