Wednesday 21st of October 1440

35-year-old Baron, knight, companion-in-arms of Jeanne D'Arc and serial killer of children Gilles de Rais aka Gilles de Retz makes a full confession of his crimes in court in Nantes, Pays de la Loire, France.

Monday 21st of October 1805

Admiral Horatio Nelson aka 1st Viscount Nelson is shot in the spine by a marksman from the Redoutable during the Battle of Trafalgar at the age of 47 in Cabo Trafalgar, Cádiz, Spain.

The bullet had entered Nelson's left shoulder, passed through his spine at the sixth and seventh thoracic vertebrae, and lodged 5 cm below his right shoulder blade in the muscles of his back. "Hardy, I do believe they have done it at last… my backbone is shot through."

Monday 21st of October 1833

Chemist, engineer, innovator and armaments manufacturer Alfred Bernhard Nobel aka The Merchant of Death known for inventing dynamite is born in Stockholm, Södermanland, Sweden.

Sunday 21st of October 1888

First wife of Hermann Göring Carin Axelina Hulda Fock is born in Stockholm, Södermanland, Sweden.

Sunday 21st of October 1917

Musician and bandleader Dizzy John Birks Gillespie is born in Cheraw, South Carolina, United States.

Thursday 21st of October 1926

37-year-old Mabel Fluke is raped and strangled by serial killer Earle Leonard Nelson aka The Gorilla Murderer in Portland, Oregon, United States.

Thursday 21st of October 1926

United States Air Force pilot Felix Eugene Moncla is born in Mansura, Louisiana, United States.

Tuesday 21st of October 1930

Murderer Richard Lewis Jordan is born in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States.

Tuesday 21st of October 1941

Spree killer Stanley Eric George Graham dies of injuries after being shot by police officers at the age of 41 in Westland Hospital, Hokitika, West Coast, New Zealand.

Graham shot several police officers and members of the Home Guard over discussions on 8 and 9 October. Graham was finally surrounded by almost a hundred police, New Zealand Army and Home Guard personnel, reportedly telling one of them that he "could have shot some more".

Monday 21st of October 1946

Musician Lux Interior known from The Cramps is born as Erick Lee Purkhiser in Akron, Ohio, United States.

Thursday 21st of October 1954

Triple murderer Charles Rodman Campbell is born in Oʻahu, Hawaii, United States.

Thursday 21st of October 1965

The body of 14-year-old Victim of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley aka The Moors Murderers John Kilbride is discovered in Sail Bark Moss, Oldham, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom.

In this photograph taken by Ian Brady in November 1963, Myra Hindley crouches over Kilbride's grave on Saddleworth Moor with her dog, Puppet.

Friday 21st of October 1966

116 children and 28 adults die in colliery spoil tip collapse in Pantglas Junior School, Aberfan, South Wales, United Kingdom.

Over 40,000 cubic metres of debris covered the village in minutes and the classrooms at Pantglas Junior School were immediately inundated, with young children and teachers dying from impact or suffocation.

Tuesday 21st of October 1969

Writer, poet and pioneer of the Beat Generation Jack Kerouac known for the novel On The Road dies of internal hemorrhage caused by cirrhosis at the age of 47 in St. Anthony's Hospital, 1200 7th Ave. N., St. Petersburg, Florida, United States.

The day before around 11 in the morning Kerouac was sitting in his favorite chair drinking whiskey and malt liquor, trying to scribble notes for a book about his father's print shop. Kerouac suddenly felt sick to his stomach, which was nothing unusual, and headed for the bathroom. He began to throw up large amounts of blood, and yelled to his wife, "Stella, I'm bleeding." Eventually he was persuaded to go to the hospital and was taken by ambulance to St. Anthony's. Blood continued to pour from his mouth and he underwent several transfusions. That evening Kerouac underwent surgery in an attempt to tie off all the burst blood vessels, but his damaged liver prevented his blood from clotting.

Thursday 21st of October 1971

26-year-old Leading member of the 'Manson Family' Tex Charles Watson is sentenced to die in the Gas Chamber for the Tate-LaBianca murders in Los Angeles, California, United States.

Saturday 21st of October 1978

Pilot Frederick Valentich goes missing during a training flight with his Cessna 182L aircraft at the age of 20 in Bass Strait, Victoria, Australia.

There were belated reports of a UFO sighting in Australia on the night of Valentich's disappearance. However, the Department of Transport was sceptical a UFO was behind Valentich's disappearance. According to his father Guido, Valentich was an ardent believer in UFOs and had been worried about being attacked by them.

Tuesday 21st of October 1980

Pediatrician Hans Johann Friedrich Karl Asperger dies of natural causes at the age of 74 in Wien, Wien, Austria.

Asperger's Syndrome was named after Asperger and officially recognized in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1994.

Sunday 21st of October 1984

Film director François Roland Truffaut dies of a brain tumour at the age of 52 in American Hospital, 63 Blvd Victor Hugo, Neuilly-sur-Seine, Île-de-France, France.

Monday 21st of October 1985

San Francisco supervisor and assassin Dan Daniel James White commits suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning at the age of 39 in San Francisco, California, United States.

The San Francisco Weekly has referred to White as "perhaps the most hated man in San Francisco's history."

Saturday 21st of October 1989

131 die in Tan-Sahsa Boeing 727-200 Flight 414 crash in Toncontín International Airport, Tegucigalpa, Municipio del Distrito Central, Honduras.

There were 15 survivors.

Saturday 21st of October 1989

The skeletonised body of 59-year-old Victim of Arthur Shawcross aka The Genesee River Killer Dorothy Keeler , beaten to death by Arthur Shawcross aka The Genesee River Killer is found in Seth Green Island, Rochester, New York, United States.

Thursday 21st of October 1999

Murderer Arthur Martin Boyd is executed by lethal injection at the age of 54 in Raleigh State Prison, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States.

Boyd's last meal request was for two bacon mushroom melts from Wendy's and a pint of chocolate milk. Boyd's last words were "I love you, Laura".

Tuesday 21st of October 2003

Tables and chairs in the largest restaurant for civil servants that served 2000 people at the same time and is now demolished in Brussel, Brabant, Belgium.

Saturday 21st of October 2006

Writer and biographer of Aleister Crowley John Symonds aka The Picasso of the Occult dies of natural causes at the age of 92 in London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Sunday 21st of October 2007

Artist R. B. Ronald Brooks Kitaj commits suicide by suffocation with a plastic bag at the age of 75 in Los Angeles, California, United States.

Thursday 21st of October 2021

Murderer Willie B. Smith III is executed by lethal injection at the age of 52 in Holman Correctional Facility, Ross Road, Atmore, Alabama, United States.