Empress Myeong-Seong of Korea (the first official wife of King Gojong) is murdered in her palace by sword-bearing Japanese assassins (1895) - Oct. 8
Kashmir Earthquake (7.6 to 7.7 on the Richter Scale) reached a death toll of 79,000 (2005) - Oct. 8
Rail Disaster at Harrow and Wealdstone (a double collision involving 3 trains) results in 112 people dying and 340 injured (1952) - Oct. 8
Clergy Appreciation Day - 2nd Sunday in October (2017) - 10/8
Childrens' Day - 2nd Sunday in October (2017) - Oct. 8
Karva Chauth - A Hindu festival in which married women fast from sunrise to moonrise for the safety and longevity of their husbands (2017) - 10/8
October 9, 2017
Alexander I of Yugoslavia is assassinated by Vlado Chernozemski (a Bulgarian revoltionary) who was killed himself immediately afterwards (1934) - Oct. 9
Amtrak derailment in the southwest Arizona desert is responsible for injuring over 100 people and killing at least one person (1995) - Oct. 9
Barbara Palmer (nee Villiers - Duchess of Cleveland and mistress to Charles II) dies (1709) - Oct. 9
Che Guevara (Argentine Marxist revoltionary and guerilla leader) is executed one day after being captured by the Bolivians (1967) - 10/9
HMS Lutine sinks during a storm while carrying about 1,200,000 GBP in bullion and coin from Yarmouth to Cuxhaven (1799) - Oct. 9
Leif Ericson Day commemorates the Norse Explorer who was probably the first European to land in North America - Oct. 9
Mary Tudor (18 year-old sister of Henry VIII) marries Louis XII (52 year-old King of France) much against her own wishes (1514) - Oct. 9
The Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber premieres at Her Majesty's Theatre in London (1986) - 10/9
SN 1604 (Kepler's Supernova) which occurred in our galazy about 20,000 light-years from Earth, was first discovered (1604) - Oct. 9
Jan Hooks (American actress and comedienne best known for SNL) dies in Manhattan, supposedly from cancer, at age 57 (2014) - 10/9
LCROSS Centaur and its Shepherding Spacecraft impacts successfuly with the moon (2009) - Oct. 9
Canadian Thanksgiving Day - 2nd Monday in October since 1959 (2017) - Oct. 9
Columbus Day 2nd Monday in October (2017) - Oct. 9
Taiku no Hi (Japan) National holiday established in commemoration of the Tokyo Olympic Games (2017) - Oct. 9
October 10, 2017
Eddie Cantor (American comedian, singer, actor and songwriter) dies (1964) - Oct. 10
Fiji (an island nation in the South Pacific) gains independence from the UK (1970) - Oct. 10
Giuseppe Verdi (Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera) is born (1813) - Oct. 10
Helen Hayes (Award-winning actress who is one of only nine people who have one an Emmy, Grammy, Tony and Oscar) is born (1900) - Oct. 10
Hurricane San Calixto II (the deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record) resulted in the deaths of over 27,500 people in the Caribbean (1780) - Oct. 10
London Bridge (sold, dismantled and moved to the USA) opens in Lake Havasu City, AZ (1971) - Oct. 10
Metric Day - Oct. 10
Orson Welles (Academy Award-winning director, writer actor and producer) died from a heart attack at his home in Hollywood, CA (1985) - Oct. 10
Quebec's Labor and Immigration Minister, Pierre Laporte, is kidnapped outside his home (1973) - Oct. 10
Tokyo Olympics opening day marked the 1st time the Olympics were held in a non-western nation and the 1st to be televised via satellite (1964) - Oct. 10
Windscale (a nuclear reactor located in Cumbria, UK) core caught fire releasing radioactive contamination in the surrounding area (1957) - Oct. 10
Yul Brynner (Russian born actor best known for his portrayal of the Siamese king in the musical King and I) died from lung cancer (1985) - Oct. 10
James Clavell (a British and later naturlised American novelist best known for his Asian saga series of novels that included Shogun) is born (1924) - 10/10
Joan Sutherland (Australian dramatic coloratura soprano) dies in her Switzerland home at age 83 from cardiopulmonary failure (2010) - Oct. 10
Nora Roberts (Bestselling American author of more than 150 romance novels) is born in Silver Spring, MD (1950) - Oct. 10
October 11, 2017
Aleppo Syria earthquake (listed as the 4th deadliest earthquake in history with 230,000 dead) occurred (1138) - Oct. 11
Apollo 7 (1st manned mission in the Apollo program) is launched from Cape Canaveral, FL (1968) - Oct. 11
Burchardi Flood was a storm tide that struck the North Sea coast of Germany and Denmark overrunning dikes it killed 8-15,000 people (1634) - Oct. 11
GBLT Day (National Coming Out Day in the USA) founded in 1988 in celebration of the 2nd National March on Wash DC for Lesbian and Gay Rights - Oct. 11
HMS Mary Rose (Henry VIII's flag ship) is raised from its watery grave 437 years after it sank (1982) - Oct. 11
Pioneer 1 (NASA space probe intended to study ionizing radiation and cosmic rays in the vicinity of Earth and in lunar orbit) is launched (1958) - 10/11
Sausage Pizza Day - 10/11
Cirrus SR20 single engine light aircraft crashes into the Belaire Apartments in New York City causing a fire in several apartments and killing two (2006) - 10/11
Saturday Night Live premieres with George Carlin as host (1975) - Oct. 11
October 12, 2017
Bali Bombings occurred in the tourist district of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali - killing 202, 164 of whom were foreign nationals (2002) - 10/12
Brighton Hotel Bombing was an IRA attack on the Grand Hotel in a section where many politicians (including Margaret Thatcher) were staying (1985) - Oct. 12
Pedro (Peter) I of Brazil is proclaimed as the first emperor of Brazil (1822) - Oct. 12
Cloquet Fire (a massive fire in northern MN) erupts due to sparks created by the local railroads and dry conditions killing 453 (1918) - Oct. 12
The Day of Six Billion is a day designated by the UN Population Fund where the world population reached six billion (1999) - Oct. 12
Delft Explosion occurred when a gunpowder store exploded destroying much of the city of Delft and killing over 100 people (1654) - Oct. 12
Edward VI (son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour) is born at Hampton Court Palace west of London (1537) - Oct. 12
Inejiro Asanuma (Japanese politican head of the Japanese Socialist Party) is assassinated on live TV by 17-year-old Otoya Yamaguchi (1960) - Oct. 12
Iron Lung (invented by Philip Drinker and Louis Shaw) was first used in Boston Children's Hospital (1928) - Oct. 12
Columbus Day Storm (an extratropical wave cyclone) strikes the US Pacific Northwest with record wind velocities leaving 46 dead (1962) - Oct. 12
King John of England's Royal Treasure was lost in The Wash (a square-mouthed estuary on the northwest margin of East Anglia) in (1216) - Oct. 12
Magellan Probe descends into the thick atmosphere of Venus causing NASA to lose contact with it (1994) - Oct. 12
Spain (National Day aka Hispanic Day) celebrates the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 - Oct. 12
USS Cole is attacked by suicide bombers killing 17 while it was harbored in the Yemeni Port of Aden (2000) - Oct. 12
October 13, 2017
Uruguayan AF Flight 571 (Andes Flight Disaster) crashed in the Andes with 45 people by the time they were rescued in Dec only 16 survived (1972) - Oct. 13
Big Brown (2008 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes Winner) sustains an injury to a hind hoof while working out for the Breeders's Cup Classic and is retired (2008) - Oct. 13
B'Nai Brith (the oldest continually-operating Jewish service organization) is founded in NYC by Henry Jones and 11 others (1843) - Oct. 13
Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) is founded (1885) - Oct. 13
Hundreds of Knights Templar in France are arrested by agents of Philip the Fair to be later tortured intor admitting heresy (1307) - Oct. 13
The Miracle of the Sun is a reported miraculous event witnessed by as many as 100,000 people in Fatima, Portugal (1917) - Oct. 13
Nero ascends to the throne as emperor of Rome (54) - Oct. 13
US Navy Day - US Continental Congress orders the establishment of the Continental Navy (later renamed the United States Navy-1775) - Oct. 13
Whirlpool Galaxy is discovered by Charles Messier (1773) - Oct. 13
Ed Sullivan (an American entertainment writer and television host) died of esophogeal cancer (1974) - Oct. 13
Chilean miners trapped since Aug. 5 are brought up in the Rescue Capsule designed with the help of NASA engineer Clinton Cragg (2010) - Oct. 13
Boeing 707 Chartered Cargo plane crashes in Santa Cruz Bolivia killing 91 people with 3 crew and 88 on the ground (1976) - Oct. 13
Friday the 13th
October 14, 2017
Battle of Hastings (where William of Normandy defeats Harold Godwinson for the crown of England) takes place (1066) - 10/14
Bing Crosby (Academy award-winning American popular singer and actor) died from a heart attack after playing a round of golf (1977) - Oct. 14
Errol Flynn (Australian actor) dies from a heart attack in Vancouver Canada (1959) - Oct. 14
Ferdinand VII of Spain is born in the vast palace of El Escorial near Madrid Spain (1784) - Oct. 14
Harold Robbins (American author) died from respiratory heart failure (1997) - Oct. 14
Honey Bee Day - Oct. 14
James II of England (James VII of Scotland and son of Charles I) is born at St. James Palace in London (1633) - 10/14
Leonard Bernstein (multi-Emmy winning American conductor and composer) died from pneumonia just 5 days after retiring (1990) - Oct. 14
Mary I of Scotland is put on trial for treason after being implicated in a plot to assassinate her cousin Elizabeth I of England (1586) - 10/14
Monarch Butterfly Day - when monarch butterflies are scheduled to return to California and Mexico every year - Oct. 14
William Penn (founder of the state of Pennsylvania) is born in London (1644) - 10/14
Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne is first published (1926) - 10/14
October 15, 2017
Cassini Probe (NASA Fly-by orbiter and lander commissioned to study Saturn and its moons) is launched (1997) - Oct. 15
Great Storm of 1987 was an unusually strong weather system that became the worst storm to hit England since 1703 (1987) - Oct. 15
Hermann Goring (Nazi Party leader) commits suicide with cyanide the day before he was to be executed (1946) - Oct. 15
I Love Lucy (an American situation comedy) premieres on CBS (1951) - Oct. 15
Marie of Prussia (Queen of Bavaria and mother of Ludwig II, the Swan King) is born (1825) - Oct. 15
Mata Hari (a Frisian exotic dancer and courtesan convicted of spying for the Germans during WWI) is executed by firing squad (1917) - Oct. 15
Napoleon (French military and political leader) is exiled by the British to the island of St. Helena (1815) - 10/15
NASA's Galileo Orbiter spacecraft came within 112 miles of Jupiter's moon IO (2001) - 10/15
P.G. Wodehouse (English comic novelist best known for his "Jeeves," the butler, stories) is born (1881) - Oct. 15
China launches Shenzhou 5 - its first human spaceflight mission (2003) - 10/15
Staten Island Ferry crash involved a ferry crashing full speed into a concrete landing pier when docking killing 11 (2003) - 10/15
West Gate Bridge (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) collapses during construction killing 35 workers (1970) - Oct. 15
Sewing Lovers Day - Oct. 15
Sunday School Teacher Appreciation Day (2017) - 10/15
Pregnancy and Infant loss Remembrance Day - Oct. 15
Most photos and captions are courtesy of Wikipedia
