1582: Robbed of Ten Days: When Pope Gregory XIII Erased a Fortnight From the Calendar
Thursday, October 4, 1582, went to bed as normal. Read more →
1860: A Mercy Petition Backed by the Bishop of Adelaide Could Not Save a Man From the Gallows
John Jones, a hutkeeper on a station near Mount Joy in South Australia’s remote Eyre Peninsula, was found dead in his hut in May 1860, his skull broken and the hut stripped of flour, tea and clothing. Read more →
1882: The Last Outlaw Surrenders: Frank James Hands Over a Gun Untouched Since 1861
Five months after his brother Jesse James was gunned down in 1882, Frank James boarded a train to the Missouri state capital and laid his revolver in the hands of Governor Crittenden. Read more →
1895: “I Wonder How Many More Times?”: George Dean Rearrested in a Sydney Poison Case
George Dean had already escaped the gallows once, pardoned after a Royal Commission cast doubt on the poisoning case against his wife, Mary. Read more →
1970: The Kidnapping That Triggered Martial Law in Peacetime Canada
In Montreal in October 1970, armed members of the Front de Liberation du Quebec forced their way into the home of British trade commissioner James Cross and seized him at gunpoint, demanding the release of jailed militants in exchange for his life. The kidnapping tipped Quebec into what became known as the October Crisis. Read more →
1993: A Firewood Hunt Led to Two More Bodies in Belanglo Forest
In October 1993, a local man out gathering firewood stumbled on human remains in a remote corner of Belanglo State Forest. Read more →
1999: Timestamps Do Not Lie: the Software Trail That Caught Harold Shipman
Harold Shipman was a trusted family doctor in Hyde, England, who killed his patients with lethal injections of diamorphine and then falsified their medical records to make the deaths look natural. Read more →
