HAPPY HALLOWEEN –
The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints. Soon, All Saints Day incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows Eve, and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into a day of activities like trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, festive gatherings, donning costumes and eating treats. https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween
0445 BC – Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites in Jerusalem
0475 – Romulus Augustulus was proclaimed Roman Emperor.
0802 – Empress Irene of Byzantium driven out
1517 – Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Palace Church. The event marked the start of the Protestant Reformation in Germany.
1541 – Michelangelo Buonarroti finishes painting “The Last Judgement” in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City
1756 – Giacomo Casanova escapes from “The Leads” prison in Venice by climbing onto the roof
1793 – Execution of the Girondins at Paris, during the Reign of Terror
1815 – Sir Humphrey Davy of London patents miner’s safety lamp
1822 – Emperor Agustn de Iturbide attempted to dissolve the Mexican Empire.
1846 – Donner party, unable to cross the Donner Pass, construct a winter camp
1864 – Nevada became the 36th state to join the U.S.
1868 – Postmaster General Alexander Williams Randall approved a standard uniform for postal carriers.
1892 – Arthur Conan Doyle publishes The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
1913 – 1st US paved coast-to-coast highway, the Lincoln Highway is dedicated
1914 – The Ottoman Empire (Turkey) joined the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria).
1917 – World War I: Battle of Beersheba in southern Palestine – “last successful cavalry charge in history” performed by the 4th Australian Light Horse
1922 – Benito Mussolini became prime minister of Italy.
1926 – Magician Harry Houdini died of gangrene and peritonitis resulting from a ruptured appendix. His appendix had been damaged twelve days earlier when he had been punched in the stomach by a student unexpectedly. During a lecture Houdini had commented on the strength of his stomach muscles and their ability to withstand hard blows.
1938 – Great Depression: In an effort to try restore investor confidence, the New York Stock Exchange unveils a fifteen-point program aimed to upgrade protection for the investing public
1940 – The British air victory in the Battle of Britain prevented Germany from invading Britain.
1941 – Mount Rushmore was declared complete after 14 years of work. At the time the 60-foot busts of U.S. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln were finished.
1949 – Dutch Nazi Henri ‘Hakkie’ Holdert, director of Amsterdam paper De Telegraaf and member of the SS, sentenced to 12 years imprisonment
1950 – Collazo and Torresola attempt to kill Truman in Washington, DC
1952 – The U.S. detonated its first hydrogen bomb.
1954 – The Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) began a revolt against French rule.
1959 – Lee Harvey Oswald, a former U.S. Marine from Fort Worth, TX, announced that he would never return to the U.S. At the time he was in Moscow, Russia.
1963 – Indiana State Fair Coliseum (now Pepsi Coliseum) explosion in Indianapolis kills 74 people during an ice skating show. The mammoth explosion injured 400. A faulty propane tank connection in a concession stand was blamed.
1968 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered a halt to all U.S. bombing of North Vietnam.
1969 – Wal-Mart Discount City stores were incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
1970 – Jim Morrison is sentenced to six months in jail and a $500 fine for indecent exposure and open profanity, though remains free on a $50,000 bond pending appeal
1974 – Dutch Marines end hostage crisis in Scheveningen prison
1981 – Antiqua and Barbuda became independent of Great Britain.
1983 – The U.S. Defense Department acknowledged that during the U.S. led invasion of Grenada, that a U.S. Navy plane had mistakenly bombed a civilian hospital.
1984 – Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated near her residence by two Sikh security guards. Her son, Rajiv, was sworn in as prime minister.
1986 – The 5th congress of the Communist Party of Sweden is inaugurated. During the course of the congress the party name is changed to the Solidarity Party and the party ceases to be a communist party.
1992 – In Liberia, it was announced that five American nuns had been killed near Monrovia. Rebels loyal to Charles Taylor were blamed for the murders.
1993 – River Phoenix died at the age of 23 after collapsing outside The Viper Room in Hollywood.
1997 – Louise Woodward, British au pair, was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of second-degree murder in the death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen. She was released after her sentence was reduced to manslaughter.
1998 – Iraq announced that it was halting all dealings with U.N. arms inspectors. The inspectors were investigating the country’s weapons of mass destruction stemming from Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
1999 – Leaders from the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. The event ended a centuries-old doctrinal dispute over the nature of faith and salvation.
2001 – Microsoft and the U.S. Justice Department reached a tentative agreement to settle the antitrust case against the software company.
2002 – A federal grand jury in Houston, Texas formally indicted former Enron Corp. chief financial officer Andrew Fastow on 78 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice related to the collapse of his ex-employer.
2008 – Distribution Video Audio, Inc. shipped its final shipment of VHS tapes to stores. The company was the last major United States supplier of pre-recorded VHS tapes.
2011 – Day of Seven Billion. The world’s official population reached 7 billion on approximately this day. The United Nations Population Fund designated it as the Day of Seven Billion.
2016 – Lebanon parliament elects Michel Aoun President after 2 1/2 years without a leader
2017 – John Kelly, White House Chief of Staff comments in TV interview that “the lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War”, draws criticism
2018 – In landmark verdict, Pakistani Supreme Court acquits Christian woman of blasphemy against the prophet Mohammed after eight years on death row
2019 – US House of Representatives votes to formalize impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump
2021 – World’s largest solar farm goes live in Sirindhorn reservoir, Thailand, as a hydro-floating solar hybrid system the size of 70 football fields
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
