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Halloween
475: Romulus Augustulus is proclaimed Western Roman Emperor
683 – During the Siege of Mecca, the Kaaba catches fire and is burned down.
802 – Empress Irene is deposed and banished to Lesbos. Conspirators place Nikephoros, the minister of finance, on the Byzantine throne.
1517 – Protestant Reformation: Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Palace church, marking the start of the Protestant Reformation in Germany.
1587 – Leiden University Library opens its doors after its founding in 1575.
1776: In his first speech before British Parliament since the leaders of the American Revolution came together to sign of the Declaration of Independence that summer, King George III acknowledges that all was not going well for Britain in the war with the United States.
1822 – Emperor Agustín de Iturbide attempts to dissolve the Congress of the Mexican Empire.
1861 – American Civil War: Citing failing health, General Winfield Scott, commander of the Union forces, retired from service. The hero of the Mexican War recognized early in the Civil War that his health and advancing years were a liability in the daunting task of directing the Federal war effort.
1863 – The Maori Wars resume as British forces in New Zealand led by General Duncan Cameron begin their Invasion of the Waikato.
1864: Anxious to have support of the Republican-dominated Nevada Territory for President Abraham Lincoln's reelection, the U.S. Congress quickly admits Nevada as the 36th state in the Union.
1876 – A monster cyclone ravages India, resulting in over 200,000 deaths.
1903 – Purdue Wreck, a railroad train collision in Indianapolis, Indiana, killed 17 people, including 14 players of the Purdue University football team.
1913 – The Lincoln Highway, the first paved coast-to-coast automobile highway across United States, is dedicated.
1913 – The Indianapolis Streetcar Strike and subsequent riot begins.
1917 – World War I: Battle of Beersheba: The "last successful cavalry charge in history". In the early morning, Allied forces under General Edmund Allenby launched an attack on Turkish positions at Beersheba, in Palestine, beginning the Third Battle of Gaza.
1918 – World War I: Dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
1922: Benito Mussolini is made Prime Minister of Italy
1923 – The first of 160 consecutive days of 100° Fahrenheit at Marble Bar, Western Australia.
1924 – World Savings Day is announced in Milan, Italy by the Members of the Association at the 1st International Savings Bank Congress (World Society of Savings Banks).
1926 – Magician Harry Houdini dies of gangrene and peritonitis that develops after his appendix ruptures.
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Garrick Theater, site of Harry
Houdini's last performance before he died in Detroit on Halloween Night in 1926, was known as the Whitney Opera House when this picture was taken in 1904.
from whatwasthere.com
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1938 – Great Depression: In an effort to restore investor confidence, the New York Stock Exchange unveils a fifteen-point program aimed to upgrade protection for the investing public.
1940 – World War II: The Battle of Britain ends: The United Kingdom prevents a possible German invasion.
1941 – After 14 years of work, the Mount Rushmore Monument in South Dakota is completed.
1941 – World War II: The destroyer USS Reuben James is torpedoed by a German U-boat near Iceland, killing more than 100 U.S. Navy sailors. It is the first U.S. Navy vessel sunk by enemy action in WWII.
1943 – World War II: An F4U Corsair accomplishes the first successful radar-guided interception by a USN or USMC aircraft.
1944 – Erich Göstl, a member of the Waffen-SS, is awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, to recognise extreme battlefield bravery, after losing his face and eyes during the Battle of Normandy.
1956 – Two days after Israeli sent forces into Egypt initiating the Suez Crisis, British and French military forces join them in the canal zone to try to retake the canal. Originally, forces from the three countries were set to strike at once, intent on foiling Egypt's plans to nationalize the canal, but the British and French troops were delayed. The entry of Britain and France into the struggle nearly brought the Soviet Union into the conflict, and seriously damaged their relationships with the United States.
1961: Five years after Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev denounced Stalinism and the "personality cult" of Soviet rulers at the 20th Party Congress, Joseph Stalin's embalmed body was removed from Lenin's tomb in Moscow's Red Square.
1963 – An explosion at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum (now Pepsi Coliseum) in Indianapolis kills 74 people and injures another 400 during an ice skating show. A faulty propane tank connection in a concession stand is blamed.
1968 – Vietnam War October surprise: Citing progress with the Paris peace talks, US President Lyndon B. Johnson announces to the nation that he has ordered a complete cessation of "all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam"
1968 – Vietnam War October surprise: In a televised address to the nation five days before the presidential election, President Lyndon Johnson announced that on the basis of developments in the Paris peace negotiations, he had ordered the complete cessation of "all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam" effective November 1. Accordingly, the U.S. Air Force called a halt to the air raids on North Vietnam known as Operation Rolling Thunder.
1969 – the Disappearance of Patricia Spencer and Pamela Hobley occurs.
1973 – Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape. Three Provisional Irish Republican Army members escape from Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, Republic of Ireland aboard a hijacked helicopter that lands in the exercise yard.
1984 – Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated in New Delhi by two of her own Sikh security guards. Riots break out in New Delhi and other cities and nearly 10,000 Sikhs are killed.
1994 – American Eagle Flight 4184 crashes near Roselawn, Indiana, killing 68.
1998 – Iraq disarmament crisis begins: Iraq announces it would no longer cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors.
1999 – Yachtsman Jesse Martin returns to Melbourne after 11 months of circumnavigating the world, solo, non-stop and unassisted.
1999 – EgyptAir Flight 990 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean killing all 217 people on board.
2000 – Soyuz TM-31 launches, carrying the first resident crew to the International Space Station. The ISS has been crewed continuously since then.
2000 – Singapore Airlines Flight 006 crashes on takeoff in Taipei killing 83 people.
2002 – A federal grand jury in Houston, Texas indicts former Enron 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.
2003 – Mahathir bin Mohamad resigns as Prime Minister of Malaysia and is replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, marking an end to Mahathir's 22 years in power.
2011 – The global population of humans reaches seven billion. This day is now recognized by the United Nations as Seven Billion Day.
2014 – Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo crashes in the Mojave Desert during a test flight,
Saints' Days and Holy Days
Traditional Western
Vigil of All Saints
Contemporary Western
Alphonsus Rodriguez
Blessed Theodore Romzha (Ruthenian Catholic Church)
Quentin
Wolfgang of Regensburg
Blessed Theodore Romzha (Ruthenian Catholic Church)
Quentin
Wolfgang of Regensburg
Anglican, Episcopal, Lutheran
Martin Luther (Anglican Communion)
Paul Shinji Sasaki and Philip Lindel Tsen (Episcopal Church)
Paul Shinji Sasaki and Philip Lindel Tsen (Episcopal Church)
Eastern Orthodox
October 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Apostles Stachys, Amplias, Urban, Narcissus, Apelles and Aristobulus
of the Seventy Disciples (1st century)
Epimachus of Pelusium in Egypt
Hieromartyr John Kochurov (1917)
Apostles Stachys, Amplias, Urban, Narcissus, Apelles and Aristobulus
of the Seventy Disciples (1st century)
Epimachus of Pelusium in Egypt
Hieromartyr John Kochurov (1917)
Coptic Orthodox
