August 18, 1590 Modern day North Carolina The Roanoke Colony is found deserted with only a vague clue to their whereabouts, the word Croatoan, carved into a post The colony, the first English settlement in North America and formed 5 years before the disappearances of the colonists, seemed doomed from the start: the first group…
Pregnant woman and priest executed
August 18, 1848 San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina 8-months-pregnant Maria Camila O'Gorman Ximénez (20) and her priest lover Father Ladislao Gutiérrez (24) are executed by a firing squad Father Gutiérrez was a Jesuit priest and his church was the only one within Argentina's Catholic Church to condemn the police state the country was under at…
Mother drowns infant, self
August 18, 2003 Conception Bay South, Newfoundland and Labrador Zachary Turner (1) is drugged by his mother and is strapped by his mother to her chest before she jumps into the Atlantic Ocean Zachary's mother, Shirley Jane Turner, was a suspect in the murder of Zachary's father, Andrew David Bagby, at the time of the…
3 die in stampede
August 18, 1941 New York The bodies of 2 women are covered after a stampede caused by counterfeit ferry tickets The ferry meant to take the patrons across the Hudson River was only capable of taking 3,100 people. However, after admitting 1,400 on board it was discovered that nearly 5,000 awaited the journey. Thousands of…
Fictional history: Texas Chain Saw Massacre
August 18, 1973 The events of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are said to have taken place according to the film's prologue: "The film which you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of five youths, in particular Sally Hardesty and her invalid brother, Franklin. It is all the…
