Holidays
Halloween
All Hallow's Eve. It is celebrated on October 31, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day and begins the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead.
Modern Halloween traditions include trick-or-treating, costume parties, carving pumpkins, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.
What Happened On
Pope Admits the Earth Revolves Around the Sun
October 31, 1992
Pope John Paul II announces that the Catholic Church erred by imprisoning Galileo Galilei for his belief that the Earth revolved around the Sun. Galileo was forced to recant his belief under the threat of torture and was sentenced to house arrest for the remainder of his life. The Church's decision was the result of a 13-year investigation into the matter.
In 1615, The Roman Inquisition had determined that heliocentrism (Earth revolves around the Sun) contradicted the Holy Scripture, citing Biblical passages such as:
Psalm 93:1, 96:10, and 1 Chronicles 16:30 - "the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved."
Psalm 104:5 - "the Lord set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved."
Ecclesiastes 1:5 - "And the sun rises and sets and returns to its place."
Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632) supported heliocentrism and appeared to attack Pope Urban VIII. For this indiscretion, Pope Urban VIII had him brought before the Roman Inquisition. Under threat of torture, Galileo recanted. He was sentenced to house arrest for life and publication of any of his works was forbidden. The Church also placed a ban all books that taught heliocentrism, which remained in place until 1758.
As late as 1990, the Church still showed support for Galileo's prosecution as evidenced in a speech by Cardinal Ratzinger (who later became Pope Benedict XVI) in which he stated, "Her (the Roman Catholic Church) verdict against Galileo was rational and just, and the revision of this verdict can be justified only on the grounds of what is politically opportune."
The Death of Halloween - Boy Dies From Poison Candy
October 31, 1974
An 8-year-old Texas boy dies after eating cyanide-laced Halloween candy. The boy's father Ronald Clark O'Bryan was later convicted and executed for the murder. He had laced Pixie Stix with cyanide and passed them out to children, including his 8-year-old-son and 5-year-old daughter. O'Bryan's son died Halloween night after eating the Pixie Stix. The medical examiner guessed that it was cyanide poisoning due to the smell of almonds coming from the boy's mouth and the other Pixie Stix were collected before anyone else ate them. Another boy had tried to eat one, but couldn't get it open because they had been stapled shut after being tampered with and he wasn't able to remove the staple.
O'Bryan was deeply in debt and had taken out life insurance policies on his children shortly before Halloween.
This event has become known as "The Death of Halloween" since many parents stopped allowing their children to participate in trick-or-treating after this incident.
Vietnam War - Operation Rolling Thunder Ended
October 31, 1968
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces that the U.S. will cease the bombing of North Vietnam, just before the Presidential election. This would bring and end to 3½ years of Operation Rolling Thunder. The campaign had cost more than 900 American aircraft, 818 pilots dead or missing, and hundreds in captivity. Nearly 120 Vietnam People's Air Force planes were also destroyed in air combat, accidents, or by friendly fire. According to U.S. estimates, 182,000 North Vietnamese civilians had been killed and 22,000 Chinese support personnel were also casualties of the bombing campaign.
First NASA Astronaut to Die in Training
October 31, 1964
While Theodore Freeman was piloting a T-38 jet trainer from St. Louis to Houston, a goose flew into the port-side air intake causing the engine to flame out. He attempted to land on the Houston runway, but realized he was too short and might hit military housing, so he banked away from the runway, and ejected. Freeman's parachute did not deploy in time, and he died upon impact with the ground.
Mount Rushmore
October 31, 1941
The Mount Rushmore memorial is completed. Work had begun in 1927 by sculpture Gutzon Borglum who died in March of 1941 leaving his son to complete the task. The sculpture features the 60-foot (18 m) tall heads of U.S. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. These presidents were chosen by Borglum to represent the nation's birth, growth, development, and preservation, respectively.
Martin Luther Starts the Protestant Reformation
October 31, 1517
The German religious reformer Martin Luther starts the Protestant reformation when he nails his 95 theses against the corruption of the papacy in Rome to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg. In 1521, he was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Leo X for challenging the church's doctrines and went into hiding. October 31st is commemorated annually as Reformation Day.
Mighty Mouse Sniffs Cocaine?
October 31, 1987
Claims are made by the American Family Association that the cartoon mouse sniffed cocaine in today's episode of the Saturday morning cartoon. The producers claimed that he was sniffing flowers that had been crushed by a bully.
First African American to Play in a Regular-Season NBA Game
October 31, 1950
Earl Lloyd with the Washington Capitols against the Rochester Royals. They lost 78-70.
Lloyd was an All–American player for West Virginia State University, where he helped lead the team to an undefeated season in 1948. Lloyd also helped lead the Syracuse Nationals to the 1955 NBA Championship and was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003.
Prior to the NBA, Lloyd played with the Harlem Globetrotters.
Nevada
October 31, 1864
Nevada becomes the 36th state.
Birthdays
Michael Landon as Little Joe
Michael Landon as Little Joe
Michael Landon (Eugene Maurice Orowitz)
Born October 31, 1936 d. 1991
American actor. TV: Bonanza (1959-73, Little Joe Cartwright), Little House on the Prairie (1974-83, Charles Ingalls), and Highway to Heaven (1984-89, Jonathan Smith). Film: I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957, title role).
Landon was on the cover of TV Guide 22 times, second only to Lucille Ball.
Dale Evans (Lucille Wood Smith)
Born October 31, 1912 d. 2001
American actress, cowgirl. Movie partner and wife of Roy Rogers. She also wrote the song Happy Trails. In 1995, she was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame. Outspoken about her Christianity, she wrote a number of religious and inspirational books and she and Roy Rogers performed with the Billy Graham Crusades, singing gospel songs.
When she was 14, she eloped and had a son when she was 15. Early in her career, after leaving her husband, she claimed that her son was her brother, whom she was caring for.
TV: The Roy Rogers Show (1951-57).
First Black Person on Television
Ethel Waters
Born October 31, 1896 d. 1977
American actress, singer. She became the first black performer on television when NBC broadcast The Ethel Waters Show (1939). She was first black star of a TV dramatic series (1950-51, Beulah) and the first black actress nominated for an Emmy (1961, for an episode of Route 66). She was the second black actress nominated for an Academy Award. The song Stormy Weather was composed for her by Harold Arlen.
Modern electric light based on Swan's patent
Modern electric light based on Swan's patent
Invented Incandescent Light Bulb 20 Years Before Edison
Joseph Wilson Swan
Born October 31, 1828 d. 1914
English inventor, chemist. Known for his development of dry photographic plates, he also invented a carbon element electric light (1860), which was the basis of Thomas Edison's light bulb 20 years later. Swan patented his incandescent light in 1879, a year before Edison patented his.
Vermeer's The Milkmaid
Vermeer's The Milkmaid
Johannes Vermeer
Born October 31, 1632 d. 1675
Dutch painter. Known for his realistic scenes of serene and harmonious domestic life.
Vanilla Ice (Robert Van Winkle)
Born October 31, 1967
American singer.
Photo Credit: U2start
Photo Credit: U2start
Larry Mullen Jr.
Born October 31, 1961
Irish Grammy-winning Hall of Fame drummer. Co-founder of the rock group U2. Music: Sunday Bloody Sunday (1983) and With You Or Without You (1987, #1).
John Candy (John Franklin Candy)
Born October 31, 1950 d. 1994
Canadian Emmy-winning actor. Film: Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) and Uncle Buck (1989, title role). TV: Second City TV (1976-79) and Saturday Night Live (1981-85).
Jane Pauley
Born October 31, 1950
American newscaster.
Shorter (left) during the 1972 Olympics
Shorter (left) during the 1972 Olympics
Frank Shorter
Born October 31, 1947
American marathon runner. He won Olympic gold for the marathon in 1972 Summer Olympics and Silver in the 1976 Summer Olympics. He is credited with helping start the 1970s running craze in the U.S.
Deidre Hall
Born October 31, 1947
American actress. TV: Days of Our Lives (Dr. Marlena Evans).
David Ogden Stiers
Born October 31, 1942 d. 2018
American actor. TV: M*A*S*H (1977-83, Charles Emerson Winchester).
Dan Rather
Born October 31, 1931
American Emmy-winning newscaster. TV: CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes.
"Kenneth, what is the frequency?" In 1986 Rather was assaulted by a man who repeatedly demanded, "Kenneth, what is the frequency?" In 1997, the assailant was identified as William Tager. Tager believed the television networks were beaming signals into his brain and he wanted to know the frequency they were using so that he could block it. In 1994, Tager killed a stagehand while trying to force his way into an NBC studio with a weapon. During this investigation it was uncovered the he was the attacker of Rather years earlier.
Michael Collins
Born October 31, 1930 d. 2021
American NASA astronaut. Collins flew the Apollo 11 command module around the Moon in 1969 while his crewmates, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, became the first men on the Moon.
Barbara Bel Geddes
Born October 31, 1922 d. 2005
American Emmy-winning actress. TV: Dallas (1978-90, Miss Ellie). Broadway: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955, Maggie). She starred in an episode of TV's Alfred Hitchcock Presents, "Lamb to the Slaughter", in which she played a housewife *SPOILER ALERT* who killed her husband by bludgeoning him to death with a frozen leg of lamb, cooking the murder weapon, and then serving it to the investigating police.
Film: I Remember Mama (1948, Katrin Hanson) and Vertigo (1958, Midge).
Robert Calvin Hubbard
Born October 31, 1900 d. 1977
American athlete. Hubbard was the first person elected to three sports halls of fame: National Football Hall of Fame (1962), Football Hall of Fame (1963), and the National Baseball Hall of Fame (1976).
Chiang Kai-shek
Born October 31, 1887 d. 1975
Chinese general, head of state (1927-75). He led the Allied forces in China during World War II.
Juliette Gordon Low (center) standing with two Girl Scouts
Juliette Gordon Low (center) standing with two Girl Scouts
Juliette Gordon Low
Born October 31, 1860 d. 1927
American woman. She founded the Girl Scouts of America (1912).
Benoît Fourneyron
Born October 31, 1802 d. 1867
French inventor, "Father of the Turbine." He designed the first practical water turbine (1827).
John Keats
Born October 31, 1795 d. 1821
English poet. Writings: Endymion (1818) and Eve of St. Agnes (1820).
Clement XIV
Born October 31, 1705 d. 1774
Italian religious leader, 249th Pope (1769-74). He was pressured into issuing a brief abolishing the Jesuits (1773).
Deaths
Sean Connery (Thomas Connery)
Died October 31, 2020 b. 1930
Scottish Oscar-Tony-winning actor, producer. "Bond, James Bond", starring in seven James Bond films between 1962 and 1983. He finished 3rd in the 1953 Mr. Universe tall man's division.
First NASA Astronaut to Die in Training
Theodore Cordy "Ted" Freeman
Died October 31, 1964 b. 1930
American astronaut. Freeman was the first NASA astronaut to die in training (1964). While Freeman was piloting a T-38 jet trainer from St. Louis to Houston, a goose flew into the port-side air intake causing the engine to flame out. He attempted to land on the Houston runway, but realized he was too short and might hit military housing, so he banked away from the runway, and ejected. Freeman's parachute did not deploy in time, and he died upon impact with the ground.
Harry Houdini (Ehrich Weiss)
Died October 31, 1926 b. 1874
American magician, escape artist, "The Handcuff King." He also made Australia's first successful airplane flight. He died of peritonitis after being punched in the stomach. His will gave all his magic equipment to his brother Theodore Hardeen, who was also a magician and escape artist. The will stipulated that after Hardeen's death the props should be destroyed and burned. However, Hardeen sold much of Houdini's props with many of the pieces ending up in The Houdini Magical Hall of Fame in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The museum burned down in 1995 destroying many of the pieces, thus partially fulfilling Houdini's will.
Willie McCovey
Died October 31, 2018 b. 1938
American Baseball Hall-of-Famer. He was National League Rookie of Year (1959), led the National League in home runs (1963, 68, 69), and was National League MVP 1969.
River Phoenix
Died October 31, 1993 b. 1970
American actor. Film: Stand By Me (1986), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and My Own Private Idaho (1991). Phoenix died of an overdose of heroin and cocaine while waiting to perform with his close friend Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers onstage at The Viper Room, a Hollywood nightclub partly owned at the time by actor Johnny Depp.
Federico Fellini
Died October 31, 1993 b. 1920
Italian Oscar-winning director. Film: La Dolce Vita (1959), The Loafers (1953), La Strada (1954, Oscar), 8½ (1963, Oscar), and Amarcord (1973, Oscar). The word "paparazzo" is from the name of a character in La Dolce Vita.
Joseph Papp
Died October 31, 1991 b. 1921
American Pulitzer-winning Shakespearian theatrical producer, director. Considered one of the most influential producers and directors in American theater. He opened The Public Theater, which was the birthplace of both Hair and A Chorus Line.
Roger Price
Died October 31, 1990 b. 1918
American humorist. Creator of Droodles (simplified abstract drawings), which launched a TV show in 1954. See Droodles. Frank Zappa used Price's droodle "Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch" on the cover of an album by the same name.
John Houseman (Jacques Haussmann)
Died October 31, 1988 b. 1902
American Oscar-winning actor. Film: The Paper Chase (1973, Oscar). TV: He proclaimed in commercials "They make money the old-fashioned way; They earn it."
Indira Nehru Gandhi
Died October 31, 1984 b. 1917
prime minister of India (1966-77, 1980-84). She was killed by two of her own bodyguards. Four months earlier, she had ordered the attack on Golden Temple at Amritsar, the Sikhs' holiest shrine. Hundreds were killed in the attack. The bodyguards who killed her were Sikhs.
George Halas
Died October 31, 1983 b. 1895
American Football Hall of Famer, player-coach, co-founder of the NFL, and founder of the Chicago Bears. He is the all-time leader in coaching wins (324) and won a record 6 NFL championships. He was also the 1919 Rose Bowl MVP.
John Luther Long
Died October 31, 1927 b. 1861
American playwright. Writings: Madame Butterfly (1898).
Elizabeth Harrison
Died October 31, 1927 b. 1849
American educator. Leader in the U.S. kindergarten movement. She organized a series of annual conferences in Chicago (1890s), which led to the founding of what is today the National Parent Teachers Association (PTA).
Éleuthère Irénée du Pont
Died October 31, 1834 b. 1771
French-born American industrialist. He founded E.I. du Pont Company (1801) in Delaware to manufacture gunpowder.