we live in a slightly mad world

Dec 29 1170

Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is slashed to death by four of King Henry II's knights at the altar of the Virgin Mary. "Is there no one who will rid me from this turbulent priest", cried Henry in frustration earlier that month. It was apparently not a serious demand for Becket's death, but that did not stop his brains from being splattered in Canterbury Cathedral.

Dec 29 1890

The Wounded Knee Massacre took place in Wounded Knee, South Dakota as over 200 Sioux were killed by US troops sent to disarm them.

Dec 29 1972

Members of a Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes admit at a press conference that they survived by Cannibalism. This spawned a popular theme for bumper stickers, "Rugby Players Eat Their Dead". But best of all is the quote from one of the team, "If we had been soccer players, we would have died."

Dec 29 1975

Bomb explodes at LaGuardia airport in New York, killing 11 people and injuring many others.

Dec 29 1993

Former child star Todd Bridges (who played Willis on "Different Strokes") arrested for transportation of methamphetamine.

Dec 29 1997

Male nurse Orville Lynn Majors is charged with six counts of murder at Vermillion County Hospital in Newport, MD. He is suspected of many other murders, likely over 100. Majors would apparently inject older patients with potassium chloride or other drugs, and frequently he expressed a dislike for elderlies. When off duty, hospital deaths occurred once every 551 hours; but on duty, once every 23 hours.