Sep 18 1931

The "Mukden Incident" occurs when Imperial Japanese troops occupying northern Manchuria blow up a portion of the railway near Mukden (now Shenyang), blame the destruction on Chinese saboteurs, and commence the annexation of Manchuria.

Sep 18 1932

24-year-old starlet Peg Entwhistle dives head first from the letter "H" of the HOLLYWOODLAND sign in Los Angeles. She is the first person to commit suicide at the landmark.

Sep 18 1970

A sleeping Jimi Hendrix dies in London from of a barbituate overdose when chunks of vomited tuna sandwich wind up in his lungs, causing him to choke.

Sep 18 1978

The four KISS members release their solo albums. Rock on!

Sep 18 1979

NBC television premieres The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, a spinoff of BJ and the Bear. Claude Akins stars as Elroy P. Lobo, the slightly corrupt sheriff of Orly County, who faces his first misadventure in "The Day That Shark Ate Lobo."

Sep 18 1981

France abolishes capital punishment, relegating its noble guillotine to a museum. The machine had not seen active duty for four years.

Sep 18 1992

Two weeks after being outed in the New York weekly QW, attorney John Schlafly admits in an interview with the San Francisco Examiner that he is homosexual. This causes a certain amount of consternation for his mother, archconservative gay rights opponent Phyllis Schlafly.

Sep 18 1994

Vitas Gerulaitis is killed in his sleep in the guest cottage of a friend's Long Island estate. The professional tennis player dies from carbon monoxide poisoning, caused by a faulty propane swimming-pool heater.