March 17
John Hemingway (RAF officer)John Hemingway (RAF officer)(2025)· Irish RAF fighter pilot (1919–2025)✦Lee Shau-keeLee Shau-kee(2025)· Hong Kong real estate billionaire (1928–2025)✦Lance ReddickLance Reddick(2023)· American actor (1962–2023)✦John MagufuliJohn Magufuli(2021)· President of Tanzania from 2015 to 2021✦Mike MacDonald (comedian)(2018)· Canadian actor & comedian (1954–2018)✦Phan Văn KhảiPhan Văn Khải(2018)· Vietnamese politician (1933–2018)✦Meir DaganMeir Dagan(2016)· Israeli general and Mossad director (1945–2016)✦Zoltán Kamondi(2016)· Hungarian film director (1960–2016)✦John Hemingway (RAF officer)John Hemingway (RAF officer)(2025)· Irish RAF fighter pilot (1919–2025)✦Lee Shau-keeLee Shau-kee(2025)· Hong Kong real estate billionaire (1928–2025)✦Lance ReddickLance Reddick(2023)· American actor (1962–2023)✦John MagufuliJohn Magufuli(2021)· President of Tanzania from 2015 to 2021✦Mike MacDonald (comedian)(2018)· Canadian actor & comedian (1954–2018)✦Phan Văn KhảiPhan Văn Khải(2018)· Vietnamese politician (1933–2018)✦Meir DaganMeir Dagan(2016)· Israeli general and Mossad director (1945–2016)✦Zoltán Kamondi(2016)· Hungarian film director (1960–2016)✦John Hemingway (RAF officer)John Hemingway (RAF officer)(2025)· Irish RAF fighter pilot (1919–2025)✦Lee Shau-keeLee Shau-kee(2025)· Hong Kong real estate billionaire (1928–2025)✦Lance ReddickLance Reddick(2023)· American actor (1962–2023)✦John MagufuliJohn Magufuli(2021)· President of Tanzania from 2015 to 2021✦Mike MacDonald (comedian)(2018)· Canadian actor & comedian (1954–2018)✦Phan Văn KhảiPhan Văn Khải(2018)· Vietnamese politician (1933–2018)✦Meir DaganMeir Dagan(2016)· Israeli general and Mossad director (1945–2016)✦Zoltán Kamondi(2016)· Hungarian film director (1960–2016)✦

On This Day

March 17
in Death History

Strange burials, notable deaths, and forgotten funerary rituals from across the centuries.

Death1792 AD

King Gustav III of Sweden

Shot at a masquerade ball, died 13 days later.

Burial Fact

His assassin, Jacob Johan Anckarström, was publicly flogged three days in a row before execution — his body displayed on a wheel.

Burial1872 AD

Elias Howe Jr.

Inventor of the sewing machine, died in Brooklyn.

Burial Fact

Buried in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn — one of America's first rural cemeteries and a National Historic Landmark.

Ritual1190 AD

Crusader Massacre at York

150 Jewish residents of York died in a mass suicide to avoid forced baptism.

Burial Fact

They sheltered in Clifford's Tower. Their burial site remains unknown — a haunting gap in history.

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