A Brief History
This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on October 12th. For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event.
Digging Deeper
On October 12, 1216, King John of England lost his crown jewels!
On October 12, 1216, King John of England capped off what had to be one of the least glorious chapters in the history of Britain by losing his crown jewels.
On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus, the Italian adventurer sailing into the unknown in the name of the Spanish Crown, landed in the Bahamas, the landing that became known as the “discovery” of America (or, “The New World” if you prefer).
On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus, the Italian adventurer sailing into the unknown in the name of the Spanish Crown, landed in the Bahamas, the landing that became known as the “discovery” of America (or, “The New World” if you prefer). (NOTE: The link in the date for this entry leads to a different article than the other mention to this same event above.)
On October 12, 1654, the Dutch city of Delft was the scene of a spectacular tragedy when a large gunpowder storehouse exploded, destroying much of the city and killing over 100 people.
On October 12, 1773, Eastern State Hospital was established, the first insane asylum in what is now the United States.
On October 12, 1810, the Royal Family of Bavaria, in what is now Germany, for the occasion of the celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen, invited all the citizens of Munich to join in the first ever Oktoberfest, a tradition that has become the largest “volksfest” in the world.
On October 12, 1945, Corporal Desmond T. Doss of Lynchburg, Virginia was awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest award for valor given to only the bravest of our military heroes.
On October 12, 1957, Little Richard made a dramatic gesture to prove he was quitting rock music for a more religious life when he tossed four diamond rings into the Hunter River in Sydney, Australia.
On October 12, 1973, soon to be disgraced President Richard Nixon nominated US Representative Gerald Ford to replace Vice President Agnew who had resigned due to a criminal scandal.
The United Nations Population Fund designated October 12, 1999 as the approximate day on which the world’s human population reached 6 billion.
On October 12, 2017, the United States had only one more day to wait for the release of Jackie Chan’s latest and perhaps greatest film, The Foreigner.
On October 6, 2020, we were pleased to announce your chance to be among the first horror film fans in Ohio to see Evil Eye or Nocturne on Monday, October 12, 2020!
On October 12, 2020, we had the opportunity to watch a “movie” composite of the web streaming series, When the Streetlights Go On, a Quibi production consisting of 10 episodes, each running several minutes.
On October 12, 2021, we finally got around to screening the latest film of the Saw horror movie franchise, the ninth movie of the series, Spiral: From the Book of Saw.
Question for students (and subscribers): Which event that occurred on today’s date would you like to learn more about? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Andrews, John and Matt Baker. Timeline of World History. Thunder Bay Press, 2020.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.