Vintage News · Odd history for May 8

What Happened On May 8

Q: What happened on May 8?

1886: Pharmacist John Pemberton first sells a carbonated beverage named "Coca-Cola" as a patent medicine. 1877: At Gilmore's Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens. 2025: Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected as Pope Leo XIV (pictured), making him the first pope born in the United States, the first to hold either U.S. or Peruvian citizenship, the first from the Order of Saint Augustine, and the second from the Americas after his immediate predecessor, Pope Francis. 1927: French aviators Charles Nungesser and François Coli aboard the biplane L'Oiseau Blanc took off from Paris, attempting to make the first non-stop flight to New York, only to disappear before arrival. 1950: The Tollund Man, a naturally mummified corpse, was discovered in a peat bog near Silkeborg, Denmark. 1927: Attempting to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight from Paris to New York, French war heroes Charles Nungesser and François Coli disappear after taking off aboard The White Bird biplane. 1643: First English Civil War: The first siege of Wardour Castle ended after six days with the surrender of the Royalist garrison under Lady Blanche Arundell 1373: Julian of Norwich experienced religious visions, later recorded in Revelations of Divine Love, the earliest surviving English-language work attributed to a woman. 1846: Mexican–American War: American forces led by Zachary Taylor defeat a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the war. 1842: A train derails and catches fire in Paris, killing between 52 and 200 people.

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10 odd things that happened on May 8

1886 First ever
Pharmacist John Pemberton first sells a carbonated beverage named "Coca-Cola" as a patent medicine.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
1877 First ever
At Gilmore's Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
2025 First ever
Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected as Pope Leo XIV (pictured), making him the first pope born in the United States, the first to hold either U.S. or Peruvian citizenship, the first from the Order of Saint Augustine, and the second from the Americas after his immediate predecessor, Pope Francis.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
1927 First ever
French aviators Charles Nungesser and François Coli aboard the biplane L'Oiseau Blanc took off from Paris, attempting to make the first non-stop flight to New York, only to disappear before arrival.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
1950 Weird
The Tollund Man, a naturally mummified corpse, was discovered in a peat bog near Silkeborg, Denmark.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
1927 First ever
Attempting to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight from Paris to New York, French war heroes Charles Nungesser and François Coli disappear after taking off aboard The White Bird biplane.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
1643 First ever
First English Civil War: The first siege of Wardour Castle ended after six days with the surrender of the Royalist garrison under Lady Blanche Arundell
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
1373 Oddly true
Julian of Norwich experienced religious visions, later recorded in Revelations of Divine Love, the earliest surviving English-language work attributed to a woman.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
1846 First ever
Mexican–American War: American forces led by Zachary Taylor defeat a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the war.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
1842 Oddly true
A train derails and catches fire in Paris, killing between 52 and 200 people.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Observed today

2025The 2025 papal conclave elects Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, taking the name Leo XIV as the 267th Pope of the Catholic Church. Wikipedia →
2021A car bomb explodes in front of a school in Kabul, capital city of Afghanistan killing at least 55 people and wounding over 150. Wikipedia →
2019British 17-year-old Isabelle Holdaway is reported to be the first patient ever to receive a genetically modified phage therapy to treat a drug-resistant infection. Wikipedia →
1997China Southern Airlines Flight 3456 crashes on approach into Bao'an International Airport, killing 35 people. Wikipedia →
1988A fire at Illinois Bell's Hinsdale Central Office triggers an extended 1AESS network outage once considered to be the "worst telecommunications disaster in US telephone industry history". Wikipedia →
1987The SAS kills eight Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers and a civilian during an ambush in Loughgall, Northern Ireland. Wikipedia →
1984Corporal Denis Lortie enters the Quebec National Assembly and opens fire, killing three people and wounding 13. René Jalbert, Sergeant-at-Arms of the Assembly, succeeds in calming him, for which he will later receive the Cross of Valour. Wikipedia →
1984The Soviet Union announces a boycott upon the Summer Olympics at Los Angeles, later joined by 14 other countries. Wikipedia →
1984The Thames Barrier is officially opened, preventing the floodplain of most of Greater London from being flooded except under extreme circumstances. Wikipedia →
1980The World Health Organization confirms the eradication of smallpox. Wikipedia →
1978The first ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler. Wikipedia →
1976The rollercoaster The New Revolution, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Wikipedia →
1973A 71-day standoff between federal authorities and the American Indian Movement members occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota ends with the surrender of the militants. Wikipedia →
1972Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his order to place naval mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation. Wikipedia →
1970The Beatles release their 12th and final studio album Let It Be. Wikipedia →
1967The Philippine province of Davao is split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental. Wikipedia →
1963South Vietnamese soldiers under the Roman Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem open fire on Buddhists defying a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, killing nine and sparking the Buddhist crisis. Wikipedia →
1957South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem begins a state visit to the United States, his regime's main sponsor. Wikipedia →
1950The Tollund Man is discovered in a peat bog near Silkeborg, Denmark. Wikipedia →
1946Estonian schoolgirls Aili Jõgi and Ageeda Paavel blow up the Soviet memorial which preceded the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn. Wikipedia →
1945World War II: The German Instrument of Surrender signed at Berlin-Karlshorst comes into effect. This is commemorated as Victory in Europe Day. Wikipedia →
1945End of the Prague uprising, celebrated now as a national holiday in the Czech Republic. Wikipedia →
1945Hundreds of Algerian civilians are killed by French Army soldiers in the Sétif massacre. Wikipedia →
1945The Halifax riot starts when thousands of civilians and servicemen rampage through Halifax, Nova Scotia. Wikipedia →
1942World War II: The German 11th Army begins Operation Trappenjagd (Bustard Hunt) and destroys the bridgehead of the three Soviet armies defending the Kerch Peninsula. Wikipedia →
1942World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end with Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attacking and sinking the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Lexington. Wikipedia →
1942World War II: Gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebel in the Cocos Islands Mutiny. Their mutiny is crushed and three of them are executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War. Wikipedia →
1941World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches a bombing raid on Nottingham and Derby. Wikipedia →
1933Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast of self-purification and launched a one-year campaign to help the Harijan movement. Wikipedia →
1927Attempting to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight from Paris to New York, French war heroes Charles Nungesser and François Coli disappear after taking off aboard The White Bird biplane. Wikipedia →
1924The Klaipėda Convention is signed formally incorporating Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory) into Lithuania. It would come back to Germany in 1939. Wikipedia →
1921The creation of the Communist Party of Romania. Wikipedia →
1919Edward George Honey proposes the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate the Armistice of 11 November 1918 which ended World War I. Wikipedia →
1902In Martinique, Mount Pelée erupts, destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing over 30,000 people. Only a handful of residents survive the blast. Wikipedia →
1898The first games of the Italian football league system are played. Wikipedia →
1886Pharmacist John Pemberton first sells a carbonated beverage named "Coca-Cola" as a patent medicine. Wikipedia →
1877At Gilmore's Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens. Wikipedia →
1846Mexican–American War: American forces led by Zachary Taylor defeat a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the war. Wikipedia →
1842A train derails and catches fire in Paris, killing between 52 and 200 people. Wikipedia →
1821Greek War of Independence: The Greeks defeat the Turks at the Battle of Gravia Inn. Wikipedia →
1794Branded a traitor during the Reign of Terror, French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who was also a tax collector with the Ferme générale, is tried, convicted and guillotined in one day in Paris. Wikipedia →
1788King Louis XVI of France attempts to impose the reforms of Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne by abolishing the parlements. Wikipedia →
1721In the Papal States, Cardinal Michelangelo dei Conti is elected Pope, and takes the name Innocent XIII. Wikipedia →
1639William Coddington founds Newport, Rhode Island. Wikipedia →
1608A newly nationalized silver mine in Scotland at Hilderston, West Lothian is re-opened by Bevis Bulmer. Wikipedia →
1541Hernando de Soto stops near present-day Walls, Mississippi, and sees the Mississippi River (then known by the Spanish as Río de Espíritu Santo, the name given to it by Alonso Álvarez de Pineda in 1519). Wikipedia →
1516A group of imperial guards, led by Trịnh Duy Sản, murder Emperor Lê Tương Dực and flee, leaving the capital Thăng Long undefended. Wikipedia →
1429The Hundred Years War: Joan of Arc lifts the Siege of Orléans, turning the tide of the war Wikipedia →
1373Julian of Norwich, a Christian mystic and anchoress, experiences the deathbed visions described in her Revelations of Divine Love. Wikipedia →
1360The Hundred Years War: the Treaty of Brétigny is drafted between King Edward III of England and King John II of France (the Good). Wikipedia →
589Reccared I opens the Third Council of Toledo, marking the entry of Visigothic Spain into the Catholic Church. Wikipedia →
413Emperor Honorius signs an edict providing tax relief for the Italian provinces Tuscia, Campania, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, Lucania and Calabria, which were plundered by the Visigoths. Wikipedia →
453 BCSpring and Autumn period: The house of Zhao defeats the house of Zhi, ending the Battle of Jinyang, a military conflict between the elite families of the State of Jin. Wikipedia →

Facts from Wikipedia On This Day API (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia. Thumbnails CC BY-SA. Headlines via The Guardian Open Platform. Historic pages via Library of Congress Chronicling America. Curated by OddlyTrue.