October 31
What happened on October 31 in history
5 events fall on October 31, from 1517 to 1984. Read them below, then try to place a historical scene yourself — guess where in the world it happened and in what year.
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Events on October 31
1517
Luther's Ninety-five Theses
He sends his ninety-five objections to the archbishop of Mainz.
1864
Nevada becomes a state
It joins the Union in the middle of the Civil War.
1926
Houdini dies
The escapologist dies of peritonitis in Detroit.
1941
Mount Rushmore is completed
Fourteen years of carving in the Black Hills come to an end.
Carving of the four presidents' heads on Mount Rushmore stopped after fourteen years, with Gutzon Borglum dead and wartime funding gone. The planned torsos and a hall of records behind the faces were never finished. The monument stands in the Black Hills, on land taken from the Lakota under a treaty dispute that has never been settled.
1984
Indira Gandhi is assassinated
She is shot by her bodyguards in the garden of her Delhi residence.