November 23, 1963: The Golden Age Nursing Home Fire in Fitchville, Ohio kills 63.
Though this fire was the second worst nursing home fire in United States history, the disaster received little national attention at the time because it occurred just one day after the assassination of President Kennedy. The tragedy did lead to stricter safety standards for nursing homes nationwide.
November 24, 1971: The mysterious D. B. Cooperjumps from a hijacked plane with $200,000. His identity and fate are still unknown.
November 24, 1859: Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species.
November 25, 1120: The White Ship sinks after hitting a rock in the English Channel. Among the over 300 dead is William the Aethling, son of King Henry I and heir to the throne.
November 26, 1943: The HMT Rohnais sunk in the Mediterranean Sea by German bombers. The British ship had been transporting mostly American troops. 1149 die.
November 27, 1898: The SS *Portland * sinks off Cape Ann, Massachusetts in an early season blizzard. Approximately 200 are killed. The sinking of this luxury steamer led to changes requiring a manifest of a ship’s passengers to be held off the ship itself.
November 28, 1942: The Coconut Grove Fire in Boston kills 492. Hundreds more are injured.
This was the worst nightclub fire in United States history and led to numerous safety regulations.
November 29, 1944: The Japanese aircraft carrier *Shinano * is torpedoed and sunk by the USS Archerfish. 1435 die in the attack. The *Shinano *is the largest warship ever sunk by a submarine.
November 29, 1781: The crew of the British slave ship Zong murders 133 Africans by dumping them into the sea to claim insurance.
November 30, 1905: Arcadia, Florida is destroyed by fire. Miraculously, no one dies.
December 1, 1958: 95 are killed in the Our Lady of Angels school fire in Chicago. All but 3 of the dead are children. The fire leads to stricter safety standards in schools nationwide.
December 2, 1944: The Japanese troop transport ship *Hawaii Maru * is torpedoed and sunk in the South China Sea by the submarine USS Sea Devil. Over 2100 aboard the ship are killed.
December 3, 1979: 11 fans are crushed to deathas a crowd surges to enter Riverside Coliseum in Cincinnati to see a concert by The Who.
December 3, 1984: A methyl isocyanate leak from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, kills more than 3,800 people outright and injures 150,000–600,000 others (some 6,000 of whom would later die from their injuries) in one of the worst industrial disasters in history.
December 4, 1948: The SS Kiyanga, a Chinese passenger ship, explodes in the Huangpo River after hitting a mine. Between 2759 and 3920 are killed.
December 5, 1876: Nearly 300 are killed in The Brooklyn Theater Fire.
This is the second deadliest theater fire in American history. Most of those who died were in the cheap seats in the upper balcony, where only one stairway allowed escape for the panicked crowd.
December 5, 1952: A cold fog descends upon London, combining with air pollution and killing at least 12,000 in the weeks and months that follow.
December 6, 1907: The Monongah Mining Disaster
This is the deadliest mining accident in United States history. The official death toll is 361, but that number is almost certainly too low a count. Other estimates put the dead at over 500. The initial explosion took the lives of many, and others trapped in the mine succumbed to poisonous gases.
December 7, 1946: The Winecoff Hotel Fire in Atlanta is the deadliest hotel fire in United States history. 119 died. This fire would lead to the adoption of improved fire safety regulations for hotels across the nation.
December 8, 1868: The Church of the Company Firekills somewhere between 2000 and 3000 people in Santiago, Chile. This is the deadliest accidental single structure fire in recorded history.