Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/October 31
This is a list of selected October 31 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article, featured list or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
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October 31: Halloween; Samhain begins; Reformation Day in Protestantism
- 1517 – According to traditional accounts, Martin Luther (pictured) first posted his Ninety-Five Theses onto the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, present-day Germany, marking the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.
- 1864 – Nevada was admitted as the 36th U.S. State, in part to help ensure Abraham Lincoln's re-election as President of the United States eight days later.
- 1941 – More than 101 crew members of the USS Reuben James perished when their vessel became the first United States Navy ship sunk by hostile action during World War II after it was torpedoed by the German submarine U-552.
- 1973 – Three Provisional Irish Republican Army members escaped from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin after a hijacked helicopter landed in the prison's exercise yard.
- 1999 – All 217 people on board EgyptAir Flight 990 were killed when the aircraft suddenly plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, USA.