1692-The last eight people --Martha Corey, Margaret Scott, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Wilmott Redd, Samuel Wardwell, and Mary Parker -- hanged for allegedly practicing witchcraft as a result of the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts Bay Colony; 19 hanged overall, with six other deaths caused by the hysteria
1792 French First Republic is formed by the National Convention, stripping the French king of his powers
1862-U.S. President Abraham Lincoln issues preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, threatening to free all enslaved people in the rebel southern states if those states fail to re-join the Union by Jan. 1, 1863
1968-Ceremony to commemorate the relocation of the ancient Egyptian Abu Simbel temples, honoring Ramesses II after being rebuilt 200 meters inland away from the Aswan Dam
1980-Iraq invades Iran in an attempt to control the Shatt al-Arab waterway
1993-Supreme Soviet dismisses President Boris Yeltsin
1994-"Friends" TV sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman debuts on NBC, starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer