On this day: February 21
Debating the Earliest Documented Case of Spontaneous Human Combustion (1743)
A 1743 medical report of a charred corpse has long been cited as the first documented case of spontaneous human combustion; historians and scientists dispute the cause, with explanations ranging from accidental ignition to misinterpreted forensic evidence.
February 21, 1931: An Early Recorded Case of an Airplane Hijacking
On February 21, 1931, a U.S. postal flight was forcibly diverted in what contemporaries and some historians identify as the first documented airplane hijacking in the United States, an incident that highlighted the emerging vulnerabilities of civil aviation in the interwar years.
1998 Miami Case Revealed as First Documented Organ Trafficking Investigation
On February 21, 1998, U.S. law enforcement announced charges in a Miami-based investigation widely regarded as the first documented organ trafficking case, exposing a network that arranged kidney removals from vulnerable donors for transplant recipients abroad.
1931: Peru's First Recorded Airplane Hijacking
On or around February 21, 1931, a domestic Peruvian flight was seized by armed men in what is widely cited as the country’s first recorded airplane hijacking, reflecting early tensions in aviation security and regional politics.
The First Documented Case of Post‑Traumatic Amnesia, 21 February 1887
On 21 February 1887 physicians published one of the earliest clinical reports linking head injury to prolonged memory loss: the case of a patient who developed retrograde and anterograde amnesia after a traumatic blow to the head, helping to establish clinical recognition of post‑traumatic amnesia.
1931: First Recorded Airplane Hijacking in Peru
On February 21, 1931, Peruvian bandit Gregorio S. Flores and accomplices seized a Ford Tri-Motor flying between Lima and Arequipa, marking the earliest documented instance of an aircraft hijacking; the incident exposed security vulnerabilities in early commercial aviation.
February 21, 1931: The First Documented Airplane Hijacking
On Feb. 21, 1931, a Cuban bandit diverted a Pan American mail plane to Havana in what historians consider the first recorded instance of an airplane hijacking, signaling a new security challenge for early commercial aviation.