Lugosi buried in Dracula cape

• On Aug. 16, 1956, actor Bela Lugosi, best known for his portrayal of Dracula, dies. Lugosi was buried with his Dracula cape.

• On Aug. 17, 1978, the Double Eagle II completes the first trans-Atlantic balloon flight when it lands in a barley field near Paris, six days after lifting off from Presque Isle, Maine. The helium-filled balloon piloted by Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman flew 3,233 miles in 137 hours.

• On Aug. 19, 1895, John Wesley Hardin, one of the bloodiest killers of the Old West, is shot from behind and killed by an off-duty policeman as he played dice in the Acme saloon in El Paso, Texas. A jury apparently felt that John Selman had done the town a favor and acquitted him of any wrongdoing.

• On Aug. 20, 1921, bestselling author Jacqueline Susann is born in Philadelphia to a schoolteacher mother and artist father. Her novel, “Valley of the Dolls,” broke all records for sales of a novel.