Editing 1997 (section)

===October===
* [[October 1]] – [[Luke Woodham]] walks into Pearl High School in [[Pearl, Mississippi]] and [[1997 Pearl High School shooting|opens fire]], killing two girls, after killing his mother earlier that morning.
* [[October 2]] – British scientists Moira Bruce and John Collinge, with their colleagues, independently show that the new variant form of the [[Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease]] is the same disease as [[Bovine spongiform encephalopathy]].
* [[October 3]] – The [[President of Paraguay]], [[Juan Carlos Wasmosy]], orders the arrest of political opponent [[Lino Oviedo]].
* [[October 10]] – Uruguay's worst air disaster occurs when [[Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 2553]] crashes near [[Nuevo Berlín]], killing all 74 on board.<ref name="AviationSafety">{{ASN accident|id= 19971010-0|type= Accident|title=McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 LV-WEG Nuevo Berlin |accessdate= 26 May 2011}}</ref>
* [[October 12]] – [[Sidi Daoud massacre]]: 43 are killed at a false roadblock in Algeria.
* [[October 15]]
** [[Andy Green (RAF officer)|Andy Green]] sets the first supersonic [[land speed record]] for the [[ThrustSSC]] team, led by [[Richard Noble]] of the UK. ThrustSSC goes through the flying mile course at Black Rock Desert, Nevada at an average speed of 1,227.985&nbsp;km/h (763.035&nbsp;mph).
** [[NASA]] launches the [[Cassini–Huygens]] probe to Saturn.
* [[October 16]] – The first color photograph appears on the front page of ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/04/insider/history-times-color-photos.html |website=The New York Times |date=4 October 2018 |access-date=25 November 2022 |title=When the Gray Lady Started Wearing Color |first=Will |last=Higginbotham |archive-date=November 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221125190925/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/04/insider/history-times-color-photos.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[October 17]] – The remains of [[Che Guevara]] are laid to rest with full military honours in a specially built [[Che Guevara Mausoleum|mausoleum]] in the city of Santa Clara, [[Cuba]], where he had won the [[Battle of Santa Clara|decisive battle]] of the [[Cuban Revolution]] [[1959|39 years]] before.
* [[October 22]] – Danish escaped criminal [[Steen Christensen]] robs the Hotel Palace in Helsinki, Finland, killing two police officers while evading capture.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.city.fi/ilmiot/steen+christensen+pyovelin+puheenvuoro/4812 |title=Steen Christensen: Pyövelin puheenvuoro |last1=Larros |first1=Heini |last2=Suhonen |first2=Pete |date=November 27, 1998 |work=City-lehti |access-date=September 24, 2021 |language=fi |archive-date=September 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924020801/https://www.city.fi/ilmiot/steen+christensen+pyovelin+puheenvuoro/4812 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.iltalehti.fi/uutiset/a/2016061821756836 |title=Poliisisurmat järkyttivät Suomea 1997 – kaksi poliisia ammuttiin kadulle |last=Palmén |first=Tiia |date=June 19, 2016 |work=[[Iltalehti]] |access-date=September 24, 2021 |language=fi |archive-date=October 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181022073640/https://www.iltalehti.fi/uutiset/2016061821756836_uu.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[October 29]] – [[Iraq disarmament timeline 1990–2003|Iraq disarmament crisis]]: Iraq says it will begin shooting down [[Lockheed U-2]] surveillance planes being used by UNSCOM inspectors.