- Oct 1 "Roza" opens at Royale Theater NYC for 12 performances
- Oct 1 6 killed by an earthquake measuring 6.1 in LA
- Oct 1 Fiji's constitution is suspended
- Oct 1 The Whittier Narrows earthquake shook the San Gabriel Valley, registering as a magnitude 5.9.
- Oct 3 San Diego catcher Benito Santiago's MLB rookie record 34-game hitting streak ends as Padres snap 9-game losing streak with a 1-0 victory v LA Dodgers
- Oct 3 Michael Pruffer of France skis 135.26 MPH at Portillo, Chile
- Oct 3 USSR performs underground nuclear test
- Oct 4 First "Scab Sunday" of NFL football with replacement players as a result of players strike; chiefly related to the expiration of 1982 Collective Bargaining Agreement; players returned October 15
- Oct 4 Winnipeg CFL defensive back James Jefferson scores 2 TDs on interception returns without making an interception; scores both on laterals in Blue Bombers' 47-14 win v Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Film Premier
Oct 4 "The Last Emperor" directed by Bernardo Bertolucci and starring John Lone, Joan Chen and Peter O'Toole premieres at the Tokyo Film Festival (Best Picture 1988)
Bernardo Bertolucci
Peter O'Toole
- Oct 6 Military coup leader Maj-Gen Sitiveni Rabuka declares Fiji a republic
Music Single
Oct 6 "Faith" single released by George Michael (Billboard Song of the Year 1988)
George Michael
- Oct 9 Japanese bank buys "Lady McGill" stamp for $1,100,000
Album Release
Oct 10 Bruce Springsteen releases his 9th album "Tunnel of Love"
Bruce Springsteen
- Oct 10 Garfield Park Nature Center opens, latest in Cleveland Metroparks
- Oct 10 Giant's Jeffrey Leonard hits playoff record HR in his 4th cons game
- Oct 10 Hartford center Doug Jarvis ends his career having played an NHL record 964 consecutive games as the Whalers lose 6-2 to the New York Rangers
- Oct 11 200,000 march for gay and lesbian civil rights in Washington, D.C.
- Oct 12 21st Country Music Association Award: Hank William Jr wins
Event of Interest
Oct 12 George Harrison releases "Got My Mind Set On You"; it would become his third solo number 1 hit, and the last by any of the Beatles
George Harrison
- Oct 12 Oscar Arias (Costa Rican Pres) wins Nobel Peace Prize
- Oct 12 Minnesota Twins beat Detroit Tigers, 9-5 in ALCS Game 5 at Tiger Stadium for 4-1 series win; go on to win club's first Baseball World Series
- Oct 13 1st military use of trained dolphins (US Navy in Persian Gulf)
- Oct 13 Costa Rican President Oscar Arias wins Nobel Peace Prize
- Oct 13 West Indies score 4-360 in 50 overs in Cricket World Cup v Sri Lanka
- Oct 14 In Midland, Tx 1½-year-old Jessica McClure falls 22' (7m) down a well
- Oct 14 MLB National League Championship: St. Louis Cardinals beat San Francisco Giants, 4 games to 3
- Oct 15 "Late Nite Comic" opens at Ritz Theater NYC for 4 performances
- Oct 15 6th Belgium government of Martens falls
- Oct 15 Coup in Burkina Faso, president Sankara dies
- Oct 15 Lanford Wilson's "Burn This" premieres in NYC
- Oct 15 NFL Players Association orders an end to 24 day strike; union fails to achieve demands short-term with no collective bargaining agreement in place
- Oct 15 The Great Storm of 1987 hits France and England.
- Oct 16 338,500,000 shares traded on NY stock exchange (record)
- Oct 16 Dow Jones for 1st time falls more than 100 pts (108.35)
- Oct 16 Jessica McClure rescued 58 hrs after falling 22' into a well shaft
Boxing Title Fight
Oct 16 Defending champion Mike Tyson beats Tyrell Biggs by TKO in round 7 at Convention Centre, Atlantic City to retain the unified heavyweight boxing title
Mike Tyson
- Oct 16 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- Oct 16 Great Storm of 1987: 175-kph hurricane force winds hit London and much of the South of England killing 23 people and causing widespread blackouts
- Oct 17 "Late Nite Comic" closes at Ritz Theater NYC after 4 performances
- Oct 17 1st indoor World Series game (Minnesota Metrodome)
Event of Interest
Oct 17 US First Lady Nancy Reagan undergoes a modified radical mastectomy
Nancy Reagan
- Oct 19 "Anything Goes" opens at Beaumont Theater NYC for 804 performances
- Oct 19 Black Monday: Stock markets around the world crash, including the Dow Jones stock index, which falls 508.32 points (22%), 4½ times the previous daily record
- Oct 19 US warships destroy 2 Iranian oil platforms in Persian Gulf
- Oct 19 Woody Woodward resigns as NY Yankee GM, Lou Piniella is named GM and Billy Martin is named NY Yankee manager for 5th & final time
- Oct 20 10 die as US Air Force jet crashed into a Ramada Inn near Indianapolis
- Oct 20 Dow-Jones increases 102.27 pts/608,120,000 shares traded (record)
- Oct 20 Subway vigilante Bernhard Goetz sentenced to 6 months in jail
- Oct 21 7th Belgium government of Martens forms
- Oct 21 Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Robert M Solow
- Oct 21 Senate debate begins rejecting Robert Bork's Supreme Ct nomination
- Oct 22 Revival of John Kander and Fred Ebb's "Cabaret" opens at Imperial Theater NYC for 262 performances
- Oct 22 Nobel prize for literature awarded to Joseph Brodsky
- Oct 23 Dutch government gives Fokker's Aircraft Ÿ212 million credit
- Oct 23 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- Oct 23 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Oct 24 Bork's supreme court nomination rejected by senate
- Oct 24 NBC technicians accept pact, end 118 day strike
- Oct 25 Minnesota Twins win their 1st World Series championship beating St Louis Cards, 4 games to 3 in 84th World Series
- Oct 26 Dow Jones down 156.83 points
- Oct 26 Head of Salvadoran Human Rights Comm assassinated by death squads
- Oct 27 Lucas Mangopes Democratic Party wins Bophuthatswana elections
Music Premiere
Oct 27 Peter Shaffer's musical "Lettice & Lovage" premieres in London
Peter Shaffer
Boxing Title Fight
Oct 29 Thomas Hearns wins unprecedented 4th different weight boxing title
Thomas Hearns
- Oct 30 In Japan, NEC releases the first 16-bit home entertainment system, the TurboGrafx-16, known as PC Engine.
- Oct 30 "Faith" debut album by George Michael is released
- Oct 31 American jockey Chris Antley becomes first rider to win 9 races in a day (4 at Aqueduct / 5 at The Meadowlands)
- Oct 31 A pair in Coventry, England, ties world record for longest singles tennis match at 80 hrs 21 minutes