- 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 Premiere
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)
- 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)
- Oct 9 Japanese bank buys "Lady McGill" stamp for $1,100,000
Album Release
Oct 10 Columbia Records releases Bruce Springsteen's 8th studio album "Tunnel of Love"
- 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
Music Single
Oct 12 George Harrison releases single "Got My Mind Set On You", becomes his third solo #1 hit, and the last chart-topper by any of the Beatles
- 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 Allan Knee and Brian Gari's musical "Late Nite Comic" opens at Ritz Theater, NYC; runs 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 Center, Atlantic City, New Jersey; retains unified heavyweight boxing title
- 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)
Historic Event
Oct 17 US First Lady Nancy Reagan undergoes a modified radical mastectomy
- 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
Sports History
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
Nobel Prize
Oct 21 Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Robert Solow for his theory of economic growth
- 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; runs for 262 performances
- Oct 22 Nobel prize for literature awarded to Joseph Brodsky
- Oct 22 American composer John Adams's first opera, "Nixon in China", premieres at the Houston Grand Opera, in Houston, Texas
- 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 Baseball World Series: Minnesota Twins beat St Louis Cardinals, 4-2 at HHH Metrodome for 4-3 series win and franchise first in Minneapolis; MVP: Twins pitcher Frank Viola
- 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
Boxing Title Fight
Oct 29 Thomas Hearns wins unprecedented 4th different weight boxing title
- 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