The Book Shelf: New England's Dark Day on This Day in History

Tuesday, May 19, 2020

New England's Dark Day on This Day in History

This Day in History: New England's Dark Day happened on this day in 1780. This was a day when the sky went dark and people had to use candles throughout the day. As one revolutionary soldier wrote at the time: "We were here [New Jersey] at the time the 'dark day' happened, (19th of May;) it has been said that the darkness was not so great in New-Jersey as in New-England. How great it was there I do not know, but I know that it was very dark where I then was in New-Jersey; so much so that the fowls went to their roosts, the cocks crew and the whip-poor-wills sung their usual serenade; the people had to light candles in their houses to enable them to see to carry on their usual business; the night was as uncommonly dark as the day was."

This event had such a lasting impact that some Adventists still consider this date as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy. History however, has had many strange occurrences in the skies. Charles Fort wrote The Book of the Damned in 1919 where he goes on to relate one strange phenomena after another, like falling fishes and frogs.

In 536 AD, a period of widespread darkness across much of the Northern Hemisphere, likely caused by a volcanic eruption in Iceland. This darkness persisted for 18 months, leading to crop failures, famines, and a significant drop in temperatures.

Dust Storms in the 1930s:

During the Great Depression, severe dust storms in the Great Plains resulted in "black blizzards" that darkened the sky for extended periods, impacting cities far from the affected region.