Imagine waking up one morning and finding out that the sun has disappeared and the sky has turned black. That’s what happened to the people of New England and parts of eastern Canada on May 19, 1780, in an event known as the Dark Day.
The Dark Day was a phenomenon that occurred when a combination of smoke from forest fires, fog and cloud cover obscured the daylight and plunged the region into darkness. The smoke came from massive fires burning in Canada, especially near Lake Huron in western Ontario.
The darkness lasted from the morning until the middle of the next night and was accompanied by a sooty smell and red-colored sun and moon. Some places reported ash and cinders falling from the sky.
People were terrified that it was the end of the world and lit candles and prayed. Some thought it was a sign of God’s judgement or the second coming of Christ. Animals also behaved as if it was night.
One eyewitness was Joseph Plumb Martin, a Revolutionary War soldier who wrote in his memoir: “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.”
Another witness was John Greenleaf Whittier, a poet who wrote: “Men prayed, and women wept; all ears grew sharp/ To hear the doom-blast of the trumpet shatter / The black sky . .”
The Dark Day was so extraordinary that it was recorded by historians and scientists for centuries. Samuel Williams, a professor at Harvard College, observed: “This extraordinary darkness came on between the hours of 10 and 11 a.m. and continued till the middle of the next night.”
The cause of the Dark Day was later confirmed by researchers in Canada who examined tree rings and found scars that dated back to 1780. Chad Evans, a meteorologist, explained: “The reason from it being so extra dark was likely a combination of the wildfire smoke near the ground & aloft & cloudy skies with rain & fog. The black, ashy, oily rain occurred as the rainfall mixed with the soot & ash from fires.”
The Dark Day was not an isolated event. A similar situation occurred on October 19, 1762, and again on November 24, 1950, when smoke from forest fires reduced visibility and turned the sky yellow or gray.
The Dark Day of 1780 remains one of the most mysterious and terrifying events in American history. It shows how nature can create a horror movie scenario that can haunt people for generations.
Relevant articles:
– New England’s Dark Day – Wikipedia
– Local Weather History: The Dark Day of 1780 In New England & Black Sunday of 1950 & How It Is All Tied to Our Weather – wlfi.com, June 7, 2023
– The Day New England Went Dark – weatherworksinc.com, November 10, 2022