Transcript 0:00 · foreign 0:08 · of 1780 represented a difficult period 0:11 · for the young United States the winter 0:14 · of 1779-1780 had been so harsh that it 0:18 · was generally called the hard winter and 0:20 · the Continental Army struggled as much 0:22 · against cold and starvation as it did 0:24 · against the British the goal of American 0:27 · Independence was still very much in 0:30 · doubt when ill Omen struck the land for 0:33 · days in New England the sun appeared red 0:35 · in the morning and the evening and then 0:37 · on May 19 0:39 · 1780 historian Thomas Campanella reports 0:42 · a better natural Gloom settled across 0:45 · the New England landscape and by noon 0:47 · the sun had all but been blotted out 0:51 · New England's dark day was read by some 0:54 · as an ill Omen and by others as maybe 0:56 · the biblical end of times in the 1:00 · question of what could have blotted out 1:01 · the sun in the middle of the day in May 1:03 · vexed historians for nearly two and a 1:06 · half centuries 1:07 · it is history that deserves to be 1:10 · remembered 1:12 · writing in a 2007 edition of the journal 1:15 · environmental history Campanella 1:17 · described the morning of May 19 1780 in 1:20 · New England night melted in today 1:22 · songbirds greeted the Dawn and the 1:24 · Thousand Yankee farmsteads stirred to 1:26 · life it seemed a perfectly ordinary 1:28 · spring morning in New England 1:31 · but he continues things were far from 1:34 · ordinary on this Vernal day 1:37 · an account published in the Boston 1:39 · Continental journal and weekly 1:40 · Advertiser on May 25th 1780 notes that 1:43 · the hemisphere for several days have 1:45 · been greatly obscured with smoke and 1:46 · Vapor so that the sun and moon appeared 1:49 · unusually red 1:50 · after a difficult winter the weather was 1:52 · said to have been unseasonably warm the 1:54 · advertising note said on Thursday 1:55 · afternoon in the evening a thick Cloud 1:58 · lay along the South and West the wind 2:00 · small 2:01 · and on the morning of the 19th the sun 2:03 · was again red Friday morning early the 2:05 · sun appeared red as it had done for 2:07 · several days before Samuel Phillips 2:09 · Savage Justice of the piece from Western 2:11 · Massachusetts who had played an 2:13 · instrumental role in planning the Boston 2:14 · Tea Party wrote in his journal the sun 2:17 · rises and sets very red 2:20 · the conditions had already raised alarm 2:22 · David E Phillips a professor of English 2:24 · at Eastern Connecticut State University 2:25 · wrote in his 1992 book legendary 2:28 · Connecticut they say that during the 2:30 · first two weeks of May in 1780 the Skies 2:32 · over much of New England have been so 2:33 · dark that people had difficulty 2:35 · conducting their daily Affairs because 2:37 · of reduced visibility even during the 2:39 · sunniest days 2:40 · many of the good Puritan folks saw in 2:42 · the lowering Heavens a sign of God's 2:45 · displeasure but the red skies and what 2:48 · Savage described as remarkably thick air 2:50 · would become something altogether 2:52 · different as the morning of Friday the 2:54 · 19th went on 2:55 · Samuel Williams a professor of 2:57 · mathematics and philosophy at Harvard 2:59 · University described the odd phenomena 3:00 · in a 1783 edition of the Memoirs of the 3:03 · American Academy of Arts and Sciences 3:06 · it came before the hours of 10 and 11 3:08 · A.M and continued into the middle of the 3:10 · next night but with different 3:11 · appearances at different places as a 3:14 · matter of approach it seemed to appear 3:15 · first of all in the southwest the wind 3:17 · came from this quarter and the Darkness 3:19 · appeared to come on the clouds that came 3:20 · from that direction 3:22 · the degree to which this Darkness arose 3:24 · was different in different places 3:26 · the phenomenon covered a wide area 3:28 · Professor Williams wrote that the extent 3:30 · of the darkness was very remarkable from 3:32 · the accounts that had been perceived it 3:33 · appears to have extended all over the 3:35 · New England states it was observed as 3:37 · far east as Falmouth to the Western we 3:39 · hear it reaching to the farthest points 3:41 · of Connecticut and Albany to the 3:43 · Southward it was observed all along the 3:45 · Seacoast to the north as far as 3:47 · settlements extend 3:49 · Savage described the Paul as a light 3:51 · grassy Hue near the color of pale cider 3:53 · that came on as an appearance of the 3:55 · whole visible heavens and that finally 3:57 · attended with a Gloom nearly resembling 3:59 · that of an eclipse of the Sun 4:01 · General George Washington with his army 4:03 · in New Jersey described the event in his 4:05 · diary heavy and uncommon kinds of clouds 4:08 · dark at the same time bright and reddish 4:10 · kind of light intermixed with them 4:12 · brightening and darkening alternatively 4:14 · Williams also noted the odd changes in 4:16 · color the complexion of the clouds was 4:18 · compounded of a faint red yellow and 4:20 · brown during the darkness objects which 4:23 · commonly appear green were of the 4:24 · deepest green verging to Blue and those 4:26 · which normally appear white were highly 4:28 · tinged with yellow 4:30 · Sergeant Martin was in New Jersey with 4:32 · Washington he wrote it has been said 4:34 · that the darkness was not so great to 4:36 · New Jersey as in New England now credit 4:38 · was there I do not know but I know that 4:40 · it was very dark where I was then in New 4:42 · Jersey so much so that the fowls went to 4:44 · their roosts the Cox crew and the 4:46 · whippoorwill sung their usual serenade 4:48 · the people had to light candles in their 4:50 · houses to enable them to see to carry on 4:52 · their usual business 4:54 · the accountant the Continental Journal 4:56 · described similar Darkness about 11 4:58 · o'clock the darkness was such as to 5:00 · demand our attention and put us upon 5:01 · making observations at half past 11 in a 5:04 · room with three windows 24 pains each 5:07 · all open towards the southeast and South 5:09 · large print could not be read by persons 5:11 · of good eyes 5:12 · about 12 o'clock the windows being still 5:14 · open a candle casts the shade so well 5:16 · defined on the wall is that profiles 5:18 · were taken with as much ease as they 5:20 · could have been in the night about one 5:22 · o'clock a glin of Light which had 5:24 · continued till this time in the East 5:25 · shut in and the Darkness was greater 5:28 · than it had been for any time before 5:30 · Professor Williams noted this level of 5:32 · Darkness was experienced throughout New 5:34 · England in most parts of the country it 5:36 · was so great that people were unable to 5:38 · read come and print determine the time 5:40 · of day by their clocks or watches dine 5:42 · or Mendes their domestic business 5:43 · without the likes of candles candles 5:45 · were lighted up in houses the birds 5:48 · having sung their evening songs 5:49 · disappeared and became silent the fouls 5:51 · retired to roost the were crawling 5:54 · all around as at the break of day 5:55 · objects could not be distinguished but 5:57 · at very little distance and everything 5:59 · bore the appearance and Gloom of night 6:02 · the account in the Continental Journey 6:04 · noted woodcocks which are night birds 6:06 · whistled as they do only in the dark 6:07 · frogs peeped in short there was the 6:10 · appearance of midnight at noon day 6:13 · well some accounts have the darkness 6:15 · lifting a little late in the day 6:16 · Washington wrote that this continued 6:18 · till afternoon when the sun began to 6:19 · appear the darkness was more evident at 6:22 · night Sergeant Martin wrote that the 6:24 · night was as uncommonly dark as the day 6:26 · was Campanella writes it was so terrible 6:28 · dark confided experience Richardson of 6:30 · Sudbury Massachusetts that we could not 6:33 · see our hand before us Samuel Tenney 6:36 · suggested that the inky black was 6:37 · probably as gross as ever had been 6:39 · observed since the almighty Fiat gave 6:41 · birth to light 6:43 · even a sheet of paper held within a few 6:45 · inches of the eyes was as black as 6:47 · velvet 6:48 · in his normally bright West room Savage 6:50 · could not discern either of the windows 6:51 · but by feeling for all was Universal 6:54 · black 6:55 · when the belated gibeous Moon finally 6:57 · Rose at three minutes past nine o'clock 6:58 · in Boston it was not silver nor even 7:01 · Pink as it had been for several evenings 7:03 · but blood red 7:05 · the moon was nearly full yet its Ruddy 7:07 · light was soon extinguished by the pawl 7:09 · of Gloom now a truly terrible Blackness 7:11 · descended on the land kind of Egyptian 7:13 · Darkness for the correspondent to the 7:15 · Massachusetts spy in which no optic was 7:18 · discernible but by the help of some 7:20 · artificial light 7:22 · theories started quickly regarding what 7:24 · could cause it to become as dark as 7:25 · midnight in the middle of a May Day 7:27 · Williams took careful notes on the 7:29 · weather including readings of barometric 7:31 · pressure he speculated that upon the 7:33 · hole it is evident that the atmosphere 7:34 · was charged in a high degree with vapors 7:37 · that these Vapors were of different 7:38 · densities and occupied different heights 7:40 · by this means the Rays of the lights 7:43 · falling upon them must have suffered a 7:44 · variety of refractions and Reflections 7:46 · and therefore I become weakened absorbed 7:48 · or so far reflected is to not fall upon 7:50 · objects in the earth in the usual manner 7:54 · John Ross writing in a 2008 edition of 7:56 · American Heritage list other answers 7:58 · offered at the time one postulating that 8:01 · a blazing Star had passed between the 8:02 · Earth and the Sun another attributing 8:04 · the dark day to the rise of aqueous 8:06 · sulfurus betimius selenius vitreous 8:10 · particles into the atmosphere 8:12 · Ash argued another commentator vast 8:15 · quantities of elastic heterogeneous 8:17 · Vapors generated in consequence of the 8:19 · great body of snow which covered the 8:20 · Earth so long the winter passed and 8:23 · exhaled during the warm dry weather 8:24 · stated another 8:26 · the observer in the Continental Journal 8:28 · noted a strong smell and a light 8:30 · scum that formed on rainwater which he 8:32 · found to be nothing but the black ashes 8:34 · of burnt leaves given these signs it 8:36 · concluded that the vast body of smoke 8:38 · from the woods which had been burning 8:39 · for many days mixing with the common 8:41 · exhalations from the earth and water and 8:43 · condensed by the action of winds from 8:44 · opposite points May perhaps be 8:46 · sufficient cause to produce the 8:48 · surprising Darkness 8:50 · others however found these scientific 8:52 · explanations to be insufficient in a 8:55 · broadside titled some remarks on the 8:56 · great and unusual Darkness a writer 8:58 · identified only as a farmer in the state 9:00 · of Massachusetts Bay claimed that the 9:02 · sudden Darkness excited a few of the 9:04 · learned to make some very curious 9:05 · observations that the Gloom was for 9:07 · example occasioned by the smoke of burnt 9:10 · leaves which I think nothing can be more 9:13 · simple and absurd 9:15 · Campanella argues many perhaps most new 9:18 · englanders responded to the sudden 9:20 · darkness by turning to God 9:21 · all day and into the night the faithful 9:23 · rushed into their meeting houses 9:25 · quoting history of Mike Dash a 2014 9:28 · edition of BBC News notes the Northeast 9:30 · quarter of the United States was a 9:32 · deeply Protestant Society with a 9:34 · profound interest in guilt sin and 9:36 · Redemption 9:37 · Campanella notes and the Bible a 9:40 · normative text in nearly all aspects of 9:42 · early New England life had much to say 9:44 · about Dark Skies black Suns red moons 9:47 · and the like congregants knew only too 9:49 · well that for example the Lord had 9:51 · instructed Moses in the book of Exodus 9:52 · 10 21 to stretch out thine hand towards 9:55 · heaven that there may be Darkness over 9:57 · the land of Egypt even darkness which 9:59 · may be felt and Moses stretched forth 10:01 · his hand towards heaven and there was a 10:03 · thick darkness in all the land of Egypt 10:05 · for three days 10:06 · indeed preternatural darkness is a 10:08 · recurrent theme in both the Old and New 10:10 · Testaments of the Bible while light is a 10:12 · symbol of goodness and Purity darkness 10:15 · is a master image for chaos separation 10:17 · and death and the synonym of sin and 10:20 · Evil 10:21 · Dash told the BBC there are some verses 10:23 · in Matthew that might have led them to 10:25 · believe that this was the second coming 10:27 · of Christ at the time natural events 10:29 · even birds fighting in the sky were a 10:31 · sign of God's intentions the dark day 10:33 · would have seemed like a warning to man 10:35 · campanello writes that his clergyman 10:37 · dyrus Timothy Dwight put it a very 10:39 · general opinion prevailed that the day 10:41 · of judgment was at hand 10:44 · 2009 edition of the Smithsonian noted 10:46 · that a revolutionary war Pfeiffer 10:48 · recalled people came out wringing their 10:49 · hands and Howling the day of judgment is 10:51 · calm Port John Greenleaf Whittier wrote 10:54 · in 1868 that men prayed and women wept 10:57 · all years grew sharp to hear the Doom 10:59 · blast of the trumpet chatter the black 11:01 · sky 11:02 · Dash who wrote about the phenomenon in 11:04 · his 1998 book Borderlands writes that 11:07 · for The Devout Christians who believed 11:09 · in the literal truth of the Bible the 11:10 · important was obvious 11:12 · thousands of people left their work the 11:14 · pie is headed for church while many 11:16 · others found comfort in taverns 11:19 · a poem published as a broadside wrote 11:21 · let us adore and bow before The 11:23 · Sovereign Lord of Might who trunks away 11:25 · The Shining day into the shades of night 11:28 · the anonymous Farmer in the broadside 11:29 · route oh backsliding New England attend 11:32 · now to the things which belong to your 11:33 · peace before they are forever hid from 11:36 · your eyes 11:38 · this fear reached the halls of 11:39 · government writing in his 1992 book 11:42 · legendary Connecticut historian David 11:43 · Phillips writes the Connecticut General 11:45 · Assembly began their deliberations on 11:47 · May 19 1780 the Chamber of the State 11:50 · House in Hartford grew so dark that it 11:51 · seemed as if the sun had been turned off 11:53 · to many members of the legislature 11:55 · devout Puritans as they were it appeared 11:57 · that the promised day of judgment was at 11:59 · hand 12:00 · probably as much out of General 12:01 · consternation is out of inability to 12:03 · conduct business in the dark the House 12:05 · of Representatives adjourned 12:08 · but in that story a unique hero Rose in 12:11 · the form of a judge and member of the 12:12 · Connecticut Council today called the 12:14 · state senate Phillips continues 12:16 · in the council however it was a 12:18 · different story 12:19 · their advice on how to proceed under 12:21 · such trying circumstance was sought by 12:23 · the members from their most respected 12:24 · colleague Abraham Davenport with 12:27 · scarcely any hesitation the worthy 12:29 · Stanford lawmaker answered I am against 12:32 · adjournment the day of judgment is 12:34 · either approaching or it is not if it is 12:36 · not there is no cause for the 12:38 · adjournment 12:39 · if it is I choose to be found doing my 12:41 · duty I wish therefore that candles may 12:44 · be brought 12:45 · John Greenleaf Whittier memorialized 12:47 · Davenport and there he stands in memory 12:50 · to this day erect self POI is a 12:52 · rugged-faced half seen against the 12:53 · background of the unnatural dark 12:55 · a witness to the ages as they pass 12:58 · that simple Duty hath no place 13:01 · for fear 13:03 · one interesting impact of the religious 13:04 · fervor surrounding the event was the 13:06 · rise of a religious movement that would 13:08 · become much more powerful in the United 13:09 · States in the 19th century Smithsonian 13:11 · Magazine writes the Dark Day ended at 13:14 · midnight when the Stars once again 13:15 · became visible in the night sky but 13:18 · lingering concerns about a pending 13:19 · apocalypse prompted some people to seek 13:21 · out an obscure Christian sect the 13:23 · Shakers who had recently settled near 13:25 · Albany New York 13:27 · a splinter of the Quaker movement the 13:28 · Shakers preached complete celibacy as 13:30 · the true path to Redemption 13:32 · the Shakers knew an opportunity when 13:34 · they saw one and embarked on a 26-month 13:36 · mission throughout New England which 13:38 · brought them hundreds of converts what 13:40 · could cause this extraordinary Darkness 13:42 · remained a matter of question for more 13:44 · than two centuries suggestions included 13:47 · everything from meteor showers to 13:49 · volcanic eruptions to a lunar or solar 13:51 · eclipse but in 2008 researchers at the 13:54 · University of Missouri thought that they 13:56 · found the solution investigating tree 13:58 · rings in the Algonquin region of Canada 14:00 · they determined that there had been a 14:02 · major forest fire in the 1780s yeah 14:05 · should apparently entered the atmosphere 14:06 · in effective conditions hundreds of 14:08 · miles away supports the conclusions that 14:10 · were made in the Continental Journal but 14:12 · as American settlement with no more than 14:14 · maybe 200 miles Inland observers at the 14:16 · time could not possibly have known that 14:18 · these forest fires had occurred that is 14:21 · the evidence needed to prove the 14:22 · conjecture of 1780 required the 14:24 · technology of the 21st Century 14:27 · while American Heritage notes that new 14:29 · englanders would not soon forget that 14:31 · dark day it lived on in folklore poems 14:34 · tracks and sermons for Generations it 14:36 · turns out the day was not in fact unique 14:39 · Williams noted that other instances of 14:41 · dark days in the Americas had been 14:43 · observed in 1760. 1732 and 1762 and 14:47 · physicist William Corless searched 14:49 · through scientific journals and found 14:50 · references to 46 incidences of dark days 14:53 · occurring between 1091 and 1971. 14:57 · Campanella writes that in the end May 14:59 · 19th was just another day in the life of 15:02 · colonial America but it represented more 15:04 · than a day as Campanella goes on the 15:07 · event led to a broad discussion in 15:09 · broadsheets and newspapers in the Boston 15:11 · area about both the theological and the 15:13 · scientific implications that would 15:15 · contribute to the development of the 15:17 · culture of scientific inquiry and 15:19 · intellectual creativity that would 15:20 · eventually characterize New England and 15:22 · transform Boston into the intellectual 15:24 · Center of America 15:27 · American Heritage notes that this new 15:29 · unfolding culture of scientific inquiry 15:31 · that was sweeping the Western world was 15:33 · a a revolution that was almost as potent 15:36 · as the war for independence from the 15:39 · English 15:40 · you know I call myself the history guy 15:42 · because I love history and I love to 15:44 · travel and learn about history in the 15:46 · places where it actually occurred and 15:48 · what really excites me is the 15:49 · opportunity to go learn about history 15:51 · anywhere in the world with history guy 15:53 · fans and we're going to have the chance 15:55 · to start doing that in 2024. if you 15:58 · think you would like to take a trip with 16:00 · the history guy then 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New England’s Dark Day occurred on May 19, 1780, when an unusual darkening of the daytime sky was observed over the New England states[1] and parts of eastern Canada.[2] The primary cause of the event is believed to have been a combination of smoke from forest fires,[3] a thick fog, and cloud cover. The darkness was so complete that candles were required from noon on. It did not disperse until the middle of the next night.[4][5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England%27s_Dark_Day
Volcanic eruption in Iceland ....
Ben Franklin postulated the link between volcanic eruption with the cold dreary being experienced