The Mystery of New England' Dark Day Solved

The Mystery of New England' Dark Day Solved

www.sciencedaily.com

ScienceDaily (Jun. 6, 2008) — At noon, it was black as night. It was May 19, 1780 and some people in New England thought judgment day was at hand. Accounts of that day, which became known as 'New England's Dark Day,' include mentions of midday meals by candlelight, night birds coming out to sing, flowers folding their petals,and strange behavior from animals. The mystery of this day has been solved by researchers at the University of Missouri who say evidence from tree rings reveals massive wildfires as the likely cause, one of several theories proposed after the event, but dismissed as 'simple and absurd.'

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I remember reading about this 1780 event in both Ripley's Believe it or Not and in Charles Fort's work when I was a kid. I was a strange kid.

The article goes on to say that:

It was dark in Maine and along the southern coast of New England with the greatest intensity occurring in northeast Massachusetts, southern New Hampshire and southwest Maine. In the midst of the Revolutionary War, Gen. George Washington noted the dark day in his diary while he was in New Jersey.

and that:

The researchers studied tree rings from the Algonquin Highlands of southern Ontario and many other locations. They found that a major fire had burned in 1780 affecting atmospheric conditions hundred of miles away. Large smoke columns were created and carried into the upper atmosphere.

www.sciencedaily.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by grover


Geez, grover, I thought you were old enough to remember it first-hand! j/k

[edit on 7-6-2008 by jsobecky]