May
19 On May 19, 1780, an unexplained midday darkness fell over New England. The length of time the phenomenon lasted varied depended on the location of the observer, but the accounts indicate that it was at least several hours in duration. The intensity of the darkness also varied.
It
was not an eclipse and if it were a volcanic ash cloud, the source
has never been found. (Coincidentally, two hundred years minus
one day after the Dark Day, Mount St. Helens erupted, causing
a similar darkness to blanket some parts of the Pacific Northwest.)
Some scientists believe that the cause was a great cloud of smoke
from massive forest fires west of New England, but this is still
theory.
John Greenleaf Whittier, "the Quaker poet" of Snowbound
fame, wrote a poem about the day, focusing on the actions of the
Connecticut legislature, which was in session when the darkness
fell. Whittier was born little more than 20 years after the event,
and was therefore almost certainly privy to the first-person accounts
of many New Englanders. Other accounts exist in old journals and
letters. Why only New England? Do the Christian fundamentalists in other countries (assuming there ARE Xian fundamentalists in other countries--Canada doesn't count) think that a dark day in New England fulfills a Biblical prophesy? And as long as we are on this topic, do the fundamentalist televangelists in other countries (assuming there are fundamentalist televangelists in other countries) also have real big hair and wives that look like 1965 graduates of the Mustang Ranch?
On
to May 20
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