1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,000 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class. It's a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:06,760 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Here everyone, I'm Eves and welcome to This 3 00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:09,719 Speaker 1: Day in History Class, a podcast where I bring you 4 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:14,200 Speaker 1: a little nugget of history every day. Today is May nineteen. 5 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:25,880 Speaker 1: The day was May nineteen eighty. The sky in New 6 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:29,280 Speaker 1: England in parts of northern Canada turned unusually dark in 7 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:33,840 Speaker 1: an event remembered as the Dark Day. Several days before 8 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:36,840 Speaker 1: May nineteen, people in New England noticed that the sky 9 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:40,120 Speaker 1: appeared smoky and the sun and the moon appeared red. 10 00:00:41,159 --> 00:00:43,640 Speaker 1: On the morning of May nineteenth, the sky was cloudy 11 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:46,680 Speaker 1: and still had a reddish hue throughout the morning. The 12 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:50,240 Speaker 1: sky continued to get darker. By noon, people were using 13 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:54,560 Speaker 1: candles for light. The darkness stretched from the skies over Portland, Maine, 14 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:58,080 Speaker 1: to the southern coast of New England. It was so 15 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:01,600 Speaker 1: unusual that many people panted. Some people went to church, 16 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:05,760 Speaker 1: while others went to taverns. Birds reportedly suffocated from the 17 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:09,040 Speaker 1: smoke and ash. Some people noted that the air smelled 18 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:14,839 Speaker 1: like sood. The Connecticut legislature even moved to adjourn. Abraham Davenport, 19 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:18,559 Speaker 1: a member of the Governor's Council, opposed adjourning the legislature. 20 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:21,800 Speaker 1: He said that quote, the day of judgment is either 21 00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:24,920 Speaker 1: approaching or it is not. If it is not, there 22 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:27,679 Speaker 1: is no cause of an adjournment. If it is, I 23 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:32,000 Speaker 1: choose to be found doing my duty. Harvard professor Samuel 24 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:35,720 Speaker 1: Williams collected observations about the darkness and wrote about the 25 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:39,559 Speaker 1: day's events. According to his account, the darkness continued until 26 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:42,400 Speaker 1: the middle of the next night. He said the following 27 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:46,760 Speaker 1: candles were lighted up in the houses. The birds, having 28 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:50,600 Speaker 1: sung their evening songs, disappeared and became silent. The fouls 29 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:54,280 Speaker 1: retired to roost. The cocks were crawling all around as 30 00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:57,560 Speaker 1: at break of day. Objects could not be distinguished, but 31 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:00,560 Speaker 1: at a very little distance, and every thing bore the 32 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 1: appearance and gloom of night. Williams reported that people saw 33 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 1: a layer of scum on the surface of water that 34 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:11,480 Speaker 1: appeared to be the ashes of burnt leaves. From his observations, 35 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:15,320 Speaker 1: he determined the likely cause of the darkness. He suggested 36 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:18,440 Speaker 1: that fires had caused vapors to rise and collect in 37 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:22,000 Speaker 1: the air, since the weather had been clear, the air heavy, 38 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:25,560 Speaker 1: and the wind quote small and variable. But many people 39 00:02:25,639 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 1: dismissed the idea that wildfires caused the darkness. In the 40 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:34,000 Speaker 1: weeks after May nineteenth, people proposed different theories about the 41 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:37,399 Speaker 1: origins of the event. Some thought that sunlight was being 42 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:40,760 Speaker 1: blocked by a huge mountain, Others believed that a biblical 43 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:45,880 Speaker 1: prophecy was being fulfilled. Later research suggested that distant forest 44 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:50,120 Speaker 1: fires caused the darkness. Researchers from the University of Missouri 45 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:54,120 Speaker 1: and u S Forest Service examined tree rings and fire 46 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:57,799 Speaker 1: scars and determined that a major fire occurred in seventeen 47 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 1: eighty in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada. They concluded 48 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:05,799 Speaker 1: that a low pressure weather system carryed to smoke from 49 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:09,440 Speaker 1: the west or north to New England. The fires in 50 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:12,760 Speaker 1: the Algonquin Highlands were the most likely cause of New 51 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:16,400 Speaker 1: England's dark Day, but fires burning in the eastern US 52 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:21,000 Speaker 1: could have also contributed to the darkness. I'm Eve Jeff 53 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:23,840 Speaker 1: Coote and hopefully you know a little more about history 54 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:27,079 Speaker 1: today than you did yesterday. And if you want to 55 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:29,000 Speaker 1: send us any kind notes or you have any other 56 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:32,200 Speaker 1: comments are suggestions, please send them to us at this 57 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:35,080 Speaker 1: day at i heeart media dot com. You can also 58 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:38,040 Speaker 1: hit us up on social media. We're at t D 59 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:42,360 Speaker 1: i h C Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Thanks 60 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:44,120 Speaker 1: so much for listening to the show and we'll see 61 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:54,920 Speaker 1: you tomorrow. 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