Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales right
Speaker 1: there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Cabinet of Curiosities. When we think of the British,
Speaker 1: the French, and the Russians fighting against the Ottoman Empire,
Speaker 1: we think of World War One, when millions of soldiers
Speaker 1: joined forces and took up arms to combat the growing
Speaker 1: international threat. We tend to forget, however, that these allies
Speaker 1: banded together once before, in order to help a country
Speaker 1: and a culture in need. It was eighteen twenty one
Speaker 1: and the Greeks had been living under the Ottoman's thumb
Speaker 1: for over four hundred years. Some Greeks had done well
Speaker 1: working within the Empire. They had grown wealthy and gained
Speaker 1: status as pure to the powers that be, But underneath,
Speaker 1: the lower classes felt the full brunt of the empire
Speaker 1: on their throats. Heavy taxes kept them in poverty, and
Speaker 1: their cultural identity was being strangled. An underground movement of
Speaker 1: Greek nationalism started brewing among the people. They had tried
Speaker 1: to revolt before, but their efforts had always failed due
Speaker 1: to infighting and a lack of numbers. To those at
Speaker 1: the top, a revolution meant the loss of everything they
Speaker 1: had earned. Though they had gained their freedom, they couldn't
Speaker 1: bear to start over at the bottom again. The peasants,
Speaker 1: though they didn't mind. A fresh start would be good
Speaker 1: for everyone, and once they were free, it would mean
Speaker 1: a better life for all Greeks, not just a select few.
Speaker 1: But they had to be smart about it. A handful
Speaker 1: of Greek organizers got wise and realized they'd never be
Speaker 1: able to beat their Turkish oppressors with a head on assault.
Speaker 1: If they ever hope to win back their independence, their
Speaker 1: plan of attack had to happen when the Turks weren't
Speaker 1: expecting it, Except the Turks were expecting it by way
Speaker 1: of a little birdie who let them in on the secret.
Speaker 1: So the Greeks moved the date of their uprising up
Speaker 1: by a few weeks, and soon cities all over the
Speaker 1: country took up arms against the Empire. As is common
Speaker 1: in war, it's very easy for a foreign power to
Speaker 1: destroy defending countries. Culture bullets and fire consume many important
Speaker 1: buildings as the battle rages on, but the Greeks worked
Speaker 1: tirelessly to preserve the things that made up their identity
Speaker 1: to not let the Turks destroy them. Paintings, sculptures, books,
Speaker 1: and other cultural touchstones were carried away and stored for
Speaker 1: safe keeping out of the line of fire fighting. Was
Speaker 1: kept away from important architectural sites as much as possible. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: it was their determination to conserve their history that made
Speaker 1: the Greeks such an easy target for the Turks. As
Speaker 1: the war raged on, armed masses took on Turkish garrisons
Speaker 1: with great success, forcing them out of the cities and
Speaker 1: into the part of the country the Greeks had hoped
Speaker 1: to keep off limits. At the same time, Ottoman resources
Speaker 1: started getting scarce, especially ammunition, But the Turks saw an
Speaker 1: opportunity in their predicament. While they couldn't tackle the scores
Speaker 1: of angry Greeks coming after them, they could kill the
Speaker 1: next best thing, their culture. The Turks began tearing down
Speaker 1: the columns of the Parthenon in order to get at
Speaker 1: the lead inside, which could be melted down and made
Speaker 1: into bullets. The Greeks knew what would happen if they
Speaker 1: lost the war and their legacy to the Ottoman Empire.
Speaker 1: All traces of them would be wiped off the planet,
Speaker 1: and their contributions to the world might be lost forever.
Speaker 1: So the Greeks tried a new tactic to get them
Speaker 1: to stop harvesting the Parthenon. They gave them their ammo.
Speaker 1: That's right, the Greek forces handed over their own bullets
Speaker 1: to the enemy, just so that they would leave one
Speaker 1: of their greatest cultural landmarks alone. And it worked. The
Speaker 1: Turks managed to bounce back thanks to the Greek's donation.
Speaker 1: They also gained a little extra help from their Egyptian
Speaker 1: allies and almost robbed the Greeks of their freedom. That
Speaker 1: is until England, France, and Russia joined in on the
Speaker 1: revolution eleven years later. With the rest of the world
Speaker 1: by their side, the Greeks were able to negotiate their
Speaker 1: independence from Ottoman rule, and thanks to their generosity, the Parthenon,
Speaker 1: or at least what's left of it, is still standing today.
Speaker 1: Turn on the news today, and outside of the latest
Speaker 1: political turmoil, you'll probably see Mother Nature terrorizing some part
Speaker 1: of the world. Volcanoes in Indonesia triggering devastating tsunamis, tornadoes
Speaker 1: in the Midwest reducing homes to nothing but splinters, and
Speaker 1: perhaps the most destructive of all, catastrophic forest fires and
Speaker 1: California that have burned entire neighborhoods to ash. And let's
Speaker 1: not forget the Category five hurricanes that have all but
Speaker 1: wiped entire islands off the map. It's enough to make
Speaker 1: you think the end of the world is close at hand. Well,
Speaker 1: such assumptions are nothing new, and if you lived in
Speaker 1: New England in seventeen eighty you might have thought the
Speaker 1: same thing. The skies from Maine to New Jersey had
Speaker 1: been yellow in the days leading up to the bizarre
Speaker 1: events that occurred on May nineteen. The region had just
Speaker 1: emerged from one of the coldest winters ever recorded, and
Speaker 1: warmth was still hard to come by, even as spring
Speaker 1: had begun to bloom. But instead of a bright golden
Speaker 1: sun up above, it's shown red during the day, giving
Speaker 1: way to a pinkish moon at night. Down below, Rivers
Speaker 1: and lakes were blackened with soots, and signs of smoke
Speaker 1: were all around. Given that we were still hundreds of
Speaker 1: years away from social media and twenty four news coverage,
Speaker 1: people came up with all sorts of reasons as to
Speaker 1: why they thought was happening, and many jumped to the
Speaker 1: same conclusion. The end of days was nigh. Then, on
Speaker 1: May nine, the symptoms that had plagued New England for
Speaker 1: the last several days culminated in a strange and extraordinary phenomenon.
Speaker 1: The sky went completely dark. A thick fog enveloped the
Speaker 1: northeastern United States and parts of Canada for over a day.
Speaker 1: Reports came in from upstate New York, where the sun
Speaker 1: wasn't rising. In parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut, candles were
Speaker 1: required from two pm onward, and it wasn't just the
Speaker 1: people who were affected. Roosters had no idea what time
Speaker 1: it was and crowed in the middle of the afternoon.
Speaker 1: Crickets chirped as though night had fallen. Early, cows retired
Speaker 1: to their stalls, believing the day to be over, and
Speaker 1: farmers couldn't tell the difference between manure and the ash
Speaker 1: that had fallen inches thick. In some places, clergy believed
Speaker 1: the day of judgments had aid, and people flooded churches
Speaker 1: to confess their sins. The less religious fled to taverns,
Speaker 1: where they filled their bellies with drink and converted with
Speaker 1: women as they tried to forget that tomorrow just might
Speaker 1: not come. All manner of explanations were tossed around as
Speaker 1: to the cause of the darkness, everything from planetary movements
Speaker 1: and meteor strikes to God's anger toward the Revolutionary War.
Speaker 1: No one at the time had any real insight into
Speaker 1: why the skies had suddenly turned black. But we know
Speaker 1: better today. Based on the records of the events and
Speaker 1: the eyewitness reports at the time, we can make more
Speaker 1: informed assumptions as to what transpired on that faithful day.
Speaker 1: But we also have the trees. Yeah, trees, you see,
Speaker 1: trees can tell us a lot about history thanks to
Speaker 1: their growth rings. Researchers examining the growth rings on trees
Speaker 1: in Ontario, Canada noticed extensive scar damage on some of
Speaker 1: the inner rings from when the trees were young. Um
Speaker 1: those scars, they were able to deduce that an enormous
Speaker 1: forest fire in that area may have caused the darkness
Speaker 1: that fell upon New England back in seventeen eighty. Today,
Speaker 1: our forest fires are certainly dangerous, and they have been
Speaker 1: known to cause miles and miles of destruction. Thanks to
Speaker 1: news networks and social media, we know just how horrific
Speaker 1: they can be to live through, and many of us
Speaker 1: have friends or family who have been touched by those events,
Speaker 1: which puts the dark Day of May sevent eighty into
Speaker 1: real perspective. A fire so massive that it left inches
Speaker 1: of ash all over New England and blotted out the
Speaker 1: sun for an entire day. Combine that with those eerie
Speaker 1: red sunsets that led up to the darkness. It's frightening
Speaker 1: to imagine just how bad that blaze must have been
Speaker 1: to have left such destruction and chaos in its wake.
Speaker 1: And thanks to the unpredictability of the world we live in,
Speaker 1: it also leaves us with a chilling thought, what if
Speaker 1: something that massive happened again. Let's hope we never find out.
Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn
Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership
Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show,
Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the
Speaker 1: World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.