Unravelling the Mystery of New England’s Day of Darkness

At 10:00 a.m. on May 19, 1780, the people of New England thought that Judgment Day was upon them. The sky turned black as night, flowers began folding their petals, and fowls returned to their coops to roost.
Unravelling the Mystery of New England’s Day of Darkness
A file photo of dark clouds over a volcanic valley. Shutterstock
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At 10:00 a.m. on May 19, 1780, the people of New England thought that Judgment Day was upon them. The sky turned black as night, flowers began folding their petals, and fowls returned to their coops to roost. The moon shined an eerie blood-red as darkness engulfed towns and cities from Maine to New Jersey, spreading fear and chaos in its wake. The event became known as “New England’s Dark Day.”

Numerous eye-witness accounts recorded in diaries, poems, and books describe the panic that ensued as daylight dwindled and darkness persisted well into the evening. Eventually, even the moon and stars were fully obscured by the blackness.

The poet John Greenleaf Whittier wrote of this memorable day in “The Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier” (1873):

“'Twas on a May-day of the far old year

Seventeen hundred eighty, that there fell

Over the bloom and sweet life of the spring,

Over the fresh earth, and the heaven of noon,

A horror of great darkness.”

“Men prayed, and women wept; all ears grew sharp

To hear the doom-blast of the trumpet shatter

The black sky." 

Artist's depiction of mid-morning conditions during the Dark Day of May 19, 1780 (from 'Our First History,' by Richard Devens, 1876).
Artist's depiction of mid-morning conditions during the Dark Day of May 19, 1780 (from 'Our First History,' by Richard Devens, 1876).