New England's 'Dark Day.' May 19, 1780

On May 19, 1780, Historian Thomas Campanella explains, “A preternatural gloom settled upon the New England landscape, and by noon the sun had been all but blotted from the sky.” New England’s “Dark Day” was read as an omen, even, perhaps, as the biblical end of days. But the question has persisted for nearly two and a half centuries- what could have blotted out the Sun?

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Script by THG

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[christophercharles]

Shortly into this episode I thought, "that sounds a lot like a forest fire in Canada." I grew up in Massachusetts and lived in Melrose (a city north of Boston) for a few years. One day about 10 years ago I came outside and thought there was a fire in downtown Melrose because it was SO smokey and hazy. No, there was a fire in Canada somewhere above the Great Lakes region! Truly amazing how much land must've been burning to produce enough smoke to make my clothes smell like I'd been at a campfire.

[teddynielsen]

As a New Yorker who experienced the ominous looking skies over the city two days ago along with the hazardous air caused by wildfires in Canada, I think I understand what New Englanders were experiencing in 1780.

[docskeekmo]

Literally living through this right now in NJ from Canadian forest fires. It’s crazy. It’s like dusk at noon.

[johnmoran]

My great great .... whatever grandmother wrote of this in her journal. It was bad, they were worried about food and man's sinful behavior :). She was the third generation, her journal was one of the more interesting ones. She was dramatic and into damnnation. I always remembered her stories.

My mom used to read from the journals sometimes at night when we were up there (NH) as kids. It was the 70s people did stuff like that then.

[davidangel-blair]

What a timely video. Given the huge forest fires in western Canada, people here in eastern Ontario have been experiencing red suns and hazy dull days for the past two weeks. Not on the same scale as 1780 but still a reminder how events in one place can have huge effects in others. Thank you.

[Shadowace]

Stories of dark days has filtered down through my family. 2 branches of my family had settled New England many years before the pilgrims. I love it when something matches up with what I heard as a child.

[toastnjam]

Back in 1970 when I was stationed at the San Diego Naval Station there was a huge brush fire in the surrounding hills that darken the sky a deep orange for days. It was very eerie. I could see how some back then would think it was the end times.

[joanhoffman]

Several years ago, I was in Spokane, and there were forest fires in the vicinity. One day, the wind shifted and wafted smoke into the city. The sun became a red spot in the sky that one could safely look at without eye protection. The smoke filled cause respiratory distress to all, more so for people with respiratory problems. An unforgettable experience!

[BlackCatMargie]

I live in Australia. Days like these are familiar because of bush fires. Of course, in my lifetime, there have always been media updates, warnings, fire fighters, and fire prevention. Image, if fire and disaster events happened when none of these things existed. I guess we would all turn to supernatural explanations. Thank you for a great historical perspective video!

[jamesbrowne]

I didn't play this until a couple of weeks later. This made for interesting timing as we just relived this event due to the widespread Canadian forest fires of June 2023.

[goodun]

While other lawmakers were "sprawled scross the Davenport of Despair" (a Warren Zevon lyric), legislator Abe Davenport says, "here, hold my candle!"😂

[christopherprose]

We endured horrible fires here in Napa County a few years back (twice between 2015 and 2017!!!). The skies were so dark and filled with suffocating smoke, my 'automatic' headlight setting in my car kept turning on the lights as the computer (along with the forward-looking camera) thought it was nighttime during daylight hours. We had to leave the county several times because the air quality was so bad. It defined eerie and conjured up images of the end of the world and with the fires raging for weeks without restraint, it felt like it. It doesn't take too much for things to go sideways and for people to get crazy as we all did during Covid-19. Sadly, it will happen again. Even now, Canada right now is offering horrific forest fires that will repeat the effects of 1780 for some regions of the north.

[Leskeepingitreal]

We had a large forest fire in the Columbia Gorge a few years ago. The sun looked similar to this Thank You

[-.Steven]

Watching this a second time. So interesting! Hysteria. Bravery. Duty. Faith. History that should be remembered!

[paulh]

My Sisters and Brothers (of which I am the youngest at 58) all agree that we would like to have you as a guest at our next get-together. All 6 of us are history nerds. Normally our conversations start at food, but inevitably wind up with interesting historical events. The banter is light hearted, fun, and always factual. We study like you. You would fit right in and enjoy yourself. We would welcome a fellow history nerd like you. Hell, you even look like you could be my brother.

[yuuzyerbrejn]

As we sit in Denver under a "dark day" from Canadian forest fires watching this wonderful video, I can't help but hope that more than one bloke in New England looked west that day and knowing that out there was forest as far as the eye can see, felt the wind in his face and smelled the faint whiff of ash and said to himself "Ayuh, they's a far out there somewhar's, an itsa big un."

[goodun]

"Red sky at night, sailors delight; red sky in morning, sailors take warning". The coastal sailors of New England must have been confused, perhaps terrified....

[kirkmooneyham]

I live in the middle of the USA. A day or so ago, we had some seriously dim skies. There was quite a bit of cloud cover, but the dimness was obviously from smoke. You could even vaguely smell it. Someone thought we must have had a grass fire going in the area because that tends to happen here. However, I read that it was from fires up in Canada. That's a very long way away, I can only imagine how bad it must have been up there.

[MightyMezzo]

Having seen The Day of Orange Sky here in the SF Bay Area in August 2021, the “big forest fire” explanation is the most plausible IMO. And yes, we could use a man like Davenport (or better yet, several) in government today.

[-jeff-]

Thanks THG for enlightening us on the doom and gloom and not blowing smoke at us. 😂