“During the whole time a sickly, melancholy gloom overcast the face of nature. Nor was the darkness of the night less uncommon and terrifying than that of the day, for notwithstanding there was almost a [pg 047]full moon, no object was discernible but by the help of some artificial light, which seen from the neighboring houses and other places at a distance appeared through a kind of Egyptian darkness which seemed almost impervious to its rays. This unusual phenomenon excited the fears and apprehensions of many people.”—Mass. Spy, Correspondence, 1780.
From another good authority we take the following:—
“Almost, if not altogether alone as the most mysterious and as yet unexplained phenomenon of its kind in nature's diversified range of events during the last century, stands the dark day of May 19, 1780, a most unaccountable darkening of the whole visible heavens and atmosphere in New England, which brought intense alarm and distress to multitudes of minds, as well as dismay to the brute creation, the fowls fleeing, bewildered, to their roosts, and the birds to their nests, and the cattle returning to their stalls. Indeed thousands of the good people of that day became fully convinced that the end of all things terrestrial had come; many gave up, for the time, their secular pursuits, and betook themselves to religious devotions.”—“Our First Century.”
An extract from a sermon preached at that time will be of interest:—
“But especially I mention that wonderful darkness on the 19th of May inst. [1780]. Then, as in our text, the sun was darkened; such a darkness as probably was never known before since the crucifixion of our Lord. People left their work in the house and in the field. Travelers stopped; schools broke up at eleven o'clock; people lighted candles at noonday; and the fire shone as at night. Some people, I have been told, were in dismay, and thought whether the day of Judgment was not drawing on. A great part of the following night also was singularly dark. The moon, though in the full, gave no light, as in our text.”—From a manuscript sermon by Rev. Elam Potter, delivered May 28, 1780.
By the remarkable obscuration of the moon on the following night, the next sign, “And the moon shall not give her light,” was fulfilled. Concerning this it is only necessary to insert a few words:—
“The night succeeding that day (May 19, 1780) was of such pitchy darkness that, in some instances, horses could not be compelled to leave the stable when wanted for service. About midnight, the clouds were dispersed, and the moon and stars appeared with unimpaired brilliancy.”—“Stone's History of Beverly.”
Mr. Tenny, of Exeter, N. H., quoted by Mr. Gage, to the Historical Society, speaking of the dark day and dark night of May 19, 1780, says:—
“The darkness of the following evening was probably as gross as has ever been observed since the Almighty first gave birth to light. I could not help conceiving at the time, that if every luminous body in the universe had been shrouded in impenetrable darkness, or struck out of existence, the darkness could not have been more complete. A sheet of white paper held within a few inches of the eye was equally invisible with the blackest velvet.”
Concerning a similar phenomenon in the Old World a reliable work says:—