May 19

At times, it seems as if the weather gets just a bit odd. Charles Hoy Fort made a career out of collecting, among other things, abnormalities in the weather and today the Fortean Society continues his work. On the 19th in 1790, the skies over New Jersey, New England, and parts of Canada became so dark that candles had to be lit at noon. Instead of taking into consideration, the widespread forest fires that were raging all over New England at the time, many people concluded that the darkness heralded the end-times spoken of in the Bible’s Book of Revelation. Abraham Davenport, a member of the state of Connecticut’s legislature had this to say about it: “I choose, for one, to meet Him face to face, no faithless servant frightened from my task, but ready when the Lord of the harvest calls; and therefore, with all reverence, I would say, let God do his work, we will see to ours. Bring in the candles.” The event has come to be known as New England’s Dark Day. I think the mere fact that I am writing this is clear and convincing proof that God did not pick that particular moment to destroy His creation. But hey, you never know.
Fort was born on August 6, 1874 in Albany, New York. When he turned 18, he left New York to tour Europe so that he in his words could “put some capital in the Bank of Experience.”