On May 19, 1780 an unusual darkening of the day sky was observed over
the New England states and parts of Canada. Some people in New England thought
judgment day was at hand. And some other people in New England
applied religious interpretations to the event. Even today New England’s
Dark Day is still regarded by many as a supernatural event. Interesting
fact about as 'New
England's Dark Day,' include mentions of midday meals by candlelight,
night birds coming out to sing, flowers folding their petals, and strange
behavior from animals.
In 2008 Nearly 230 years
later, University of Missouri researchers who say evidence from tree rings reveals massive
wildfires as the likely cause, one of several theories proposed after the
event, but dismissed as 'simple and absurd.'
"The
patterns in tree rings tell a story," said Erin McMurry, research
assistant in the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources Tree
Ring Laboratory. "We think of tree rings as ecological artifacts. We know
how to date the rings and create a chronology, so we can tell when there has
been a fire or a drought occurred and unlock the history the tree has been
holding for years."
"A
fire comes along and heat goes through the bark, killing the living tissue. A
couple of years later, the bark falls off revealing the wood and an injury to
the tree. When looking at the rings, you see charcoal formation on the outside
and a resin formation on the top that creates a dark spot," said Richard
Guyette, director of the Tree Ring Lab and research associate professor of
forestry in the MU School of Natural Resources.
The researchers
had found evidence that a major fire had burned in that time period that
would have affected atmospheric conditions hundred of miles away. Large smoke
columns were created and carried into the upper atmosphere accounting for New
England’s dark day.
Since communication of
the day was very primitive, it prevented colonists from knowing the cause
of the darkness.
"This study was a
unique opportunity to take historical accounts and combine them with modern
technology and the physical historical evidence from the tree rings and solve a
mystery with science," McMurry said.
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