The History Shack

  On May 19, 1780, New England and parts of Canada experienced a phenomenon that has since become known as New England's Dark Day. This event defied the norms of daylight, plunging the region into an unexpected and unsettling darkness. It’s a historical curiosity that has captivated imaginations and inspired numerous theories. The day began like any other spring morning. The sun rose on schedule, but soon after, something unusual happened. The skies over New England started to darken, a darkness that spread from Portland, Maine, to New Jersey. It became so dark that by noon, people had to light candles to see. The sudden darkness caused widespread panic and confusion. In the throes of the Revolutionary War, George Washington noted the peculiar occurrence in his diary, describing the skies as "heavy & uncommon kind of clouds" with an intermix of reddish light that alternated in brightness.  The darkness was so profound that people resorted to prayer and introspection.

  OTD May 19th is the one-hundred-thirty-ninth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 226 days remain until the end of the year.   Events 1499 – Catherine of Aragon is married by proxy to Arthur, Prince of Wales. Catherine is 13, and Arthur is 12. 1536 – Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII of England, is beheaded for adultery, treason, and incest. 1749 – King George II of Great Britain grants the Ohio Company a charter of land around the forks of the Ohio River. 1848 – Mexican-American War: Mexico ratified the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thus ending the war and ceding California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of four other modern-day U.S. states to the United States for US$15 million. 1883 – Buffalo Bill's 1st Buffalo Bill's Wild West opens in Omaha, Nebraska. 1921 – The United States Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act, establishing national quotas on immigration. 1950 – Egypt announces that the Suez Canal is closed to Israeli ships and commerce.

Mathew B. Brady, often revered as the father of photojournalism, remains a towering figure in American photography. Born around 1823 near Lake George, New York, Brady's journey to becoming one of the most influential photographers in history is a tale of innovation, perseverance, and an unerring commitment to documenting reality. Brady's early years are shrouded in some mystery, but what is known is his undeniable passion for the burgeoning field of photography. In the 1840s, he moved to New York City, where he learned the daguerreotype process under the tutelage of Samuel F.B. Morse, the inventor of the telegraph. This skill set the stage for Brady's rise in the photographic world. By the 1850s, Brady had established himself as a preeminent portrait photographer. His studios in New York and Washington, D.C., attracted some of the most prominent figures of the day. Presidents, generals, writers, and other luminaries sat for Brady's camera. His talent for capturing the e

  OTD May 18th is the one-hundred-thirty-eighth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 227 days remain until the end of the year.   Events 332 – Emperor Constantine the Great announces free distributions of food to the citizens in Constantinople. 1096 – First Crusade: Around 800 Jews are massacred in Worms, Germany. 1291 – Fall of Acre, the end of Crusader's presence in the Holy Land. 1593 – Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy led to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe. 1565 – The Great Siege of Malta begins when Ottoman forces attempt and fail to conquer Malta. 1804 – The French Senate proclaimed Napoleon Bonaparte Emperor of the French. 1860 – United States presidential election: Abraham Lincoln won the Republican Party presidential nomination over William H. Seward, who later became the United States Secretary of State. 1933 – New Deal: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an act that created the Tennessee Valley Authority. 1980

  OTD May 17th is the one-hundred-thirty-seventh day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 228 days remain until the end of the year.   Events 1536 – Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn's marriage is annulled. 1673 – Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette begin exploring the Mississippi River. 1756 – Seven Years' War formally begins when Great Britain declares war on France. 1792 – The New York Stock Exchange is formed under the Buttonwood Agreement. 1809 – Emperor Napoleon I orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire. 1875 – Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby with the jockey Oliver Lewis 1900 – The children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, is first published in the United States. The first copy is given to the author's sister. 1939 – The Columbia Lions and the Princeton Tigers play in the United States' first televised sporting event, a collegiate baseball game in New York City.   Birthdays 1551 – Marti

  OTD May 16th is the one-hundred-thirty-sixth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 229 days remain until the end of the year.   Events 1364 – Hundred Years' War: Bertrand du Guesclin and a French army defeat the Anglo-Navarrese army of Charles the Bad at Cocherel. 1527 – The Florentines drive out the Medici for a second time, and Florence re-establishes itself as a republic. 1568 – Mary, Queen of Scots, flees to England 1770 – The 14-year-old Marie Antoinette marries 15-year-old Louis-Auguste, who later becomes king of France. 1842 – The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail from Elm Grove, Missouri, with 100 pioneers. 1888—Nikola Tesla delivers a lecture describing the equipment that will allow the efficient generation and use of alternating currents to transmit electric power over long distances. 1929 – In Hollywood, the first Academy Awards ceremony takes place. 1988 – A report by the Surgeon General o

  OTD May 15th is the one-hundred-thirty-fith day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 230 days remain until the end of the year.   Events 221 – Liu Bei, the Chinese warlord, proclaims himself emperor of Shu Han, the successor of the Han dynasty. 1525 – Insurgent peasants led by Anabaptist pastor Thomas Müntzer were defeated at the Battle of Frankenhausen, ending the German Peasants' War in the Holy Roman Empire. 1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, stands trial in London on charges of treason, adultery, and incest; she is condemned to death by a specially selected jury. 1618 – Johannes Kepler confirms his previously rejected discovery of the third law of planetary motion. 1836 – Francis Baily observes "Baily's beads" during an annular eclipse. 1905 –Las Vegas was founded in Nevada, United States. 1911 – In Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States, the United States Supreme Court declares Standard Oil as an "unreasonable" monopo

Back in the 1960s, NASA had just nailed the whole "landing on the Moon" thing with the Apollo program. But they were already dreaming bigger. What if we could hang out in space for a while? That dream turned into Skylab, America's first space station, which was as cool as it sounds. The idea started with many NASA engineers thinking, "Hey, we've got all these Apollo rockets and parts. Why not use them to build a space station?" Thus, the Apollo Applications Program was born. The goal was to use leftover Apollo gear to create an orbital workshop where astronauts could live, work, and do crazy experiments. Of course, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. There were money issues, technical glitches, and a million little details to work out. But by the late 1960s, Skylab was coming together. It was basically a big, floating cylinder with living quarters, a lab, and giant solar panels to keep everything powered up. It was designed to host astronauts for long stretches so

  OTD May 14th is the one-hundred-thirty-fourth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 231 days remain until the end of the year.   Events 1097 – The Siege of Nicaea begins during the First Crusade. 1607 – English colonists established "James Fort," which would become Jamestown, Virginia, the earliest permanent English settlement in the Americas. 1796 – Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox vaccination. 1804 – William Clark and 42 men depart from Camp Dubois to join Meriwether Lewis at St Charles, Missouri, marking the beginning of the Lewis and Clark Expedition's historic journey up the Missouri River. 1836 – The Treaties of Velasco are signed in Velasco, Texas. 1878 – The last witchcraft trial held in the United States begins in Salem, Massachusetts, after Lucretia Brown, an adherent of Christian Science, accused Daniel Spofford of attempting to harm her through his mental powers. 1900 – Opening the World Amateur Championship at the Paris

  OTD May 13th is the one-hundred-sixteenth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 233 days remain until the end of the year.   Events 1501 – Amerigo Vespucci set sail for western lands, this time under the Portuguese flag. 1654 – A Venetian fleet under Admiral Cort Adeler breaks through a line of galleys and defeats the Turkish navy. 1780 – The Cumberland Compact was signed by leaders of the settlers in the Cumberland River area of what would become the U.S. state of Tennessee, providing for democratic government and a formal justice system. 1830 – Ecuador gains its independence from Gran Colombia 1861 – The Great Comet of 1861 is discovered by John Tebbutt of Windsor, New South Wales, Australia. 1912 – The Royal Flying Corps, the forerunner of the Royal Air Force, was established in the United Kingdom. 1917 – Three children report the first apparition of Our Lady of Fátima in Fátima, Portugal. 1943 – World War II: Operations Vulcan and Strike force the surre

 When Winston Churchill stood before the British House of Commons on May 13, 1940, to deliver his first speech as Prime Minister, the world was teetering on the brink of darkness. Europe was already embroiled in the throes of World War II, with Nazi Germany's forces rapidly advancing across the continent. The fall of France was imminent, and the British Expeditionary Force was struggling on the continent. The situation was dire, and the mood among the British public and government was tense, uncertain, and fearful. Churchill's ascension to Prime Minister came after the resignation of Neville Chamberlain, whose policy of appeasement had failed to curb Adolf Hitler's aggression. There was a palpable need for starkly realistic yet defiantly optimistic leadership. Churchill, known for his oratorical skills and bulldog spirit, stepped into this void with a speech that was less a promise of easy victory and more a clarion call for endurance and courage. His speech, laden with the

  OTD May 11 is the 131st day of the year, 234 days remain until the end of the year. Events 1812 – Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the British House of Commons. 1813 – William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland, and William Wentworth discover a route across the Blue Mountains, opening inland Australia to settlement. 1880 – Seven people are killed in the Mussel Slough Tragedy, a gun battle in California. 1997 – Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last rematch game, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format. 2011 – An earthquake of magnitude 5.1 hits Lorca, Spain. Birthdays 1752 – Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, German physician, physiologist, and anthropologist (d. 1840) 1888 – Irving Berlin, Belarusian-American pianist and composer (d. 1989) 1894 – Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer (d. 1991) 1904 – Salvador Dalí, Spanish artist (d. 1989) 1941 – Eri

  OTD May 12th is the one-hundred-fifteenth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 234 days remain until the end of the year.   Events 1588 – French Wars of Religion: Henry III of France flees Paris after Henry I, Duke of Guise, enters the city, and a spontaneous uprising occurs. 1593 – London playwright Thomas Kyd is arrested and tortured by the Privy Council for libel. 1780—American Revolutionary War: British forces took Charleston, South Carolina in the Continental Army's most significant defeat. 1846 – The Donner Party of Pioneers departs Independence, Missouri, for California on a year-long journey of hardship and cannibalism. 1926 – The Italian-built airship Norge became the first to fly over the North Pole. 1949 – Cold War: The Soviet Union lifts its blockade of Berlin.   Birthdays 1755 – Giovanni Battista Viotti, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1824) 1812 – Edward Lear, English poet and illustrator (d. 1888) 1850 – Henry Cabot Lodge, Ameri

  OTD May 10th is the one-hundred-thirtieth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 235 days remain until the end of the year.   Events 28 BCE – Han dynasty astronomers observe a sunspot during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, one of the earliest dated sunspot observations in China. 1503 – Christopher Columbus visits the Cayman Islands, naming them Las Tortugas after the numerous turtles there. 1773—The Parliament of Great Britain passed the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by reducing taxes on its tea and granting it the right to sell tea directly to North America. The legislation led to the Boston Tea Party. 1774 – Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette become King and Queen of France. 1801 – First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America. 1869 – The First transcontinental railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed with the golden spike at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory

On a stormy morning on May 9, 1980, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, a vital artery connecting St. Petersburg to Terra Ceia across Tampa Bay, Florida, was the site of one of the most harrowing disasters in U.S. history. Amidst blinding rain and howling winds, the freighter MV Summit Venture, struggling against the storm, collided with a support column of the bridge. The collision was catastrophic—1,200 feet of the steel and concrete structure crumbled into the churning waters below. As the bridge gave way, cars and a Greyhound bus, unable to stop in time, plummeted nearly 150 feet into the bay. The disaster claimed the lives of 35 people, most of whom were passengers on the bus, making it a profoundly somber day in Florida's history. When it opened in the 1950s, the original Sunshine Skyway Bridge was a symbol of post-war automotive expansion and a marvel of its time. But in the wake of the disaster, it became evident that its design was not equipped to handle the unexpected hazards pos

  OTD May 9th is the one-hundred-twenty-ninth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 236 days remain until the end of the year.   Events 1386 – England and Portugal formally ratify their alliance by signing the Treaty of Windsor, making it the oldest diplomatic alliance in the world still in force. 1662 – The figure who later became Mr. Punch (Punch & Judy) makes his first recorded appearance in England. 1671 – Thomas Blood, disguised as a clergyman, attempts to steal England's Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. 1877—Mihail Kogălniceanu reads the Declaration of Independence of Romania in the Chamber of Deputies. This date will become recognized as Romania's Independence Day. 1926 – Admiral Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett claim to have flown over the North Pole (later discovery of Byrd's diary appears to cast some doubt on the claim.) 1927 – The Old Parliament House, Canberra, Australia, officially opens. 1960 – The Food and Drug Administrat

  OTD May 8th is the one-hundred-twenty-eighth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 237 days remain until the end of the year.   Events 1429 – Joan of Arc lifts the Siege of Orléans, turning the tide of the Hundred Years' War. 1846 – Mexican-American War: American forces led by Zachary Taylor defeated a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the war's first major battle. 1886 – Pharmacist John Pemberton first sold a carbonated beverage named "Coca-Cola" as a patent medicine. 1912 – Paramount Pictures is founded. 1941 – World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches a bombing raid on Nottingham and Derby. 1976 – The rollercoaster The New Revolution, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain. 1978 – The first ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler.   Birthdays 1551 – Thomas Drury, English government informer and swindler (d. 1603) 1628 – Angelo Ital