- You can pack a lot of strangeness into 24 hours.
Many eras of human history have been recorded as having been particularly strange. However, you don’t need a span of many years for things to get weird.
Sometimes it takes just one particularly bizarre day.
Whether it’s due to politics, natural events, or something you’d never see coming, some days have gone down in history as simply odd. Here are nine examples of such infamous dates.
1. Cadaver Synod – January 897
In January 897, Rome was witness to one outlandish court case. Pope Stephen VI put a dead man on trial.
In what has become known as the Cadaver Synod, the corpse of Stephen VI’s predecessor, Pope Formosus, was dug out of his grave, dressed in papal vestments, and placed on a throne. The whole point of the strange show was to declare Formosus’ reign illegitimate and thus strengthen Stephen’s position.
The exact date of the synod wasn’t recorded, but we do know that it happened in January. Although Formosus was found guilty, the bizarre trial upset the populace so much that the public deposed and murdered Stephen VI during the same year.
2. 11 Disappeared Days – September 2, 1752
On September 2, 1752, the people of England went to sleep as usual. They woke up 11 days later, on September 14.
This was because the English government adopted the Gregorian calendar on September 2. The previous Julian calendar added leap years too often, which had caused an 11-day drift in the count of time.
This being 1752, however, mass communication wasn’t a thing. Some people thought they’d slept for all those days, and the event resulted in widespread panic and rioting.
3. Detroit’s Black Rain – October 19, 1762
The morning of October 19, 1762, dawned like no other. The sun appeared blood red and three times bigger than usual, and a sickly yellow-green haze hung in the air.
Soon enough, thick clouds covered the sky, blotting out the sun to the point that it was like night. Then it began to rain. Large raindrops as black as ink fell and stained everything.
To this day, there’s no conclusive explanation for what on earth happened. One theory is that enormous wildfires somewhere far away caused the bizarre events.
4. New England’s Dark Day – May 19, 1780
Night came early in New England on May 18, 1780. The people of the region saw the sun come up in the morning, but soon enough the day began to darken.
By noon, it was so dark that you needed to light a candle to see anything. It wasn’t until the next morning that the darkness finally dispersed.
As with Detroit’s Black Rain, the most common theory for the dark day is smoke from wildfires. Strangely, though, reports from the time do not mention the smell of smoke.
5. The Battle of Karansebes – September 21, 1788
One of the worst incidents of friendly fire in military history happened near the city of Caransebes, Romania. The Austrian army had gathered to face their Ottoman enemies in battle the following day.
However, the Austrian troops broke open some barrels of liquid courage. They eventually got so drunk that when a gun went off accidentally, they thought the Turks were attacking.
In the dead of the night, the intoxicated Austrians couldn’t tell friend from foe and began fighting each other. By the time the Ottomans arrived in the morning, they found only a destroyed camp and numerous dead. It’s impossible to say how many Austrians died, but reports from the time give numbers ranging from around 100 to 10,000.
6. Baghdad Blackout – May 20, 1857
The diaries of British diplomat Charles A. Murray record a bizarre day in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1857. Like in New England in 1780, the bright morning suddenly began to grow dark until the day had turned to night.
The darkness, however, didn’t last as long. It lifted soon enough, but in its place a red, glowing haze rolled in with sand floating in the air.
It’d be easy to dismiss the event as a strong sandstorm. However, you’d imagine Baghdad residents would be familiar with them, and everyone Murray talked to said this was no sandstorm.
7. Carrington Event – September 1, 1859
The Carrington Event was the strongest solar storm in recorded human history. It peaked on September 1, 1859, causing mind-blowing phenomena around the world.
For instance, the aurora borealis flared up as far south as Colombia in South America. Yet, perhaps the strangest reports came from telegraph operators.
The solar storm had such a strong electromagnetic effect that powered-down telegraph lines came alive. Operators were able to send messages on their systems, even though they disconnected from their power sources.
8. Kentucky Meat Shower – March 3, 1876
Detroit’s Black Rain was bizarre and scary, but at least the stuff falling from the sky was still ostensibly water. You can’t say the same about what happened in Kentucky on March 3, 1876.
On that day, it rained meat.
No one has ever been able to explain why meat fell to Earth or whether the stuff was meat at all. If you’d like to read more, check out our article on the Kentucky Meat Shower.
9. Day of No News – April 18, 1930
On April 18, 1930, British people turned on their radios to listen to the BBC evening news. Much to their surprise, there was none.
The announcer simply told the listeners that there had been no news on the day. He then played piano music for 15 minutes before ending the broadcast.
There’s an explanation for the lack of news, though. It being Good Friday, all telegraph stations, wire services, and other sources of information were closed. In the era before the 24-hour news cycle, this meant that no stories had come in on the day.
Still, the people who experienced the Day of No News said they found the experience extremely disorienting.