fascinatinghorror

The Carrington Event

Added 2021-03-30 14:15:41 +0000 UTC

One of the things I most enjoyed about researching this video was trawling through newspaper articles from the time describing the effects of the Carrington Event. Part of it is just the style in which they were written - newspapers from that era had such a beautiful way of phrasing things.

Here are a couple of my favourites:

"Now vivid arrows of light of most exceeding brilliancy shot up from the whole northern horizon; and, retreating, would again shoot higher and higher, until they covered the whole sky." - Washington Daily National Intelligencer (September 2, 1859)

"The crown above, indeed, seemed like a throne of silver, purple and crimson, hung and spread out with curtains or wings of dazzling beauty." - Washington Daily National Intelligencer (August 31, 1859)

"It was reserved for our days to have a sage and philosopher to make clear to our comprehension the wonderful mysteries of those lights, which the Scotch know as merry dancers but with which we are more familiar by their Latin name of aurora borealis, to show us that they are nothing more nor less than an industrial exhibition of the upper air, a silkery in the clouds, whereat the magic shuttle ﬂies from horizon to zenith with a speed that leaves electricity lagging far behind..." - New York Herald (September 5th, 1859)

You can read all these accounts and more right here in a research paper that was one of my sources. If you like a gothic turn of phrase it is definitely worth a look!