10. The end of the world is nigh, July 1816
In Europe, the rapidly failing crops in the early weeks of the summer of 1816 were but one problem. Another was the prognostications of astronomers, still convinced that the dark spots visible against the face of the sun were indications of extraordinary solar activity. Around the time of the summer solstice, an Italian astronomer predicted the activity surrounding the sun was an indication that the life-giving orb was about to extinguish itself, bringing an end to life on Earth. He was the first of many to sound the alarm. A Catholic priest in Naples announced that the earth was about to end in a hail of fire, descending from the dissolving sun. The Neapolitan authorities decided it best to incarcerate him. By mid-July, reports of the end times having arrived in England, the London Times editorialized that they were simply the tales of old women.
When citizens of the Belgian town of Ghent overheard the sound of a nearby regiment of cavalry sounding the evening retreat with their trumpets, some of the locals decided the sound was that of the Seventh Trumpet from the Book of Revelation, and their enlightened interpretation led to mass panic. “It was not without infinite trouble that the cause of this extraordinary terror was discovered”, reported the Times in London. It was only the beginning of religious panic which accompanied the weather disaster. According to the Times, the Italian predictions of the end of the world had, “produced great dread in the minds of some, so that they neglected all business”. Prophecies by Italians, no matter how dismal, carried little weight in the United States, where American bred seers were soon issuing dire prophecies of their own.