When the Day Turns Dark... for a second

Below are a few accounts per chapter, as examples for each category. For a phenomenon that is virtually unknown, there seems to be plenty of people experiencing it. This should really concern us, and a further investigation should be done. To prevent this article to be too long and cumbersome, I have more accounts on a separate page. If you are interested in reading more, go to When the Day Turns Dark... for a second: additional stories.

When it happens to one single person, one can still argue that it might be of a biological origin.

I remember back in high school, I was in class and looking out the window. Then for a split-second, the sky went dark/black. I don't think I was the only one who witnessed this because I asked my classmate if they saw that, they said they did. I thought it was a really strange occurrence. Ever since, I never thought about it much. Does anyone have similar experiences? (Reddit)

When more than one person at the same time have the same experience, then this precludes that it might have been a medical issue. The phenomenon must come from the outside and affects the people; or the annihilation of light is happening around them.

This phenomenon finally happened to my daughter and me on January 6 of this year in the Mid-Atlantic region. My daughter was home during the day. It was around 11-ish. She was home from school with a cold, and we were in her bedroom playing a board game and suddenly it was pitch black for just a moment for both of us. She gave a startled exclamation asking me what just happened. I told her I had no idea but I certainly had heard of it before thanks to this forum. It was about the span of an eye blink but in a very bright room lit by two large windows set into two different walls. If you blink your eye normally you still experience brightness through your lids. We experienced pitch blackness. So much so that it was startling even for such a short duration.
I'm more inclined to believe there was some phenomenon that interfered with how our brains process sensory input than that there was some natural phenomenon involving the sun or the atmosphere. (Above Top Secret, reply to a post)

Same thing happened to me but it was a fraction of a second, I thought I just blinked but then a friend asked me if I saw the lights go out. The world is weird place I guess. (Reddit, reply to a post)

This happened to my wife and I about 10 years ago we live in Merseyside, England. We were in the back garden cleaning up when suddenly it went pitch black. I couldn't see anything or hear anything for a split-second. My wife said what just happened it went black did you see that. It was a hot sunny afternoon about 1 pm blue sky, no clouds at all, no birds, no planes. No explanation for that split-second of darkness. If it only happened to one of us we could put it down to something physical, but we both experienced it at the same time.
We are glad we are not the only people to have had this happened to. (Above Top Secret, reply to a post)

We were lying down and suddenly everything went black for a brief moment. About the same amount of time as blinking your eyes, except our eyes were open. We didn't say anything about it right away, but I started rubbing my eyes afterward trying to figure out if there was something in my eye. Then after a moment of silence I asked about it and my friend confirmed seeing it too. There was no way that the light sources could have been obscured and any light coming from outside was coming from an inaccessible area on a sunny day with no clouds.

This post had several comments from other people who had the same experience. So, it is not an isolated event:

*The same experience happened to me and a relative once, a few months ago. Neither of us have any idea what it was.

*I've also experienced this with a friend! We were lying on a beach on a sunny day. We thought it had something to do with the sun being on its highest point. In Finland the sun is right above in the middle of summer.

*This exact thing happened to me and a friend as well. We were watching TV one day and the universe blinked. For about half a second there was no light from the TV or the window behind us. I figured it was just me until he asked if I experienced it too. I have never come up with an explanation. I can't remember if my hearing went out with it.

*Happened to me, too, and friend when we were teenagers. Haven't had it happen in several years, now. No explanation.

*I experienced this too situation too, many times in the years. I always thought that it was a problem of mine, and I didn't care much about asking if anybody else (when I wasn't alone at least) had experienced the same. From what I can say, this strange "moment of blackness" isn't related to any specific time of the day and location on Earth...

So I live in Los Angeles, and I was walking home with a friend earlier today, clear skies, very bright. All of a sudden everything goes dark for a second, like when a light flickers and you’re not sure whether it was the lights or you blinking. So I say ‘What tf was that’ and my buddy goes ‘oh shit you saw that too??’ No one else around us seemed to react, then we get home and tell my roommate, and he says that the exact same thing happened to him a couple days before. (Reddit)

This is something that has happened to me twice now, and they are from when I was a child. Now before you go on and hit and me with the fact that I was a kid my brother was there as well and is older. I'm not sure if this is crazy interesting or anything but I feel strange whenever I think about it. I was in the car with my brother when I was about 10 and he was 20. We were driving when suddenly it was as if the sky had just blinked. As if like, the entire world just went totally black for the exact amount of time as a blink. Now obviously I'm describing a general blink here but I swear to you I did not blink. You don't notice it when you blink, and the only reason I did was because I didn't blink. Now this isn't exactly too crazy but here's the fun part. I was young and it genuinely made me curious so I asked out loud if my brother had seen that and he freaking had! He couldn't believe that whatever that was, he felt it too. He felt the exact same thing, just everything going black for a split-second. I have another story like this but to keep it short Ill only say this one since it strikes me as the craziest one. Has anybody experienced something like this? I can't seem to find anything online about it, thank you!

It was daytime and we were in the car, while he was driving. It was so quick it didn't affect him or anything. According to him, he noticed it and just thought it was a strange but never said anything. It was only when I said something that obviously he got freaked out because we both saw it. I don't even really think it went to night, it was like a genuine pitch black. (Reddit)

This is even more mysterious, as the boy experienced total darkness at home, and at the same time, his sister experienced the same at the store, but not the mother who was with her (unless the mother didn't want to tell her):

About two years ago I was at home alone watching YouTube videos when suddenly everything went dark for about a second or two. Now it might seem ok just a power outage but it makes no sense since it was the middle of the day, I was in my kitchen witch is a very well lit area and the darkness was total, I could see nothing. I texted my brother and sister in our group chat asking them if they had experienced something at the same time. I’m pretty logical, so I looked for other views immediately. My brother was at work and said I was imagining things, my sister in the other hand was at the store with my mom and experienced the same thing. She asked my mom if she experienced it too but my mom said nothing had happened. All of this brought back a memory from first grade where I remember laying my head on the desk at school, closing my eyes and afterwards being outside of my classroom standing in line going to an assembly or something. I still wonder if that short blackout was the same as what I experienced as a child but I’m 100 percent both happened. (Reddit)

This happened yesterday around midnight. Me, my sisters and two of our boyfriends where driving to go spend time at my older sister's house which we occasionally do during the weekends. As we were driving I saw the whole world go black for like 2 second. For those 2 second The sky was black, the street was black, there were absolutely no lights at all just pitch black. I would have left this up as me blinking (even though it didn't feel like that), however, I wasn't the only one who experienced it. 3/5 saw it happened too, and we freaked out. We were trying to make some rational thought as to what had happened and the two who didn't see it thought it was maybe a street light going out but it wasn't just one area that went dark it was everything even at a distance. (Reddit)

I had an eerily similar experience about 25 years ago. I was driving with my mom and sister in the car and as we approached a stoplight, suddenly everything went black - there were no lights anywhere - not on cars, streetlights houses, just absolutely complete darkness and it lasted probably what seemed to be about 3 seconds or so. My mom and sister and I looked at each other after the light returned, and we all asked each other "did you see that?" To this day we talk about it and wonder what could have happened that all three of us had the exact same experience. I've been hoping to find someone else who may have experienced this and can explain it. (Above Top Secret, reply to a post)

Early November last year, I was sitting with a group of friends outside on a sunny, cloudless day in a shaded area and the same thing happened. I was in the middle of speaking when everything went pitch black for a split-second, which made me stop what I was saying for a moment.
I continued talking, thinking little of it, but because I had paused someone from the group looked at me and said "Wait, did you see that too?"; at which point everyone there said they saw it. That was five people.
It's fascinated me ever since, but no one has been able to tell me what it was. And I can't be called crazy because I wasn't the only one who saw it. I wish I had an answer, but I can tell you it certainly wasn't a plane. (Above Top Secret, reply to a post)

About a year ago, at a summer camp, my group had gone out to a day of outdoor activity. Given, this had a team bonding focus, so this was the one big day entirely spent outside. While we were walking between activities, in the middle of the day, the bright forest suddenly turned dark. It was almost like a light switch had been flipped off. Almost immediately after the sky went dark, it turned on again. I actually looked up and saw that there were no trees above me and the sky was as black as night. My entire group and our counselors did a double take. We all saw this and also, I live in California, so there were no clouds in the sky. (Reddit)

Same happened to me. I was playing catch with my niece in the garden, when everything went dark and then returned to normal almost immediately. We both noticed it, so it definitely happened. Not sure what could have caused it.

This keeps me up at night until the point where I force myself to take a melatonin just to sleep off the memory. I am currently in my junior year of high school, and this story took place in 8th grade. Old enough to make the right decisions (somewhat), but young enough to still enjoy playing on some playgrounds.

I was a hard-working kid and aimed for the best grades I could get from teachers who can't teach for shit. I averaged at a B and I got hell if I brought home a back grade. I spent most of my time trying to study and keep up with my social life, so I would to get together with friends and go to the park. The park that we mainly went to had a jungle gym that was like a geometric dome coming out of the wood chips. We would climb on it and goof around, play 'King of the hill' to see who could make up the fasted.

One day, we decided to head to our favourite park and mess around on the jungle gym. It was about 5pm or so, so there was plenty of light. We played a game of king of the hill and one of my friends won and then invited the rest of us up. As we sat on the dome, we notice some of the kids trying to climb up, and we let them as long as they didn't disturb us or be annoying little toddlers. My friends and I decided we should go home before 6 and started to climb down, and then all I saw was black. Roughly 2 seconds later, I'm able to see again, and what I see are little kids running away from the dome screaming and crying like they were cast in Chainsaw Massacre. My friends and I looked at each other, and we all had a freaked out look on our faces that clearly stated 'What the fuck'.

We talked about it afterwards, and we still talk about it to this day. I never knew what happened and I honestly don't want to know. All I know for sure, is that those little kids, my friends, and I, are scarred for life. (Reddit)

OK, so about two years ago in school my friends and I were sitting at a table outside our cafeteria, where there were a couple of other tables. It was like 12 in the afternoon, a sunny day, nothing weird had happened. Then my vision all of a sudden blacked out. Like pitch black, I couldn't even see the outlines of stuff like you can in a dark room. Right when I began wondering if I had passed out, my vision went back to normal. The kids at the other tables were still being loud as highschoolers usually are, but everyone at my table was silent. Then my friend was like "did...did the lights just shut off? Outside??" Trying to make sense of it. And then everyone at my table, like 5 or 6 people, was asking each other if their vision had just blacked out also. It was really weird, so none of us have talked about it since.

Basically, everyone at my table's vision went black for a few seconds.

I have literally no idea what could have caused this, since we were sitting outside in broad daylight. I can't find anything about it online either. Any ideas? (Reddit)

Holy crap, I can't believe I finally found something about this online, other people that this actually happened to! To tell you the truth, the first post gave me goosebumps because when it happened to me, I was in elementary school, outside, in line, also coming in from recess.
It was in Brockton, Massachusetts. I was in either fifth or sixth grade which would have made it 1985 or 1986. I'm certain it was one of those two years because I was in a special class for nerds which started in fourth grade, and a kid in the nerd class a grade below me said "hey, who turned out the lights" when it happened. I wish now that I had talked with him about it, but back then I couldn't stand his guts (addendum, I still can't stand him). At least his comment confirmed for me though, that it actually happened.
For me, life went pitch black, and then sun came back before the crappy kid finished his sentence. I remember it clear as day. I remember where I was standing, which direction I was looking, and I remember that I had time to look around, like I was looking to see where 'it' went. It was a sunny, warm day, I remember I didn't have on a jacket. It definitely made a huge impression on me. I can't tell you how stinking thrilled I am to find more people that this happened to!
What happened MOST DEFINITELY was not an airplane. (Above Top Secret, reply to a post)

Hello I created my account for the sole purpose of replying to this post. I am 23 years old and it happened when I was in elementary school at recess. I would say I was in the 5th grade. I live in NEW YORK!!! The whole class was outside during recess and for a few seconds everything went black...and I mean black black. It happened so fast and everyone especially the teachers were just in utter disbelief at what just happened. It lasted no longer than 2 to 3 seconds tops and it went from a sunny beautiful day to pitch black to the point where you were basically blind. You couldn't even see arms length from your body. It was by far the craziest thing I have ever experienced. I switched schools plenty of times, never kept in touch with my childhood friends, teachers etc, so anyone who I tell this story to has no clue what I'm talking about, as if it never happened, so I searched Google and this is the first thing I've seen even slightly similar to what happened when I was younger. People can joke and say what you like about everything I've said but I know for an undeniable fact that this really happened (but if you say it was a plane you better come with hard evidence including an explanation on how a plane can completely cover the entire sun swallowing all light and I mean ALL LIGHT) (Above Top Secret, reply to a post)

I realize how ridiculous this sounds but I vow I am telling the truth. When I was in, I think fourth grade, we were standing outside, near the playground waiting for our teacher to fetch us for class. The way our school worked is the bell would ring and then the teachers would come walk us to the classroom. This was in the morning before school began. Anyway everyone was chatting, it was very loud, suddenly it became pitch black. I mean pitch black, you could see nothing. It also fell dead silent, I assume because everyone was scared. It didn't last long but long enough for me to realize I couldn't feel my body and wonder if anyone else was still there with me. Then everything was back to normal and people were chatting loudly again, except me and a friend across from me who had been talking before it happened. She looked very frightened and it took me a minute to muster up the courage to ask her, "Did that really just happen?" She said, "Yes, laughed nervously, and then said, "Let's not talk about it ever again." I'm always really uneasy when I remember this. My heart starts pounding and I feel nervous. I'm curious of anyone else has experienced something like that? (Reddit)

It gets really intriguing when it happens more than one time to a person. What are the chances that a rare phenomenon happens to one person more than once, or in his immediate vicinity? Is there a connection to specific people?

Thanks for reporting this incident. This is the largest number of people I've heard about experiencing that phenomenon at the same time. I've experienced it in the company of another person at least twice. (Reddit, reply to a post)

In the following account, the poster tells us that he has experienced it more than once, and even a person next to him.

I have experienced something similar over the years.
Sometimes by myself, some others with people around me.
At the beginning I always asked, did you see it? But as time goes by I stopped asking and paying attention to it. But 5 days ago I was talking with my boss when he suddenly stopped talking, and then he asked me, did you see it?
At that precise moment I didn't see anything, then he described me the same exact thing that I have witnessed before and it is pretty much the same thing that Jimjolnir described. And now doing some research about that I found this thread.
I don't have any answer or explanation regarding that. Because as I said I stopped asking and for some reason stopped thinking about it. Now I'm really interested in this matter. (Above Top Secret, reply to a post)

I know this was an old post but I wanted to reply because I have experienced this 'visual blackout' a few times myself. I'm so relieved to hear I'm not alone on this strange phenomenon! I live in the southwest of England, where I experienced this, about 3 times now I've noticed. The third being a couple of days ago. Was around midday, the other times I don't recall what time of day but was broad daylight. Same as Jimjolnir posted, lasted a split-second, if you'd blink you would have missed it. (Above Top Secret, reply to a post)

An airplane flying in front of the sun, can cast a shadow, but not a total blackout of all light. I found two reports of hearing the sound of an airplane flying over when the total darkness appeared. Coincidence with no significance, or can the phenomenon also produce a sound that resembles that of an airplane?

I live in a little town called Waterfall in Durban, South Africa. The following is something myself and at least two others experienced around 3 hours ago now.
Between 12:00PM and 12:30PM today, 21 Feb, my Mom and I were talking in the kitchen when something strange happened. For a split-second everything went dark. Outside as well as in. The electricity, the sun, all light dissipated! It is a cloudless, sunny, summer day. I don't want to speculate too much but it was as if we jumped dimensions. We both looked outside and then at each other.
I asked my Mom, "Did you see that?"
she said, "Yes! What the (expletive) was that?!"
I don't know if it is relevant, but a plane was flying overhead.
I followed my Mom outside, the plane went so fast that it was gone before we could catch a glimpse.
(I just went to confirm things with my Mom, my aunt just arrived, she says she experienced the same thing at the same time. She lives over the hill from us, almost from where the plane would have flown. It came from the north.)
My mom and I both felt a little funny, our eyes and stomach especially. Nothing crazy, almost a little faint. That lasted a few seconds. Strange.
In addition to this story, I experienced the same thing when I was 14, 10 years ago. I was in standard 7 and in a second floor classroom, sitting at a table with 5 other people. The same thing happened.
Everything went dark. We looked up at each other and the question arose, "did you see that?". Some say they just blinked, others swore, like me and my friend Ross, that we hadn't. I looked around and I thought other students noticed it too. A lot of them were looking around. I asked a lot of them about it after class, some say they experienced it while others weren't sure, or were sure they had blinked.
This happened again about a week or two later (if memory serves me well). After a recess period while lining up before going back to class, my friend Ross and I were talking, and we both experienced a black out.
So, I've experienced this outside as well as in and with multiple witnesses and I, and others, have no clue as to what can cause this. (Above Top Secret)

This happened to me within the last few days during the heat wave here in San Diego, I think it was Monday, June 20. My incident was almost exactly like that of the original poster, and is also why I created this account. It was late morning/early afternoon, and I was sitting in the living room with my roommate. As we heard what sounded like a loud plane going overhead we suddenly saw the entire house go dark from all windows. It was as though the sun was blocked completely by a gigantic passing vessel, and the entire sky thrown into shade. This only lasted a second. We both immediately acknowledged that something weird happened as we were facing different windows, and they all got dark simultaneously. A second later everything was bright again. I ran out front to look up and while I could still hear what sounded like a loud plane, I could see nothing in the sky but it sounded like the "plane" was already passing and on the back side of my house. We went out to the backyard but still were too slow to see any plane-- though we could hear the noise of the vessel fading quickly away. There was not a cloud in the sky. (Above Top Secret)

The following is really interesting because the witness could not even see the light from the gas burners inside the house. This shows that the phenomenon is not only about a sudden darkness in the normal sense, but about not being able to perceive light. This could be due to an interference of the optical nerve, or a cancellation of light waves in the environment.

The same thing happened to me in the mid 60's.
Mom and I were in the kitchen. The stove was GAS and fires were burning on the burners (cooking at the time.)
It went 100% BLACK, inside and outside. I could see the large sliding glass doors from where I was standing.
I asked "What happened?"
Mom replied simply, "Must have been an airplane blocking the sun."
"I didn't hear a plane." I replied.
"Don't argue with me." Was her reply.
Me - "But ..." "Did you see it?"
Mom - "Of course not. It was dark. I couldn't see anything. Maybe the power went off ... Probably a cloud blocked the sun."
Me - "But the sun went out too and I never saw a cloud make it completely dark." Mom - "Shut up and get back to work."
But even the fires on the GAS burners were out!
Parents back then would never admit they didn't know the answer.

P.S. It was several seconds ... long enough for me to feel the room divider and walk toward the sliding glass door a few steps. And it was Summer and 100% clear, sunny day around 2-3 PM in Texas, USA. (Above Top Secret, reply to a post)

Consider this, the lights over an entire island went out, making it pitch black (of course it is not one of those airplanes he mentions):

I was maybe 12 years old and with family at a beach. One of those low-flying planes displaying advertisements flew by and it must have blocked the sun in this ever-so-perfect way such that the entire beach went pitch black all at once. Like the sun went out for a couple seconds. Poof. And its darkness wasn't a small shadow; it was the absence of light over the entire island. (Reddit)

The following was experienced by three people, and the writer mentioned that it has also happened three times at his house. Another example that it might be a local earth phenomenon. Interestingly, in this case the sky was black, but the light was dimmed underneath. Maybe the annihilation of light can also be partial.

I’m not the best at introduction sentences or anything, so I’ll get right to it. I’ve lived in the same area for many years now, I’m used to stuff like people yelling and arguing, seeing random cats etc. But back in July it was the first time I saw the entire sky go black. Not exaggerating or anything. The entire sky was black. Here’s how it happened.

It was early July, my mother, brother and I were all outside on the back patio like we typically are during summer. It was around ten in the morning, and we were all just talking about random stuff. I specifically remember where I was sitting, and I was looking at my mother while she was talking. The way our patio is set up it’s basically two feet of a cement perimeter around us and screens. So I can easily see our backyard.

Well as we were talking out of nowhere it just happened. The sky turned black. My mother, brother and I all just stopped talking and looked outside and although it was dark and black out we could still see everything fine, everything was just dimmed and the sky was black.

I immediately called my sister after we all saw the sky literally black. The sky went back to normal and after we all let what we witnessed just sit with us I called her. My sister only lives less than a mile away and I knew she had been outside walking her dog. I was freaking out because it was such an odd thing to have happened, and she said she saw nothing and everything looked normal to her.

My family and I were so confused and had no words about what happened we all just sat there, after I called my sister. This has happened twice since then and I’m so baffled when it happens. It only lasts a few seconds but it feels like forever. No one else has ever seen it besides my family who was present when it happened. Has anyone else seen anything like this or gone through a similar experience??

It has happened one time when I was alone and that was recently. The other time I was with my brother again. (Reddit)

*I think it once happened to me, it was about afternoon, I was with my mom and a brother, I wasn't looking outside but my mom and brother were, I saw all light flicker for less than half a second, I thought it was just me and I blinked, my mom and brother lost their minds. They both saw the sky go black at the same time.

This one is also different, in that the immediate area is dark black, but he can see the light coming from a faraway place. This would exclude an interference of the human energy system, or of the brain. In regard to other experiences, this one lasted a long time.

I'm in United Kingdom, England, in a place called Shinewater which is within Eastbourne.
It is now about 9.20 am and relativity bright, and the sky just went dark around this area, like night time dark, but no stars or clouds just pitch black...Quite a few people saw this so I'm not hallucinating...My neighbour believes it was a sudden eclipse but wouldn't that make everywhere else dark?
I could clearly see the area known as "The Downs" which is a rough bunch of high hills and it was not dark over there from what I could see.. it seemed like the light within about a .... a mile radius perhaps? just simply went dark, and I could very clearly see The Downs alight with natural light...the downs being quite a relatively high landmark you can see them from quite afar.
This may sound mad but it was like, kinda like...The sky was cracked almost. Like what i was seeing wasn't our sky...it was odd and there was a really eerie feeling going on, but I guess that's just human nature when faced with something unknown. (Above Top Secret)

The following is really strange, as the darkness was only outside, not inside the house:

When I was a kid (like maybe 7 or 8 years old, I'm not sure) I saw the same thing. I was sitting at my kitchen table eating cereal before school (the chair I always sat in faced the huge window we have in our kitchen) and I was looking outside when all of a sudden everything went entirely dark. I thought maybe I just blinked and was being stupid, but the inside of my house didn't go dark, just outside. I try not to think about it. (Comment on Reddit post)

The following experience also points to a local phenomenon interacting with the human energy system, as the people involved also experienced drastic changes to their consciousness. The term Tripping Balls is an expression used to indicate that the speaker is under the heavy influence of a psychedelic drug.

My friend was about 12 at the time, his brother around 14. They were walking through the woods, a part they had never been to before. They came across a very small creek, maybe 3-4 feet wide and 6-12 in. deep. My friend's brother jumped across it first, and immediately as he hit the ground on the other side, he started tripping balls. My friend asked him WTF happened. He described it as like hitting a wall of darkness. The second his feet hit the ground, he said a flash of darkness completely obscured his vision for a few seconds, like a hand was covering his eyes for a small period of time. My friend then decided to jump across. Nothing happened to him. They continued on for a bit, then decided to turn back. Following their tracks (it was winter), they came to the exact spot in the creek where they crossed before. My friend's brother decided to jump first again, in hopes that his previous experience will be re-enacted. It happened again, the flash of darkness and everything. He started trippin' balls again. At this point my friend thought he was on crack or something, and decided to jump across. That's when it happened to him, too. They both tripped balls all the way back home. (Reddit, comment to a post)