The tornado of 1821
(Book)

Includes (as Appendix A.) the short story, "The fisherman of Lake Sunapee", first published in "The living age" (volume 78) in September 26, 1863. The story has been attributed to Charles Dickens, but authorship can't be proven. It is "apparently the only prose fiction ever written about the Tornado of 1821."

Includes bibliographical references.

"In New Hampshire late on a Sunday afternoon in September 1821 a tornado blasted its way from the Connecticut River to the Merrimack in a single hour by way of Lake Sunapee and Mount Kearsarge. It was part of a rapidly advancing, 300-mile front of severe thunderstorms that stretched from Canada practically down to New York City. A dozen years of 'strange portents and lurking malignancies' preceded the Tornado of 1821 -- a comet, strong earthquakes, half a dozen years of mysterious spotted fever which killed hundreds of victims often within hours of the first symptoms, lesser tornadoes, a hurricane as powerful as the 1938 storm, brutally severe winters, killing frosts every month in 'the year without a summer,' and uncommon displays of the aurora borealis. An 1821 eclipse of the sun occurred on August 27th. It was followed a week later by a hurricane that barely missed New Hampshire, just six days before the tornado struck"--Back cover.