The Blood-Red Rainbow
Good Friday, March 25th, 1842, was a chilly one in St. John’s—just a degree or two below freezing, with a northeast wind blowing in off the water. By early evening, folks were settling in for the night when something in the sky stopped them in their tracks.
“The western sky was in a blaze of rosette and fire-coloured angry light”
Around 6:20 p.m., as the sun dipped behind the hills, the western sky seemed to catch fire—deep reds and pinks, more intense than any ordinary sunset. The glow was so strong it reflected across the sky and onto the ice-covered sea in the east. Then, just as the last bit of sun disappeared, something even stranger happened—a perfect arch appeared.
It looked like a rainbow, but there were no blues, greens, or yellows. Just red— shades ranging from fiery crimson to soft pink. It was as if a bow of fire stretched across the sky, hanging over the frozen ocean like something out of a nightmare.
Sir R. Bonnycastle, Public Domain, Courtesy of Toronto Public Library
The sighting was recorded by Sir Richard Bonnycastle, a British officer and commanding engineer in Newfoundland. He noted that the night before, the eastern sky had also been streaked with unusual colours—purple and red right down to the horizon.
The red rainbow must have been more than just a striking sunset—after all, he thought it important enough to document. He describes it in detail in his book Newfoundland in 1842, Volume 1.
Bonnycastle believed the bow was simply the sea ice reflecting the sunset, but modern science offers a fuller explanation.
Though rare, red rainbows happen. They form just like regular rainbows but only appear when the Sun is very low in the sky. At these times, sunlight travels a much greater distance through the atmosphere, encountering dust, water, or ice crystals. These particles scatter shorter wavelengths—like blue and green—allowing only the longer red, orange, and pink wavelengths to pass through. Under just the right conditions, a rainbow can form entirely in shades of red.
A red sun pillar over Sailor’s Island, Bonavista Bay
We can’t know for certain that’s what Bonnycastle saw but, whether it was a rare optical phenomenon or something else entirely, one thing is certain: for those who witnessed it, the ‘Blood-Red Rainbow of Good Friday’ it must have been quite a sight to behold.
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Newfoundland in 1842, Vol. 1, Sir R. Bonnycastle, 1842
‘Sign in the Sky’ Offbeat History, The Evening Telegram, March 19, 1958
Sir Richard Bonnycastle, Dictionary of Canadian Biography
Red Rainbows Exist, BBC Sky at Night Magazine
