Darkness Came Over the Land

So there are several verses in the gospels that talk about the darkening of the sky as Jesus was being crucified.

At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”) - Mark 15

From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). - Matthew 27

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. - Luke 23

Just poetic nonsense, right? Well, turns out we can confirm this.

Colin J. Humphreys and W.G. Waddington, writing in the prestigious British journal Nature, present fresh evidence that the Crucifixion took place on the first Friday of April, 33, based on a calculation that a partial eclipse of the moon could be seen in Jerusalem on that date. Humphreys and Waddington say that this eclipse appeared to be "blood red" and followed a dust storm that "darkened the sun," just as the apostles said in the Gospels. - Washington Post

Seems that we can line this up perfectly. This eclipse happened. Visible in Jerusalem. On a Friday. Just as Sabbath (and Passover) was beginning, and the sacrificial animals had been slaughtered in the temple, as the Gospel of John describes.

The Oxford scientists say the sun turned to darkness April 3, 33, because, according to accounts in Roman literature, a massive dust storm occurred that day. So much dust was spewed into into the air from the storm that it caused the moon to look blood-red when it became visible to Jerusalem residents late in the day.

"Our calculations show that this eclipse was visible from Jerusalem at moonrise," Humphreys and Waddington write, contradicting scholars who thought the eclipse occurred out of sight of Jerusalem. "The moon rose above the Jerusalem horizon at about 6:20 p.m. (the start of the Jewish Sabbath and of Passover in 33) with about 20 percent of its disc eclipsed, and the eclipse finished some 30 minutes later at 6:50 p.m."