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Christopher Columbus’ Lunar Eclipse, and Other Brazen Bluffs From History

Khalid Elhassan February 20, 2025 14 min

Bluff - Christopher Columbus and the 1504 lunar eclipse — Christopher Columbus and the 1504 lunar eclipse. Science Photo Library

10. The Journey From Real Life to Overused Fiction Device

The hero saves his life by predicting an eclipse in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Flickr

Columbus’ experience with Jamaica’s indigenous people gave rise to numerous fictional variations in the centuries since. Mark Twain, for example, had his protagonist in A Connecticut Yankee in King’s Arthur’s Court predict a solar eclipse to save himself from getting burned at the stake. H. Rider Haggard used it in King Solomon’s Mines to have his hero secure help from natives by predicting a lunar eclipse. However, for all its overuse in fiction and film, the trope has a basis in fact, based on an event that actually did happen at least once in real life.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.