The ominous event caused a local sensation in Russia’s vast Yakutia region, which spans the majority of the country’s northeast, as inhabitants of the three different locales in the area complained that daylight dwindled at noon and the Sun was mysteriously “turned off” at one point. Simultaneous reports of a sudden darkening over the weekend came from Yakutia’s Verkhoyansk, Zhigansk and Nizhne-Bytantaysk, triggering speculation about the cause of the failing daylight. The details of the event remain contradictory, however.

“When the Sun fell out of sight people started phoning the local administration. Many, especially older people, got spooked,” Konstantin Starostin, head of Nizhne-Bytantaysk told local news site Sakha Day. “It did not come immediately but gradually. The Sun was not visible from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. during the day. We went out on the street especially for it, which many can confirm. Now we don’t even know what to think. We do not have any specialists and the rumors keep multiplying.

“This is some devilry,” local news agency Yakutia 24 declared on Saturday, when readers began to send in photos of the phenomenon sweeping the region. “It was around 11 in the morning and the house was pitch dark,” one local told Sakha Day. “Nothing was visible without electricity. Everyone was walking around with torches on. There was no wind. Being out in the street was impossible.”

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4055372&forum_id=2#36643177)