END OF DAYS? Mystery as sky turns black in the middle of DAY in remote Russian towns with locals blaming secret weapons test, aliens or the DEVIL (BOLTON)
An area bigger than the British isles was plunged into darkness for several hours on Friday - sparking rumours of a meteorite or apocalyptic weapon test
And there are claims the terrifying phenomenon could have been the caused by the dust from a meteorite strike or the test of an apocalyptic weapon.
Other explanations for mystified locals are a UFO, an unreported eclipse, the "work of the devil", or smoke from unidentified wildfires.
Moscow’s defence and meteorological officials have failed to comment on the cloud — which hit three vast mainly Arctic districts in Yakutia region.
There were no reports of meteorites, eclipses or weapons tests - let alone sightings of alien spacecrafts.
A local resident in from Eveno-Bytantaisky said: “Messages are going around about about a light flash registered by the US satellites, followed by increase of radioactive level and unusual activity of the military.
“We are never going to be told is this was true or false.”
Some claimed it could be a “new type of weapon” being tested by the Russian military.
Another source said: “This can only be explained by a UFO.”
Residents reported darkness beginning around 11.30am and lasting almost three hours on Friday.
Gloom descended on Eveno-Bytantaisky, Zhigansky and Verkhoyansky but none of these districts have been hit by wildfires that are raging in other Siberian localities.
The areas are so far north that at this time of year they have virtually 24-hour light — but as one local said: “Day suddenly turned into a dark night”.
Another said: “I couldn’t see a thing without switching lights on.
“We took torches to walk outside, but actually no-one wanted to be on the street because the feeling was as if something heavy in the air was pressing on your chest.”
Accounts spoke of a thick layer of dust after the darkness but this has been denied by some officials, who also expressed doubts that pollution from wildfires was the cause.
A local official in Nizhne-Bytantaisky settlement said: “At first it looked like it was a strong thunderstorm coming.
“The air went dark, and got darker and darker, but this time unlike anything else we have seen before the darkness had a rich yellow undertone."
Konstantin Starostin, head of the settlement, said: "When the sun vanished, people started calling us.
"Many got scared, especially elderly people.
"The sun was gone from 11.30 until 14.00 on Friday 20 July."
Head of Verkhoyansk town Yevgeny Potapov was quoted by The Siberian Times saying: “Something strange happened on that day.”
Almost all Arctic districts reported a significant temperature fall around the time of the daytime darkness.
DID WE MEME TOO HARD LADS?