On this day, Christopher Columbus played a crafty trick on the Arawak Indians on the island that we now know as Jamaica. Marooned on the island with his crew, his ship fatally damaged by a woodworm epidemic, Columbus relied on the native Indians for food and shelter. When the natives eventually grew tired of providing for the foreigners, Columbus and his crew suddenly found themselves facing possible starvation. At this point, Columbus realised that a total lunar eclipse was due that night and warned the Arawaks that his God was angry with them and that the moon would be inflamed with his anger. When the natives saw the blood-red moon that night, they were terrified and continued to provide for Columbus and his crew until they were rescued four months later.
