How about a huge asteroid very close to the earth?
"How about a huge asteroid very close to the earth?"
I've read an account from the middle ages, during the period of the Black Death, that have been interpreted as just that, a close pass by a large asteroid. "Awesome in its blackness," with wild tidal disruptions, and it reportedly made a horrible sound. I wish I could recall where I read this, but it was originally written in English, so that pins it down somewhat. This New England report does not match up with that; volcanic ash seems more plausible.
I'm thinking one of those big ships from the movie "Independence Day." A scout ship.
The darkness lasted too long ... unless an extremely odd orbital path allowed it to sweep past inward then outward of the Sun, changing direction within the earth's orbit and tracking somewhat wiht the earth's path around the Sun.