A black rain fell in Ireland on May 14, 1849 on an area of 400 square miles. It was the color of ink, and “of a fetid odor and very disagreeable taste.” This was described in the Annals of Scientific Discovery, 1850, and the Annual Register, 1849.
–Charles Fort, The Book of the Damned, p. 27 (The Complete Books of Charles Fort, Dover, c1974).