Cold Cases, Calendrical

The Missing Days Commission

Case Open CASE NO. 1752-09 · ELEVEN DAYS · LAST SEEN: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1752

On the evening of September 2, 1752, the people of Britain and its colonies went to bed. They woke on September 14. The days of September 3 through 13 were never seen again. No bodies were recovered, because no days occurred in which to recover them.

The official account blames the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750, which moved Britain from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, deleting eleven days to correct a drift of centuries. The Commission accepts this account and keeps the case open anyway, on principle.

Evidence

Exhibit A

Every Unix system ships with a witness. Run "cal 9 1752" on a terminal near you and it will testify, as it has for fifty years, without being asked twice.

Exhibit A · Terminal output · Unmodified
$ cal 9 1752
   September 1752
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
       1  2 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
The gap between 2 and 14 is not a rendering error. It is the scene of the incident, preserved in every POSIX system as a matter of record.

The Commission notes that this is one of the few crime scenes that can be visited from any laptop, and asks visitors not to touch anything, particularly the locale settings.

Public appeal

Have you seen these days?

Descriptions follow. All eleven were Julian, of average length, and answered to ordinal names. Reward for information: eleven days, payable in kind, never.

Records service

Verify a date against the British record

Enter any date. The Commission will confirm whether it occurred in Britain and its colonies, or whether it is among the missing.

Related files

Adjacent incidents