At about 1:30 PM on a hot, still afternoon, thunder clouds built up rapidly and a black funnel cloud appeared northwest of town. The air filled with dust and flying debris as the cyclone lifted the 1859 Phineas Pendleton House across the street eight inches into the air and dropped it back on its foundation, took the steeple off the Methodist Church, threw a cow into the bay, and picked up a barn while leaving the car inside. After other strange happenings, it moved out to sea and caused a water spout fifty feet high. The Havener house on this site was photographed before and after its destruction, and the earlier photograph had been taken the day before the cyclone as part of a common local custom for proud owners to have professional photographs made of their homes.