The story belongs to the Baedeker raids, when the Luftwaffe attacked historic English cities in spring 1942 after the destruction of Lubeck. One account of Durham in the war says that on the night of 30 April 1942 around 38 German bombers crossed the north east coast and raided Newcastle, Sunderland, South Shields and Jarrow. A number of bombs were dropped near Durham, with four falling at Carville on the edge of the city and others at Beamish village, one of which exploded later in the day and killed eight people.
The same account says some residents, including the chief air raid warden George Greenwell, recalled a mist suddenly descending that made the cathedral almost invisible. Many attributed it to divine intervention by St Cuthbert and it became known as St Cuthbert's Mist. A window above the RAF memorial in the cathedral depicts the event.
There is a sceptical view in the sources I read. Greenwell later wrote that although there was a mist in those early hours, the top of the cathedral tower was not covered by it, and he called the mist legend a pretty story for the guidebook. A Durham haunted places directory gives the date as 30 May 1942, which looks like an error for the 30 April or 1 May raid.
I have tagged this traditional. The raid and the bombs near Durham are documented; the miraculous mist is a belief with a named, doubtful eyewitness on each side.
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