By Shetan Noir
WKTV Community Contributor
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The brass sound of a bell ringing 29 times can be heard outside of the Mariner’s church of Detroit.
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It happens every Nov. 10 in honor of the lives lost when the Edmund Fitzgerald sank. But that day has since become a Memorial Day for all lives lost to maritime disasters.
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Places like the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, near Whitefish Point in Michigan’s upper peninsula, give tribute to the wrath of the Great Lakes storms, the ships that have been wrecked and all the lives that were lost.
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The Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle also provides a memorial called the Annual Lost Mariners remembrance. This is the 21st year of the event.
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The Great Lakes are well known for violent storms with some gales being so destructive that the loss of lives and ships is unimaginable.
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The Alpena Gale storm that was also called the White Hurricane of 1913 or the “Big Blow” swept through all the Great Lakes from Nov. 7 to 10 in 1913. More than 250 lives were lost to the watery depths, 19 ships were destroyed and another 19 were left stranded.
The side paddle steamer Alpena was one of those ships caught in the storm.
Her name is now associated with the storm that wrecked her.
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On Nov. 10, 1975, the Edmund Fitzgerald was claimed by the Gales of Lake Superior , her companion ship the the SS Arthur M. Anderson was only a short distance behind her when the 35-foot high waves swallowed the Edmund Fitzgerald down.
A song once claimed that the Lakes never give up their dead when the skies of November turn gloomy. Whether its the North wind or the witch of November that comes calling the Great Lakes Gichi-gami, michi-gami, karegnondi , erielhonan and ontarí’io all respond the same with white capped waves raising up like gravestones and winds that break mast and sails.
So in honor of those lost to maritime disasters, the bells ring 29 times in November.
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Shetan Noir is a Michigan based author and weird travels journalist.
She teaches classes on the paranormal history of the Great Lakes at local community colleges. Noir is available for podcast, radio and television appearances and can be contacted at shetannoir@yahoo.com.
