A Bell Tolls for the Dead

What Remains and What Lingers

Did Asselin capture one of the ships of the legendary "Ghost Fleet of the Great Lakes" or was it simply fata morgana?

Your perspective likely falls on the scale of the fantastic or science - most people will land in one of these two camps. 

Marina Warner, the author of Phantasmagoria, explains fata morgana from a scientific perspective. She states:

"At work here is some basic physics. When the sun heats up the atmosphere above [a large body of water], it creates a gradient of temperatures: near the surface, it’s still relatively cool because the water is chilling that air, but sitting above that is a layer of warmer air. Now, light doesn't always travel in a straight line. When it hits a boundary between two layers of the atmosphere that are different temperatures (and therefore different densities), it bends and travels through the new layer at a different angle. This is known as refraction. The change in the light's angle of travel depends on the difference in density between the two layers."

Light refraction happens in the atmosphere because of the water vapor in the atmosphere. In this case, it is not too surprising that Asselin noticed a rainbow before the "ghost ship." A rainbow appears because of how light is refracted through water droplets in the air. 

It makes sense that the image he and his friend witnessed was something much more tangible than ethereal. In many ways, the refracted light is a lot like the mirages of water you might see on the road during a hot day while you are driving. 

Regarding fata morgana, Warner continues:

"In the case of a fata morgana mirage, light reflecting from a distant object such as a ship is bent downward as it passes through the colder, denser air near the surface of the ocean (or sometimes cold land, particularly ice). But your brain places the object where it would be if the light came to you in a straight path—higher than it actually is. This bending effect can even work with the curvature of the Earth if conditions are just right, which is why some fata morgana images can actually be refracted cities and ships from beyond the horizon." 

The examples below demonstrate the difference between fata morgana (or a superior mirage) and what you'd see on a hot day on asphalt (or an inferior mirage). 

So, it seems, in this case, science prevails. 

And, yet, legends, lore, and stories live on through stories people share huddled around late-night campfires and even on national television programs like Discovery Channel's "Expedition X."

On September 22, 2021, in Season 4, Episode 4, "Graveyard of the Great Lakes" aired in which scientists, paranormal experts, and a film crew explored the phenomena and claims surrounding some of the shipwrecks and mysterious accounts shared at Whitefish Point, just north of nearby Paradise in Michigan's upper peninsula.

The Whitefish Point Lighthouse is placed among the infamous shipwreck coast of Lake Superior. This lighthouse is located at the point where all ships entering and exiting have to pass. 

Due to this, people have said that the souls of the lost crewmates in the shipwrecks are stuck in limbo, residing at Whitefish Point Lighthouse. 

Over time, there have been many reports of scary activity. Most common being muffled voices and locked doors swinging open. In the 2000s, a psychic paid a visit to the lighthouse. They predicted about 50 spirits that haunt the lighthouse property. 

In 2007, the Upper Peninsula Paranormal Research Society did an investigation at Whitefish Point Lighthouse. There, one of the videographers had gotten very creeped out when they heard an eerie voice of a woman in a room with no people. As they finished up their investigation, they said "There certainly is unexplained activity at Whitefish Point."

Regardless of where your perspective lies on the scale of the fantastic and scientific, the Whitefish Point Lighthouse and Museum regularly attracts interested visitors.

Restoring the Bell. Remembering the Dead.

In 1995, family members of the twenty-nine crew members that lost their lives on the Edmund Fitzgerald made the decision to raise the Fitzgerald’s bell out of the deep waters of Lake Superior. The bell had been originally installed in 1958, and was used by the crew to signal the ship’s whereabouts in conditions that made it hard to see them. 

To get the bell out of the water, the Canadian ship, Cormorant, sent out two submarines with divers in special suits that allowed them to stay underwater for many hours. Blow torches were used to unbind the brass bell from its position in the sunken pilot house. 

Upon raising the bell, people watching nearby applauded as they saw it for the first time in years. The families found some closure as they now have raised the valuable momento above water. 

Unfortunately, the bell had sustained damage in the form of iron corrosion, rusting, and paint chipping. It needed some pretty serious restoration and the process began. 

The bell was scrubbed and surface corrosion was chipped off before it was placed in a formic acid bath. This got the sulfide and rust off the bell. The cleaners then did a few more soaks with the bell in a distilled water and baking soda mixture. A quick powerwash finally removed all the tarnish on the bell’s surface. The bell was now able to be buffed out, making the cleaning process complete. 

After the thorough cleaning, the bell was coated with six layers of lacquer and painted with the same original paint it had in the very beginning. The name Edmund Fitzgerald was painted in black letters. Lastly, a shiny finish to the bell was added. 

For the bell’s clapper, they used the original rope. After restoration, the bell weighed about two hundred pounds and is twenty-one and a half inches in diameter at its base. 

Annually, on November 10th, the bell is used in a bell-ringing ceremony. Ringing twenty-nine times for each person that passed on the Edmund Fitzgerald in remembrance. The Edmund Fitzgerald bell; a tangible reminder of the tragedy and a memorial to the crew members who lost their lives on November 10th, 1975. Also reminding us of the dangers of the Great Lakes.

A Grim Vigil

Back at Whitefish Point beyond the mysteries, sightings, and stories are the sobering realities of lives that were lost on the Fitzgerald and nearly countless other wrecks throughout the centuries.

When all hope is as lost as the lives on that fateful night, people try to find a way to commemorate the dead.

Now on permanent display at the Whitefish Point Lighthouse and Great Lake Shipwreck Museum, the bell of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald tolls for the dead. On November 10th, during a bell-ringing ceremony, the bell is struck twenty-nine times in slow procession. 

Between each ring, the names of the crewmembers are read aloud. 

The ceremony reminds everyone of the dangers of that superior lake just north of Whitefish Point. Each toll of the bell gives weight to the legends of the lake created by glacial runoff into a trench carved in the earth during the Ice Age. 

In 1975 the Witch of November cast her spell and whipped the Superior waters to a frenzy while the snow and ice added weight to the ship. It was a catastrophic confluence of events. Perhaps the voyage was doomed from the onset. Maybe the crew could have responded earlier. Or, they could have stayed on the docks of Superior, Wisconsin one more day. 

Though we can think of all the ways to avoid disaster, we cannot predict the future. 

Each November the climate and storms create conditions that have challenged sailors for generations. And, will continue to batter those who set sail on the Great Lakes with storms on the horizon.

In Memoriam