SS Edmund Fitzgerald | What Caused This Tragic Sinking in the Great Lakes?
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What led to the tragic sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald?
In 1975, a 729-foot steel Titan battled hurricane-force winds on the deadly Lake Superior. At 7.10 PM, the captain radioed, we are holding our own, only for the ship to vanish minutes later, taking all 29 crew members with it. Was it inclement weather, a fatal structural snap, or a phenomenon known as the Three Sisters? Today, we're discussing the tragic sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. This is Red Web.
Welcome back, Task Force, to another episode of Red Web, the podcast all about unsolved mysteries, true crime, and the unknown. I'm your resident mystery enthusiast, Trevor Collins, and joining me hearing this case for the very first time, Alfredo Diaz.
And we're talking about typical weather or structural integrity of the ship or whatnot, and then all of a sudden, hold on, what is this Three Sisters thing? Here we go. It's never just the norm.
It's a cheeky little hint.
there's always a possibility of something real wild.
Yes, yes. Now we'll get into what the Three Sisters are. For those of you who live around the Great Lakes or might know of Lake Superior, you'll know what the Three Sisters are. But for Fredo, I'm going to titillate you with what that is, and we'll talk about it at the end. But yes, this is a tragic incident that happened back in the 70s. This was a freighter. The SS Edmund Fitzgerald was enormous, right? We're gonna give you the entire background on this record-setting vessel there on Lake Superior. We're gonna talk about what happened that fateful evening. We're gonna talk about the discovery of the wreck, kind of the investigation as to what might have happened that night. But ultimately, yeah, it remains technically unsolved as to what exactly happened, how it sank.
We know all of the moving parts, and so there's a lot of confidence in each of the theories, but I think there is a reality that blends them all together. So at the end, we'll talk about those various theories and how they all overlap. It's kind of a more interesting and unique take on our normal theories. You know, normally it's like Theory A and B and C. This one, they all kind of weave together. But Lake Superior is... Truly, I mean, any of the Great Lakes, they're enormous. If you're international and you're not super familiar with the Great Lakes, it is probably more apt to say that they are baby seas or baby oceans because a lake feels like, yeah, my grandpap's got a lake outside his house, you know?
Right. These things are monsters and they can get terrifying. We've also talked about the Michigan Triangle, so to speak. There's been disappearances, shipwrecks galore all throughout Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes. And again, we'll talk about kind of the weather that centers on these sometimes and maybe some of the origin behind that so-called Michigan Triangle. But before we dive in, Fredo, you know we have a lot happening these days. We've got the Scary Stories podcast happening every other Thursday, but also on our Patreon page at redwebpod.com. This Wednesday, we have a poll. It's kind of a choose-your-own-adventure with Red Web, whether it's a future episode of Movie Club, of this podcast, of Scary Stories.
Or if you sometimes it's just putting things in contention with one another, whether it be a cryptid battle, choosing your favorite haunted location we've been to, or even voting for what the next bonus feature you guys are going to get. It's always a grab bag. So come hang out. Choose what's going to happen on Wednesday and Friday. I'm going to throw this one to Christian because we're covering Movie Club with the only movie that's on his letterboxd.
The only movie that deserves to be on my letterboxd. It's the greatest movie of all time. We're doing The Matrix.
The Matrix. I mean, it's really, really good.
It's the only one on his letterbox and it's rated a sultry... Five stars. Thank you very much.
Five stars, of course. I was about to say, if it wasn't five stars, what's happening here?
I like the idea that you go to his letterbox and it's just not only is it there once, it's there about 15 dozen times because it's all the rewatches.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What led to the tragic sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald?
0:02–5:00
2
What were the weather conditions like during the final voyage?
5:00–9:41
3
How did the ship's structural integrity play a role in the sinking?
9:41–12:54
4
What is the significance of the 'Three Sisters' phenomenon?
12:54–17:17
5
What were the immediate actions taken after the ship disappeared?
17:17–22:47
6
What theories exist regarding the cause of the sinking?
22:47–26:10
7
How did the sinking of the Fitzgerald impact maritime regulations?
26:10–30:53
8
What is the legacy of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald today?
30:53–1:13:51
Speakers
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