Edmund Fitzgerald shipwreck goes viral on social media 50 years later
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Trending topics this fall took an unexpected turn. Instead of pumpkin spice lattes or football, the internet is talking about a decades-old shipwreck.
Social media was full of posts and theories about the sinking of the Great Lakes freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975. The massive cargo ship sank in a storm on Lake Superior fifty years ago. All 29 crew members on board were killed. No bodies were ever found and to this day no one knows for sure what caused it to sink.
A year later, singer Gordon Lightfoot turned the tragedy into his unforgettable song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” which reached No. 2 on the charts. Billboard’s Hot 100.
Now, decades later, the story is coming to the fore again.
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SS Edmund Fitzgerald near Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, in 1972. The ship sank on November 10, 1975, during a severe Lake Superior storm, killing all 29 crew members. (Bettmann/Getty Images)
The online trend, nicknamed “The Fall of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” turned the ship’s story into a viral topic of conversation. Monday, November 10, marked the 50th anniversary of the wreck.
Many of the viral uploads featured archive footage of the ship accompanied by somber music; some received tens of thousands of likes on social media. Others showed men listening to Lightfoot’s song or exchanging ideas about the reasons behind the ship’s sinking. Users posted Halloween costumes inspired by the tragedy, and a news thread about the wreck on X had more than 22,000 posts.
In a GQ story titled “How the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald Became Every Man’s Favorite Historical Maritime Disaster.” The publication described this fascination as a “cult-like interest” that resonated predominantly with men.
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Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot performs at Symphony Hall in Boston, Massachusetts on October 6, 1974. (Ron Pownall/Getty Images)
The article suggested that the shipwreck became a way for men to connect about history and express feelings they did not usually share.
“I think he talks about it because he lets men be upset,” Kathryn Winn, author of Memeforum Substack, told GQ.
The GQ article argues that the “Fitzgerald craze” isn’t just about shipwreck trivia, it’s about men finding a sense of community and permission to be vulnerable about a topic that still feels rugged and masculine.
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Wisconsin comedian Charlie Berens posted a clip joking about listening to Lightfoot’s song with a friend and then hugging her. The post garnered more than 119,000 views on TikTok and more than 48,000 views on X, formerly known as Twitter.
He commented on the video, “Crying doesn’t count when it comes to The Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald…”
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Larger accounts also marked the anniversary of the ship’s sinking. Barstool Sports shared the tragedy on X. The Weather Network shared a “Seinfeld” clip about Edmund Fitzgerald that received nearly 271,000 views on TikTok. Apple TV also rebroadcast a character from the show “Severance” whistling part of Lightfoot’s song about the tragedy.
