Great Lakes Essential Resources: Arts & Culture
"The relationship between shipwrecks and folk tradition, as represented in folk music, has served to preserve memory of the events.", according to researchers at Michigan Technological University and the Center for Maritime and Underwater Resource Management.
This page collects articles, videos and books about poetry, folklore and music in the Great Lakes region. Great Lakes folklore includes sightings of sea serpents and other mysterious creatures. These resources are not scholarly, but give us an impression of the stories told over many centuries in the region.
(Source: Freedman, Eric. (2021, April 2) Folk songs preserve memories of Great Lakes shipwrecks. Spartan News Room. https://news.jrn.msu.edu/2021/04/folk-songs-preserve-memories-of-great-lakes-shipwrecks/)
Poetry and Song
Gordon Lightfoot, Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Official Audio). Video source: Youtube.
- Harborless Poems by Cindy Hunter MorganNew poetry collection anchored in the history of Great Lakes shipwrecks.
Folklore-Lake Monsters
- Toronto Urban Legends: The Great Serpent of Lake Ontario (Torontoist)Torontoist article from 2013 detailing many sightings of a sea serpent in Lake Ontario.
- On The Waterfront: The legendary Lake Ontario sea serpent (Oswego County News Now)2020 article from Oswego County News Now compiling "first-hand" accounts of serpent encounters published in the local press.
- Lake monsters in Ontario Parks (Ontario Parks)Blog post from Roger LaFontaine, naturalist, biologist and amateur lake monster researcher. Possible explanations for the sightings are detailed.
- Meet Gaasyendietha, the meteor dragon in Lake Ontario (Great Lakes Guide)Blog post detailing a classic encounter with a Lake Ontario serpent and early First Nations accounts of a giant serpent-dragon in the lake.
