“The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down… of the big lake they called “Gitche Gumee.” The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead… when the skies of November turn gloomy.”– Gordon Lightfoot

The Edmund Fitzgerald embarked from Superior, Wisconsin this afternoon in 1975. The Great Lakes freighter was legendary for its size and dependability in bringing taconite ore products from Duluth, MN to Detroit and Toledo. A brutal winter storm caused the ship to sink the next day, killing all 29 of her crew. None of the bodies were ever found.

Mary Jane Kelly was murdered this night in London in 1888, the fifth and final victim of Jack the Ripper.

Freddy Krueger first hit movie screens today in 1984, with the release of “A Nightmare on Elm Street.”

I’ve yet to see today’s release of “Skyfall,” but it was five years ago today that Javier Bardem played another pretty spooky bad guy in, “No Country For Old Men.”

Stieg Larsson died today in 2004 of a heart attack at just 50 years old after walking up seven flights of stairs to his office because the lift was out of service. Larsson’s trilogy, starring Lizbeth Salender was published after his death and has sold over 70 million copies.

Yeah, he looked like John Hughes, but his material was just a wee bit darker…

The first issue of Rolling Stone magazine hit newsstands today in 1967. John Lennon was on the cover.

— Bill Hubbell