Is the Witch of November some sort of spooky beauty contest winner? Actually, the November Witch and the Witch of November are the same thing, just phrased a bit differently. I’d never heard of either until I paid attention to the lyrics of Gordon Lightfoot’s haunting song about the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. (Which is actually what the song is titled, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”)
Okay, so truth be told I had heard the phrase “witch of November” before because I’ve heard that Gordon Lightfoot song before. I’d just never paid attention to the lyrics or questioned what certain parts meant, like the one about the witch.
But once I did, I had to understand what it meant.
The November Witch Reference in the Lyrics
I’m no musician so I’m not sure I’ll phrase this next part right, but the third verse of “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” starts out:
The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the captain did too
T’was the witch of November come stealin’
The answer lies in the rest of the third verse, which is:
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashin’
When afternoon came it was freezin’ rain
In the face of a hurricane west wind
Googling the Witch
To my surprise, a Google search for “the witch of November” pulled up a variety of sources with info about it, from Wikipedia and the Farmer’s Almanac to an MSN article about the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald and a National Post article about how “the cruel month has seen many Great Lakes sailors perish beneath the waves.”
The November Witch is a poetic way to describe the windy storm systems that assail the Great Lakes in autumn.
Each year, right around mid-November, violent gales occur when the low pressure from the frigid arctic air north of the lakes come into contact with warmer fronts pulled up from the Gulf of Mexico. ~The Farmer’s Almanac
Referring to Fall sea-storms with hurricane-force winds as witchy reminds me of how the French describe dusk as “the time between the wolf and the dog.”
With the Witch of November wreaking so much havoc, maybe I have it all wrong. Maybe April isn’t a cursed month after all. Maybe November is…
Check-In
Do you know of any poetic phrases that describe something like a season or a time of the day?
Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.
Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.
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Ohh, so THAT’s what the Witch of November is. Interesting. I like the French’s description of dusk, too.