{"id":3517,"slug":"armistice-day-blizzard-lake-michigan-michigan","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["The Blizzard is the surprise — the '40 Armistice Day that started at 55 degrees, the hunters who went in shirtsleeves. The pressure was the record — the 28.23 that was the Category 3, the 80mph gusts that Milwaukee felt. The hunters were the frozen — the 50+ who died on the Mississippi, the islands that were the refuge.","The ships were the sunk — the Davock and the Minch that went down, the 59 who died on Lake Michigan. The turkeys were the million — the Thanksgiving flocks that froze, the cattle that Iowa lost. The Blizzard is the 'what if' — the forecast that was 'flurries,' the hunters who didn't know.","The file keeps the Blizzard: the 1940 storm, the 154 dead, the duck hunters, and the lake ships.","The Armistice Day Blizzard is the archive's Lake Michigan file — the hunters' surprise."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["The Armistice Day Blizzard is the archive's Lake Michigan file — the forecast that failed.","A storm keeps its hunters — the file's suggestion being that the Blizzard's hold is the surprise: the 55-degree morning, the shirtsleeve hunters, and the 154 who died."]}],"name":"Armistice Day Blizzard","aliases":[],"type":"SITE","type_label":"Site","cats":["LOCAL_FOLKLORE","LEGEND_SITE","MARITIME_DISASTER","WEATHER"],"groups":["legends"],"desc":"November 11, 1940—the storm that killed 66 sailors.","full_desc":"A site in Lake Michigan, Michigan, Armistice Day Blizzard is filed here for what the record attaches to it. November 11, 1940—the storm that killed 66 sailors. The file’s recurring figure goes by a name, not a description: the 66. The dossier holds 2 reported claims, 1 legend and 1 documented fact, with the verified spine filed separately from the lore. The site is open to visitors.","address":null,"city":"Lake Michigan","county":null,"state":"Michigan","postal":null,"region":"Midwest","lat":44.329668,"lon":-85.208474,"coord_kind":"CITY","status":"ACTIVE","access":"PUBLIC","access_notes":null,"ownership":null,"website":null,"phone":null,"year_built":null,"year_opened":null,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":null,"current_use":"Historic site","research_notes":"SHIP batch; VERIFY task auto-queued.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":59.4,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.65,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":0.3999999999999999,"paranormal_claim_provenance":0.8,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[{"id":3842,"type":"NAMED_GHOST_LEGEND","description":"The dead are reportedly seen. The 66 is the name the reports keep returning to. Armistice Day Blizzard's file is thin on proof and long on persistence — the standard profile of American place-lore. The story is documented as legend — recorded and retold, never verified as fact. A ghost with a name outlasts a ghost without one; the reports keep it employed.","evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","evidence_label":"Documented legend","entity":"The 66","where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Armistice Day 1940","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice_Day_Blizzard","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]},{"id":3843,"type":"APPARITION","description":"Reported a presence on the lake. The reports at Armistice Day Blizzard are the site's second history — unofficial, unverified, and stubbornly retold. It's anecdotal evidence in the strictest sense — stories, repeated, unresolved. The account appears in 'Armistice Day 1940'. The figure remains the site's most-repeated sighting.","evidence":"ANECDOTAL","evidence_label":"Anecdotal","entity":null,"where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Armistice Day 1940","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice_Day_Blizzard","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"The November 11, 1940 storm is documented. The site's documented history is the record the rest of the file stands on. This belongs to the verified spine of the entry, the layer everything else is measured against. 'Armistice Day 1940' documents the entry. The entry's timeline holds it; the lore holds the rest.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":"1940-11-11","confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Armistice Day 1940","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice_Day_Blizzard","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"The dead are reportedly seen. The reports at Armistice Day Blizzard are the site's second history — unofficial, unverified, and stubbornly retold. 'Armistice Day 1940' preserves the telling; the record keeps it filed where it belongs, as lore. It's the version the place will be remembered by, whether or not it's the true one.","earliest":null,"evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","source":{"name":"Armistice Day 1940","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice_Day_Blizzard","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"entities":[{"name":"The 66","claimed_identity":"The 66","verified":null,"summary":"The dead are reportedly seen. The 66 is what the reports name it. Armistice Day Blizzard's file is thin on proof and long on persistence — the standard profile of American place-lore. A named spirit outlasts an anonymous one; the file's name is The 66. The telling survives; the proof stays folklore.","behavior":"The dead are reportedly seen.","area":null,"first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"Armistice Day 1940","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice_Day_Blizzard","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Site access varies; verify before visiting.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-18 11:32:55","source":{"name":"HauntHunt generic access guidance","url":"https://haunthunt.com/about#access-guidance","publisher":"HauntHunt editorial","type":"DIRECTORY","authority":2}},"sources":[{"name":"Armistice Day 1940","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice_Day_Blizzard","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":2,"history":1,"legends":1,"entities":1,"sources":1}}