The Haunted History of Lake Lanier

Can a lake haunt the living? Join Carole Townsend as I unravel the eerie mysteries of Georgia's Lake Lanier. From its creation in the 1950s by the Army Corps of Engineers to the tragic displacement of over 1,100 people, including the once-thriving Black community of Oscarville, this episode promises to uncover the chilling truth. Dive deep into the history buried beneath the lake's waters, including submerged homes, forests, and cemeteries, and learn how these remnants contribute to the lake’s haunted reputation and numerous mysterious deaths.

Prepare for a spine-tingling exploration of the inexplicable patterns of drowning deaths, mysterious boat accidents, and supernatural occurrences that have plagued Lake Lanier. Hear real-life accounts of strong swimmers feeling invisible hands pulling them underwater and other unexplained tragedies. 

Chapters

• 0:06 Lake Lanier
• 13:14 Lake Lanier's Mysterious Deaths and Hauntings
• 31:47 New Orleans Haunted LaLaurie Mansion

Transcript

Carole Townsend: 0:06

Georgia's Lake Sydney-Lenire, more commonly known simply as Lake Lenire, is a breathtakingly beautiful body of water with nearly 700 miles of shoreline. At full summer pool the lake is 1,071 feet above sea level At Beaufort Dam. Lake Lanier is its deepest, at 160 feet From above. The water is a deep blue-green and its shores are lined with thick, evergreen pine trees. The sun shimmers and dances across the rippling waves. Boat docks and marinas jut out into the water. Man-made beaches, elegant homes, hotels and golf courses beckon visitors to come and play on this sparkling jewel located in North Georgia. In fact, nearly 12 million people visit Lake Lanier each year. Why then do the rumors and legends of a haunted lake persist?

Carole Townsend: 1:21

Here in the South, we love our stories. We begin in childhood huddled around campfires, whispering of things best spoken in the dark, confiding in our small trusting circles. Why is that, do you suppose? I have researched and investigated Southern history for more than 20 years and I believe it has to do with this region itself. There's a lot that hangs in the ether here and much that is buried deep in the soil. There's beauty here in the South and shame and courage, and, make no mistake, there is evil. There's always been the element of the unexplained, the just out of reach that we can all feel but can never quite describe, and the best place for telling tales about such things is the comfort and safety of an old front porch. So I invite you tonight to come up here with me, settle back into a chair and get comfortable, pour yourself a drink if you like, and I'll share with you some of the tales best told in the company of friends, tales that prove that truth really is stranger than fiction, and I'll turn on the light. You're going to want that. I'm Carole Townsend. Welcome to my front porch. The following podcast contains material that may be disturbing. Listener discretion is advised. Listener discretion is advised.

Carole Townsend: 3:06

Named for Sidney Lanier, the poet and Confederate soldier who wrote Song of the Chattahoochee Lake, lanier is steeped in rich history. This reservoir was created by the Army Corps of Engineers back in the 1950s and today it is one of the most popular core owned lakes in the country. The lake was built by damming the chattahoochee river and it is also fed by the chastity river. The purpose for building the dam was to create a lake that would serve as a hydroelectric power source to control flooding in the region and to provide water for fast-growing metropolitan Atlanta. It's important to note here that, believe it or not, lake Lanier was never designed for recreational use. Yes, you heard that right. A lake with about 12 million visitors every year, 76 parks and 1,200 campsites and 10 full-service marinas was not originally intended for recreational use. But since the 1950s, more than 700 people have lost their lives in the dark, secret waters of Lake Lanier. In order to understand the beauty, the purpose and the enigma, as well as the tragedies, that plague Lake Lanier, it's best to start at the beginning.

Carole Townsend: 4:44

Ground was broken for the construction of Buford Dam in 1950. Several locations for the new lake had been considered by lawmakers, including the city of Roswell. Georgia Area residents protested, so the current site, more suitable, is about 60 miles north of Atlanta. 50,000 acres of land had to be acquired by the Corps of Engineers, land that was located in the counties of Dawson, forsyth, gwinnett Hall and Lumpkin Gwinnett Hall and Lumpkin Much of this land was farmland property that had been in families for generations, and some of that land was an actual town named Oscarville. More than 1,100 people were displaced by the creation of Lake Lanier. Some went willingly, others were forced from their homes. The landowners, who were compensated for their homes and land received anywhere between $30 and $50 per acre.

Carole Townsend: 6:00

The community of Oscarville was formed in the late 1880s, during the Reconstruction era following the Civil War. It was a thriving black community that had skilled tradespeople among its citizens carpenters, blacksmiths, bricklayers and storekeepers but farming was by far the top trade in the area. In fact, farms and other businesses in Oscarville were healthy and successful, while other areas in the state of Georgia were still struggling. At least, this was the case until 1912, when Mae Crow, a 19-year-old white woman, was found dead in the woods near Oscarville, presumably also having been raped. During that dark time in our history when a white woman was raped, it was common for groups called Knight Riders to terrorize the closest black community in the dark cover of night. The May Crow incident was no different, and the town of Oscarville was indeed attacked. During the night after her murder, the Knight Riders set fires throughout the town, and churches where Oscarville residents sought refuge from the attack were set ablaze with firebombs. Those who weren't killed by the Knight Riders ran for their lives, quite literally, leaving their homes and their land behind never to return. Two young African American men, ages 16 and 18, were marched to their death and hung for the crimes against May Crow. Thus began the racial cleansing of Forsyth County, georgia. The area remained white only for the next 80 years. Whites eventually assumed ownership of the abandoned properties in Oscarville, and when the Corps of Engineers began buying up acreage for the construction of Lake Lanier, it was sold by those same people, or the government simply appropriated it.

Carole Townsend: 8:22

When the dam was finished, water began covering the land. It would take more than three years for the lake to reach full capacity. As the water crept and licked at the land it was devouring, it was also covering homes, stores, chicken houses, churches, forests, chicken houses, churches, forests and even a racetrack and 20 cemeteries. While the bodies resting in marked graves were exhumed and relocated with permission from family members, some souls still sleep under the murky water. Just how many bodies remain in their underwater graves is unknown, because, you see, a large Cherokee cultural and burial mound, known as the Summer Hour Mound, was also swallowed up by the waters of Lake Lanier. It was discovered just a few years before the lake was built and therefore never fully excavated and explored. It was most certainly not respected as the sacred grounds that it was. The mound was 250 feet long by 200 feet wide and it was possibly the oldest such mound in the southeastern United States. No effort was ever made to relocate the bodies inside that mound and now it too rests at the bottom of Lake Lanier. And let's not forget that in the 1830s Cherokee and other Native American nations were driven from their ancestral lands, including North Georgia and the site of Lake Lanier, and forced to walk the Trail of Tears, an 800-mile trek to land in Oklahoma, designated by the US government for an estimated 100,000 Native Americans. Historians estimate that 15,000 people died along that grueling death march.

Carole Townsend: 10:37

That brief synopsis of the dark details of the lake's history goes a long way toward understanding why Lake Lanier is considered a haunted, even a cursed, place. The area's history is stained by murder, racial cleansing, terror, theft and desecration. To many, this knowledge alone explains why Lake Lanier is one of the deadliest lakes in the United States. What must also be understood about the lake is that it's deep, its waters are dark and murky, and the lake bottom is actually covered with towns, forests, bridges, farm structures, telephone poles and debris so thick and dangerous that the lake can't be dragged. Should a swimmer or boater disappear, the depth of the water can change drastically with just one step, taking swimmers and waders by surprise. Visibility underwater is near zero. Recovery divers and now robotic divers are tasked with slowly crawling and feeling their way carefully along the lake bottom, searching for bodies that never resurfaced. It's a daunting undertaking and an estimated 27 bodies remain under the surface of the lake Bodies of swimmers, boaters, fishermen and even road travelers who slipped or plunged beneath the water never to resurface. Also of interest in the lake, divers tell stories of seeing catfish as biggest wheelbarrows in the deepest part of the lake near Beaufort Dam. While the largest catfish on record caught out of Lake Lanier is just under 52 pounds, these stories persist. Legend has it that decades ago a truck carrying a load of live chickens overturned on Thompson Bridge and tumbled into the lake. When divers went in the water to investigate, they came back with tales of giant catfish swallowing the chickens, whole Of the swimmers and other lake revelers who have had close calls in Lake Lanier and survived.

Carole Townsend: 13:14

Some common threads run among their experiences. First, many of the drowning deaths on Lake Lanier occur close to shore in calm weather and water conditions. Second, an astonishing number of drownings and near drownings have involved strong, even competitive, swimmers. Third, the most puzzling and mysterious common experience is the sensation that these people felt as they struggled to reach the surface, a sensation of invisible groping hands pulling them deeper underwater. I have personally interviewed swimmers who have told me this last, and it's clear that they are still shaken by the experience.

Carole Townsend: 14:02

Boaters who have experienced tragedy on the lake recount stories of sudden powerful rogue waves that capsize their boats, or of hitting something in the water and crashing or capsizing. But when the crash site is explored later, nothing unusual can be found by divers. Boats catch fire and boats explode on Lake Lanier catch fire and boats explode on Lake Lanier. Now, to be fair, many of Lake Lanier's victims have likely been claimed because the swimmers, boaters, skiers and tubers lacked experience, or because of excessive alcohol consumption, and because the lake bottom is frankly and because the lake bottom is frankly quite dangerous. Strong swimmers tell stories of becoming entangled in fishing line, caught in underwater trees weaving a treacherous web awaiting the next victim, and the sheer number of annual visitors to the lake must account for the shocking number of deaths. Visitors to the lake must account for the shocking number of deaths, more than 700 since the river was dammed and the lake began filling with water.

Carole Townsend: 15:17

Lake Lanier has gained such an alarming reputation for taking the lives of those who flock to enjoy it that drastic measures have been taken and even more suggested, to curb the inevitable rise in the death toll every year. A popular beach and water park at Lake Lanier actually closed its wildly popular beach to swimmers, though sun lovers may still enjoy the white sand, while no specific reason for this move was offered by the management company other than guest safety. The move followed the recent near-drowning of a four-year-old child and the drowning of a 20-year-old man in 2022. Both incidents happened in the designated swimming area at the resort. Sadly, the child was left disabled and his family was awarded $16 million as a result of the tragic accident. The family also requested a safety assessment of the swimming area at the park and shortly thereafter, swimming at the resort's beach was prohibited. Incidentally, the drowned man's body was located using side-scan sonar, a system used for detecting objects on the sea floor. Remember, the designated swimming area was supposed to be safe and hazard-free.

Carole Townsend: 16:53

Not all of the deaths on the lake have been drownings. There have been horrific boat collisions, water tubers hit by speedboats and recently a boat chair became unbolted, dumping a fisherman into the lake. He never resurfaced. Cars have careened off the road and plunged into the black depths. Swimmers have simply disappeared. There is the recent case of a healthy young man who wandered away from his home in the middle of the night. One month later, a fisherman discovered his body floating in Lake Lanier, miles away from his home. He was still wearing his pajamas and he had a single gunshot wound to his head. Why was he there?

Carole Townsend: 17:48

Twelve years ago, a 16-year-old girl disappeared from her home in an apartment complex near the lake. Her body was discovered the next morning in the woods beside the lake. She had been stabbed multiple times During the night. She had sent out several mysterious tweets. During the night, she had sent out several mysterious tweets. Some referred to her unhappiness with her life and one referred to a man who had been stalking her. One of her unnerving tweets read I am so scared right now.

Carole Townsend: 18:34

In 2023, a swimmer jumped from a boat dock into the lake and was electrocuted, apparently because of the electrical power box on the dock. The dock was less than three years old and it had been properly wired by a licensed electrician. During that same weekend, a 61-year-old man dove off the side of his boat and immediately became distressed, shouting for a life jacket. Onlookers last saw him underwater at an estimated 45 feet deep With the help of a sonar system and an Apple Watch. The man was wearing a remote-operated vehicle found his body in 110 feet of water around 9 pm that evening. On that very same Saturday, july 29, a 27-year-old man simply vanished while swimming. His body was found five days later floating just 30 yards from shore. The deadliest day on Lake Lanier was on Christmas Day, 1964, when a driver lost control of his car while crossing a bridge. The car flipped and then plunged into the lake. Five children and two adults drowned.

Carole Townsend: 19:53

Sadly, if the weather is nice and in Georgia that could mean any time between February and December locals are accustomed to hearing frequent news reports of deaths on the lake. These reports have become commonplace. Of deaths on the lake. These reports have become commonplace. The notion of draining Lake Lanier and cleaning up the treacherous lake bottom has been suggested. Fashion designer Tamika Foster, whose ex-husband is R&B singer Usher, posed this idea when her 11-year-old son was tragically struck and killed by a jet skier in 2012. Foster was able to get thousands of signatures on a petition that suggested draining the lake, cleaning up the bottom and implementing stricter recreational and watercraft guidelines and watercraft guidelines. A spokesperson for the Army Corps of Engineers said that draining the lake would be impossible, as too many people depend on that resource for power and for water.

Carole Townsend: 21:02

The list of strange, even bizarre, deaths on, in and around Lake Lanier goes on and on. There may very well be plausible logical reasons for each and every one of them, but one has to stop and ponder the sheer numbers of lives claimed by this lake. What exactly is at work here or at play here? Perhaps we should examine the repeated sightings, hauntings, apparitions and experiences that have been reported by many for nearly 70 years. Who or what dwells under the surface of Georgia's most popular and most deadly lake?

Carole Townsend: 21:54

When any place in the world gains notoriety for claiming lives, stories, tall tales and so-called urban legends are bound to surface. With social media at our fingertips today. With social media at our fingertips today, these tales often catch like wildfire, sizzle for a few days and then sputter out. But there was a time, before social media and instant, round-the-clock news, when such lore was passed strictly by word of mouth or by shared experience. The stories persisted anyway.

Carole Townsend: 22:34

There have been sightings of apparitions on Lake Lanier, and the experiences of those who witnessed them are eerily similar, though miles and decades apart. Voices have been heard under the water. Faces have been seen floating in the deep, faces so real, in fact, that swimmers have reached out to touch them. People have recounted the experience of feeling hands pulling them down into the depths or of hands pushing them down into the water as they struggle to reach the surface. A mysterious woman has been seen walking back and forth in one area of Lake Lanier for decades. She seems lost Long-time local residents have said that she waits for someone to come too close to the water's edge and then pulls them into the chilling water and down to the lake bottom. A man on an old raft with a single lantern hanging from a pole has been seen on the lake in the wee hours of the morning. The man has even attempted to talk to other boaters and fishermen, sometimes diving into the water and swimming toward them. A houseboat that reportedly rests on the lake bottom is said to be haunted by the spirits of those who used to reside on the boat. The small community of Van Pugh is another place swallowed up by the waters of Lake Lanier. The community church bell can still be heard ringing underwater, as if reminding lake visitors that it was once a place of worship that sat on dry land and should still be there.

Carole Townsend: 24:28

There seem to be as many stories of lake hauntings as there are actual tragic deaths. Tonight, let's take a look at some of the more persistent tales, tales that have survived largely intact for generations. The Lady of the Lake is probably Lake Lanier's most well-known ghost story. On the evening of April 16, 1958, delia Mae Parker and Susie Roberts were out joyriding, heading for the Three Gables, a sort of dance hall roadhouse in Dawsonville, georgia. Delia had borrowed a blue dress just for the occasion. The women had just gassed up their car and, feeling reckless, they had sped away from the gas station without paying, laughing and having a good time. Susie, who was driving a little too fast across a bridge that spanned one section of the lake, lost control of the car, crossed the center line and crashed through the rail at the edge of the bridge. Her 1954 Ford sedan plunged into the icy water below.

Carole Townsend: 25:50

Divers were called to the scene when the women were reported missing because of skid marks that clearly indicated what had happened on the bridge. They searched for a vehicle and for the women's bodies, but found nothing. The two women's families had no idea what had become of them. More than a year later, a body floated up from the depths of Lake Lanier and was discovered by a fisherman Badly decomposed. The body could have only been identified using dental records, but alas, there were no teeth to be examined. The body was, however, missing two toes and both hands. However missing two toes and both hands, the unidentified body was buried in Alta Vista Cemetery in Gainesville with no identifying grave marker.

Carole Townsend: 26:47

Since the women went missing, locals began claiming that they had seen a woman pacing the bridge and the highway as if she had lost something and was looking for it. She wore a blue dress and she had no hands. 32 years later, construction workers doing some underwater extensions on that same bridge found a blue 1950s Ford sedan resting at the bottom of Lake Lanier under 90 feet of water. Inside the rusted, wrecked Ford sedan were human bones, later determined to be those of Susie Roberts. She too, was buried in Alta Vista Cemetery. The body that had been buried in an unmarked grave 32 years earlier was determined to have been that of Delia Mae Parker. Her family had a headstone made for her grave, and today both women are together again.

Carole Townsend: 27:55

Their night of carefree fun ended in tragedy in the dark, cold depths of an unforgiving body of water. Another legend of the lake lives on, having survived generations of telling and retelling by locals and visitors alike. Late-night boaters and fishermen tell of a shadowy figure on a raft in the water with a single lantern hanging from a pole on the raft. The figure and most assume it is a man slowly and quietly pushes his raft through the water using a pole and pushing along the lake bottom. This last seems quite impossible, as the locations of the sightings have been in no less than 50 feet of water. Still the figure drifts quietly by.

Carole Townsend: 28:49

In one particularly harrowing incident, two fishermen reported being on the water at about 1 am, their boat tied underneath a bridge. Two fishermen reported being on the water at about 1 am, their boat tied underneath a bridge. This is a common practice for fishermen. These two men both said they saw the man on the raft pushing quietly along in the water, his lantern swaying slightly with each push. Surprisingly, the man on the raft began shouting to the fishermen urgently, trying to get their attention. He then dove into the water and began swimming toward them, startled the two men, untied their boat and motored toward shore. Sure the men meant them harm when they turned back to look at him, he and the raft were gone, though the water still rippled with his small wake.

Carole Townsend: 29:45

Swimmers have said often that as soon as they entered the waters of Lake Lanier they felt drained of all energy, even exhausted, and they found it difficult to swim and to breathe. Thoughts of despair and hopelessness take over and they struggle to think of reasons to swim to the surface or to the shore. Some have even reported a desire to stay underwater and to drift deeper into the cold depths, and to drift deeper into the cold depths. Still. Others have reported seeing faces under the water, some drifting peacefully, some clearly distraught and still others appearing furious. Others say they've heard voices under the water and still others are sure that they have heard church bells ringing.

Carole Townsend: 30:38

Are all of these tales, passed down through generations by people of all backgrounds, the product of mass hysteria? Are these legends shared simply because we love the mystery of it all? Or can the more than 700 deaths on this massive body of water be attributed to high boat traffic, or reckless behavior, or excessive alcohol consumption or just inexperience? No matter the reasons, real or imagined danger surely lurks in the waters of Lake Lanier. Perhaps tighter boating and alcohol consumption laws will put an end to the ever-rising death toll. We can certainly hope so, can't we? Until then, I strongly advise that you proceed with caution. Not everything that is shiny and beautiful is as it seems, and water can cover many things, but not its own history.

Carole Townsend: 31:47

Join me next time as we travel to 19th century New Orleans' French Quarter and the haunted LaLaurie Mansion, in a city known for its dark association with the occult, where the veil between the living and the dead is purported to be its thinnest. Why, in the city famous for its fellowship with the occult, has this elegant mansion been named the most terrifying? I'm Carole Townsend, veteran newspaper journalist and six-time award-winning author. You can find me on social media and check out my website at caroltownsendcom and check out my website at caroletownsend. com. As always, thanks for listening and if you're enjoying these tales of Southern history and lore, I hope you'll tell your friends. Subscribe to this podcast on Spotify, apple Play, iheart and anywhere you listen. My team and I benefited from the following research and writings to bring this tale to you the Haunting of Lake Lanier, oxfordamericanorg, dated June 1st 2021. Lakelanierislandscom 2021 Lake Lanier Islandscom. Us Army Corps of Engineers, mobile District. Lake Sydney, lanier and the eerie story under Lake Lanier in USA Today, may 10th 2024.