Have you ever been swimming in a lake before? Does it give you an eerie feeling to look down into the water below and not be able to see what could be lying at the bottom?
For some people, lakes can be a relaxing vacation destination for the whole family. Boating, waterskiing, swimming, fishing - there's something for everyone there.
A certain lake in Georgia called Lake Lanier doesn't quite have this reputation. It's got a sinister background and ongoing mysteries to this day. Some people claim that the lake is the most dangerous lake in America, due to the fact that it may be haunted by countless spirits from the past. Together, we're going to dive into its history in order to understand why so many people are afraid of the water.
Lake Lanier is a man-made water reservoir lake named after poet and musician Sidney Lanier. It covers what used to be Forsyth County, and is located in northern Georgia about 40-50 miles northeast of Atlanta. The lake itself has over 600 miles of shoreline, and at the dam it’s nearly 200 feet deep. Lake Lanier’s estimated annual economic impact is around $5.5 billion dollars, and the dam itself has generated around $97 million dollars worth of electricity to surrounding counties since 1957.
Not only does it supply water and electricity, it also serves as a HUGE source of recreation for locals and tourists alike. People can visit any of the 68 parks, 1,200 campsites, and 20 marinas located on the lake.
Before Forsyth County
As we’ve said before, it has a dark history behind it. And this dark history began during the 1700s, WAY before it was ever a lake, when a branch of the Creek Confederacy called the Upper Creeks realized much of their sacred lands had been given away to Cherokee Indians in 1793.
Many battles ensued, but ultimately the Creeks could not keep hold of their land. The Cherokees controlled what would eventually become Forsyth county all the way up until 1838, when the State of Georgia and the Federal government began to force the tribes to uproot their lives and move to the Indian Territory, or what is now the State of Oklahoma. Stockades were even constructed that would hold Indian families who refused to either seek citizenship or move on their own until they could be moved out of state.
The future Forsyth County was basically the geographical beginning of the Trail of Tears.
This is only the beginning of it, though. Let’s fast forward a bit.
Tragedy in Oscarville
The year is 1912. The small town of Oscarville, Georgia is a thriving community and home to 1,100 Black business owners, land owners, and families. It's a bustling town even during that time when racism was extremely prevalent. They had their very own churches with pastors who served as advocates and protectors of the community who brought townsfolk together to support one another.
Life was pretty good here, until tragedy struck like a virus. In September of 1912, a white 18-year-old woman named Mae Crow was raped and murdered “near Browns Ridge on the Chattahoochee River banks.” This was right on the outskirts of Oscarville.
A Step Back
Now let's pause and go back a few days to set the tone. A couple days earlier, a 22-year-old woman named Ellen Grice made it known to townsfolk that she had allegedly awoken during the night to find a Black man in her bed. She claimed he tried to rape her, then escaped out the window when her mother came into her room to see what was wrong. Rumors quickly spread around town - some saying that Ellen had been raped. Overall, things escalated fast. Eventually, a man by the name of Tony Howell was accused of the alleged home invasion by Ellen Grice.
It’s a little unclear but from our understanding of the source material, five other Black men tried to prove Tony's innocence by saying he was with them at the time of the "crime" which only made things worse. Sheriff William Reid, who was a known mob sympathizer at the time AND future member of the KKK, had them all arrested as accomplices. The five men were put in the Cumming town jail. On September 7th, word was getting around about the incident and the men who were arrested.
A barbecue was being held by Black churchgoers in the area, including a preacher by the name of Grant Smith. These churchgoers heard about the men being held by police and things grew heated. During the commotion, some sources say Smith was supposedly overheard by some white agitators saying that Ellen Grice probably had been in bed with a The white men took it upon themselves to attack Smith, almost whipping him to death right outside the county courthouse. And again, although it is unclear, source material convey's that Smith was somehow rescued and taken to the courthouse vault by Deputy Mitchell Lummus, who supposedly did not share the same beliefs as the sheriff. The mob stormed the courthouse, only to find Smith unreachable. No one was ever charged for his assault.
Somehow, a rumor began to spread among Whites that Black men were planning to dynamite the entire town. White residents then sent their families home while they patrolled the town with guns on horseback. In fear that a race riot was going to start, 23 members of the National board were sent to the community.
Smith along with the five men accused who were originally arrested were sent to the Cobb County jail.
Mae Crow’s Death
So this all happened days before Mae Crow had been walking to her aunt's house from home when she was attacked and murdered. Her body was found lying face down with her throat sliced in a pool of her own blood. She was at first still alive and shallowly breathing, but she soon died from her injuries.
On the ground near her body was a small pocket mirror, which belonged to Ernest Knox, a 16-year old black boy. In order to avoid the recent uprising in Cumming, police took Knox to the Gainesville jail.
Now this is where a lot of sources contradict each other. Some say that Knox confessed to the crime on the way to the jail, but others don’t have any information about it. It’s hard to decipher what the truth of it is. One of the sources that say he confessed also mention that he committed the crime because he had been recently subjected to "mock lynching,” which was a cruel form of racist violence.
Other sources only mention the pocket mirror which had belonged to Knox, and that this is what police used as evidence to arrest Knox.
Word quickly spread about the murder and rape of Mae Crow, and mobs of White folks began to form outside the Gainesville county jail. During the night, police escorted Knox to Atlanta in an attempt to keep him safe for the time being and prevent lynching while they investigated.
The next day, an acquaintance of Knox, Rob Edwards, was arrested and taken
to the county jail in Cumming.
It was believed by townspeople that he was an accessory to the rape and murder of Mae Crow. It wasn't long before rumors spread like wildfire and mobs got much too violent.
They stormed the jail, grabbed Edwards, dragged him out, and hanged him from a telephone pole. Some say he was shot before being hanged, but regardless, after his body was strung up there, townsfolk began to repeatedly shoot his corpse until it barely even resembled Edwards any longer.
This was only the beginning of a wave of violence against Black folks living in the area. White folks would ride their horses through the entire town, threatening the Black residents and firing their guns into their homes. Some would throw explosives into homes and businesses, and light buildings on fire. And this violence didn’t stop until these people were forced to leave in order to protect themselves.
As a result of the madness, the community was burnt to a crisp. Churches, businesses, homes, farms - they were all destroyed. And Oscarville quickly became a ghost town.
Lake Lanier Built
Nearly 40 years later, the town of Oscarville was next to abandoned. VERY few families resided there, but none of those who were previously forced out ever returned. It was around this time that the US Army Corps of Engineers were planning to create a reservoir lake that would supply surrounding counties with water and electricity.
Of course, this led to the US buying up all property in the area, including the town of Oscarville and surrounding towns. They purchased approximately 50,000 acres of farmland, which resulted in the displacement of 250 families. 15 businesses were forced to relocate, and 20 cemeteries had to be exhumed and moved.
As you can imagine, these families didn’t go willingly. A writing instructor at Georgia Northwestern Technical College and author of “Underwater Ghost Towns of North Georgia” wrote in her book, “a host of emotions accompanied the talk of relocation: anger, resentment, fear, anxiety, bewilderment and apprehension. To them, their land was priceless.”
After all, these families had been there for decades and put so much hard work into their property - being forced to leave must have felt so unfair.
But the US Army Corps of Engineers went ahead with their plan.
Here’s where the legend of the hauntings begins.
Underwater Graves
In preparation for construction, engineers demolished or removed any buildings or structures that might have floated to the surface of the future lake or posed any danger to boats or other watercraft. They even relocated any marked graves in the area. But unmarked graves could still very well be hidden below the surface of Lake Lanier to this day.
A spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers stated, “while the Corps made every effort at the time to locate unmarked burials, the limited capabilities of the time make it probable that unanticipated finds of human remains are possible, whether from the antebellum and Civil War periods or of Native American origin from pre-colonial and ancient times.”
Concrete block foundations of some buildings are said to have been left behind, as well as an old auto-racing track near Gainesville. Although experts say it’s impossible, some people today claim to hear church bells - possibly from an underwater church that may have been left behind.
This is part of why the lake itself has become so dangerous, however. Debris like sunken boats, folding beach chairs, and other random items have often been seen not too far from the coast, posing danger to local swimmers, fishermen, and other boaters.
The Hauntings
Between 1994 and 2020, a total of 203 people were reported to have died due to drowning or boating accidents at the lake. This along with the history of the towns which now lie below the surface have increased fear of possible hauntings of the lake. Some even say it may be cursed.
Even divers who have explored the waters themselves have reported experiencing strange things while they are underwater. One experienced diver reported that on some occasions while diving in the lake, you can feel body parts reaching out to you. He states, “you reach out into the dark and you feel an arm or a leg and it doesn’t move.”
Some people even say while boating at the lake, weather will change drastically in a matter of minutes and then immediately return to calm again. A few boaters also describe having hit something hard with their boat, and when they go back to investigate, there’s nothing there.
One famous sighting at Lake Lanier is that of the “Lady of the Lake.” The origin of her story begins with two women by the names of Delia May Parker Young and Susie Roberts. It is said that the two were driving in a car when they suddenly drove off of the bridge into the lake.
The very next year, a fisherman stumbled upon an unidentifiable body floating near one of the bridges. At the time, they couldn’t identify who it was. In 1990, officials discovered a 1950s Ford sedan which still contained Susie’s remains. It was then that they put the puzzle pieces together and identified the previous body as Delia.
Susie was wearing a blue dress during the time of the car accident. Those who see the Lady of the Lake believe that it is Susie, due to the fact that the lady wears a blue dress, too. She often can be seen pacing around the bridge at night - looking as though she has lost something.
Popularity
Despite the many stories told of the hauntings around Lake Lanier, its popularity lives on. In 2019, the lake saw 12 million visitors. Clearly, people are unphased by the history and urban legends surrounding the lake’s existence.
Some say the most haunting thing about the lake is not the ghosts, but the idea that the history and culture of those who inhabited the land beneath - even before Oscarville or any colonial civilization - is inaccessible, and we will never know more about the people who used to live there.
Conclusion
So who knows. It could be haunted. It could not. It really comes down to what you believe as an individual. What happened in Oscarville is despicable and inhumane. The fact that these families who were thriving were driven out of their own homes is just really saddening.
And now, their home is submerged under the depths of Lake Lanier, never to be inhabited again.
Source Material
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/31/us/lake-lanier-urban-legends-trnd/index.html
https://oxfordamerican.org/magazine/issue-113-summer-2021/the-haunting-of-lake-lanier
https://www.gwinnettcounty.com/web/gwinnett/aboutgwinnett/fastfacts/lakelanier
https://accessgenealogy.com/georgia/native-american-history-of-forsyth-county-georgia.htm
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