Haunted: The Curse of Lake Lanier

Growing up, Laney's parents never let her go to Lake Lanier. She was always jealous of her friends, who came back to school in the fall armed with tales of their family vacations to the lake. Every year, Laney asked if her family could go to the lake too, and every year she got the same response. It's too far, complained her father. It's too dangerous, who warned her mother. It's too cursed, declared her older sister, Tammy, always followed by a scolding from their parents. When Tammy was a senior in high school, she and her friends planned to take a postgraduation trip to the lake. Laney was thirteen, just out of middle school, but she begged Tammy to let her come along, promising to stay out of the older teen's way. Fine, Tammy agreed, you'd better not tell mom or dad. Saturday after graduation, Laney, Tammy, Tammy's boyfriend, and a mutual friend drove the ninety minutes to Lake Lanier. The weather couldn't be better, brilliant sunshine, a gorgeous cloud pattern, and a pleasant high of seventy two degrees fahrenheit. A top forty radio station blared from the front of the car Laney sat in the back seat and leaned her head against the window, her chest vibrating with the music. Tammy and her friends had managed to make her feel like a third wheel, despite her being the fourth person on the trip. Bl Amy didn't mind. The lake finally came into view, and Laney was out of the car before Tammy had even turned off the ignition. Sunbeams glinted off the lake as Laney approached the water. Her father had said it was too far, but how could these views not be worth a drive? Her mother had said that it was too dangerous, bil Laney was the best swimmer in her grade. Tammy had said it was cursed, which was Lady's biggest reason for being cautious. But if what her sister said was true, and what would happen if Laney went in the water, how far could she go before she triggered the curse? Or had she already just by setting foot on Lake Lanier's beaches. Her thoughts spiral was interrupted by shouts as the older teens ran past straight into the water, splashing Laney. She flinched as if they had sprayed her with acid, but when her skin didn't melt at the impact, Laney grinned and followed them in a little more slowly. The water was cold, so she only waded up to her knees, watching Tammy and her friends dunk each other under the water and come up laughing. An hour later, they paused for lunch sandwiches they'd picked up at a convenience store on the way to the lake. Tammy and her friends laughed and ate the bed of Tammy's boyfriend's pickup truck. Laney sat just a little distance away from them on the sand. She didn't mind eating alone. She had promised to stay out of the way. She was happy to keep that promise. Biting into her ham and cheese sandwich, she felt triumphant. It wasn't the family vacation of her dreams, but at long last, she'd made it to Lake Lanier. When she finished eating, Laney went back into the water. She went further in this time, and the cold wasn't bothering her that much. She even felt comfortable enough to float on her back, her eyes closed, sunshine warming her face. The screamer caught her attention. Laney startled into a standing position. Tammy's boyfriend and their other friend were screaming Tammy's name, over and over and over. They were spinning in the water with her arms out like they were trying to catch fish with their bare hands. What happened, Laney asked, She's gone. Tammy's boyfriend yelled, she went under and she didn't come back up. Lany's eyes widened. She joined their frantic search, screaming Timmy's name right alongside them. Strangers were coming up to them asking what was wrong, and all they said was the same thing. She's gone, She's gone, She's gone. Eventually, Tammy's friends called it quits. They said there was nothing else they could do, but Laney didn't want to stop. She knew she should get out of the water in case whatever took her sister decided to take her too, but she couldn't bring herself to stop spinning in circles searching for her sister, who she knew deep down she would never see again. When Laney was so dizzy, she felt like she would be sick, she sloshed out of the water, defeated and numb. The police were there, talking to Tammy's friends and some other bystanders. One officer asked laying some questions, and afterward Tammy's friends drove her home. Where's Tammy? Her parents asked, Landy told him the whole story. Lake Lanier sprawls thirty nine thousand acres in the foothills of Georgia's Blue Riche Mountains. The lake provides recreation, flood protection, power, and water to Atlanta and surrounding counties. It's also considered one of the deadliest lakes in America. The fate of poor Tammy is unfortunately not a rare one for those who visit the lake. Its waters are muddied by a tragic past and present, which make you wonder if the lake is in fact cursed. My name is Edwin, and here is a dark memory. There are many interesting things about Lake Lanier, and around twelve million people visit there every year, and it was named after a Georgia poet named Sydney Lanier. Some scenes from the Netflix show Ozark who were filmed there. But perhaps the most interesting thing about the lake, it's just how many ghost stories it has. But it doesn't actually surprise me, because between five hundred and seven hundred people have died there. Two hundred of those deaths were in the last three decades, and that's not even counting the people who were already buried under the six hundred and thirty seven billion gallons of water. Lake Lanier is a man made lake created by the US Army Corps of Engineers, along with four hundred and sixty four other lakes across the nation. This huge endeavor was a result of the River and Harper's Act of nineteen forty six, and one goal of the act was to generate hydroelectric power. Georgia's Chattahoochee River, a waterway to which Lake Lanier is now connected, was one of the bodies of water designated to accomplish this goal. The first step in making this lake a reality was acquiring land from the seven hundred families who lived were Lake Lanier's to day, But although the land held sentimental value to those families, the government eventually pretty much forced the residence into sell it. The project was finally completed in nineteen fifty six. The court did make a point of removing any marked graves they found out of respect for the dead. Fortunately, those buried and unmarked graves did not receive the same treatment. You see the Discovery Channel show Expedition X found evidence of twenty cemeteries remaining under Lake Lanier, beside several gravesides, concrete foundations of old buildings, and the Gainesville Speedway. An old racetrack still resign on the bottom of Lake Lanier. As if debris riddled waters weren't enough, Lake Lanier is reportedly haunted. The lake's most infamous story is that of Delia May Parker Young, who the locals referred to as their very own Lady of the Lake. Delia's ghost is spotted in a flowing blue gown on the Jerry D. Jackson Bridge on Dawsonville Highway, right where it intersects the Chattahoochee. Delia and her friend Susie Roberts careened off the bridge to their deaths in April in nineteen fifty eight. Eighteen months after the accidents, one of the two drowned women was discovered. The corpse was missing two toes and both hands. Their car, a blue Ford Sedan, was finally recovered in nineteen ninety. During a period of construction on the bridge, a woman's body was found inside. There was a watch on her wrists by which Susie Robert's family identified her. Susie's identification meant that Delia made Parker Young, whose body we now know was found thirty one years earlier, would finally receive a proper burial. Both women are buried in AltaVista Cemetery. While her physical body is in a grave five miles away, Delia's ghost is still on that bridge. It seems her spirit may never know peace eternally bound to Lake Lanier. One version of the Lady of the Lake legend says that Delia isn't merely a victim. Her ghost takes revenge by pushing others off the bridge into the lake that claimed her life. Another well known ghost story to come from Lake Lanier is that of a mysterious figure on a raft with only a pole and a lantern. This apparition doesn't appear to be malevolent, but it is certainly scary, especially if you run into them in the middle of the night. Two fishermen reported seeing the apparition at around one in the morning. At first, the figure silently moved through the water, but then they abruptly screened and lapped off the raft. Seconds later. There wasn't a trace of the raft nor of the figure, and the water surface was as still as a grave's left in the deep. Most lives taken by Lake Lanier are either drowned swimmers or unlucky souls who get into boating accidents that result in drowning or fail injured. But what's strange about Lake Lanier's drowning is that many of them take place in shallow water close to shore. Not only that, but the waters are often calm, all conditions that make drowning difficult. But I guess not impossible. However, would be drowning victims who survived Its Other tails add another chilling factor, the sense of being dragged into the deep to join the dead buried under Lake Lanier. Lake Lanier has had more than its fair share of boating accidents, over five hundred of them, in fact, which contribute to the lake's reputation as a most dangerous underwater surface in the US. On Mother's Day weekend twenty twenty one, a boat was in the process of being refueled when it exploded. The fire then spread to a nearby jet ski and a dock. Along with property damage. Six people were injured, including two teenagers. In that same weekend, the body of twenty three year old Anthony Saint Old Junior was recovered after saintal had jumped off a pontoon boat and disappeared. His body was found in one of the Lake Lanier's creeks. November twenty twenty one saw the removal of the chestaitea ghost boat named for one of the other rivers to which Lake Lanier is connected. The boat had been stuck in the lake for around two decades and its original owner is unknown. The boat's decades long abandonment and deck full of dilapidated lounge chairs are surely behind the nickname. The Chestaty Ghost Boat was the eleventh houseboat removed as part of the Lakelandiers Associations Abandonment and a Relic Docks and Boats program. The LA is a volunteer and membership based nonprofit. The Abandonment to Andrareelic Docks and Vessels is a team of volunteers committed to making Lake Lanier a safer place. The boating accidents on Lake Lanier could simply be human error, or there might be a supernatural force at play. Several accidents have reportedly been caused by large chunks of debris, which do exist in the lake. However, searches for where the accidents took place, will find nothing that could have caused such accidents. Equally disturbing are the reported waves that mysteriously appear from out of anotherwise still surface, only lasting long enough to capsize an unsuspecting vessel. Despite hundreds of boating accidents on the water, the Lanear Boat Charter Company started giving tours of the lake last October. The boat tours captain Tom Stepnowski stated that his goal was to get customers to appreciate the lake for its beauty rather than fearing it. Yet, the tour takes full advantage of the folklore surrounding Lake Lanier by hiring paranormal investigator Bert Gladman to teach the passengers paranormal investigation one oh one. Passengers then have a chance to exercise their new skills in detecting the supernatural while exploring one of the lakes one hundred and sixty islands. It still remains to be seen if they will be available in October of this year. So if Lake Lanier is cursed, how did it become that way? Up Next, we'll dive into the lake's prehistory to get a better sense of how the lakes passed might affect its present in future. Long before Lake Lanier was even conceptualized, let alone built, The land on the western side of the lake, which is now a part of Georgia's Forsyth County, was inhabited by the Cherokee Nation. The United States government forced them to evacuate in the eighteen thirties, and it's possible that the graves are left behind were eventually swallowed up by Lake Lanier's waters, contributing the lake's hauntings. In nineteen twelve, the riverside village of Oscarville saw two incidents that sparked racial violence and an enduring legacy of segregation that lasted well into the twentieth century. Oscarville was located on the Chattahoochees River's shore and was a part of Forsyth County. At the time, the county was about ten percent black. In the fall of nineteen twelve, the eighteen year old may Crow was raved and murdered. Initially, twenty four year old Robert Edwards was taken into custody, but instead of going through a trial, an angry mob of white villagers took him from the jail and hung him themselves. A month later, sixteen year old Ernest Knox an eighteen year old Oscar Daniel were convicted and received the death penalty. The village had succeeded in lawfully and unlawfully killing three young black people for crimes they likely didn't commit. The villagers didn't stop there, though, They harassed and threatened their black neighbors, even going so far as to burn down black owned businesses and churches until they drove out all one thousand and ninety eight black residents of the county. According to the twenty twenty census, Forsyth County is five percent black, with ten times as many black residents as it were a century ago. In spite of the tragedy that has taken place on the land and water of what is now Lake Lanier, the local community has not given up on this place. If Lake Lanier really is cursed, maybe there are forces of good present in the waters too, spirits who want the lake's future to be left harmful than its past. Throughout Laney and Paul's marriage, the one thing she wouldn't budge was on the prospect of taking a trip to Lake Lanier. She used her parents' old excuses, it's too far, too dangerous, but she stayed away from her sisters. It's too cursed, even though that's the one that really kept her away. Paul asked about visiting the lake almost as much as Laney's younger self did. She knew he was one of those kids whose family spent every summer vacationing at the lake, just like her grade school friends she was jealous of. Even so, he didn't push her. He only brought it up once a year, just in case her mind changed. Never did, that is, until her daughter, Bella, was a senior in high school and wanted to take a day trip to Lake Lanier with her friends. Paul was in favor of it. Laney was not. She didn't want her kid anywhere near those waters. After what felt like hours of negotiating, Lany finally relented. There would be only one condition that she and Paul joined the teens on their outing. As much as the thought of returning to Lake Lanier made Lady sick to her stomach, the thought of sitting at home waiting to hear if her daughter had survived the trip was inconceivable. So the Saturday after Bellet's graduation, Laney and Paul picked up Bella's friends and headed to Lake Lanier. Bella and her friends ran fearlessly into the water, cheering and celebrating. Paul sat with Laney in their beach chairs, far enough from the shore for a lady to feel some semblance of comfort, close enough to keep an eye on the kids. He squeezed her hand and asked her if she was okay. The short answer it was no, but she forced a smile and told him she was fine. After lunch, Laney took a bathroom break and trusting Paul to watch over things for the few minutes she was gone. The whole time, her heart was pounding. She went as fast as she could, only feeling like she could breathe again. When she was seated back in her beach chair, Bella came out of the water and walked over her parents. Mom she said she didn't sound scared, but Laney could tell something was off. What is it? She asked, standing immediately and closing the distance between them. Are you hurt? No, Bella replied, but I just talked to someone who said she knew you. She told me to tell you that you're safe here, that she's protecting you from some curse. Curse Leaney echoed. Bella nodded. She wanted you to not be s to the lake and that you should come visit more often. You know who she was. Laney did, but she said nothing. She was too busy gazing out at Lake Lanier, which stretched all the way to the horizon. She swore she could hear faint laughter bubbling out from the deep for the first time that day. Laney smiled. Maybe that sound meant that her sister had found peace. Maybe Laney could too. This episode of A Dark Memory was researched and written by Tess Redmond and produced by me Edwin Karubias. Maybe you have a topic you want me to talk about here on A Dark Memory, be sure to send it to me at Hello at a dark memory dot com or visit the website A dark memory dot com. Up next, be sure to check out my other podcast called Scary Story Podcast. It's where I share scary stories that I've written and you can find it by searching for it on your podcast player right now. Thank you very much for listening, See you soon.