Every Town - LAKE LANIER: THE MOST CURSED LAKE IN AMERICA

Episode Date: August 2, 2024

The vast man made Lake Lanier in Georgia, In its nearly seventy years of existence, is a body of water that has claimed close to 1000 lives. It is an imposing and mysterious lake, where people keep dying and disappearing, each tale getting weirder then the next. And when you find out what lies beneath it, well for some reason all the tragedies and strange occurrences just start to make sense. 👀 Watch This Episode On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/scarymysteries 🎧 Our Other Podcast Scary Mysteries: https://open.spotify.com/show/3ZooEZMoZ421WdsOVJhVkT 💀 Exclusive Videos, Podcasts & Perks: https://www.patreon.com/scarymysteries  👁 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrew.fitzg 👁 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@andrewfitzgerald 👁 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scarymysteriesofficial 🗣 Business Inquiries, questions and comments hit us up at [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you love true crime, grab your favorite mug and pour yourself a dose of creepy true crime every single morning with a morning cup of murder. This short daily show is the perfect podcast to incorporate into your morning routine because in less than 15 minutes, you'll hear about a true crime that took place on a day's date in history. Each day's dark history lesson will kickstart your morning with intriguing tales of murder, abduction, serial killers, cults, and everything in between.

With over 20 million downloads, Morning Cup of Murder has something for every true crime lover. One listener describes the show as a small package with a powerful punch of crime. Another writes that the show is an absolute delight in the morning. Support yourself a piping hot cup of murder every single morning with Morning Cup of Murder. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every town has a dark side. The word cursed and haunted gets thrown around a lot. We like to think of places such as old homes and buildings,

even dolls as harbingers for restless spirits and dark poltergeist that can make things go bump in the night. Some of the stories are entertaining, others frightening. But once you dig deep enough, but the majority of them, you can find logical explanations. However, when you dig down into the depths of one space, specific place down south. No matter how hard you try and explain it away as logical, the data just doesn't back you up. Because the vast man-made Lake Lanier in Georgia, and it's nearly

70 years of existence, is a body of water that has claimed close to a thousand lives. It is an imposing and mysterious lake, where people keep dying and disappearing, each tale getting weirder than the next. And when you find out what lies beneath it, well, for some reason, all the tragedies and strange occurrences just start to make sense. Hey guys, it's Andrew, and thanks for tuning in to this week's episode of Everytown. We're today, we're looking into a handful of the many stories that have occurred on Lake Lanier's waters, ones that are the reason this place is widely considered the most haunted body of water in all the land.

So, let's head on down to Georgia and discover Lake Lanier, the most cursed lake in America. located about an hour's drive north of Atlanta, with an area of more than 500 square miles and a winding shoreline that stretches for more than 1,000 miles, Lake Lanier has an interesting past. Unlike the majority of the country's bodies of water have formed naturally, Lanier is a man-made reservoir, which was little more than an idea back of the 1940s. Up until that time, the region where the water sits now was a complex of lush and furrowing, rural lands where wildlife thrived in numerous rural communities with names like Castleberry Bottom and Oscarville flourished. These farmlands were home to hundreds of farming families, most of whom

were black, who'd occupy the region there for generations. In the early 1950s, however, the government decided to step in and change the landscape forever. Atlanta was growing, and so the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were brought in, needing to find a source of power in. water for the population, something that would remain sustainable for the needs of the future population. There were only so many options to choose from. This reservoir, for one, needed to be close to the area it served, and two, they needed a natural water source to pull from. And so the project was then conceived on paper. They would use the waters of the Chattahoochee River, which originated in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the north of the country, and built a dam that would then flood the land. And would then flood the

land and become wonderful Lake Lanier. In order to carry out the project, the government had to buy the land of all the people and farmers that would be displaced at a good and fair price. Whether or not they got that is up for debate. A lot of these families that sold weren't too wise on the ups and downs of the real estate market. In 1948, for example, 81-year-old Henry Shadeburn would be the first to sell his 100-acre farm to the United States to the tune of $4,100. I think about what 100 acres an hour outside a major city is worth today. Pretty sure if you own that, you'd be a multimillionaire. But in today's dollars, that $4,100 is the equivalent of $54,000.

So they fell a little short in that department. And Henry's story wasn't unique. On top of that, the residents found it hard to put a price. and all the memories and deep roots they had in the area. It was a lot of resentment, anger, and confusion because to a lot of these people, the land their families had grown up on was priceless. But the government has its way of getting the people to do things they don't want to.

It would take another seven years or so, but eventually, by 1956, some 700 families had sold a total of 56,000 acres of land to the government. The Beaufort Dam was built, and soon waters flooded. over the lands, burying people's memories forever, and Lake Lanier came to be. And today, at first glance, most people don't think about the past, as Lake Lanier presents a beautiful and imposing spectacle to virtually everyone of the hundreds of thousands of people

who visited each year. However, little exploration beneath the surface reveals a much more disturbing picture. In order to prepare the land that would become the lake, the Army Corps of engineers undertook the task of removing and demolishing anything that could become a hazard to future boaters and swimmer. Every type of wooden structure that could float like barns and entire houses was demolished and removed, but they didn't get everything. As the government can sometimes tend to do, they cut corners to save some money. So rather than get rid of the small town of Oscarville, they just decided to flood it. And so right now, at this very moment, it remains underwater. Many homes, six churches, and approximately 20 cemeteries were just left alone.

At first, they got away with this, but over time people began to notice. And in a classic sort of due first and asked permission later, eventually the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers came back and removed numerous marked graves and relocated them to safe areas. But they admit they may have left some behind. On top of that, they were just talking about the actual graves, are the body's buried there, hundreds of them, are still under the water. And so this is why many people consider this lake haunted.

The frequent sightings of strange figures in the water, unexplained accidents, cars losing control, boats crashing into non-existent obstacles, many other incidents are the work of restless spirits trapped beneath the lake. And whether you believe in spirits and hauntings or not, there's no denying that this lake is one of the most deadly bodies of water in the United States. In its entire history, there have been over 700 deaths here, which, compared to the national average, is well above what will be considered normal and just accidents. For many people, the origin of the alleged restless spirits causing chaos and destruction in the lake goes back along ways and is directly related to Oscarville

and its surroundings. In 1912, an 18-year-old girl named May Crow was found in the woods. The girl had been attacked, hit on the head with a rock, and assaulted. In the episode, already dark, took a turn for the worst, when the only five black teenagers in the area were accused of the attack, and then tried by an all-white jury. No conclusive evidence was ever found that the boys had committed the attack, but that didn't stop the anger and impulsiveness of the community. Young Rob Edwards was lynched in the town square almost immediately.

It's reported that Ernest Not, A 16-year-old boy among the accused confessed to the crimes after being threatened by the community during a sort of mock hanging, receiving threats that he would be hanged if he didn't confess. Lake Lanier's dark reputation has only grown over time since then. In addition to just burying an entire town and water, as mentioned, Lake Lanier has claimed many lives. But in more recent times, that number has only increased year over year. Between 1994 and October of 2020 alone, there were approximately 203 recorded deaths, either by drowning or boating accidents.

And what is best described as a crossroads between supernatural and real events, there's something strange happening at this place. Buck Buchanan understands this all too well. Lifelong diving enthusiast, he told local media in 2017 that on more than one occasion, He felt what he could only identify as human body parts. He said, You reach out into the darkness underwater, and you feel an arm or a leg, and it doesn't move.

Even though nothing is physically there to grab out and pull up, well, it feels like rubbing against human body parts. On April 16th of 1958, Susie Roberts was driving in her Ford sedan with her friend, Delia Young. They had just grabbed gas, where they left without paying. Headed to the nearby town of Dawsonville, where they were going to be partying at the three gables, a local roadhouse. But they would never arrive. For reasons unknown, Susie lost control of her car, somewhere in the middle of the Jerry Jackson Bridge. The car then plunged into the depths of the lake and sank forever, or at least for a very, very long time.

18 months later, very close to that bridge, a local fisherman encountered an unpleasant site. There was a body in an advanced state of decomposition floating along the surface. Medical examiners were unable to identify the individual. Swollen and deformed from months of exposure to the elements in water, the body was missing two toes from the left foot and both hands. Devoured by the slow bites and actions of the lake's fish, perhaps, or lost in the grotesque attack that caused her death, and there's no way to really know.

Either way, by this time, most locals were convinced that this body could only belong to Delia Young. The reason they knew was her was because dozens of motorists on State Route 53 had seen Delia after her disappearance, or more specifically, the spirit she had become after her death. Before she was ever found in those waters, witnesses spoke of a ghostly apparition, hands missing and appearing lost, almost as if searching for her path but not. no one could show her. This figure was wearing a blue dress, and the same one Delia was wearing, the night she went missing. Over time, her story has become legend in the area. To this day, people still come forward every now and again with stories of seeing the Lady of the Lake.

As it turns out, they were right about the body belonging to Delia. By 1990, the old Jerry Jackson Bridge was in need of repair, so part of the bottom was dredged to repair and strengthen the structures, foundations and build an extension. At that time, the corroded remains of a Ford vehicle were found, half buried among the sediment along the bottom. Susie Roberts' bones were still in the driver's seat, and dental records helped identify her. Beyond just the sheer number of deaths that have occurred here, any of the circumstances surrounding these incidents just don't sit right.

And they seem to go beyond just tragic accidents. And bodies of water, oftentimes, there will be more. markers for where there are protruding objects like rocks that boaters should take caution around. But here on Lanier, there have been multiple cases of boats colliding with objects that upon closer inspection of the water show that nothing is below them. Sudden swells are known to come out of nowhere and capsize smaller vessels like kayaks. There's also numerous cases of swimmers drowning or disappearing near the shore, despite all evidence that they were strong and capable people. Some survivors, what could have been a terrifying

end, have claimed to have been out swimming when suddenly they get grabbed and dragged into the depths by a pair of hands that held them tightly, pulling them into the darkness below, before they were able to fight their way out and luckily escape. On June 16th of 2012, Lake Lanier drew media attention after the tragic death of Jake and Griffin-Prince, ages 9 and 13 respectively. The brothers were on a nighttime pontoon ride with 12 other passengers when at around 10.30 p.m., their vessel was suddenly struck by a speeding boat. The young Jake would be recovered a short time later by his 15-year-old brother,

and would take nine more days for search and rescue to locate Griffin, who was then found 113 feet below the surface. And just 10 days before that, Lake had claimed another victim. 11-year-old Kyle Glover who was struck by a jet ski while riding an inner tube off the back of a boat. The child, the son of Singer-usher's ex-girlfriend Tamika Foster,

survived the initial impact, but his injuries were so severe that he tragically died weeks later. But accidents can always be justified by people's negligence or reckless behavior. In the case of Jake and Griffin, the man driving the boat that crashed into them, was arrested for being under the influence.

With Kyle, it was his own uncle, an experienced in driving jet skis that accidentally ran into him. And these tragedies are the inevitable result of the sheer number of people who visit the lake's waters year after year. However, they're not the only type of incidents that occur, and some are much harder to explain. In January 5th of 2015, around 3 in the morning, 25-year-old Kelly Nash was seen in his living room in Buford, close to Lake Lanier by his girlfriend Jessica Sexton. And Kelly was about to graduate from college, looking forward to receiving his degree in accounting. And having chronic sinus issues, sometimes he had trouble sleeping, and leave the bedroom so he wouldn't disturb Jessica, which is why he was awake.

About an hour later, caught up in a sneezing and coughing fit, he told his girlfriend he was headed to the doctors. 7.30 a.m., when Jessica woke up, Kelly's truck was still in the drink. driveway. His keys and wallet were still sitting on the table, but Kelly was gone. Concerned family members called the authorities. The search was exhaustive, but yielded no major results until about a month later, and Nash's body, unrecognizable due to its advanced state of decomposition, was found floating in Lake Lanier by a fisherman. His body showed no obvious signs of violence, Although upon the coroner's examination, it was an unmistakable gunshot wound to the head,

though his cause of death was drowning. He was wearing the same clothes he had on the day he went missing, so it's presumed he died a short time after leaving the house, but what actually happened, no one knows for sure. Another very similar case was the disappearance of 16-year-old Hannah Truelove, a senior at Gainesville High School, who vanished from an apartment complex on the outskirts of Lake Lanier. on the morning of August 24th of 2012.

Unlike Kelly Nash's case, Hannah was found much quicker. The next morning, a man thought he saw a mannequin down at the bottom of a stream, just a stones throw away from the lake, but it was an actual person. It was Hannah's lifeless body, she had been stabbed multiple times.

Shortly before her death and prior disappearance, Hannah had been acting unusual. And she had posted several tweets expressing her urgent need to escape from the apartment complex where she lived. She spoke of a stalker, a figure who seemed to follow her everywhere, making her feel unsafe, watched and followed at all times. Presented with this, investigators talked to her family and neighbors, but no one ever reported seeing anything unusual or somebody following the teen.

As a result, her case remains open to this day, but is a complete mystery as to who killed her and why. On September 2nd of 2023, the waters of Lake Lanier claimed yet another life. Gabrielle Alexander, young 23-year-old, met his tragic fate after slipping from a dock into the cold unforgiving water. He disappeared and rescuers found his body, 17 feet below. This tragedy followed closely on the heels of another drowning just a few weeks prior, where 24-year-old Edgar Martinez jumped in the waters from his family's dog. A neighbor rushed to help and reached in to pull the man out, and when he did he felt a vibration coming from the water that he likened to electric shock.

So it appears Edgar was electrocuted in the lake. These two deaths marked the eighth fatal accident in just an eight-month span. Although it's a much lesser-known episode compared to the many tragic moments that have occurred on the lake, likely just because of the passage of time, the most horrific story of all, maybe the one that occurred on Christmas Day back in 1964. The victims of this tragic incident were the Brown and Rogers families, a group of four adults and seven children, ranging from babies all the way up to six years old,

who shared a home in Gainesville. Throughout the morning, the women of the family have been preparing for the anticipated Christmas celebration. Over around 1 p.m., after deciding they needed some apples for a pie. Both families piled into the Brown's large, vehicle and drove to an orchard that would take them across Lake Lanier. When they hit two-mile bridge on Highway 14, that's when the driver lost control of the car. It's believed that he had been drinking heavily in the previous hours. The impact was so catastrophic, but according to reports published

back then, the car sheared off a guardrail and struck a utility pole with such force that it snapped in half. And both pieces in the car then falling, irretrievably into Lake Linnir. I think he got there right after the accident, testified a young Martha McConnell, referring to her stepfather, was among those who jumped into the water in a desperate attempt to save the injured. The rescuers who arrived at the scene claimed the visibility in the water was near zero, and could barely make out the outline of the vehicle in about 30 feet of water. Martha's testimony not only serves as a reminder of why that day remains the deadliest in Lake Lanyar's history. He, Martha said, of her stepfather, jumped out of the car to see if he could help and told us

that he had seen what he thought was a doll of one of the children floating in the water. And then they found out it was actually one of the children. In that day, only four of the 11 people who boarded that vehicle, two adults and two children survived. The remaining seven lost their lives, adding to the vast list of souls that make up the watery graveyard, we call Lake Lanier. While some sources put the numbers of deaths and disappearances at Lanier at up to three times the average for U.S. lakes, many people believe that these deaths are simply a result of this body of water being one of the most popular and visited in the country. One of the many reasons for the creation of this lake was to provide flood control for the region. The lake served as purpose and has since become one of the main drivers of economic growth in the area.

numerous hotels, resorts, apartment complexes, and other attractions have sprung up around this impressive man-made body of water. In 2019, for example, Lake Lanier received approximately 12 million visitors, significant number of people that, as might be expected, increases the likelihood of accidents of all kinds. But at the same time, maybe there's something to this place. It's just beyond the edge of our understanding. A dark place hidden by the veneer of inviting waters and fun in the sun. A place just waiting for people to let their guard down just long enough so that it can take advantage in all sorts of ways. Inevitably, whether these events have a logical explanation or a supernatural cause,

it's very difficult for the vast and mysterious lake lanier to shake off the reputation that has made it by far the most haunted lake in the entire United States. So that's it for this week's episode of Everytown. Hope you all enjoyed it. Thank you so much for tuning in today. Remember to come back next week for another episode. It's scary, strange, and mysterious stories. Because you never know.

Maybe your town will be next.