Georgia’s man-made Lake Lanier is a summer vacation hotspot with an abundance of beaches, trails, and islands — and an inordinate amount of deaths. Theories about the drownings range from practical (murky water + leftover debris at the bottom of the lake) to supernatural (hands of the dead pulling swimmers deeper under the water). The ghostly lore of Lake Lanier is well known, with the Lady of the Lake said to be seen walking along a nearby bridge in a blue dress and without hands.
But if this lake is haunted by spirit, it’s certainly also haunted by its past. In 1912, a white woman named Mae Crow was found beaten and left for dead by the Chattahoochee River. Locals blamed a group of four Black people simply because they lived close by, and proceeded to suddenly and violently force all Black people in the community of Oscarville — as well as the rest of Forsyth County — to leave behind their belongings and get out of town. Today, much of Oscarville is under Lake Lanier, and the events of 1912 have undeniably left their mark on the area.
In this episode, we dive into the legends and history of Lake Lanier. But first, Zoey tells us some notable final meals of death row inmates in her Something Spooky.
CW: sexual assault and racial violence.
When I sit down to research a new episode topic, I often assume I know what I’m getting into. Sometimes I’m right, and sometimes I’m incredibly off. With Lake Lanier, I was incredibly off.
I expected something like this: man-made lake covering a town, tells of spookiness abound. And, to an extant, I was right.
This is a man-made lake covering a town (well, a conglomeration of communities and farmland), and tells of spookiness do abound. But if you tell the story of Lake Lanier like that (as some do), you’re missing out on the heart of the situation.
The “racial cleansing” of Oscarville and the rest of Forsyth County, Georgia in 1912 is a moment almost too gut-wrenching to comprehend. I wonder if some of the accounts of Lake Lanier that I read viewed the events of 1912 as just that, a moment. Why include something that happened in 1912 in a story about a creepy lake that was created in the 1950s?
But history doesn’t just live within the moment it happens. It shapes future generations, effects the land, resources, and how the community makes decisions in the future. I think it’s impossible to tell the story of Lake Lanier without including Oscarville. Or at least impossible to do it justice.
Something Spooky source: “9 Bizarre Last Meal Requests of Death Row Prisoners” by Alema Ljuca, History of Yesterday, pub. Oct. 4, 2021.
Sources:
YouTube video: “LANIER MARCH 21 2015 DIVE” by Kenneth Rawlings, Mar. 22, 2015.
“Is Lake Lanier haunted? CBS46 takes a look” on CBS46, Oct. 31, 2017.
https://www.sam.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Recreation/Lake-Sidney-Lanier/Questions/
“Car, Remains Hauled From Lake Bottom May Solve 1958 Mystery,” AP News, Nov. 3, 1990.
Comments read aloud in episode were from the comment section of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3iXS8sm7Q4
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