Lake Lanier has long been rumored to be haunted. Many believe what lies under the lake may be the reason. Situated northeast of Atlanta, Georgia, with waters reaching up to 160 feet deep, the lake sits atop an area that was once home to a small, thriving Black community in the early 1900s, until those residents were forced to leave. The community was called Oscarville, which formed in the late 1800s during the Reconstruction era.
In 1912, an 18-year-old white woman named Mae Crow was found beaten and unconscious in the woods near the community. Crow would later die from her injuries, and three young Black men were accused of her murder with little to no evidence to link them to the crime, other than a coerced confession from one of them. Later, the three men were publicly lynched in a nearby town square. The events surrounding this case are documented in Patrick Phillips’s book, Blood at the Root: A Racial Cleansing in America.
Afterwards, Oscarville, as the Black community knew it, was no more. In the 1950s, the land where Oscarville had once stood became Lake Lanier. Hundreds of families sold 56,000 acres to the government so the lake could be formed, with a dam built on the Chattahoochee River to form the lake.
Bridges and trees were taken down, forcing wildlife out of the area, and a reported twenty graveyards were also forced to change location. But did all of those graves get moved?
It’s believed some of those graves were left behind and submerged in the waters. Others point out that the land was once home to Native American settlements and burial grounds, which may explain why the area is reportedly haunted.
Since 1994 and 2022, according to USA Today and Georgia DNR, more than 200 people have perished in the waters there, with most of the deaths attributed to drownings.
Through the years, the lake has earned quite a reputation for being a paranormal hotspot due to a combination of factors, such as the numerous deaths, disappearances, and the land on which it was constructed.
One of the most enduring ghostly stories associated with Lake Lanier is the deaths of Delia Parker Young and Susie Roberts in 1958, when the car they were in plunged into the lake off Browns Bridge. A body was discovered a year later by a local fisherman floating in the water, who had a blue dress on.
Since then, people have reported seeing the ‘Lady of the Lake’ dressed in a flowing blue dress near the bridge. Other ghostly tales associated with this lake include phantom boats and orbs.
Written By: John G. Clark Jr