Beneath the murky waters of Georgia’s largest manmade reservoir lies a history filled with displaced communities, unmarked graves, and a staggering number of fatalities. Welcoming over 10 million visitors annually, Lake Lanier covers 38,000 acres.
Since its creation in 1956, an estimated 700 people have died in these waters. With a violent history dating back over a century before its construction, locals and theorists frequently point to the submerged ruins to explain the continuous string of fatal accidents.
The Violent Eviction of Oscarville
The land currently submerged by Lake Lanier was once home to the Cherokee people before the United States government expelled them during the Trail of Tears in the 1830s. Decades later, the area included Oscarville, a small Black community in Forsyth County.
In September 1912, a teenager named Mae Crow was killed. White residents blamed three Black men, lynching one and hanging the other two. Armed white citizens called “Night Riders” then used arson and violence to force the Black population out of the area. Between 1910 and 1920, the Black population of Forsyth County fell from 1,098 to just 30.
Creating Georgia’s Largest Lake
In 1946, Congress authorized the construction of Buford Dam on the Chattahoochee River. Ground was broken in 1950, and workers felled treetops, leaving tall stumps beneath the planned water level. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers relocated 20 cemeteries, 15 businesses, and more than 250 families before flooding the farmland and forest.
However, unmarked graves were left behind. The government purchased the remnants of Oscarville, and by 1956, the town was completely underwater. Today, divers report finding an old auto racing track, cars, and even body parts on the lakebed.
The Tragic Tale of the Lady of the Lake
Lake Lanier has been the site of numerous unusual accidents since its filling. In 1958, Susie Roberts and Delia May Parker Young accidentally drove a Ford sedan off a bridge into the reservoir. One year later, a fisherman discovered a handless, unidentifiable body wearing a blue dress.
Locals reported seeing a ghostly figure in a blue dress on the bridge, dubbing her the “Lady of the Lake”. In 1990, bridge workers found the sunken Ford sedan containing the bones of Susie Roberts. This discovery led authorities to conclude the body found in 1959 was Young.
Unexplained Fatalities and Accidents
More than 200 people have died at the lake since 1994 alone. The deadliest single day occurred on Christmas in 1964, when a car plunged into the freezing water, killing a married couple and five children.
Other bizarre incidents include a 2021 event where a boat with no prior issues randomly exploded. In 2015, a 25-year-old man named Kelly Nash vanished from his home; his body was pulled from the lake a month later with a gunshot wound, yet authorities ruled the death a drowning.