Beware the Dark Waters of Lake Lanier!

Is Lake Lanier haunted, cursed or both? Many Georgians think so, some beg to differ. 

Here's some of the learned BS via Twitter...

"Niggas end up dead at Lake Lanier." 

"I'm at Lake Lanier today but I'm damn sure not getting in the water." 

"If you live in Georgia you know Lake Lanier is haunted." 

"Take it from someone who lives in Georgia, the lake is fucking haunted." 

"Don't got there. It's haunted and you'll probably drown or go missing." 

And on and on it goes... 

How did this urban legend come about? Fact: since 1956 there have been 684 strange and unexplained deaths at the 'cursed lake of Georgia'. 

Perhaps its all down to the sheer volume of visitors. Lake Lanier gets about 12 million of them a year. They go to fish, boat, swim and drink-hard. Half of boating accidents are booze related and the death count this year at the lake already stands stands at 9. The high number of fatalities has worried officials. What's to blame? Bad boating etiquette, freak waves or ghostly hands pulling you underwater?  

"It's not summer in Atlanta until somebody dies at haunted ass Lake Lanier." 

Thank God summer's over...

The interest in Lake Lanier's dark history of untimely deaths and freak accidents is personal. Kelly Nash a young man whom I knew from the gym, died at "Lake Murder" in suspicious circumstances in 2015. 

Foul play. Suicide. Misadventure. Or was it down to the voodoo waters of the lake? His death has never been properly explained by authorities. 

Tragedy aside, no wonder Lake Lanier breeds so many odd tales and tweets. It's an eerie spot. A human made reservoir, 156 feet deep and 211 odd by Buford Dam--that's taller than the Statue of Liberty. 

What lies beneath the calm surface of Georgia's deadliest lake? There's a submerged ghost town. A racetrack. 20 cemeteries and family plots, too. Is that reason enough to be haunted or cursed?  

Are these inexplicable and unexplained occurrences down to an old Native American hex? Divers have found pottery. Arrowheads. And, quite possibly, an old burial mound. Or is it just an old rock pile? 

Swimmers drowning in life jackets. Boats capsizing. Jet skis flipping over. If the Georgia lake is haunted/cursed/whatever has anybody actually seen a ghost? Yes. Not the Grim Reaper on a jet ski but a moaning lady of the lake and an apparition on a Huck Finn raft.   

But what about monsters lurking in the deep? Hmm, will giant catfish do?   

Haunted, maybe not. For Atlanta folks Lake Lanier is the beach. And the four rules of having a good time are often flaunted (1) Don't drink to excess (2) Don't drink and swim (3) Wear a life jacket at all times (4)  Don't disturb the ghosts. Or those monster fish.