Spanning 39,000 acres and occupying 692 miles of shoreline, Lake Lanier is the largest lake in Georgia. It is a manmade lake in northern Georgia that was created in 1956 upon the completion of the Buford Dam on the Chattahoochee River. Between 1994 and 2020, over 203 people died in drowning and boating accidents at the lake, and hundreds more were injured. Over the years, countless drownings and various accidents have led many to believe that a vengeful supernatural force may be responsible for these incidents.

The lake was created by flooding several towns and displacing the hundreds of families who called the area home. Though they tried to relocate all of the corpses in the cemeteries, many unmarked graves could not be identified so the bodies were never moved. Underneath the surface of the lake, a ghost town lurks below. Swimmers have even claimed to hear a church bell tolling under the water.

The primary apparition is a ghostly woman known as the “lady of the lake”. She wears a flowing blue dress and has been noted to be missing both hands. This woman is said to be the ghost of Delia Parker Young who was driving late one night with her friend when the car skidded off the road and into the lake. Despite an extensive search, the car and the bodies of the women were not found until 18 months later when a fisherman noticed a body floating to the surface. The body was missing both hands and two toes on the left foot. It was later buried in an unmarked grave.

“You reach out into the dark and you feel an arm or a leg and it doesn’t move,” professional diver Buck Buchannon said in a 2017 interview. “Nobody has been able to lay them to rest. They’re on the bottom of Lanier. Hopefully, you find them before they find you.”

Lake Lanier has trended on Twitter numerous times over the years. Every time there is another incident, native Georgians and people out of state flock to the site to share their experiences and thoughts. The general advice is to steer clear of the lake at all costs.

“I live on Lake Lanier, so uh, am I supposed to just yeet myself outta there or? Also, we been knew it was haunted. The graveyard of the town under the lake is right behind my dad’s house lol,” Twitter user @ryleehamlin shared in 2019.

Whether it be a vengeful spirit-woman, a disturbed cemetery or a flooded ghost city, it is clear to see that Lake Lanier has had an alarming amount of accidents.