“The technological capability to identify and verify unmarked burial sites through subsurface scanning or other means was far less robust 70 years ago,” Yabor told CNN. While the Corps identified and moved marked graves, it’s likely that some unmarked ones were inadvertently left behind, said Cesar Yabor, a spokesman for the US Army Corps of Engineers. Major infrastructure such as bridges and water intakes were relocated.īut … the community had a cemetery. Barns and wooden structures that could float and endanger watercraft were moved. They uprooted trees and hauled them away. To prepare the land to be filled with water, the Army Corps of Engineers demolished or moved anything they considered dangerous. Today Lake Lanier has about 625 billion gallons of water – the equivalent of 950,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Some families later regretted their decision once they realized they couldn’t survive on what the government offered, Russell told CNN.īut the lake brought multiple benefits, including flood protection from the Chattahoochee, which flows west of Atlanta. Named for poet Sidney Lanier, the lake was built in the 1950s to provide electric power, water and flood protection. Eventually they decided to name it after Sidney Lanier, an 18th-century Georgia poet who wrote “Song of the Chattahoochee.” Others sought to name it after a legendary football coach.
Some local officials wanted to name it after Georgia politicians. Whatever they had abandoned was covered by the the rising waters.Įven the lake’s naming was contentious, Russell said. To them, their land was priceless.”Įventually, some 700 families sold a total of 56,000 acres to the government, which built a dam on the Chattahoochee River to form the lake.Īs their land filled with water in 1956, locals jammed roads and bridges to watch as history vanished before their eyes. “At first, the government assured land owners that they were being paid for the true value of the land and buildings, but residents found it hard to price generations of memories, hard work and deep roots,” Russell wrote in her book, “Underwater Ghost Towns of North Georgia.” “A host of emotions accompanied the talk of relocation: anger, resentment, fear, anxiety, bewilderment and apprehension. The Army Corps flooded farmland bought from hundreds of families to create Lake Lanier.
But the true backstory of Lake Lanier, built over an underwater ghost town, is just as interesting. The stories about mysterious underwater sightings are eerie – especially at Halloween. And the Netflix drama “Ozark,” which has its own high body count, films scenes at the lake. More than 200 people have died in swimming and boating accidents on the lake since 1994, adding to its dark history.
Historians say some unmarked graves and other structures were swallowed up by its waters. The lake was created in the 1950s by flooding valley communities that contained a cemetery, fueling beliefs that it’s cursed. But supernatural lore and urban legends about the lake have found a receptive audience on social media, where they’ve found legions of believers. To many Georgians the large, serpentine lake northeast of Atlanta is a recreational hotspot, popular for boating and water sports. These and other spooky tales have haunted Lake Lanier, in the foothills of the northern Georgia mountains, for decades. Angry spirits call people home to submerged graves. Mysterious arms reach out for swimmers from the watery depths. Legend has it the ghost of a long-dead woman roams this lake in a flowing blue dress.
0 kommentar(er)
