Urban legend has it Lake Lanier — site of an "unusually high number of deaths... everything from boating accidents and drownings to cars sliding off the road and into the water for seemingly no obvious reason" is either cursed or haunted.

Not only has Lake Lanier claimed the life of at least 675 of its visitors since it built, with the death toll climbing past 20 deaths per year on occasion, but most of the tragic drownings occurred under strange conditions. Many strong swimmers have been lost "close to shore and in calm water conditions," and some who survived near drowning in the lake have reported a feeling of "being dragged beneath the water by invisible hands."