Georgia’s first ‘waterslide coaster’ is set to open on the haunted Lake Lanier, notorious for hundreds of bizarre drownings and electrocution deaths.
The famous manmade lake, constructed atop burial grounds in the 1950s, has seen more than 70 fatalities in boating incidents and recorded 140 drowning deaths between 1994 and 2022.
Now, atop the lake, a water park is poised to introduce ‘Georgia’s first adrenaline-fueled waterslide coaster that will redefine aquatic thrills,’ according to Margaritaville at Lake Lanier Islands.
Fins Up Water Park, scheduled to open on May 4, features 15 rides, 15 restaurants and concessions, according to the resort’s website.
‘This monumental investment marks the most significant expansion of Margaritaville at Lanier Islands in decades, adding Georgia’s largest waterslide complex to the water park, boasting an impressive 15 slides in total in 2024,’ park officials wrote.
Georgia’s first ‘waterslide coaster’ is set to open on the haunted Lake Lanier, notorious for hundreds of bizarre drownings and electrocution deaths
The famous manmade lake, constructed atop burial grounds in the 1950s, has seen more than 70 fatalities in boating incidents and recorded 140 drowning deaths between 1994 and 2022
Now, atop the lake, a water park is poised to introduce ‘Georgia’s first adrenaline-fueled waterslide coaster that will redefine aquatic thrills,’ according to Margaritaville at Lake Lanier Islands
The resort held a ceremony Wednesday this week to announced the news, including the construction of Apocalypso and three additional slides.
The waterslide coaster will send riders downhill at an average speed of 30mph, according to park officials.
‘This blockbuster tower of slides, featuring Georgia’s first waterslide coaster, will be an epic addition to Margaritaville at Lanier Islands,’ said Bucky Perry, Vice President of Margaritaville at Lanier Islands.
‘For those seeking an escape and a nonstop day of high-speed intensity thrills and family fun, Margaritaville at Lanier Islands is the place to be.’
The celebration of the multi-million-dollar revamp, however, is met with intense backlash from outraged social media users.
‘For those who don’t remember, over 200 bodies have been pulled from Georgia’s Lake Lanier since 1994. Lake Lanier was built on top of black communities in the early 20th century,’ a Instagram user wrote.
According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division, 216 people have died at the lake between 1994 and 2022.
In just one week in September last year, three people lost their lives in Lake Lanier, adding to the death toll which does not even include suicides or medical emergencies.
The lake, build in 1956 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, has more than 38,000 acres of water and hosts several million visitors a year.
‘For those who don’t remember, over 200 bodies have been pulled from Georgia’s Lake Lanier since 1994. Lake Lanier was built on top of black communities in the early 20th century,’ a Instagram user wrote
Melissa Renee McMahan, whose body was found in Lake Lanier after a charity boat event on the lake
In just one week in September last year, three people lost their lives in Lake Lanier, adding to the death toll which does not even include suicides or medical emergencies. Pictured: Leonardo Martine(left) and Thomas Milner(right) who died in September last year
According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division, 216 people have died at the lake between 1994 and 2022. Pictured: Cristofer Acosta-Farias (left) died in 2020 and Kile Glover (right) died in 2012
Located around an hour’s drive from Atlanta, the lake covers 60 square miles with depths of up to 160 feet.
The lake provides drinking water for about 5 million people, according to the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper conservation group.
Buford Dam at the lake’s southern end generates hydroelectric power for the metro Atlanta area.
Before the 1950s, the current location of the lake was home to a small Black community in the town of Oscarville, notorious for being the site of a lynching in 1912.
To build the lake, the town was emptied, and in 1947, most residents were driven away. The remnants of the town, including graves located within the town’s burial grounds, were subsequently flooded during the construction in 1950.
One explanation for the shocking death toll of Lake Lenier could be the treacherous underwater traps, according to a 2023 Washington Post article.
‘When the lake was constructed, they didn’t remove every single structure from the area before flooding it,’ Dee Gillespie, a professor of U.S. history at the University of North Georgia, said.
‘That means if you are swimming, you are more likely to get caught up in something.’
Beneath the lake lies ‘rooftops, home foundations, cemeteries, and the Gainesville Speedway,’ because the city officials thought it’s too expensive to demolish the infrastructure.
‘When Lake Lanier was formed in the 1950s, it washed over Oscarville and turned it into an underwater ghost town,’ a 2021 OxfordAmerican article reads.
One explanation for the shocking death toll of Lake Lanier could be the treacherous underwater traps, according to a 2023 Washington Post article
Last year, Lake Lanier made national headlines when Usher’s ex-wife Tameka Foster, 52, collected more than 2,500 signatures for a petition imploring official to drain the lake.
It comes after her 11-year-old son Kile Glover was struck and killed on the lake 12 years ago by Jeffrey Hubbard, a close friend of Kile’s father Ryan Glover, as he was driving a jet ski in a ‘reckless’ way with no hands.
Foster said: ‘Draining, cleaning, and restoring Lake Lanier is not only necessary but also an opportunity to honour the memory of those who have lost their lives and prevent further tragedies.’
Patrick Cloud, a TikTok influencer, expressed his confusion regarding why the plan to build a waterpark was approved in the first place.
‘It does have some haunted history because it used to be a thriving black community. And they said, what if we flood it and make it a lake instead,’ he said in one video, referring to the lake as a mass grave.
‘That’s what they did. And now hundreds of people have died in there. And now they’re like, you know what would be dope in here? A waterslide!’
He continued: ‘If you have any plans on going here, you are probably either insane, completely dumb, or very racist, or all three.’
