What lies beneath the deep, dark reaches of your local lake? If it’s ever been featured in one of Geo Rutherford’s viral TikTok videos, chances are—it’s spooky.
“[Lakes] hold onto things that rivers and other bodies of water don’t,” Rutherford explains. “They’re kind of like these receptacles of history, so we find that we have shipwrecks and even bodies that are preserved for a very long time,” she says.
The TikTok creator’s annual October series: “Spooky Lake Month,” has amassed her account over 70 million likes and earned her 1.7 million followers on the platform, plus a newly released Spooky Lakes book.
Rather than chasing down ghosts and lake monsters, Rutherford explores lakes that are haunted by toxic chemicals, geologic oddities, or well-preserved corpses.
“It’s about the natural world being spooky by herself,” she says.
To celebrate the month when science takes a turn for the supernatural, National Geographic asked Rutherford to share her five favorite spooky lakes.
(This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)
1. Lake Baikal, Siberian RussiaMy favorite lake of all time is Lake Baikal, which is truly the strangest lake on the planet. It’s the oldest lake in the world and deepest freshwater lake in the world—I’m talking about a lake that is over a mile deep at its lowest point. It’s much, much deeper than any other lake, and it’s impressive that it’s been as deep as it is for so long. [Editor’s note for lake geology amateurs: Lakes tend to get more shallow over time.]
There are over 300 rivers that flow into Lake Baikal, and yet it has not been submerged beneath the sediment of its own making. That’s because it’s on a rift valley that’s pulling apart, and all that sediment siphons into the Earth itself. The actual bottom of the rift valley that contains this lake is potentially one of the deepest in the world.
2. Lake Vostok, AntarcticaIt’s beneath two miles of ice. It’s this fascinating place that we can’t possibly imagine. It’s freshwater from a combination of the pressure of the ice and possibly some gas hydrates or geothermal activity at the bottom.
For more than 20 years, Russian scientists tried to drill a bore hole down to this lake. Russians could barely reach it properly because when they puncture the ice to the lake, the water flushes back into the borehole and freezes. I find it to be very strange and very weird.
3. Lake Natron, TanzaniaThe chemical composition of the lake is really fascinating: It mummifies creatures who fall into it by essentially drying them out the same way ancient Egyptians dried out corpses.
The ancient Egyptians used natron [for mummification]—and this lake is essentially a pool of natron salt. It’s basic, so it’s the opposite of acidic. Because of the volcano right next to Lake Natron it has a very special type of lava that gets into the lake and adds to this strange chemistry.
But the lake isn’t lifeless. Millions of lesser flamingos go to this lake to breed and eat algae.
4. Lake Karachay, RussiaThis is one of the most polluted spots on Earth. This was by a uranium processing plant that had a bad habit of dumping all their radioactive material into this lake. The history of the plant and the area is fascinating because it all just became extremely radioactive. It was considered one of the most radioactive places in the world. But it slowly dried out and all the sediment in the lake started to blow and contaminate local villages and people.
The lake doesn’t exist anymore because they essentially had to fill it in with concrete blocks and seal it shut because it was so dangerous.
5. Lake Superior, United StatesLake Superior is different from the other Great Lakes because of its late season storms. In November, we see these crazy gales and snowstorms that make ships disappear beneath the surface. The most famous one is the Edmund Fitzgerald, the most iconic of the Great Lake shipwrecks. Even though it’s only 500 feet beneath the surface, you’re not allowed to visit it because it can be considered a graveyard for those who died there.
There are other shipwrecks you can visit like the SS Kamloops shipwreck, which disappeared off the coast of Isle Royale. It hit the rocky shore and went down, and way later we discovered the crew along the shore of the island. They all froze to death. In 1977, we found the shipwreck and began to explore it, and that’s where we discovered “Old Whitey,” this old corpse who floats around in the Kamloops boiler room. It feels like he’s following you because of the currents your fins create.
Source : National Geographic