Podcast Summary: Too Many Tabs with Pearlmania500

Episode: “HORRIFYING! The Disturbing Lore of 3 Haunted Lakes | TMT 150”

Date: October 19, 2025
Hosts: Pearlmania500 (“A”) & Mrs. P (“B”)

Episode Overview

In this haunted Spooktober episode, the podcasting duo explore the eerie lore, tragic history, and unsettling facts about three “haunted lakes” around the world. Mrs. P showcases deep-dive research (“too many tabs”) into:

• Lake Baikal in Siberia
• Lake Lanier in Georgia, USA
• Lake Superior in North America

Their journey through these waters covers a mix of supernatural legends, unsettling historic events, racism, political tangents, aquatic cryptids, creatures, and dark tales of human suffering—peppered with their characteristic tangents, irreverent humor, and social/political commentary.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. All Lakes Are Spooky (06:00–14:00)

• The hosts express a general unease around lakes as opposed to beaches. Pearlmania500 describes personal discomfort swimming in lakes, referencing murky water, plant life grabbing at your legs, and horror movie associations like “Creepshow” and “Jaws.”
  • Quote: “All plants in water, especially in lakes, feel like they’re gonna grab you and pull.” (A, 07:17)
• Comedic debate: Are there beach horror movies?
  • Mrs. P: “Jaws!” (08:04)
  • Pearlmania500: “That’s not a horror movie!” (08:06)
• “Duality of thought”—Both hosts can love and fear different aspects of lakes.
  • Mrs. P: “I can like hanging out in the lake at the daytime, but if that water looks too dark and I can’t see my feet, I’m out.” (14:01)

2. Lake Baikal, Siberia – Deepest, Oldest, Most Alien (15:35–40:00)

Facts & Scope

• Location: Southernmost Siberia, near Mongolia.
• Stats: Over 12,000 square miles, max depth 5,387 ft (five Delawares!), more water than all North American Great Lakes combined, 30 million years old.
  • Quote: “There’s more water in this lake than all of the North American Great Lakes combined.” (B, 20:05)
• Environment: Freezes most of the year, 6-ft thick clear ice, 2,000 earthquakes/year due to tectonic rift.
• Danger: Frozen lake causes deadly hypothermia/frostbite more than thin ice.

History & Lore

• The Great Siberian Ice March (1917–1920): During the Russian Civil War, the White Army (anti-Bolshevik) retreated across the frozen lake; many died, freezing in place and later sinking at thaw.
  • Quote: “As people kind of came back to the area in early spring, they could see frozen bodies standing across the lake. And then as the spring came and it warmed up, the... ice cracked and then they just sunk into the water.” (B, 29:10)
• Lost Tsar’s Gold: Legends of lost Russian gold sinking with a train derailment—now unreachable.

Unique Ecosystem

• Nerpa Seals: Only freshwater seal, adorable but terrifying “chainsaw” crab-eater teeth.
  • “That seal was the cutest seal you’ve ever shown me...Now you’re showing me its teeth... Each of the teeth have teeth!” (A, 34:00)
• Biodiversity: Home to unique creatures found nowhere else.

Cryptids & Aliens

• “Nessie”: Local “water dragon” cryptid, possibly a giant sturgeon with an evil face; locals made offerings (even blood sacrifices).
• “Lake Baikal Swimmers”: Russian navy divers in 1982 reported 9-ft humanoids with strange jellyfish-like helmets.
  • Quote: “I’m going to give them a maybe... you get down deep enough, you get a little bit of hallucination pressure going on.” (A, 37:56)

Tally

• Massive scale, ancient, teeming with strange creatures, soaked in civil war tragedy, reported cryptids and “aliens.” Both hosts agree: a big “spooky” (40:03).

3. Lake Lanier, Georgia – Ghosts, Racism, & Ruins Beneath (44:02–86:57)

Modern Creation, Sinister Roots

• Location: Northern Georgia, man-made reservoir created in 1956 by damming the Chattahoochee River.
• Size: 59 square miles.
• Named after: Confederate poet Sidney Lanier—the hosts follow the thread, exploring who he was and why the United Daughters of the Confederacy promoted his legacy.

The Erased Black Town of Oscarville

• Before the lake: Oscarville, a prosperous, majority-Black farming community, born of post-Civil War Reconstruction.
• 1912 White Mob Violence: Framed accusations led to arrests and violent lynchings, arson, and ethnic cleansing by “Night Riders” (Klan-sympathizer vigilantes). Nearly all Black residents fled or were killed, land stolen through arson and adverse possession.
  • Quote: “Within a few years, 98% of the black residents of Oscarville had left or had been killed for refusing to leave...Other families were unable to sell their property at all before leaving because they were in too much imminent danger.” (B, 77:00)
• Legacy of Cover-Up: As of 2022, local resistance to teaching Oscarville’s history is fierce, described as “critical race theory.”

The “Haunting”

• Many deaths: 500+ drowning deaths since its formation, with persistent rumors of spirits dragging swimmers down, and hazardous debris—undemolished buildings and even cemeteries—lurking below.
  • Mrs. P: “You could get your foot trapped on the roof of a building.” (80:44)
• Justified Hauntings: Both hosts express the view that if any lake should be haunted, it’s this one—by the victims of race violence, loss, and attempted erasure.
  • Quote: “If you’re an angry ghost living in Lake Lanier and you’re drowning people. All right, okay. I’m on the ghost side at this point.” (B, 82:55)
• Modern Issues: On top of the horror, present-day water lawsuits and racist undertones in who is allowed water access, especially in Atlanta.

4. Lake Superior – Ghost Ships and the “Bodies That Don’t Float” (88:19–103:14)

Facts & Spooks

• Location: Straddles the US–Canada border; the largest of the Great Lakes by volume.
• Nicknamed: The “Graveyard of the Great Lakes” (Whitefish Point) for the high number of shipwrecks.
  • Notable: The SS Bannockburn, the “Flying Dutchman of the Great Lakes” (ghost ship legends, skeletons reported on deck); the SS Hudson, and most famously, the Edmund Fitzgerald (immortalized by Gordon Lightfoot’s ballad).
  • Quote: “...the lake, it is said, never gives up her dead.” (B, 96:28)
• Lake Dynamics: Not at all still—a freshwater “inland sea” with oceanic-sized, deadly waves (see: Edmund Fitzgerald, “snapped like a twig” in a 1975 storm).

Creepy Science

• Bodies Don’t Surface: Water is cold (sub 35°F) and poor in bacteria. Bodies don’t decompose fully or float up—sometimes remaining intact and “waxy” near shipwrecks for years.
  • “Very often their bodies will just be floating next to the shipwreck without decomposing for quite a long time.” (B, 98:52)
  • Divers discovered “Old Whitey,” a preserved corpse from a 1927 wreck, still haunting the engine room in 1977.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Tangents and Humor:

• On being “content guys”: “I’m here to judge books by the content of their insides, not their book jackets.” (A, 10:51)
• On suburban lawns and water waste: “Lawns are useless. They just absorb water and leach chemicals into our groundwater. We need to stop having lawns.” (B, 86:31)
• (“Justified haunting”) “If you’re a white person, don’t swim in this lake...that’s a justified haunt.” (A, 82:55)
• Ranking lakes: “I think Siberia as a whole is its own level of spooky...I’m gonna give Lake Lanier my number one spooky lake.” (A, 106:09)

Lake Rankings (by Spookiness)

1. Lake Lanier: Most haunted, with injustice-driven trauma and ongoing cover-up.
2. Lake Baikal: Deepest, oldest, stranger than fiction—aliens, monsters, and unresting spirits.
3. Lake Superior: Still terrifying, but loses out to ancient deep-time weird and injustice.

Timestamps for Major Segments

• Intro & Lake Phobia/Horror Films: 06:00–14:00
• Lake Baikal Overview: 15:35–40:00
  • “Nessie” & Swimmers: 34:40–39:50
• Lake Lanier/Oscarville Hidden History: 44:00–86:57
  • Oscarville’s destruction: 61:25–78:36
  • Hauntings and modern disputes: 80:00–86:57
• Lake Superior & Ghost Ships: 88:19–103:14
  • Dead that “never bloat”: 98:17–102:44
• Lake Rankings/Wrap-up: 103:00–108:04

Tone, Language & Style

• Irreverent and chatty, blending dark humor with thoughtful reflection.
• Direct language unafraid to call out racism, injustice, and societal hypocrisy (“white devils,” “lynch mob,” “racist lake,” etc.)
• Plenty of asides, exuberant banter, and offbeat sound effects (“That’s the cackle of white women tears.” (A, 80:01))
• Critical but empathetic approach to hauntings—spooky is taken seriously alongside the true horror of real human suffering.

Final Thoughts

The episode weaves history, legend, mythology, and social conscience in its tour of the world’s most haunted lakes. While the aquatic monsters and preserved corpses are creepy enough, the real horror often lies just beneath the surface—tales of tragedy, displacement, and erasure that linger to this day.

“If any lake should be haunted, it’s this one.” (B, 79:52)
Haunted lakes, haunted pasts.

For more spook-tacular history and irreverence, find Too Many Tabs at Pearlmania500.net or your podcast app of choice.