Lake Ronkonkoma
photo taken from flickr.com
Located in the township of Islip, Ronkonkoma is home to the largest lake on Long Island. The lake and its shores are believed to be haunted by the ghost of an Indian princess. In one version of the story, referred to as the Troubled Spirit of the Lake, the Indian princess is sacrificed to the god Manitou. The princess had to save her people by tying concrete down to her, rowing a boat into the middle of the lake, and diving over the edge. The lover of the princess dives in after her as well since he was unable to watch her die alone. Lake Ronkonkoma is known as a kettlehole lake. This was formed by an isolated glacier around 20,000 years ago. When the glacier melted, it left behind a depression called a kettle.
Water then filled this kettle, making it a kettlehole lake. Another legend about the lake is that it is bottomless. However, this was disproved in 1952, when four skin divers went down and touched the bottom. Another version of the legend of the Indian princess is also called the Lady of the Lake.
The Lady of the Lake tells the story of the Indian princess falling in love with an English settler. The marriage between the two was forbidden and she was forced to marry someone else. Nevertheless, their love never died, and one night she went to swim across the lake to reach her lover. However, she only made it halfway across before drowning. The legend here is that the princess returns to the lake once a year looking for someone to join her under the water. She apparently lures men to her death.
The locals claim that there is at least one drowning per year and almost all are males. Police reports and newspapers back these claims. The numbers show these drownings to be accurate according to the legend. Besides the drownings, there have been reports of fog that hangs over the lake along with strange lights.
Cold fingers are said to grab swimmers who start to go out too far from the shoreline. Most reports consist of people hearing intense sobbing. The sobbing seems like its coming from every angle and is said to be heartbreaking.
(Source: Belanger, Jeff. Encyclopedia of Haunted Places. 2005.)
i live here, and its known as lake ronkonkoma by the way….i have swam in there before and i have been dragged by something even though i am a girl but yes there is always a drowning every year and its mostly always a guy. there is a car at the bottom of the lake as well and some people have claimed to here the engine.
I have lived In Ronkonkoma aprox 12 years,and around the area my whole life.I purchases a home just a few hundred feet from this Lake. My childhood classmate drowned in it about 25 years ago and my husband and I were having lunch,we heard screaming and I thought people were drunk and unruly and told my husband we should go,it ended up that a man was drowning,they couldnt find him, he was 19, and he died while we were eating lunch,that made me so sad and sick..I do not believe anyone has died since and I have heard that 1 female has died in it.
Me and some friends of mine decided to go here one night to scare ourselves (being the closest paranormal location we know of) It didn’t take much to scare us off though… One scream, really loud and clear. And it was so heartwrenching. We looked around but there was nobody there but ourselves. We called the police because we thought someone was being hurt, and after a long search the officer asked us if we believed in ghosts! It is safe to say that I will never go there at night again!!!
yoooo i wanna go there at night and stay there. i wanna do some paranormal stuff ill swim in it if i have to i live generally close this should be interesting. ill bring my camera and a voice recorder.
It’s Lee again on Friday I heard crazy screaming and learned another man drowned they pulled him out of the water on Saturday,he was 40 with 2 children with him !!! I pray for him and his family..so sorry this happened.
@Eponine
was his last name like magee? we found an odd picture and a reference to some one drowning in the lake in1980 in a family photo box. email me