Lake Tahoe: Various Bodies And Other Items Floating At The Bottom?
I’m going to Tahoe for a wedding this weekend. This is probably the fortieth wedding i’ve been to in the last two years, and I really like weddings, though it’s reminding me that i’m getting to “that age”; but I don’t want to talk about that right now.
I want to talk about a story I heard on a fishing boat there a few years ago. This guy named Chuck owns and operates the charter service, does a pretty good job helping you catch big trout and tells some good stories.
Now I’m not sure if he told us this story just to make the experience richer or whatever, but after a few searches I see that it’s a well-known story and there’s not much definitive information about it one way or another. Since I know some pretty intelligent people read this site (2 subsribers from Harvard, 1 Caltech faculty and 1 regular reader who works at NASA) I thought i’d repeat the story and get some feedback.
The Story:
A relative of Jacques Cousteau once obtained a permit to explore the bottom of Lake Tahoe, with it’s average depth of 1,000 feet (304M). Because Lake Tahoe sits on the border of the states of California and Nevada it’s governed by the federal government (common practice to avoid states bickering over bodies of water, parks, monuments, etc).
According to Chuck, Tahoe’s land and especially its’ water is a bureaucratic mess:
- The US Forest Service Is In Charge Of The Shores Of Lake Tahoe
- The Coast Guard is in charge of the surface area of the water
- Dozens of municipal and state water associations are in charge of the water underneath the surface
Because of this, in recent times there’s been trouble when a helicopter or airplane wants to scoop up water to fight a nearby forest fire: nobody is sure whom to ask permission.
Back to Cousteau. Sometime many years ago Cousteau’s relative (I have an idea, let’s say it was his Son so I dont have to keep typing Cousteaus Relative!) was able to talk California and Nevada (and presumably the federal government) into allowing him to explore the bottom of the lake, possibly to look for Tahoe’s Loch Ness monster, Tessie. He would then write a report or use film footage to make a documentary. This detail was fuzzy.
So Cousteau’s relative makes the dive and a day later comes to the surface and is very shaken up. After much pressing he finally says that “there is no monsters— everything I saw I could explain but it was the most horrific thing i’ve ever seen.”
According to Chuck and therefore local legend, Coustea’s Son descended several hundred feet and saw nothing unusual: fish, rocks, various crap floating around— lake stuff. After continuing his descent to around 1,000 feet Cousteaus son began to see an appalling scene: a floating graveyard of perfectly preserved human bodies, fish, boats and ordinary items thrown in too: apples, signs, furniture.
Cousteau’s submarine went right by a perfectly preserved Washoe Indian from the 1800’s, wearing a leather loincloth and looking like he should be standing in front of a cigar shop. This indian fella was staring right into Cousteau’s submarine.
At this moment, Cousteau had seen enough and came to the surface.
————
Ok. So I think this is possible because there are some parts of the ocean where its so cold and anoxic that fish don’t even have fucking eyes, so I can believe that it’s possible. On the other hand, if this was the case wouldn’t every fish that ever died (and wasn’t promptly eaten) be down there? And also, if there was this terrible scene down there it would be like the highest grossing documentary ever filmed if someone went down there and pointed a camera at the indians and olden furniture and all.
Imagine if there was like an ice cream sandwich floating around down there all perfectly preserved. How funny would that be.
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This is a variation of a popular myth. The original myth was that Jacque himself went down and actually filmed, and when came back up he said, “The world isn’t ready for what’s down there,” and never released the footage. Many speculated that what he saw was a watery mass grave since the area was once notorious for mob activity.
The Nevada State Library and Archives has stated that there is no record of Jacque Cousteau ever having visited Tahoe, much less having mounted an underwater expedition.
That is exactly what happend
Dude! I have heard this story too and it creeps me out! I am going to Tahoe tomorrow…….. I don’t think I can go swimming! I heard a story about a woman’s body that came to the surface and they thought she was a recent drowning victim, but couldn’t figure out who. Then, someone noticed her bathing suit looked odd. Turned out she was from the 20s, but had been perfectly preserved!
True or not, I am already too freaked out…. always have been. Spookey Stuff! Let me know if you hear any more!
I think you should contact me.
you gullible pricks
up yours man.
btw, i did contact talka and he didn’t write back. What a jerk.
There are a lot of the same stories about Lake Superior. It’s so cold and deep
no one will ever know what’s down there. The saying goes “The big lake never gives up her dead” Not stories about murder victims, but plenty of boats. Jacques Cousteau did actually go there, tho, back in the 70’s and they did find wreckage of the Edmund Fiztgerald.
Skinny smoking french scuba fruit sees corpse at bottom of lake tahoe….finds it was his reflection in port hole
my dad lives in tahoe and since i was 10 yrs old, i have geard this same myth. i wouldnt doubt there being perfectly preserved bodies down there. after all, the lake is 68 degress yr round at the surface, imagine how cold it is 1,000 feet down. there are probably many old indians down there as well as horses, cattle and probably some old mobsters. the governmant should launch a huge clean up of the lake bottom and see what they can find. i doubt we would be told exactly what they would come across. but still interesting thinking about twhats down there.
I have lived in Tahoe for 12 years and personally know Chuck. This is NOT a myth. There are literally thousands of bodies down there and they are perfectly preseved. Chuck, the man in question, has pulled up a scalp and a forearm and sent them to UC Davis medical lab for carbon dating. They were from the middle and late 1700’s. Also, the lake is a chilling 52degrees fahrenheit in the summer. It is totally logical to think that the depth of 900ft. or more could be only one degree above freezing. Skeptical? Go to the lake with a thousand feet of line and a weight. Let it sink to the bottom and pull up what you can snag. If you don’t have th balls, just leave it alone, because you really don’t know.
I just got back from Tahoe today. I too went on the same boat with the same “Chuck” and heard the same story. I was trying to find some details about this story. Evidently I will find many versions but no answers.
My grandfather in the 1930’s was fishing in Lake Tahoe and pulled up a Indian. This is not a fish story.
ok i have heard all the stories….my great grandfather had grown up on lake tahoe for his whole life…our family still lives there to this day. im tired of all the pricks that say there arnt preserved bodies of kinds at the bottom of the lake. recently a group of divers and marine biologists created a underwater sumbmerciable water craft that goes down to the deepest depths possible. They(at the moment)are planning a voyege to the bottom to prove all the stories true…..it will be funny if the extreme leftist liberals will allow the news to be broadcasted when they find the bodies. trust me there are things down there that will bring back the dark thoughts of the past
doug i love that you think the liberals will be pissed when they find dead bodies down there. it’s such a non-political issue, but when it comes to liberals you can’t ever be too sure.
keep me posted on how that exploration goes.
I live on the North shore of Lake Tahoe and have heard this story forever. The lake is so deep and so cold that when bodies sink, they often do not come back up. I find this story very plausable, if a little exaggerated. I can’t wait until we can see some footage of whats really down there.
I find this story facinating (and I hope we get to the bottom of it)…ha ha! What if the whole floor is littered with bodies of old dead liberals or relatives of Pelosi or Boxer, and the like. who knows
maybe at last we will find Obama’s birth certificate.
I am very interested,in this matter,myself!Everybody in my family doesen’t believe in it,though.
http://msgboard.snopes.com/politics/graphics/birth.jpg
Here’s Obama’s birth certificate… sorry to ruin it for you. Pretty easy to find too. Verified by Hawaiian officials and by newspaper announcements from when he was born.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthcertificate.asp
Oh… wait. I meant to say that it was a conspiracy set up by Nancy Pelosi. She had fake newspaper announcements created in Hawaii in 1961 because she knew that 50 years later he would be the liberal leader of the 21st century.
I live in Tahoe, Everyone here, the “locals” know this defiantly isn’t a myth and were so used to the idea i dont get why everyone thinks its so shocking. Its dumb to be scared to go swimming and wakeboarding, these bodies are a thousands of feet deep.
Yeah i know i have a cabin there and i still love the beach!
Sorry Andrew did not mean to touch a nerve. Please
forgive me. Have you ever been to hawaii? and or
Chicago?….Getting back to tahoe I would not be surprised if at the maximum depth of the lake we actually found signs saying “YOU HAVE NOW REACHED THE ABSOLUTE BOTTOM OF THE LAKE TAHOE REAL ESTATE MARKET!” Along with some old dems holding obama signs Ect…Ect…
Andrew, that was a “copy”, not the original. Why does he not produce the one and put an end to this.
And by the way I have skied in Lake Tahoe and done some swimming and it is cold. I was told that it stays between 48 and 52 most of the time.
Wow, I just happen to find this page. My father and brother live in Reno, NV and we went up to Tahoe for several days and went boating and swimming, had alot of fun. I came back home and someone i work with told me about stories she heard about whats at the bottom and I found this page in my research, Im very interested and gonna skim some other pages to see what I find. I been told that perfectly preserved chinese people where down there, from a past war, I dont remember which one sorry, maybe u can fill me in. take care
Chinese? From a past war down at the bottom of that there lake? Ohh, that must have been the great Chinese/American “Rair”-road conflict of 1825 where we kicked China’s ass and made their people build our railroads.
i’ve been visiting lake tahoe all this week. my dad told me that there was a womans body found floating around the surface in the 1960s or sometime around that. i wasnt sure if i believed him, because my dad likes to prank me a lot. soon i noticed that this ’story’ interested him so i started to believe him. me and my bff desided to look it up on my daddys laptop. thx so much for posting btw, i couldnt find any other site that seemed to care. i think that anyone that says its just an old fishtale is afraid that an underwater graveyard is very possible indeed.
i think that its foolish to say that theres no way dead ppl are down there, even though the thought freaks me out since i was just swimming in there 2 hours ago. in conclusion, i believe that there is at least one dead body perserved down there (or more… a lot more o.o)
I live in Omaha,Nebraska. Did you know that there are also reports of a ghost wearing clothes from the 19th Century,floating,just underneath the surface of the water? I’d love to take a mini-sub down there an take a look around,for myself! But Tahoe’s Loch Ness Monster is real,though. In fact,the locals call it “Tessie”. I’ve also got a question. Do you think it’s possible that Tessie could be a plesiosaur? Please tell me wether you think that’s possible,or not.
If only the Mythbusters would send a camera down there this would not be a myth anymore. But i guess they have no balls or just like stupid myths…
I see dead people…
And bottles and cans.
Maybe there’s a wormhole or a stargate down there.
I think, I’m going to put a porkchop in a jar of spring water, and then in a coffee can in the back of my fridge which is cold enough to freeze water at times. I’ll check it once a year and I’m guessing it won’t look like a porkchop in 20 years.
Lake tahoe is filled with water, not formaldehyde. Decomposition I think would be slow, but not absent completly. The pork chop test will tell.
i know this is a little late on the discussion, but a complete search is supposed to happen this month. Supposedly these guys have as much equipment as “was used for the Titanic”. should be awesome to truly find out.
http://www.nevadaappeal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030622/NEWS/306220106
WHY HASN’T ANYONE ANSWERED MY QUESTION!
I don’t have an opinion about why no one has addressed your insightful concerns over corpses you seem to believe have been floating just beneath the surface of Lake Tahoe since the early 1900’s. I have no idea why some may not respond to your hypotheses, which appear to imply thermal layers (thermoclines) operating to prevent decomposition and provide buoyancy. Since the waters of Lake Tahoe are quite clear, it also seems your theory encompasses a way thermoclines bend ambient light to obscures certain objects such as floating corpses. I don’t have opinions on any of these matters because they are beyond part of my education. It does seem your theories must be consistent with what you believe is a significant knowledge of physics, and it seems you believe you can accurately calculate these effects several hundreds of miles away Lake Tahoe (eg, in Omaha, NE).
To me, your hypotheses seem somewhat like how space travel was so accurately calculated even before it occurred. In other words, I’m impressed with your math. Accordingly, what I do have an opinion about, is that your hypotheses seem to reveal a unique, 99th percentile intellect, one which I can only admire from the safe distance of my own intellectual mediocrity. Understanding this imbalance, the question becomes why our unresponsiveness leaves you frustrated or annoyed. Can you appreciate your own brilliance and be generous around our lack of it? Stated otherwise, what is really being obscured by your apparent frustration, Mr. Marcus, corpses in a lake, or a genius from himself? And I ask you, Mr. Marcus which is the greater tragedy?
Thank you so much, Crackpipe!
that article was from 2003, and they never went down. They never receieved enough funding.
The case for early reading intervention. ,