Raystown Lake Legends: Which ones are true?

HESSTON -- Every culture has its own folklore, and within most legends is at least a grain of truth. Lake Raystown has its own tales about what's beneath the water's surface.

"Raystown Lake is kind of the heartbeat of Huntingdon County. We get so many visitors here and so many people that come out not just from far away, but locals love to come here to picnic, boat, fish," Ranger Erin Curfman said.

"(Visitors) actually unplug their phones, sit down and enjoy each other's company. You mix that together, and stories will happen. Stories and adventures will happen," Ranger Jude Harrington said, adding that some of those stories are indeed true, maybe ones about seeing a bear or an animal getting into someone's tent.

It's almost impossible to leave Raystown without hearing certain stories, though.

"Probably the biggest one people talk about is Raystown Ray, that there's something big under there," Harrington said.

Ray's legend resembles that of the Lochness Monster. The rangers have never seen Ray, but his is not the only popular story.

"There also the legends about entire towns left underwater," Harrington said.

That one is sort of true. There used to be a village called Aitch that sat where much of the lake is today.

"Aitch was a little town on the Huntingdon and Broadtop Mountain Railroad," Nancy Shedd, retired Huntingdon County historical society director, said.

She remembers Aitch as a small town made up of about 20 families, a general store and a post office, but she also remembers it being gone before the Army Corps of Engineers built the lake in the 1970s. She said she and her husband helped dismantle the barns and homes there.

"It's a myth that's around here that they just filled in the lake and whatever was there stayed under," Curfman said.

The rangers said the Army Corps clears an area before they flood it with water.

Harrington explained the process while he overlooked what is now the Aitch boat launch. He said most of the homes were relocated over a number of years to higher ground near Marklesburg.

"The idea that there are hidden places under the water that you could dive to and go down and explore is simply somebody's fantasy," Shedd said.

Out of all the myths and legends, some say what actually is under the lake is just as fascinating.

The waters near Sheep Rock allow boaters and swimmers to float above thousands of years of local history.

Before the Army Corps filled the lake, a Penn State University archaeological team discovered a Native American hunting campground.

"They did what they called 'salvage archaeology' before the dam came in which is go in in a hurry and do a lot," Shedd said.

"They found a treasure trove of archaeological information and artifacts there. It was totally excavated so there's no more artifacts down there but the shelter itself is still underwater," Harrington said, calling the find, "Raystown's first campsite."

Tools, ropes, fishing hooks, bones and more items that are tens of thousands of years old are on display both at the lake's visitor's center and the Museum of Natural History in Harrisburg.

Although there is no town left intact on the lake's floor, there are still some structures that are still under there. According to the rangers, the powerhouse from the old dam is there, but they said it's deep underwater, so deep that visitors can't dive down to get a peek without professional certification.

"Very few people have ever gone down and actually seen it or physically touched it. It's not recommended. It's outside of the sport diving safety limits," Harrington said.

Hundreds of feet of water do make the depths of the lake somewhat of a mystery -- a different world underwater -- and visitors' fascination with the unknown is likely there to stay.

"I think some stories at Raystown are created because it's a fun place. People come, make memories and they like to tell tall tales about the things that they want people to think they saw at Raystown," Curfman said.

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