HAUNTED Lake – Swimmer BREAKS Silence

A notorious lake in Georgia saw a rescue operation recently, where a twenty year-old man was safely recovered after his friends lost touch with him while the group was swimming.

Zachary Rutledge had gone for a dip with a pair of his friends on Lake Lanier at Burton Mill Park on Monday, July 8. While the three of them were out in the water, the friends noticed that they’d lost sight of Rutledge. They started looking around, but were unable to find him. Afraid that he might have silently drowned, they made their way to shore and called 911 as quickly as possible. Deputies attached to the Hall County Sheriff’s department were dispatched to the scene, arriving at about eight thirty in the evening, whereupon they began a search of the area.

Hall County Fire Rescue personnel, along with officials of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, were called out to conduct water searches. While they did so, the Georgia State Patrol (GSP) lofted a helicopter and searched the area from the air.

Unfortunately, while the comprehensive searches continued deep into the night, Rutledge did not turn up. Authorities resumed their search efforts the following mornings.

Police initially proceeded on the assumption that Rutledge had swum towards an island in the lake, and when he returned to shore he couldn’t find his friends.

However, Rutledge finally turned up at 9 in the morning on Tuesday the ninth and had a different tale to tell. When he got out of the water he found himself lost, and since he didn’t have his phone with him he couldn’t call for help, so he decided to spend the night in the park.

Rutledge revealed that he heard the search helicopters circling the area, but it didn’t occur to him that they could be looking for him, so he made no effort to flag them down.

Officials have since released a statement saying that swimmers at the lake should be cautious and stick with their friends.