Flooded history: Enormous NC lake hides multiple ghost towns, legendary monster

Thousands of boaters, fishers and beach-goers visit Lake Norman near Charlotte each year – but they may not realize the history and legends that lurk deep beneath the surface.

Lake Norman isn't the only North Carolina lake with history drowned underneath – several large manmade recreational lakes have ghost towns underneath. Lake Norman, however, has more than just one or two pieces of history hidden underneath. There's an entire Revolutionary War battlefield from 1781, the remains of a 1930s summer camp, remnants of old plantations, homes, highways, an abandoned airplane crash and even legends of a 'Loch Ness Monster' known as Normie.

Completed in the 1960s, Lake Norman is the largest manmade lake in North Carolina, spanning four counties and over 34 miles. Before it was a lake, that land was home to generations of indigenous people from the Catawba Tribe. Later, settlers built everything from farms and home-sites to mills and churches on the land. Creating the lake meant moving cemeteries and flooding a historic battlefield.

With all of that land now flooded beneath the lake, there's plenty of room for history and legends. So let's take a closer look at some the of history buried deep beneath the murky surface of Lake Norman.

Among the ruins still hidden beneath the lake are an entire 1800s mill and the surrounding village.

The village had its own post office, stores and homes. Some of the houses were moved, but many were demolished. The mill itself, which was a large brick building, was also demolished. However, the ruins and foundations are still beneath Lake Norman.

Today, thousands of vehicles drive over the new Highway 150 bridge, unaware that just 100 feet away the old bridge is crumbling just beneath the surface of Lake Norman. The new bridge is around 33 feet higher.

Photos from the flooding of Lake Norman show the old bridge bearings partially destroyed as the water rises up around them. The original bridge linked Catawba and Iredell counties, and the remnants are still standing beneath Lake Norman.

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The site of the Battle of Cowan’s Ford is also under the waters of Lake Norman.

The battle took place in 1781 when Lord Charles Cornwallis, in pursuit of American Patriot Nathanael Greene, engaged in a fight on the Catawba River.

The American soldiers lost their NC militia Commander General Williams Lee Davidson in the battle and withdrew. Davidson is the namesake of Davidson College, the town of Davidson, and Davidson County.

Did you know North Carolina has its own version of the Loch Ness Monster? Over the years, hundreds of boaters have claimed to see 'The Lake Norman Monster,' otherwise known as Normie.

There have even been sight-seeing cruises around the lake, allowing families and kids to search for Normie from the deck of a boat.

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In an interview with WRAL's Tarheel Traveler several years ago, a fishing guide named Gus Gustafson had his own explanation for Normie, saying that back during the creation of the lake, "there were university biologists who got together and they were experimenting with genetically changing fish to allow them to grow big, but be tasty. They chose a Wyoming Buffalo Carp and crossed it with an Arkansas Blue Catfish."

Some believe one of those fish may have escaped into the lake and been growing endlessly ever sense.

However, the legend of a monster in the Catawba River dates back long before the river was dammed to create Lake Norman. According to an article in the Charlotte Observer, the Catawba Nation had folklore of 'monstrously large snakes' and 'giant leech-like creatures' in the river centuries before legends of Normie began.

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There are several other theories to explain the Lake Norman Monster phenomenon. Some believe the creature is none other than a catfish of gigantic proportions. Others think people are seeing a large fish called bowfin, alligators or possibly large salamanders known as hellbenders.

Camp Fellowship opened in 1938 on the Catawba River and remained in use until the impending creation of Lake Norman in the late 1950s.

An article from 1938 in the Statesville Daily Record detailed the Business and Professional Women's Club used the camp for a picnic. Articles from the 1950s show church groups using Camp Fellowship as a gathering place for overnight camping and luncheons.

Not everything beneath the surface of Lake Norman submerged in 1964. A decade after the creation of the lake, a plane sank in the summer of 1974.

The plane was discovered in 2013, when the Charlotte Fire Department said a dive team was doing practice drills when they noticed the submerged plane with their sonar equipment.

The plane is about 90 feet below the surface, and isn't visible. One family has said the plane could be theirs, recalling a tale of their own plane sinking in the 1970s on Lake Norman.

Car pulled from Lake Norman belonged to woman missing for 15 years, had human remains inside, deputies say

A fisherman using sonar on their boat discovered the car underwater and tipped off law enforcement. Deputies with the Sherills Ford-Terrell Fire Rescue released a robot into the water to confirm the car was there.

WRAL's Hidden Historian Heather Leah is a seventh-generation North Carolinian with a passion for preserving the state's culture and history. Listen as WRAL's Amanda Lamb and Heather Leah discuss mysteries and ghost towns hidden beneath North Carolina lakes in our latest podcast.