A South Carolina woman went to Lake Hartwell with her family. Then, a group of strangers approached and asked a question that made her realize the location was haunted.
TikToker Keliza21 (@keliza21) posted a video walking around the beachy shore, saying that her “flabber has been ghasted.” The content creator ran into two men while taking her kids to explore Lake Hartwell. The men told her they were searching for a “cemetery” on the island. After some brief googling, she discovered that the island they were exploring had a rich, haunted past.
The content creator recalled exactly what she learned about the island in a video with over 99,000 views. She mentioned at a later point that she would go down to the island by herself to investigate without her kids. However, in her video, she left without seeing the cemetery on top of a hill.
Lake Hartwell’s History
In the late 1700s, a Revolutionary War soldier, John Harris Jr, was given the land that would become Harrisburg Plantation. He lived there alongside his wife and family for decades. The family created a cemetery at the top of a hill, where he and other descendants were buried.
In 1950, a federal court ordered that the land be flooded as part of the Flood Control Act. The remaining Harrisburg descendants eventually took offers for the land, but they refused to move the remains of their ancestors and loved ones. The area and former plantation were flooded, which left only the cemetery at the top of the hill remaining.
There are around 59 graves still remaining at the hill, which is now known as an island in the middle of Lake Hartwell. Since then, the island has been known as “cemetery island” or “ghost island,” because of alleged apparitions sighted in the area.
How Do The Salem Witch Trials Relate To The Island?
Keliza21 mentioned that the island might have had some truly terrifying history occur on it. In her video, she said, “ It has apparently people that were, like, um, slain, beheaded, whatever, in the Salem witch trials are buried on this island.”
That’s not quite true. For one, the Salem witch trials happened in 1692. The former Harrisburg plantation was not geographically near the trials that occurred in Massachusetts, nor is there any evidence that individuals who died in the trials were buried near Lake Hartwell. Individuals who were killed as part of the Salem Witch trials also were not beheaded or slain in the ways that Keliza21 described.
Keliza21, though, referenced “Serill ‘Grey Eagle’ Broin,” a spirit of a woman connected to the Salem Witch Trials. Broin’s grandmother was an alleged victim in the Salem Witch Trials. She, along with her mother, fled south to avoid persecution. Her mother reportedly died on the journey, and Broin settled on her own in the early 1700s.
After the Revolutionary War, the local government allegedly ordered Broin, who was at that time over 100 years old, to leave the property, as she was considered a loyalist due to Cherokee ties. After that point, the woman left without a trace. There’s little historical evidence to prove this happened, but Broin has become a part of the oral tradition surrounding Cemetery Island.
Does The Island Have Cherokee Ties?
Some commenters mentioned that the island supposedly has ties to the Cherokee. Broin herself was rumored to have a longstanding relationship with Cherokee natives. Viewers also supplied information they heard about alleged Cherokee ties, with one saying, “It’s a Native American burial ground.”
There is not much publicly available evidence to conclude that a Native American burial ground rests under the water or near the cemetery. Nor is there evidence that there are “whole cities” underneath the water in that particular area. It is, however, not out of the realm of possibility. The Cherokee inhabited areas of the Southeastern United States, predating the Revolutionary War. Eventually, they were pushed out toward Oklahoma.
In total, there are 59 people buried on the island. Out of those 59, 48 of the people buried in those graves are unknown.
BroBible reached out to Keliza21 via TikTok direct message for more information.