[CLIP: Geo Rutherford speaks in a TikTok video: “Do you know what time it is? It’s spooky lake time, obviously.”]
Rachel Feltman: Does that ring a bell? Possibly you’ve stumbled throughout this collection in your TikTok “For You” web page.
Right here’s one other snippet to jog your reminiscence.
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[CLIP: Rutherford speaks in another TikTok video: “Um, yes, hello, it’s Spooky Lake Month, where we’re doing 31 days of haunted hydrology.”]
Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Rapidly, I’m Rachel Feltman. Immediately we’re diving into the subject of haunted hydrology, also called spooky lakes. For the previous couple of years artist and educator Geo Rutherford has used these attractive descriptors to get thousands and thousands of TikTok viewers fascinated about studying about lakes, rivers and extra. She’s right here to inform us extra about her new e book, Spooky Lakes: 25 Unusual and Mysterious Lakes that Dot Our Planet, which Kirkus Evaluations calls “a chilling however thrilling primer for budding limnologists.”
Geo, thanks a lot for coming to speak with us immediately.
Geo Rutherford: Yeah, thanks for having me.
Feltman: So I really feel like a variety of our listeners will in all probability know you already, however for these of them who don’t, inform me just a little bit about Spooky Lake Month.
Rutherford: Spooky Lake Month occurs each October, from October 1 to October 31. It’s primarily 31 days of spooky lakes and what we’ve coined as “haunted hydrology,” each of that are type of misnomers, because the viewers is aware of. Regardless of what number of feedback I typically get of, like, hauntings and supernatural occasions, individuals who observe Spooky Lake Month know that Spooky Lakes is definitely about something moist that’s unusual, uncommon, is a results of pure phenomena, human interplay, environmental disasters, shipwrecks—, simply the bizarre issues that the world has to supply as both a results of Mom Nature herself or us, as people, getting concerned and doing bizarre issues. In order that’s type of what Spooky [Lake] Month is.
Feltman: Nicely, yeah, and it’s been tremendous common, unsurprising; it’s an excellent idea, an excellent hook. However earlier than we get into that, I’m curious: What acquired you curious about hydrology within the first place? It’s positively not on that, like, , quick record of, 5 sciences that everyone picks from after they resolve what to be obsessive about in elementary faculty, [laughs]?
Rutherford: Nicely, I’ve at all times been a water child, and so I’ve at all times loved and beloved water. However I moved to Milwaukee to get my graduate diploma, and after I did that, I used to be in Milwaukee for 3 years, about, , six blocks away from Lake Michigan and a seashore known as Bradford Seaside, which is an excellent, gross seashore. And for my graduate diploma, which is a grasp’s of nice arts, I went to the seashore every single day for 90 days and simply frolicked with the water—my complete graduate thesis was in regards to the Nice Lakes.
After which the pandemic occurred, proper after I was in my, like, final 12 months of grad faculty, and I began to share in regards to the work I used to be doing—the paintings I used to be doing, in regards to the Nice Lakes, which was very bizarre and went very viral as a result of individuals had been very confused. After which that type of spiraled into making movies educating in regards to the Nice Lakes. And it was type of—I really feel prefer it was among the first instructional content material on the app …
Feltman: Mm-hmm.
Rutherford: ’Trigger now it’s quite common to have instructional, , data on the app. However at the moment it was type of—it was nonetheless new, and it simply acquired traction. That was in, , August and September. After which in October of that 12 months, on October 2, I had a—compiled a bizarre record of lakes that I assumed had been unusual. And type of with no prior thought, I simply stated, “It’s Spooky Lake Month now. We’re gonna speak about spooky lakes.”
It’s a horrible—these movies are terrible. We had a one-minute time restrict. I used to be very chaotic. I, , made errors, and among the movies are, , not—they’re simply not superb. However that’s type of the character of TikTok, is simply making a multitude of your self and simply preserve going and see what occurs and simply get higher and work out the place your area of interest is and the place you belong and what you love to do. And so then when 2021 got here round, we did, like, a really critical Spooky Lake Month. And that was in all probability the 12 months that type of actually sparked it. Like, the primary 12 months was good, however the 12 months that actually began all of it was in 2021.
Feltman: What are a few of your favourite examples of, , haunted hydrology?
Rutherford: Oh, yeah, man, I’ve, like, a prime 5 favourite type of examples that type of embody Spooky Lake Month for what it’s.
Clearly, Lake Superior, which is right here in North America, is an ideal instance. There’s, , over 300 shipwrecks. There’s an enormous—I feel 10,000 individuals have been estimated to have died in Lake Superior. And she or he doesn’t, as Gordon Lightfoot preferred to inform us, she doesn’t surrender her useless as a result of the underside of Lake Superior is extremely deep and chilly freshwater, so issues don’t decompose the best way that they’d within the ocean. As an alternative they type of sit in stasis, and there’s a chemical response known as saponification. And it creates this substance known as adipocere, which primarily coats the entire human physique and type of encases it in cleaning soap. And our bodies will be a whole lot of years outdated. There’s, like, a physique that they found in Switzerland with adipocere that was nonetheless intact, like, nonetheless—all of the flesh was type of nonetheless hooked up to those, , bones.
And so Lake Superior has some fairly well-known shipwrecks and possibly fairly just a few our bodies which have skilled adipocere. However there’s one specifically that’s fairly well-known; it’s the Kamloops shipwreck. And there’s a resident within the boiler room, a crew member who’s nonetheless there immediately, and he floats round within the boiler room. It’s been virtually 100 years, I feel, since that shipwreck occurred, and, , he nonetheless hangs out immediately.
In order that’s type of certainly one of my favourite examples ’trigger it type of embodies that human ingredient and the lake simply doing bizarre issues all by herself. However I like to speak about Lake Natron in Tanzania, which has the sort of salt known as the natron salts. And it’s a results of Ol Doinyo Lengai, which is the volcano subsequent to Lake Natron, having [a] very unusual composition of lava. And that’s type of ended up within the lake. And in consequence, the lake is, like, this very distinctive chemical composition that may “mummify” something that falls into it. So any creatures that find yourself on this lake type of get mummified. And the rationale we are saying mummified is as a result of the natron salts are the identical sort of salt, like, the Egyptians used to mummify themselves. In order that’s one other nice instance, despite the fact that there are thousands and thousands of flamingos that go to this lake yearly, so it’s type of a lake of dying that additionally spawns a novel life. And so it’s [a] actually attention-grabbing chemical make-up.
After which I like to speak about Lake Baikal, which is in Siberia. It’s the deepest lake on the planet and the oldest lake on the planet. And after I say deepest, I imply it’s so deep: it’s over a mile deep …
Feltman: Wow.
Rutherford: It’s so deep. And due to that, it’s—has its personal ecosystem. So [about] 80 p.c of the creatures in Lake Baikal are endemic to that lake, in order that they solely exist there. We’re speaking in regards to the Baikal nerpa seal, which scientists do not know how this seal ended up in a freshwater lake—actually landlocked, a whole lot of miles from any ocean. We do not know the way it ended up there. And the golomyanka, which is that this gooey little fish that lives deep in Lake Baikal. The rumor has it that whenever you pull it out of the water and raise it to the sky, it melts within the daylight as a result of it’s, like, so translucent and, like, , fatty.
So these are type of among the examples that I like to speak about after I speak about, like, unusual lakes of the planet.
Feltman: Yeah, very cool. And what has the response been from viewers, and has it shocked you in any respect?
Rutherford: I’m impressed that everyone is so invested in lakes. However to be truthful, I don’t assume on the Web we had actually had a account or—like, there wasn’t—there’s tons of fantastic YouTube movies, and there’s superb, , magazines and articles and all these items that type of give attention to the unusual and the bizarre of the world, and people can embrace lakes, however I don’t assume that anyone had ever, like, particularly targeted on lakes. So I feel there was type of a gap, a distinct segment that was, like, simply ready to be mined. And I simply occurred to be the one which was like, “Hey, , lakes are bizarre.” [Laughs]
Feltman: [Laughs]
Rutherford: “Water is bizarre.” So—and we haven’t even actually touched the ocean as a lot with these subjects. I, clearly, ’trigger haunted hydrology type of—I joke that it’s, like, something moist qualifies at this level …
Feltman: Yeah.
Rutherford: However the ocean is type of an unexplored ingredient of Spooky Lakes. I largely follow freshwater.
Feltman: Mm-hmm. And I perceive you have got a brand new e book out. Congrats on that …
Rutherford: Thanks.
Feltman: Inform me just a little bit about it.
Rutherford: Yeah, I imply, it’s a toddler of Spooky Lakes; it’s known as Spooky Lakes. And I truly acquired—a literary agent reached out to me after the 2021 season of Spooky Lakes and stated, “Hey, this feels like it might be a enjoyable e book.” And ’trigger I’m an artist, it was type of this stunning alternative to mix all these items I like, proper? I like water, I like freshwater, I like hydrology, I like portray, I like artwork, I like making, and I like spooky stuff. Like, I like horror films, I like scary issues, and I like the pure world simply being spooky all by herself.
So yeah, I acquired to jot down and illustrate this e book. It’s type of—it’s technically a middle-school-age e book, however I nonetheless embrace some fairly intense, like, laborious subjects: , what’s base versus alkaline and, …
Feltman: Mm-hmm.
Rutherford: Issues like that—or acidic versus base, and what does alkaline imply, and issues like that. So I embrace all some of these type of complicated subjects that I feel adults won’t even actually totally have thought of since their, , eighth-grade science class.
So yeah, so it’s a enjoyable 96-page e book with 25 unusual and mysterious waters that dot our planet. And I did speak about three of them which can be within the e book—so Lake Superior, Lake Baikal and Lake Natron are all in that e book as a result of they’re type of the quintessential, excellent instance of a spooky lake.
Feltman: What are you hoping that individuals take away from the e book?
Rutherford: I hope that they acknowledge that waters of our world are all containing secrets and techniques and that you just by no means actually know what resides beneath the floor. However on the similar time, a variety of these lakes are struggling, they usually’re all type of—a variety of those that I speak about within the e book, , “Poisonous Lake” in Romania, Lake Karachay in Russia, are lakes which can be poisoned past recognition. And that’s our doing. You understand, the world didn’t do this; the people did. And so I feel that’s additionally type of a transparent by way of line within the e book of, like, , what people have achieved to those waters.
Feltman: Geo, this was nice. Thanks a lot for approaching, and I hope a few of our listeners will get their arms in your e book.
Rutherford: Yeah, thanks a lot for having me.
Feltman: That’s all for immediately’s episode. Don’t overlook to take a look at Spooky Lakes: 25 Unusual and Mysterious Lakes that Dot Our Planet, which you will discover wherever books are offered.
In the event you’re in search of extra spooky stuff to spherical out the Halloween season, you positively received’t need to miss subsequent Wednesday’s episode. We’ll be speaking to a researcher who focuses on morbid curiosity and concern. In line with him, there are three distinct sorts of horror film followers on the planet. Tune in to search out out which one you might be. And within the meantime, we’ll be again on Monday with our regular science information roundup.
By the best way, we’re nonetheless in search of some listener submissions for our upcoming episode on the science of earworms. We’re going to speak about why some songs appear completely designed to get caught in our heads, and we’d love to listen to which earworms provide the most bother. In the event you’re up for the problem, sing or hum just a few bars right into a voice memo and ship it over to ScienceQuickly@sciam.com. Simply be certain to inform us your title and the place you’re from. Thanks upfront!
Science Rapidly is produced by me, Rachel Feltman, together with Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our present. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Subscribe to Scientific American for extra up-to-date and in-depth science information.
For Scientific American, that is Rachel Feltman. Have an excellent weekend!
