Creepiest places in Jackson: The Vanishing Lake
Link to the story: http://www.jacksonnjonlin...he-vanishing-lake/27943/
Jackson suffered bridge damage in Hurricane Irene on August 27th and 28th, but another overburdened structure, an outlet valve at the Prospertown Lake has caused the man made lake to slowly drain. Prospertown lake, once a public swimming area for residents of the area in the 60′s and 70′s was sold to the state, which, out of nowhere banned swimming in the lake in the summer of 1976. Local residents felt it was because the state eventually hoped to sell the property to the new theme park, Great Adventure. Instead, the New Jersey Fish and Game department turned the lake into a fishing spot. Local residents tried in vain to fight the state takeover, including a swim in with then Jackson Mayor John Savage. However the effort was futile and the state maintained the lake was too polluted for swimming.
With documented fact that Jackson was once a dumping ground for those who crossed the New York and North Jersey Mafias, only time will tell what comes out of Prospertown Lake is it dries up. So far, the lake has only yielded clam shells, tires, beer bottles and randomly discarded debris over it’s long history. The New Jersey DEP expects the lake to eventually drain out completely and it could take up to a year to fill back up to it’s normal level once they find out and fix the cause of the drainage.
By September 21st, the DEP had relocated nearly 5,000 fish from the stocked lake and transported them to the nearby Pemberton Lake Wildlife Management Area. They used two electro-fishing boats to stun the fish as staff members netted black crappies, blue gills, yellow purch, brown bullheads and largemouth bass from the disappearing lake.
What do you think Prospertown Lake has to offer as it continues to slowly vanish?
