TikTok horror series Spooky Lakes will scare you out of the water

Large bodies of water are spooky places — the ocean covers just over 70% of the Earth’s surface and not even half of it has been explored. We just don’t know what’s down there, and it might be a long time until we find out. Even though lakes and waterfalls may seem smaller initially, it is possible to discover the depths of their mysteries or secrets.

TikToker ​​Geo Rutherford (geodesaurus) has created a series about the spookiest lakes. During these 31 days of “haunted hydrology,” she’s done short form deep dives (pun intended) into some of the eeriest bodies of water. These TikToks range from mysteries of the natural world to places of great peril — some of these bodies of water simply look extremely spooky or have mysterious floating debris that defy logic, while others have claimed human lives.

Rutherford takes a water body and explains how it formed. These are supplemented with lots of video and images — some of the TikToks have a content warning for viewers who have certain phobias. She ends the video by rating the body of water on a scale of 1 to 10 “spookies.”

Rutherford, an artist who often focuses on Great Lakes and the relationship between the natural world and us, is also an adjunct to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s arts program. All of the TikToks from her haunted series on hydrology are truly spooky. But they’re also an incredible way to learn more about the natural world — and in some cases, the creation of sewer systems.

There’s Blood Falls, a glacier in Antarctica that emits a blood-red tinted waterfall, as a result of the iron rich saltwater with extremely high salinity. The falls were found in a glacier around 2,000,000 years ago and are full primordial bacteria, which evolved by itself. Highly spooky, if you ask me.

There are also legitimately dangerous natural formations, like the Nyiragongo Volcano and the massive amount of lava at its peak — which Rutherford refers to as the “lava lake” at its center.

Rutherford’s series includes lake-related natural disasters like the eruption of Mount St. Helens which affected Spirit Lake, the popular gathering spot.

The breaking of the Niagara Falls Ice Bridge in 1912.

Rutherford’s most streamed TikTok in the series, at more than 2.4 million streams, covers Jacob’s Well in Texas. It is surrounded by a vast and dangerous cave system.