A Gruesome Job Had to Be Done to Create This Man-Made Lake in Maine

Flagstaff Lake in Eustis, Maine, is not your typical lake that is formed over thousands of years like Maine's deepest lake, Sebago Lake. Flagstaff is a man-made lake that was created where the townships of Flagstaff, Bigelow, and Dead River used to be.

In the 1940s, these townships were taken by eminent domain to build a new dam on the Dead River to generate electricity, despite the outcry from residents. Creating the dam would mean flooding the townships, which would create a man-made lake. But to prepare the move for the residents, one gruesome thing had to be done that none of the residents would want to happen.

As residents were forced to move to a new location, most of the buildings were torn down, but a schoolhouse was moved, and still stands.

Something else was moved to a new location as well. All the gravestones and buried dead in the Flagstaff and Dead River cemeteries had to be dug up and reburied in a new cemetery.

As if these people hadn't already gone through enough being told they had to leave their homes, the taking of the land by eminent domain also meant that their deceased loved ones had to be dug out of the ground and moved.

In recent years, Flagstaff Lake and the ghost town of Flagstaff (submerged beneath the now much-larger body of water) have become a bit of legend for people across the country, as the town that was taken by eminent domain and flooded, all in the name of progress.