Cadence May be a Fictional Town, But Not All the Mysteries of Seneca Lake are Fictional
Seneca Lake is part of the Finger Lakes in Central New York. The lakes were carved by a retreating iceberg over 10,000 years ago. Tribes from the Six Nations of the Iroquois lived on the lakes and had large, thriving communities that utilized all the lakes and surrounding areas provided. The Seneca people settled near Seneca Lake, or Assiniki, as they named it. It means “stony place.” It’s the deepest of the Finger Lakes, measuring over 600′ in some parts.
In A Cadence Mystery series, the fictional town of Cadence is on Seneca sacred land, already giving it an atmosphere of magical wonder, and the lake, a character in and of itself, has been a witness to all that is good and bad in human nature. Sometimes, when the right people and events converge, the lake decides to release one of its secrets. Because, in Cadence, the past is never truly buried. It only sleeps, and awakens to demand justice.
Some of the supernatural tropes I use in A Cadence Mystery series are fiction and some are based on real occurrences with the lake or myths and legends that have been told for decades and maybe longer. Which ones are which?
Lake Drums
Professor Randy Nichols, a core character of A Cadence Mystery series, spent thirty years of his career chasing the lake drums at Seneca Lake. He never heard them until the secret covenant, signed by the survivors of the 1921 race massacre in Cadence, was revealed in 2021. And while the lake in the Cadence books holds a lot of secrets, the lake drums are not one of the fictional occurrences. They are real.
Science has theories about what causes them, and the best consensus is that because the lake is deep and is mostly shale, gasses that get released travel up and “explode” when they finally reach the surface. Although in Cadence, they’ve become a rather regular occurrence when the lake releases one of its many secrets, in real life, a lake drum hasn’t been recorded since the early 1940s. Some scientists believe fracking has alleviated much of the pressure of trapped gasses, lessening the chances of an occurrence.
The Seneca Lake Monster
I’m currently working on Book 8 of the series. As yet untitled, this story centers around the convergence of an ice storm and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) in Cadence. In one scene, a creature is seen in the lake. I won’t divulge too much, but I will tell you that there have been stories told about a creature in the lake that resembles the Loch Ness Monster. Is it myth or is it real? Read more at the link below.
Shipwrecks
While there are no shipwrecks in the Cadence stories, the lake certainly has turned up a lot of other relics from the past, including a hearse in Stony Place (A Cadence Mystery #3). As one of the deepest of the Finger Lakes at 600′, this lake teemed with boats carrying cargo like furs and other goods. Rough waters, stormy weather, and even those gas bubbles, could sink a ship. Read more about them in the link below.
Dead Bodies
Bodies recovered from the lake due to boating accidents, drownings, or missing persons has been rare on Seneca Lake, but not in Cadence. The lake has a way of sending bodies to the surface when certain people and events converge. It’s another way the lake releases the thousands of secrets it has witnessed over the 10,000 years of its existence in the town of Cadence.
Stay tuned for more
I hope you enjoyed this little jaunt into the real Seneca Lake mysteries vs the Cadence mysteries. The Finger Lakes region of New York State is a fascinating, beautiful area, steeped in history and multiculturalism, just like Cadence. And that’s why I chose it as the setting.
Until next time. And if you know of any myths and legends about Seneca Lake, please share them in the comments!
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