If you’ve lived on Long Island long enough, chances are you’ve heard someone say: Don’t swim in Lake Ronkonkoma because it takes one male every year. Welcome to the story of Tuskawanta, better known as the Lady of the Lake.
Love Letters, Loss, and a Legacy of Death: The Lady of the Lake Lore
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The most widely told version of the legend dates back to the 1600s. A Setauket woman, often referred to as Lady of the Lake, Princess Ronkonkoma, or Tuskawanta, falls in love with a white settler named Hugh Birdsall. Her father forbids the relationship.
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For seven years, she floats love letters across the lake on pieces of bark. When her messages go unanswered, she rows to the center of the lake and, depending on the version you hear, either drowns herself or stabs herself in the heart.
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One variation claims her body washed up in Connecticut fueling rumors of underground lake channels and the myth that the lake is “bottomless.”
The lake isn’t actually bottomless, but it is deep nearly 90 feet in some spots, with sudden drops and limited visibility that make rescues almost impossible after the first 10 feet.
One Man Per Year?
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The legend holds that Tuskawanta takes one young man each year, mistaking him for her lost love or as punishment for the love she was denied.
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Former head lifeguard Dr. David Igneri says he personally witnessed 30 drownings in 32 summers every victim was male.
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Local folklore claims over 160 drownings between the mid-1800s and the 1970s, with only three known female victims during that span.
Some say the Lady drags her victims from below. Others tell stories of being “pulled” by an invisible force in the water, as if something, or someone, was trying to take them.
Lady of the Lake: Real Encounters or Just Spooky Folklore?
Plenty of Ronkonkoma locals insist there’s something real happening beneath the surface:
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One lifeguard tells the story of being trapped upside down in a kayak, feeling a hand brush his arm before being yanked underwater. When he surfaced, his senior guard simply said, “So you got to meet the Lady.”
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Another lifeguard swam near a local bar and found himself inexplicably swimming in place, then being flung backward right near the “deep hole” where the Lady is said to live.
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Historian Ellyn Okvist says if you’re from Ronkonkoma, “these things are in your blood.”
Still, some researchers urge skepticism. Robert Levine, cofounder of the Long Island Paranormal Investigators, says they’ve recorded unusual electromagnetic fields at the lake but can’t say for sure it’s paranormal. Others, like local historian Evelyn Bozler, see the legend as “just a story.”
Modern Tributes and a Lingering Presence
Despite the doubt, the Lady’s presence has only grown stronger:
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A 32-foot statue of Tuskawanta now watches over the lake, carved from a tree trunk by local sculptor Todd Arnett.
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A mural honors her likeness.
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Filmmaker Maria Capp, who grew up in Ronkonkoma, is turning the legend into a psychological thriller titled The Legend of Lake Ronkonkoma: The Lady of the Lake, a film that reimagines the tale through the lens of grief, racial injustice, and supernatural mystery.
Capp also challenges the language of the myth itself: “Princess” and “Chief” were European-imposed titles, not authentic Native terms. In her version, she focuses on the emotional trauma passed down through generations and uses the ghost story to confront deeper social issues.
The Waters Still Weep
Whether the Lady of the Lake is real, metaphorical, or misunderstood, her legend endures. Some say the lake rises and falls every seven years not because of rainfall, but because “it’s weeping for them still.”
So if you’re tempted to swim in Lake Ronkonkoma, just know this: the algae bloom might close the beach, but for many, it’s the ghost in the deep that keeps them on shore.
As Virginia Schutte, who’s lived lakeside for decades, put it, “I don’t think she’s evil. I think she’s heartbroken. But I still wouldn’t go in.”
