What's In Lake Tahoe?

I've lived and worked in Lake Tahoe for about three years now. Working at a ski resort I come into contact with tons of tourists every day. They all have questions about the lake and, not even thinking about what I am saying, I often answer them as if I were an expert on the area. The lake itself is kind of an unsolved mystery since it is so deep that is has yet to be charted. I guess this fascinates people because tourists always seem to have a million questions about what's down there. I always reply to their questions by telling of the human bodies that are suspended in the lake in perfect form.

The story goes like this, murderers (specifically the mafia) used to use Lake Tahoe as a dumping ground for bodies because the nature of the lake makes it so that the bodies will never float to the surface to cause question or present evidence of crime. The great depth makes it so that the bodies remain suspended in the water about half way down. And if you were to dive in the lake you would find hundreds of these bodies floating there, and they will all be in near perfect form since the low temperature of the lake makes it as though the bodies were freezed in a block of ice.

I probably tell this story about once a week. But now that I think about it I have no idea why. I've never taken a class or read a book about Lake Tahoe so the only way I could of come across this story is by hearing it from others. The very fact that the lake is uncharted would suggest that people have no idea what is down there. Yet, I recite the tale as the absolute truth nearly every time I am questioned. In looking up the story, I found the below article in the San Francisco Chronicle. It recites the story almost exactly as I do, but provides no more proof of the claim then I can. When looking it up on snopes I was disappointed to see that there was no reference to the story. Perhaps it is just an urban legend, or perhaps it is truth. Untill someone is able to go deep into Tahoe we'll never know for sure. But, if you talk to us locals we'll tell you that what is in Tahoe is indeed dead bodies suspended in the water, and we will give you everything short of hard evidence to defend our story.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/07/25/SPGV17SQ7K1.DTL