'Spooky Lakes' author visits Kenosha library Sept. 23

Author Geo Rutherford will visit Kenosha Monday for the launch of "Spooky Lakes," her middle-grade book about the odd, bizarre and downright creepy features of lakes throughout the world.

Rutherford will be at the Northside Library, 1500 27th Ave., 6-8 p.m. for a presentation about several of those spooky lakes. She will also take questions from the audience and sign books.

Admission is free, but registration is required for the Sept. 23 event. To register, go to blue-house-books.com/events or visit the library's website, mykpl.info .

In her nonfiction book, Rutherford — creator of the hit online series "Spooky Lake Month —focuses on 25 unusual lakes around the world.

Backed by research and packed with eerie watercolor illustrations, the book "takes readers on an adventure through weird and wild waters," event organizers said.

Some of Earth's strangest — and creepiest — wonders lie deep below the surface.

The lakes she explores include Lake Natron, a Tanzanian lake so briny that its waters can mummify any creature that touches its surface. At Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela, a constantly brewing storm sends an average of 28 lightning bolts per second into the water.

And at the bottom of our own Lake Superior, the crew of the USS Kamloops — which mysteriously disappeared in 1921 — remain almost perfectly preserved to this day.

Rutherford is an artist and teacher who has spent her professional career working in art education. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and is the visual arts director at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.

While her interest in lakes began as a part of her artistic practice, she gained an audience after sharing the information she was learning on TikTok.

Her videos explaining the science behind strange ice formations or drifting islands piqued the interest of viewers worldwide, especially when she began posting videos about spooky lakes every October.

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