Residents along Lake Sinnissippi are reporting multiple sightings of what they describe as the ghost of Ray Cinniapolis, the city’s namesake industrialist, coinciding with a series of unexplained nighttime tidal waves that have damaged property and eroded several sections of shoreline.

Local authorities confirmed that at least four separate wave events have occurred since late September, each between 2:00 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. Multiple witnesses have described seeing a pale, human-shaped figure hovering or walking near the water’s edge minutes before each incident.

According to Cinniapolis Safety Department (CSD) CEO Rhonda Dixon, a security guard at the HSL maritime base reported the disturbances began after she saw what appeared to be a man in a hat, glowing white and moving oddly slow along the dock. “He just disappeared,” the security guard said. “Then the winds shifted, and the lake rippled up with whitecaps.”

Longtime fisherman Hubert Hudson described a similar experience, claiming he saw a floating shape circling his boat before a sudden swell forced him back to shore. “It wasn’t fog,” Mr. Hudson said. “It was watching me. It moved me off the water.”

A third report came from homeowner Karen Jefferson who awoke to a tapping on her window and saw a glowing, pale face moments before her yard flooded. “It looked like someone trying to speak,” Ms. Jefferson said. “And then there was a shriek, almost, like tires screeching to a halt and then he was gone.”

The CSD has previously confirmed that tidal anomalies have been recorded but declined to speculate on their cause. In a statement released Thursday, the department urged residents to avoid lakeside areas between midnight and dawn until further notice. The nearby HSL base, which maintains underwater acoustic monitoring equipment on the lake, denied involvement in the phenomenon. “There have been no experiments or discharges capable of producing such effects,” the base’s communications officer said.

Despite official silence, speculation has spread rapidly across local message boards and social media. Several CNPS Stream posts link the ghost sightings and tidal events to long-standing rumors about Ray Cinniapolis’s death and burial near the lakebed’s fault line. This cyclical story is typically revived during periods of strange weather or geological activity around Lake Sinnissippi.

One theory claims that recent seismic studies near HSL’s sector may have disturbed geomagnetic currents connected to the site of Ray’s early trading posts. Another, more sensational explanation alleges that HSL has conducted hydrosonic field tests that accidentally triggered the ghost’s reappearance. No evidence supports either claim.

Others take a more folkloric view, suggesting that the lake itself is reacting to human intrusion. “Every time they try to deepen the channels or install sensors, something pushes back,” said local CNPS Stream self-proclaimed Cinniapolis historian JustHistory&Fx, creator of Sinnissippi: The Hidden City Beneath the Water. “In Cinniapolis folklore, the founder never really left the lake. He became part of it.”

The sightings have drawn small nightly gatherings of curious onlookers to the waterfront, despite police advisories. Amateur ghost hunters have posted thermal images and grainy videos online, none verified by experts. Local businesses, meanwhile, have begun selling “Ray’s Revenge” coffee mugs and “Ray of Light” glow-in-the-dark shirts, a marketing move some residents call tasteless.

Still, fear remains. “People are rattled,” said an aide to the City Council, who asked to remain anonymous. “They don’t know what’s natural anymore, or what’s trying to warn us.”

The latest disturbances have reignited debate over those early myths. Whether the so-called Ghost of Ray is a simply trick of fog and light or something stranger remains unknown. For now, the lake continues to rise and Cinniapolitans continue to watch.