The name "Pine Lake" recalls a very colourful chapter in Alberta's history. In about 1830, Blackfoot Indians raided a sleeping band of Cree Indians on the east shore of the lake and killed every man, woman and child in the camp. Only one Cree warrior survived, having been away hunting at the time. This lone man painted his face black in mourning, then set out to avenge his family and comrades. Stealthily creeping into camp at night or ambushing individuals, he managed to kill and scalp many of his enemies. For years afterwards both tribes avoided the lake in the belief that the region was haunted by ghosts of the murdered Cree. A contorted old pine tree grew near the shore and the lake was named Ghostpine or Devil's Pine Lake. Stories also report a headless horseman rising out of the swamp southeast of Pine Lake, then galloping along high banks in the light of the full moon. The name "Devil's Pine Lake" is on an 1892 survey map and in an 1894 Northwest Mounted Police report, but when the post office opened in 1895, that name was thought to be "too cumbersome" and it was shortened to Pine Lake. The creek draining the lake is still named Ghostpine.