Far side of the lake is spooky (5)
I believe the answer is:
eerie
'spooky' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'far side of the lake' is the wordplay.
'far side of' says to take the final letters.
'lake' becomes 'erie' (Lake Erie is one of the Canadian/US 'Great Lakes').
The last letter of 'the' is 'e'.
'e'+'erie'='EERIE'
'is' is the link.
(Other definitions for eerie that I've seen before include "Strangely frightening" , "Strange and disturbing" , "Spooky, creepy" , "Spectral" , "Ghostly" .)