History & local legend
Adeline Baver was nineteen when she was murdered after attending a dance in Leesport on October 7, 1857. Her grave at Belleman's Church near Mohrsville records both her age and the date of her death. No one could establish when she had left the dance or who had accompanied her.
That night, Mohrsville Hotel worker Catherine Seaman heard moaning outside and assumed a canal worker was sleeping off a night of drinking. The next morning, a young woman's body was found by the canal near the Irish Creek bridge. Seaman identified her as Adeline. Investigators questioned and arrested several suspects, but the killing remained unsolved.
A ghost story followed the murder. Residents told of seeing Adeline walking beside the canal and railroad tracks, sometimes hearing her sing a quiet, mournful song.
