History & local legend
Sylvan Dell, beside the West Branch Susquehanna near the mouth of Loyalsock Creek, is the setting of Henry W. Shoemaker's story “The Siren,” published in 1912. Its central figure is Sweet Cicely, a young Indigenous woman who sings from a riverside ledge while waiting for her lover, Wild William, to finish work and cross the water to meet her.
One evening, a passing raft pilot mistakes her singing for an invitation. He comes ashore and attacks her when she tries to escape him. William reaches her too late to save her. Cicely's father seeks help at the courthouse, but in Shoemaker's telling officials refuse to pursue justice.
The family eventually leaves the area, yet a woman's voice continues to be heard above the river during the spring rafting season. Pilots turn toward the beautiful singing and lose control of their rafts in the current.
