Legend of Murder in Lums Pond State Park

Hiking the Swamp Forest Trail in Lums Pond State Park is a relaxing and enjoyable experience, with a sinister legend.  Local lore tells a twisted story along Lums Pond. It’s said that in the late 1870s, a young woman living with her family on a farm in Delaware’s New Castle County was deeply unhappy and depressed. 

At her rope’s end, she decided to run away from home on a cool summer night. She sprinted to the woods surrounding Lums Pond to hide from her family, who was searching for her. It was there she thought she could think clearly and decide what to do next. 

As she lay near where the Swamp Forest Trail runs today, she saw the glimmer of a campfire in the distance on the shores of Lums Pond.  She realized she was not alone. Frightened, she tried her best to lay perfectly still and quiet, but a fearful whimper caught the man’s attention near the fire. 

Alerted… the man carrying a rope started slowly walking towards the frightened sounds… scanning… looking for who was near his camp. As he inched closer, the terrified whimpers grew louder until he was right upon her.

She let loose a blood-curdling cry as the man grabbed her and dragged her back to his camp. That night, the man assaulted the woman through her cries before bludgeoning her to death. 

Police search parties would find the woman’s bloody body barely recognizable a few days later. Her murderer disappeared and would never be found.  

It’s said on calm late summer nights if you sit around a campfire in Lums Pond and listen closely … you may hear the faint, terrified screams and pleas for her life.  

Today, you can retrace this legend by hiking the Swamp Forest Trail in Lums Pond State Park.