"Lover's Leap" Hannibal, MO

View of Hannibal, MO on the Mississippi River from Lover's Leap.

Mississippi River with a lot of barge activity...

Ted looking over Lover's Leap

There are at least eight geological formations in Missouri known as Lover's Leap. One of these formations is located on the southeast edge of Hannibal and is a major Mississippi River promontory exposing a cap of Burlington Limestone, and underlying Hannibal Shale and Louisiana Limestone formations. These high bluff promontories inspired local legends involving an Indian maiden who commits suicide with her lover or jumps to her death to avoid marrying a warrior she despises. There are several possible sources for Hannibal's local legend including one that claims it was the work of the imagination of Hannibal newspaperman Orion Clemens, Mark Twain's older brother. The following is an excerpt from "History Of Marion County" by E. F. Perkins in 1884:

"Lover's Leap" is a large bluff in the southern part of Hannibal. It was given this name about 1840, by some genius who applied to it the scene of the oft-repeated story of the Indian Maiden who dashed herself down from a rock precipice rather than wed a warrior she did not love.