{"id":3522,"slug":"big-hole-battlefield-wisdom-montana","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["The Big Hole is the dawn attack — the '77 surprise on the sleeping camp, the women and children who fought. The flight was the 1,170 miles — the Nez Perce who sought Canada, the 40 miles that were the end. The victory was the bittersweet — the Gibbon who was driven back, the casualties that were the cost.","The horses were the 2,000 — the herd that was the wealth, the tipis that were burned. The memory is the Nez Perce — the 'going to buffalo country' that was the hope, the 'war was quit' that was wrong. The Big Hole is the turning — the battle that weakened the flight, the surrender that was near.","The file keeps the Big Hole: the 1877 battle, the dawn attack, the Nez Perce flight, and the bittersweet victory.","The Big Hole is the archive's Montana file — the dawn attack's field."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["The Big Hole is the archive's Montana file — the Nez Perce's battle.","A field keeps its tipis — the file's suggestion being that the Big Hole's hold is the surprise: the sleeping camp that was attacked, the women who fought, and the flight that continued."]}],"name":"Big Hole Battlefield","aliases":[],"type":"SITE","type_label":"Site","cats":["DARK_HISTORY","BATTLEFIELD","LOCAL_FOLKLORE","HAUNTED_PLACE","INDIGENOUS"],"groups":["dark-history","hauntings","legends"],"desc":"August 9, 1877—the Nez Perce camp that was attacked at dawn.","full_desc":"Big Hole Battlefield is a site in Wisdom, Montana. August 9, 1877—the Nez Perce camp that was attacked at dawn. Its accounts name only a collective — the nez perce dead. The dossier holds 2 reported claims, 1 legend, 1 documented fact and 1 named or described presence — documented record and retelling kept side by side. The site is open to visitors.","address":null,"city":"Wisdom","county":null,"state":"Montana","postal":null,"region":"West","lat":45.609988,"lon":-113.445749,"coord_kind":"CITY","status":"ACTIVE","access":"PUBLIC","access_notes":null,"ownership":null,"website":null,"phone":null,"year_built":null,"year_opened":null,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":null,"current_use":"Historic site","research_notes":"MTWY batch; VERIFY task auto-queued.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":59.4,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.65,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":0.3999999999999999,"paranormal_claim_provenance":0.8,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[{"id":3852,"type":"NAMED_GHOST_LEGEND","description":"The Nez Perce dead are reportedly seen. The reports at Big Hole Battlefield are the site's second history — unofficial, unverified, and stubbornly retold. It's a documented legend: the telling is real, the contents remain folklore. The report is preserved in sources like 'Big Hole'. The name travels further than the proof; the sightings keep renewing the lease.","evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","evidence_label":"Documented legend","entity":"The Nez Perce dead","where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Big Hole","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Hole_National_Battlefield","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]},{"id":3853,"type":"APPARITION","description":"Reported figures on the field. The reports at Big Hole Battlefield are the site's second history — unofficial, unverified, and stubbornly retold. It's anecdotal evidence in the strictest sense — stories, repeated, unresolved. Sources including 'Big Hole' keep the claim in circulation. It is the sighting the place is known for, and it hasn't stopped.","evidence":"ANECDOTAL","evidence_label":"Anecdotal","entity":null,"where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Big Hole","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Hole_National_Battlefield","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"The August 9, 1877 battle is documented. Big Hole Battlefield's past is on record — the entry belongs to the verified layer beneath whatever lore attaches. It's verified history: the dossier's load-bearing detail. The detail is preserved in 'Big Hole'. It's the sort of fact that gives the haunting reports their context.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":"1877-08-09","confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Big Hole","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Hole_National_Battlefield","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"The Nez Perce dead are reportedly seen. Big Hole Battlefield's file is thin on proof and long on persistence — the standard profile of American place-lore. The account has a collector's pedigree — written down as legend, which is the most honest status it can hold. The account appears in 'Big Hole'. As folklore it's unkillable: the story is too good, and the place too fitting, to let go.","earliest":null,"evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","source":{"name":"Big Hole","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Hole_National_Battlefield","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"entities":[{"name":"The Nez Perce dead","claimed_identity":"The Nez Perce dead","verified":null,"summary":"The Nez Perce dead are reportedly seen. Big Hole Battlefield in Wisdom, Montana carries the report the way old places do — as part of its identity. Named presences persist where anonymous reports fade — the file's name here is The Nez Perce dead. The telling survives; the proof stays folklore. The lore keeps its witness.","behavior":"The Nez Perce dead are reportedly seen.","area":null,"first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"Big Hole","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Hole_National_Battlefield","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Site access varies; verify before visiting.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-18 11:32:55","source":{"name":"HauntHunt generic access guidance","url":"https://haunthunt.com/about#access-guidance","publisher":"HauntHunt editorial","type":"DIRECTORY","authority":2}},"sources":[{"name":"Big Hole","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Hole_National_Battlefield","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":2,"history":1,"legends":1,"entities":1,"sources":1}}