{"id":3206,"slug":"colfax-colfax-louisiana","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Colfax is the massacre — the '73 Easter that killed 150, the Black militia who surrendered. The courthouse was the contested — the '72 election that was disputed, the Grant Parish that's the president's name. The Cruikshank was the ruling — the Supreme Court that freed the killers, the Jim Crow that was enabled.","The cannon was the threat — the surrender that it forced, the executions that followed. The Riot Tree was the witness — the pecan that stood near, the spot that's unmarked. Colfax is the Reconstruction's — the deadliest racial violence, the 'home rule' that was restored.","The file keeps Colfax: the 1873 massacre, the disputed election, the Cruikshank ruling, and the Riot Tree.","Colfax is the archive's Louisiana file — the Reconstruction massacre."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Colfax is the archive's Louisiana file — the Jim Crow's birth.","A courthouse keeps its tree — the file's suggestion being that Colfax's hold is the Cruikshank: the massacre that was enabled, the 150 who died, and the ruling that freed the killers."]}],"name":"Colfax","aliases":[],"type":"SITE","type_label":"Site","cats":["DARK_HISTORY","LOCAL_FOLKLORE","LEGEND_SITE","MASSACRE"],"groups":["dark-history","legends"],"desc":"April 13, 1873—the courthouse massacre that ended Reconstruction.","full_desc":"Colfax is a site in Colfax, Louisiana. April 13, 1873—the courthouse massacre that ended Reconstruction. HauntHunt files it with dark history, massacres and local folklore. Its accounts name only a collective — the colfax 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":"Colfax","county":null,"state":"Louisiana","postal":null,"region":"South","lat":31.519572,"lon":-92.69974,"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 / memorial","research_notes":"dark2 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":3222,"type":"NAMED_GHOST_LEGEND","description":"The dead are reportedly remembered. The presences go by the Colfax dead in the file. Colfax's file is thin on proof and long on persistence — the standard profile of American place-lore. It's a documented legend: the telling is real, the contents remain folklore. 'Colfax' carries the account. The name travels further than the proof; the sightings keep renewing the lease.","evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","evidence_label":"Documented legend","entity":"The Colfax dead","where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Colfax","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colfax_massacre","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]},{"id":3223,"type":"HISTORICAL_LEGEND","description":"The massacre is documented history. The site in Colfax, Louisiana gives the account a documented setting: real place, real history, unresolved reports. The press reported it; the reporting is documented, the phenomenon isn't. Sources including 'Colfax' keep the claim in circulation. As folklore it's unkillable: the story is too good, and the place too fitting, to let go.","evidence":"MEDIA_REPORTED","evidence_label":"Media reported","entity":null,"where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Colfax","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colfax_massacre","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"The April 13, 1873 massacre is documented. The site's documented history is the record the rest of the file stands on. It's verified history: the dossier's load-bearing detail. 'Colfax' documents the entry. The entry's timeline holds it; the lore holds the rest. The file stays open on it. The report keeps its place in the record.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":"1873-04-13","confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Colfax","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colfax_massacre","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"The dead are reportedly remembered. The reports at Colfax are the site's second history — unofficial, unverified, and stubbornly retold. The story is documented as legend — recorded and retold, never verified as fact. Sources including 'Colfax' keep the claim in circulation. The tale is the site's other archive — oral, embroidered, and outlasting the documents.","earliest":null,"evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","source":{"name":"Colfax","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colfax_massacre","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"entities":[{"name":"The Colfax dead","claimed_identity":"The Colfax dead","verified":null,"summary":"The dead are reportedly remembered. The accounts name only a collective — the Colfax dead. The reports at Colfax are the site's second history — unofficial, unverified, and stubbornly retold. The report is preserved in sources like 'Colfax'. The named presence is what turns a haunting into a household.","behavior":"The dead are reportedly remembered.","area":null,"first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"Colfax","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colfax_massacre","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":"Colfax","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colfax_massacre","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":2,"history":1,"legends":1,"entities":1,"sources":1}}