{"id":3152,"slug":"gila-river-internment-site-sacaton-arizona","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Gila River is the fourth — the largest city in Arizona '42, the 13,348 who were held. The reservation was the stolen — the Pima land that's the lease, the 'against objections' that's the record. The camps were the two — the Canal and the Butte, the 3.5 miles that separated.","The JACL was the only — the chapter that's the active, the councils that were the workaround. The honor roll is the '44 — the 442nd that's the monument, the Japanese who served while held. Gila River is the incarceration — the '42-'45 that's the years, the desert that's the site.","The file keeps Gila River: the 1942 opening, the 13,348 peak, the Pima land, and the 442nd monument.","Gila River is the archive's Sacaton file — the desert camp."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Gila River is the archive's Sacaton file — the camp on stolen land.","A reservation keeps its camp — the file's suggestion being that Gila River's hold is the double theft: the Pima land that was leased, the Japanese who were held, and the monument that's the 442nd."]}],"name":"Gila River internment site","aliases":[],"type":"SITE","type_label":"Site","cats":["DARK_HISTORY","LOCAL_FOLKLORE","WWII"],"groups":["dark-history","legends"],"desc":"The desert camp where 13,000 Japanese Americans were held.","full_desc":"Gila River internment site is a site in Sacaton, Arizona. The desert camp where 13,000 Japanese Americans were held. HauntHunt files it with World War II, dark history and local folklore. The presence its accounts keep returning to is the one they call the internees. 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":"Sacaton","county":null,"state":"Arizona","postal":null,"region":"West","lat":33.077548,"lon":-111.762914,"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":"AZ2 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":3127,"type":"NAMED_GHOST_LEGEND","description":"The internees are reportedly remembered. Gila River internment site's file is thin on proof and long on persistence — the standard profile of American place-lore. 'Gila River internment' preserves the telling; the record keeps it filed where it belongs, as lore. A ghost with a name outlasts a ghost without one; the reports keep it employed.","evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","evidence_label":"Documented legend","entity":"The internees","where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Gila River internment","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gila_River_War_Relocation_Center","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]},{"id":3128,"type":"HISTORICAL_LEGEND","description":"The internment is documented history. Gila River internment site's file is thin on proof and long on persistence — the standard profile of American place-lore. The press reported it; the reporting is documented, the phenomenon isn't. The account appears in 'Gila River internment'. 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":"Gila River internment","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gila_River_War_Relocation_Center","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"The 1942-45 internment is documented. A documented history gives the file real substance; this entry is part of that spine. This belongs to the verified spine of the entry, the layer everything else is measured against. Sources including 'Gila River internment' carry the record. It's the sort of fact that gives the haunting reports their context.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":"1942","date_end":"1945","confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Gila River internment","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gila_River_War_Relocation_Center","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"The internees are reportedly remembered. The site in Sacaton, Arizona gives the account a documented setting: real place, real history, unresolved reports. The story is documented as legend — recorded and retold, never verified as fact. 'Gila River internment' carries the account. Legends accrue where records go silent; this one filled the gap and stayed.","earliest":null,"evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","source":{"name":"Gila River internment","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gila_River_War_Relocation_Center","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"entities":[{"name":"The internees","claimed_identity":"The internees","verified":null,"summary":"The internees are reportedly remembered. Gila River internment site in Sacaton, Arizona carries the report the way old places do — as part of its identity. The account appears in 'Gila River internment'. A named spirit outlasts an anonymous one; the file's name is The internees. The reports keep the address on the map.","behavior":"The internees are reportedly remembered.","area":null,"first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"Gila River internment","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gila_River_War_Relocation_Center","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":"Gila River internment","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gila_River_War_Relocation_Center","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":2,"history":1,"legends":1,"entities":1,"sources":1}}