{"id":2839,"slug":"hampton-park-charleston-south-carolina","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Hampton Park is the racecourse — the Washington that's the '1792, the prison that's the '64. The 257 are the dead — the Union soldiers who were the mass grave, the 'Martyrs' that's the arch. The May 1 was the '65 — the 10,000 who marched, the first Memorial Day that's the claim.","The Blight was the find — the '96 Harvard that's the discovery, the 'Race and Reunion' that's the book. The children were the 3,000 — the schoolchildren who sang 'John Brown's Body', the freedpeople who built the fence. Hampton Park is the origin — the Decoration Day that's the debate, the Waterloo that's the official.","The file keeps Hampton Park: the racecourse prison, the 257 dead, the '65 parade, and the Memorial Day claim.","Hampton Park is the archive's Charleston file — the first Memorial Day."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Hampton Park is the archive's Charleston file — the forgotten first.","A park keeps its arch — the file's suggestion being that Hampton's hold is the memory: the '65 parade that was lost, the Blight who found it, and the 'Martyrs' that's the inscription."]}],"name":"Hampton Park","aliases":[],"type":"SITE","type_label":"Site","cats":["DARK_HISTORY","LOCAL_FOLKLORE","CIVIL_WAR"],"groups":["dark-history","legends"],"desc":"The park built on the Washington Race Course—where the first Memorial Day was held.","full_desc":"A site in Charleston, South Carolina, Hampton Park is filed here for what the record attaches to it. The park built on the Washington Race Course—where the first Memorial Day was held. The presences in its file go unnamed: the union dead, the record says. The dossier holds 2 reported claims, 1 legend and 1 documented fact, with the verified spine filed separately from the lore. The site is open to visitors.","address":null,"city":"Charleston","county":null,"state":"South Carolina","postal":null,"region":"South","lat":32.828017,"lon":-79.972896,"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":"SC 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":2529,"type":"NAMED_GHOST_LEGEND","description":"The Union dead are said to be remembered. The reports at Hampton Park are the site's second history — unofficial, unverified, and stubbornly retold. It survives as local folklore, which is to say it survives because people keep telling it. The account appears in 'Hampton Park'. The name travels further than the proof; the sightings keep renewing the lease.","evidence":"LOCAL_FOLKLORE","evidence_label":"Local folklore","entity":"The Union dead","where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Hampton Park","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampton_Park_(Charleston)","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]},{"id":2530,"type":"HISTORICAL_LEGEND","description":"The 1865 observance is documented history. Hampton Park's file is thin on proof and long on persistence — the standard profile of American place-lore. Media accounts carried the story further than the evidence ever did. Legends accrue where records go silent; this one filled the gap and stayed. It remains the site's standing claim.","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":"Hampton Park","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampton_Park_(Charleston)","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"The May 1, 1865 observance is documented. A documented history gives the file real substance; this entry is part of that spine. The fact is historically verified — the part of the file that doesn't need hedging. 'Hampton Park' documents the entry. It's the sort of fact that gives the haunting reports their context.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":"1865-05-01","confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Hampton Park","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampton_Park_(Charleston)","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"The Union dead are said to be remembered. Hampton Park's file is thin on proof and long on persistence — the standard profile of American place-lore. The claim is neighborhood knowledge — retold locally, verified nowhere. The account appears in 'Hampton Park'. It's the version the place will be remembered by, whether or not it's the true one.","earliest":null,"evidence":"LOCAL_FOLKLORE","source":{"name":"Hampton Park","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampton_Park_(Charleston)","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"entities":[{"name":"The Union dead","claimed_identity":"The Union dead","verified":null,"summary":"The Union dead are said to be remembered. Hampton Park in Charleston, South Carolina carries the report the way old places do — as part of its identity. 'Hampton Park' carries the account. A named spirit outlasts an anonymous one; the file's name is The Union dead. The file stays open on it. The lore keeps its witness.","behavior":"The Union dead are said to be remembered.","area":null,"first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"Hampton Park","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampton_Park_(Charleston)","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":"Hampton Park","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampton_Park_(Charleston)","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":2,"history":1,"legends":1,"entities":1,"sources":1}}