{"id":3212,"slug":"herrin-massacre-site-herrin-illinois","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Herrin is the '22 — the Lester who broke the deal, the 16 cars that were the shipped. The 50 were the surrendered — the safe passage that was the promise, the barbed wire that's the execution. The 214 were the indicted — the acquittals that were the 90% union, the 'no guilty' that's the record.","The superintendent was the first — the elderly and handicapped who was the killed, the march that's the Herrin. The cemetery was the second — the executions that were the lined up, the Elks sign that saved one. Herrin is the massacre — the 20+ who died, the Klan that's the context.","The file keeps Herrin: the 1922 strike, the Lester betrayal, the barbed wire, and the acquittals.","Herrin is the archive's Williamson County file — the labor war."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Herrin is the archive's Williamson County file — the strike that killed.","A mine keeps its fence — the file's suggestion being that Herrin's hold is the betrayal: the '16 cars' that broke the deal, the 'barbed wire' that's the execution, and the 'no guilty' that's the county."]}],"name":"Herrin massacre site","aliases":[],"type":"SITE","type_label":"Site","cats":["DARK_HISTORY","LOCAL_FOLKLORE","LEGEND_SITE","LABOR"],"groups":["dark-history","legends"],"desc":"June 21-22, 1922—the strikebreakers killed in the woods.","full_desc":"Herrin massacre site is a site in Herrin, Illinois. June 21-22, 1922—the strikebreakers killed in the woods. HauntHunt files it with labor history, dark history and local folklore. Its accounts name only a collective — the herrin 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":"Herrin","county":null,"state":"Illinois","postal":null,"region":"Midwest","lat":37.798389,"lon":-89.03065,"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":3234,"type":"NAMED_GHOST_LEGEND","description":"The dead are reportedly remembered. The accounts name only a collective — the Herrin dead. The reports at Herrin massacre site are the site's second history — unofficial, unverified, and stubbornly retold. 'Herrin' preserves the telling; the record keeps it filed where it belongs, as lore. Named ghosts are the ones that last — this one has lasted.","evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","evidence_label":"Documented legend","entity":"The Herrin dead","where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Herrin","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herrin_massacre","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]},{"id":3235,"type":"HISTORICAL_LEGEND","description":"The massacre is documented history. Herrin massacre site's file is thin on proof and long on persistence — the standard profile of American place-lore. Coverage gave the claim its audience; proof remains another matter. Sources including 'Herrin' keep the claim in circulation. The legend does what legends do — it explains the place in a way the records can't.","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":"Herrin","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herrin_massacre","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"The June 1922 massacre is documented. The site's documented history is the record the rest of the file stands on. The fact is historically verified — the part of the file that doesn't need hedging. Sources including 'Herrin' carry the record. Documented ground is what separates this file from pure legend — this is part of it.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":"1922-06-22","confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Herrin","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herrin_massacre","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"The dead are reportedly remembered. Herrin massacre site'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. 'Herrin' carries the account. The retelling is the record now — the legend metabolized the facts long ago.","earliest":null,"evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","source":{"name":"Herrin","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herrin_massacre","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"entities":[{"name":"The Herrin dead","claimed_identity":"The Herrin dead","verified":null,"summary":"The dead are reportedly remembered. The accounts name only a collective — the Herrin dead. The reports at Herrin massacre site are the site's second history — unofficial, unverified, and stubbornly retold. 'Herrin' carries the account. The named presence is what turns a haunting into a household. The account stays in the file — reported, retold, unresolved.","behavior":"The dead are reportedly remembered.","area":null,"first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"Herrin","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herrin_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":"Herrin","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herrin_massacre","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":2,"history":1,"legends":1,"entities":1,"sources":1}}