{"id":2699,"slug":"johnstown-flood-site-johnstown-pennsylvania","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Johnstown is the '89 — the May 31 that's the day, the 20 million tons that's the water. The club was the cause — the South Fork Fishing that's the owners, the Carnegie and Frick who were the members. The '36 feet' is the wall — the 14 miles that's the travel, the 40 mph that's the speed.","The dam was the neglected — the '47 first failure, the '62 second, the '79 rebuild that's the cheap. The screens were the fish — the spillway that's the blocked, the 'no control' that's the level. Johnstown is the man-made — the 'not natural' that's the flood, the 2,209 that's the dead.","The file keeps Johnstown: the 1889 flood, the South Fork Club, the 20 million tons, and the 2,209 dead.","Johnstown is the archive's Pennsylvania file — the rich men's flood."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Johnstown is the archive's Pennsylvania file — the preventable disaster.","A dam keeps its club — the file's suggestion being that Johnstown's hold is the negligence: the '47 failure that was ignored, the 'fish screens' that blocked the spillway, and the '2,209' that's the dead."]}],"name":"Johnstown Flood site","aliases":[],"type":"SITE","type_label":"Site","cats":["DARK_HISTORY","LOCAL_FOLKLORE","HAUNTED_PLACE","DISASTER"],"groups":["dark-history","hauntings","legends"],"desc":"May 31, 1889—the dam that killed 2,209.","full_desc":"A site in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Johnstown Flood site is filed here for what the record attaches to it. May 31, 1889—the dam that killed 2,209. HauntHunt files it with disasters, dark history and local folklore. The presences in its file go unnamed: the flood 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":"Johnstown","county":null,"state":"Pennsylvania","postal":null,"region":"Northeast","lat":40.326132,"lon":-78.919139,"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":"PA 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":2285,"type":"NAMED_GHOST_LEGEND","description":"The flood dead are said to be seen in the city. Johnstown Flood site in Johnstown, Pennsylvania carries the report the way old places do — as part of its identity. The story is documented as legend — recorded and retold, never verified as fact. Sources including 'Johnstown Flood' keep the claim in circulation. The name gives the haunting a face, and the sightings give the name a job.","evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","evidence_label":"Documented legend","entity":"The flood dead","where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Johnstown Flood","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstown_Flood","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]},{"id":2286,"type":"APPARITION","description":"Reported figures in the flood zone and at the incline. Johnstown Flood site in Johnstown, Pennsylvania carries the report the way old places do — as part of its identity. The file holds testimony rather than proof; the claim remains anecdotal. The figure remains the site's most-repeated sighting. The account stays in the file — reported, retold, unresolved.","evidence":"ANECDOTAL","evidence_label":"Anecdotal","entity":null,"where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Johnstown Flood","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstown_Flood","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"The May 31, 1889 flood killed 2,209—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. The record appears in 'Johnstown Flood'. Documented ground is what separates this file from pure legend — this is part of it.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":"1889-05-31","confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Johnstown Flood","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstown_Flood","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"The flood dead are said to be seen in the city. Johnstown Flood site's file is thin on proof and long on persistence — the standard profile of American place-lore. The story is documented as legend — recorded and retold, never verified as fact. 'Johnstown Flood' carries the account. 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":"Johnstown Flood","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstown_Flood","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"entities":[{"name":"The flood dead","claimed_identity":"The flood dead","verified":null,"summary":"The flood dead are said to be seen in the city. Johnstown Flood site's file is thin on proof and long on persistence — the standard profile of American place-lore. The file keeps The flood dead on the roster; the sightings keep the name alive. It remains the site's standing claim. The lore keeps its witness.","behavior":"The flood dead are said to be seen in the city.","area":null,"first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"Johnstown Flood","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstown_Flood","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":"Johnstown Flood","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstown_Flood","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":2,"history":1,"legends":1,"entities":1,"sources":1}}