{"id":1279,"slug":"kings-tavern-natchez-mississippi","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["King's Tavern is the built — the 'ship beams' that's the walls' bones, the 'flatboat boards' that's the river's gift. The 'oldest' is the stood — the '1769' that's the fort's blockhouse, the 'no sawmill' that's the frontier's fix. The 'Madeline' is the told — the 'mistress stabbed' that's the legend's murder, the 'no record' that's the archivists' find.","The 'Postlethwaite' is the other — the 'portrait matched' that's the photo's claim, the 'Elizabeth' that's the real owner's face. The 'flatboaters stopped' is the served — the 'sold boats' that's the trip's end, the 'walked home' that's the Natchez Trace. King's Tavern is the layered — the 'blockhouse' that's the war's start, the 'tavern' that's the trade's stop, the 'residence' that's the after's quiet.","The file keeps King's Tavern: the ship bones, the invented Madeline, the matched portrait, and the flatboaters' stop.","King's Tavern is the archive's Mississippi file — the oldest building whose ghost has no record."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["King's Tavern is the archive's Mississippi file — the fort's blockhouse where the famous ghost was invented.","A tavern keeps its legend — the file's suggestion being that King's hold is the split: the 'Madeline told' that's the story's pull, the 'no record' that's the truth's gap, and the 'ship beams' that's the real bones."]}],"name":"King’s Tavern","aliases":[],"type":"HISTORIC_TAVERN","type_label":"Historic Tavern","cats":["HAUNTED_PLACE"],"groups":["hauntings","lodging"],"desc":"Historic tavern in Natchez; research record.","full_desc":"A historic tavern in Natchez, Mississippi, King’s Tavern is filed here for what the record attaches to it. Historic tavern in Natchez; research record. The name the accounts keep returning to is Madeline. The dossier holds 1 reported claim, 1 legend and 1 documented fact, with the verified spine filed separately from the lore. Visitor status is unverified; confirm before making the trip.","address":"613 Jefferson St","city":"Natchez","county":null,"state":"Mississippi","postal":null,"region":"South","lat":31.542438,"lon":-91.385649,"coord_kind":"CITY","status":"UNKNOWN","access":"UNKNOWN","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":null,"research_notes":"Older article describes restaurant operations; current operating status/hours intentionally not inferred.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":55.6,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.65,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":0.8,"paranormal_claim_provenance":0.8,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[{"id":549,"type":"HAUNTING","description":"The National Trust retells Madeline’s apparition legend and reports of crying and mirror images. King’s Tavern'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. The haunting is unproven and unfired: it keeps showing up for work anyway.","evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","evidence_label":"Documented legend","entity":"Madeline","where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.65,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"King’s Tavern in Natchez, Mississippi","url":"https://savingplaces.org/stories/kings-tavern-in-natchez-mississippi","publisher":"National Trust for Historic Preservation","type":"HISTORICAL_SOCIETY","authority":2},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"The National Trust describes former tavern, mail-stop and residential uses. 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 detail is preserved in 'King’s Tavern in Natchez, Mississippi'. It's the sort of fact that gives the haunting reports their context.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"King’s Tavern in Natchez, Mississippi","url":"https://savingplaces.org/stories/kings-tavern-in-natchez-mississippi","publisher":"National Trust for Historic Preservation","type":"HISTORICAL_SOCIETY","authority":2}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"The National Trust retells Madeline’s apparition legend and reports of crying and mirror images. The reports at King’s Tavern are the site's second history — unofficial, unverified, and stubbornly retold. It's a documented legend: the telling is real, the contents remain folklore. 'King’s Tavern in Natchez, Mississippi' carries the account. The retelling is the record now — the legend metabolized the facts long ago.","earliest":null,"evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","source":{"name":"King’s Tavern in Natchez, Mississippi","url":"https://savingplaces.org/stories/kings-tavern-in-natchez-mississippi","publisher":"National Trust for Historic Preservation","type":"HISTORICAL_SOCIETY","authority":2}}],"entities":[{"name":"Madeline","claimed_identity":"Madeline","verified":null,"summary":"The National Trust retells Madeline’s apparition legend and reports of crying and mirror images. King’s Tavern in Natchez, Mississippi carries the report the way old places do — as part of its identity. The account appears in 'King’s Tavern in Natchez, Mississippi'. The file keeps Madeline on the roster; the sightings keep the name alive.","behavior":"The National Trust retells Madeline’s apparition legend and reports of crying and mirror images.","area":null,"first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"King’s Tavern in Natchez, Mississippi","url":"https://savingplaces.org/stories/kings-tavern-in-natchez-mississippi","publisher":"National Trust for Historic Preservation","type":"HISTORICAL_SOCIETY","authority":2}}],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Access details are unverified; research 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":"King’s Tavern in Natchez, Mississippi","url":"https://savingplaces.org/stories/kings-tavern-in-natchez-mississippi","publisher":"National Trust for Historic Preservation","type":"HISTORICAL_SOCIETY","authority":2}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":1,"history":1,"legends":1,"entities":1,"sources":1}}