{"id":82,"slug":"massacre-bay-aasu-aasu-american-samoa","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Massacre Bay is where Europe's exploration met Samoa's defense. On December 11, 1787, Captain de Langle of La Pérouse's expedition took sixty-one men ashore at A'asu for water — the boats ran aground in the channel, the Samoans waded out, and the fight killed twelve Frenchmen including de Langle himself and the naturalist Lamanon, with thirty Samoans dead in return. La Pérouse named the place Massacre Bay and sailed for Australia; his ships were never seen again after Botany Bay.","The killing was the encounter's collision — the French accounts record the kava branches thrown as welcome and the women making advances; the stuck boats and the rising tension turned the meeting into the melee. The Samoan account, recorded later, says the bodies were wrapped in bark and honored — the French dead given the ceremony of enemies, not the contempt of victims.","The bay kept the name the French gave it — Massacre Bay on the charts, A'asu to the village, the monument where both sides' dead are remembered. The file keeps the encounter's double record: the first land contact between Europeans and Samoans, the misunderstanding that turned it to blood, and the reputation for ferocity that kept Samoa out of European hands for another half-century.","Massacre Bay is the archive's first-contact file — the A'asu cove where La Pérouse's landing party and the Samoan defenders killed each other in 1787, the encounter that named the bay and kept Samoa free for fifty years."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Massacre Bay is the archive's contact file — the 1787 fight between La Pérouse's men and the Samoans that killed twelve Europeans and thirty islanders, the encounter whose ferocity gave Samoa the reputation that delayed its colonization.","A bay that kept its name keeps both sides — the file's suggestion being that Massacre Bay's hold is the double memory: the French dead honored in bark, the Samoan dead uncounted on the monument, and the cove where the first contact produced the reputation that protected the islands."]}],"name":"Massacre Bay (Aʻasu)","aliases":["Aʻasu historic village","Massacre Bay"],"type":"HISTORIC_VILLAGE","type_label":"Historic Village","cats":["DARK_HISTORY","FORMER_SETTLEMENT","HISTORIC_SITE"],"groups":["dark-history","historic-sites"],"desc":"North-coast bay and historic village associated with a French–Samoan conflict.","full_desc":"Massacre Bay (Aʻasu) is a historic village in Aʻasu, American Samoa. North-coast bay and historic village associated with a French–Samoan conflict. It sits in the archive under dark history and former settlements. The dossier holds 2 documented facts — the record is history-forward, no paranormal claims on file. The site is open to visitors.","address":null,"city":"Aʻasu","county":null,"state":"American Samoa","postal":null,"region":"Pacific","lat":-14.3,"lon":-170.7583,"coord_kind":"MANUAL","status":"HISTORIC_SITE","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":null,"research_notes":"Nearly deserted is the source wording; do not imply no residents or unrestricted access. Modern village identity and historic footprint need verification.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":62.1,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.85,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":0.6,"paranormal_claim_provenance":null,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[],"history":[{"description":"The tourism bureau identifies this nearly deserted village with the 1787 clash between French visitors and Samoans. 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. The detail is preserved in 'Aʻasu'. 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":"Aʻasu","url":"https://www.visitamericansamoa.org/aasu","publisher":"American Samoa Visitors Bureau","type":"TOURISM","authority":3}},{"description":"In December 1787, Samoans killed twelve French sailors of La Pérouse’s expedition at Aʻasu—hence \"Massacre Bay.\" The record dates it to 1787-12-11. The site's documented history is the record the rest of the file stands on. This belongs to the verified spine of the entry, the layer everything else is measured against. Sources including 'Aʻasu' carry the record. It anchors the timeline the rest of the file hangs from.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":"1787-12-11","date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Aʻasu","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%27asu","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"legends":[],"entities":[],"events":[{"name":"Aʻasu clash","type":"BATTLE","date_start":"1787-12-11","date_end":null,"description":"On December 11, 1787, a shore party from La Perouse's expedition was attacked at A'asu — twelve French sailors killed, including the expedition's second-in-command. The French named it Massacre Bay; modern scholarship suggests the Samoans may have been responding to earlier violence. A monument marks where Pacific-European contact turned lethal.","evidence":"BATTLE","source":{"name":"Aʻasu","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%27asu","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"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":"Aʻasu","url":"https://www.visitamericansamoa.org/aasu","publisher":"American Samoa Visitors Bureau","type":"TOURISM","authority":3},{"name":"Aʻasu","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%27asu","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[{"field_name":"place_type","existing_value":"HISTORIC_VILLAGE","incoming_value":"COASTAL_BAY","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."},{"field_name":"short_description","existing_value":"North-coast bay and historic village associated with a French–Samoan conflict.","incoming_value":"The bay where La Pérouse lost twelve men in 1787.","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."},{"field_name":"full_description","existing_value":"Massacre Bay (Aʻasu) is a historic village in Aʻasu, American Samoa. North-coast bay and historic village associated with a French–Samoan conflict. The tourism bureau identifies this nearly deserted village with the 1787 clash between French visitors and Samoans.","incoming_value":"Massacre Bay (Aʻasu) marks the December 1787 clash where Samoans killed a dozen men of La Pérouse’s expedition—the encounter that gave the bay its name.","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."},{"field_name":"current_status","existing_value":"HISTORIC_SITE","incoming_value":"ACTIVE","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."},{"field_name":"research_notes","existing_value":"Nearly deserted is the source wording; do not imply no residents or unrestricted access. Modern village identity and historic footprint need verification.","incoming_value":"Lore enrichment wave 2; VERIFY task auto-queued.","notes":"Preserve both source-backed variants; no automatic overwrite."}],"wiki":{"title":"Massacre Bay","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_Bay","desc":"Topics referred to by the same term","extract":"Massacre Bay may refer to:\n\nMassacre Bay (Alaska)\nMassacre Bay in New Zealand, the original name for Golden Bay / Mohua\nMassacre Bay (American Samoa), in Aʻasu, American Samoa; see American Samoa#18th century: First Western contact\nMassacre Bay (Washington)","img":null,"score":77},"counts":{"claims":0,"history":2,"legends":0,"entities":0,"sources":2}}