{"id":3421,"slug":"nottoway-white-castle-louisiana","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Nottoway is the '59 — the 'largest' that's the South, the '53,000 sq ft' that's the 64 rooms. The 'Randolph' is the builder — the 'destroyed plans' that's the unique, the '155 enslaved' that's the '60. The 'Henry Howard' is the architect — the 'Greek Revival' that's the Italianate, the 'Rotunda' that's the three-story.","The 'auction' is the '89 — the '$100,000' that's the sold, the 'Owens' that's the '12. The '2025' is the fire — the 'May 15' that's the destroyed, the '160 years' that's the stood. Nottoway is the gone — the 'largest remaining' that's the was, the 'painful past' that's the celebrated by some.","The file keeps Nottoway: the 1859 mansion, the Randolph slaves, the destroyed plans, and the 2025 fire.","Nottoway is the archive's Louisiana file — the largest's loss."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Nottoway is the archive's Louisiana file — the burned giant.","A mansion keeps its ashes — the file's suggestion being that Nottoway's hold is the scale: the '53,000' that's the largest, the '155 enslaved' that's the cost, and the '2025' that's the gone."]}],"name":"Nottoway","aliases":[],"type":"HOUSE","type_label":"House","cats":["LOCAL_FOLKLORE","HAUNTED_PLACE","PLANTATION","HISTORIC_ESTATE"],"groups":["hauntings","historic-sites","legends"],"desc":"The largest antebellum mansion—64 rooms of 1859.","full_desc":"A house in White Castle, Louisiana, Nottoway is filed here for what the record attaches to it. The largest antebellum mansion—64 rooms of 1859. The file’s recurring figure goes by a name, not a description: the randolph family. 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":"White Castle","county":null,"state":"Louisiana","postal":null,"region":"South","lat":30.161694,"lon":-91.148535,"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":"LA2 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":3636,"type":"NAMED_GHOST_LEGEND","description":"The Randolphs are reportedly seen. The presences go by the Randolph family in the file. Nottoway wears the claim the way old houses do: visibly, and without comment. It's a documented legend: the telling is real, the contents remain folklore. Sources including 'Nottoway Plantation' 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 Randolph family","where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Nottoway Plantation","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nottoway_Plantation","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]},{"id":3637,"type":"APPARITION","description":"Reported figures in the mansion. Nottoway wears the claim the way old houses do: visibly, and without comment. The reports are anecdotal — consistent enough to record, thin enough to stay unproven. 'Nottoway Plantation' carries the account. It is the sighting the place is known for, and it hasn't stopped.","evidence":"ANECDOTAL","evidence_label":"Anecdotal","entity":null,"where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Nottoway Plantation","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nottoway_Plantation","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"The 1859 mansion is documented. Nottoway's history is documented rather than told — this entry is part of that spine. This belongs to the verified spine of the entry, the layer everything else is measured against. The detail is preserved in 'Nottoway Plantation'. Documented ground is what separates this file from pure legend — this is part of it.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":"1859","date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Nottoway Plantation","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nottoway_Plantation","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"The Randolphs are reportedly seen. A house with White Castle's history behind it gives the reports a setting that needs no exaggeration. The story is documented as legend — recorded and retold, never verified as fact. 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":"Nottoway Plantation","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nottoway_Plantation","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"entities":[{"name":"The Randolph family","claimed_identity":"The Randolph family","verified":null,"summary":"The Randolphs are reportedly seen. The accounts name only a collective — the Randolph family. The house's rooms are where the accounts concentrate — old houses keep their stories in the walls they were built around. The name travels further than the proof; the sightings keep renewing the lease. It remains the site's standing claim.","behavior":"The Randolphs are reportedly seen.","area":null,"first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"Nottoway Plantation","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nottoway_Plantation","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Historic house; many are private residences—verify public access 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":"Nottoway Plantation","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nottoway_Plantation","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":2,"history":1,"legends":1,"entities":1,"sources":1}}