{"id":2966,"slug":"old-man-site-franconia-new-hampshire","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Old Man is the '03 — the 'May 3' that's the fell, the '40 feet' that's the face. The '1805' is the discovered — the 'Whitcomb' that's the Brooks, the 'Profile Lake' that's the seen. The 'Daniel Webster' is the quote — the 'God Almighty' that's the sign, the 'men' that's the made.","The 'chains' is the held — the 'cement' that's the '57, the 'turnbuckles' that's the rods. The 'borrowed time' is the warned — the '1886' that's the Hitchcock, the '117 years' that's the vindicated. Old Man is the gone — the 'state symbol' that's the was, the 'legacy fund' that's the memorial.","The file keeps Old Man: the 1805 discovery, the 2003 collapse, the Webster quote, and the chains.","Old Man of the Mountain is the archive's New Hampshire file — the fallen face."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Old Man of the Mountain is the archive's New Hampshire file — the state's profile.","A cliff keeps its absence — the file's suggestion being that the Old Man's hold is the fell: the '2003' that's the collapse, the 'borrowed time' that's the warned, and the 'state symbol' that's the was."]}],"name":"Old Man site","aliases":[],"type":"NATURAL","type_label":"Natural","cats":["LOCAL_FOLKLORE","NATURAL_WONDER","LEGEND_SITE"],"groups":["legends"],"desc":"The Great Stone Face—collapsed May 3, 2003.","full_desc":"Old Man site is a natural site in Franconia, New Hampshire. The Great Stone Face—collapsed May 3, 2003. HauntHunt files it with natural wonders and local folklore. The presence its accounts keep returning to is the one they call the old man. 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":"Franconia","county":null,"state":"New Hampshire","postal":null,"region":"Northeast","lat":null,"lon":null,"coord_kind":null,"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 / park","research_notes":"NE2 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":2777,"type":"LEGEND","description":"The face’s memory is the site’s lore. The figure answers to The Old Man in the retellings. A natural place in Franconia, New Hampshire doesn't need walls to hold a legend; it has geography. The account has a collector's pedigree — written down as legend, which is the most honest status it can hold. 'Old Man site' carries the account. The tale is the site's other archive — oral, embroidered, and outlasting the documents.","evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","evidence_label":"Documented legend","entity":"The Old Man","where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Old Man site","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Man_of_the_Mountain","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]},{"id":2778,"type":"APPARITION","description":"Reported a presence at the site. Old Man site's reports travel the way outdoor lore does — by campfire, trailhead, and local warning. The reports are anecdotal — consistent enough to record, thin enough to stay unproven. The report is preserved in sources like 'Old Man site'. Whatever walks there, it walks often enough to keep the reports coming.","evidence":"ANECDOTAL","evidence_label":"Anecdotal","entity":null,"where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Old Man site","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Man_of_the_Mountain","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"The May 3, 2003 collapse is documented. The landscape's recorded history gives the file real substance underneath the lore. It's verified history: the dossier's load-bearing detail. Sources including 'Old Man site' carry the record. The entry's timeline holds it; the lore holds the rest. It remains the site's standing claim.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":"2003-05-03","confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Old Man site","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Man_of_the_Mountain","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"The face’s memory is the site’s lore. The landscape at Old Man site is the claim's whole setting: New Hampshire wilderness with a name for the unexplained. The account has a collector's pedigree — written down as legend, which is the most honest status it can hold. The account appears in 'Old Man site'. Every community keeps one story like this; this is theirs.","earliest":null,"evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","source":{"name":"Old Man site","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Man_of_the_Mountain","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"entities":[{"name":"The Old Man","claimed_identity":"The Old Man","verified":null,"summary":"The face’s memory is the site’s lore. The Old Man is what the reports name it. Open country keeps its stories differently — Old Man site in Franconia, New Hampshire files its reports in weather and distance. The account appears in 'Old Man site'. The name travels further than the proof; the sightings keep renewing the lease.","behavior":"The face’s memory is the site’s lore.","area":null,"first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"Old Man site","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Man_of_the_Mountain","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Natural site; conditions vary seasonally—check the managing agency for access.","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":"Old Man site","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Man_of_the_Mountain","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":2,"history":1,"legends":1,"entities":1,"sources":1}}