{"id":1419,"slug":"old-state-bank-decatur-alabama","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["The Old State Bank in Decatur dates to 1834 — one of Alabama's oldest surviving bank buildings, a Federal-style branch of the state bank that survived the Civil War that burned the town around it. Carolyn Cortner Smith's 1934 rehabilitation saved it — the file's documented spine being a bank building that outlasted the bank, the war, and a century of downtown change.","The National Register listing in 1972 and the 1934 rescue are the file's register — a building saved twice: once by survival through the war, once by a woman's restoration."]},{"heading":"Two women","paragraphs":["The guide recounts two female apparitions — unnamed women reported in the old bank. The file's ghosts are anonymous: two women in a building whose documented savior was a woman, the apparitions' identity lost to the record but their presence reported.","The unnamed women are the file's register — a bank that held the town's money and its dead alike, the two figures the reports' most persistent presence."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["The Old State Bank is the archive's saved-building file — an 1834 bank that survived the war and was rescued by a woman's 1934 rehabilitation, keeping two unnamed female apparitions. The documented survival is the record; the two women are the lore.","A bank that outlasted its own institution keeps two women in its rooms — the file's suggestion being that the building's caretakers include some it never hired."]}],"name":"Old State Bank","aliases":[],"type":"HISTORIC_BANK","type_label":"Historic Bank","cats":["HAUNTED_PLACE"],"groups":["hauntings","institutions"],"desc":"Historic bank in Decatur; research record.","full_desc":"A historic bank in Decatur, Alabama, built in 1834, Old State Bank is filed here for what the record attaches to it. Historic bank in Decatur; research record. Its signature presence is Unnamed women — the figure the file’s accounts keep returning to. The dossier holds 1 reported claim, 1 legend and 1 documented fact, with the verified spine filed separately from the lore. It is closed now; the account outlives the building.","address":"925 Bank Street","city":"Decatur","county":"Morgan County","state":"Alabama","postal":null,"region":"South","lat":34.572995,"lon":-86.989901,"coord_kind":"CITY","status":"CLOSED","access":"RESTRICTED","access_notes":"City says closed for substantial structural renovations; no completion date finalized.","ownership":null,"website":"https://www.decatur-al.gov/explore/things_to_do/museums_and_tours/old_state_bank.php","phone":null,"year_built":1834,"year_opened":null,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":"National Register of Historic Places","current_use":null,"research_notes":"City’s 1834 completion differs from guide’s 1833 construction. Earlier online opening hours are superseded by current owner closure notice.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":69.4,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.85,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":1,"paranormal_claim_provenance":0.8,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[{"id":659,"type":"APPARITION","description":"The guide recounts two female apparitions. The presences go by unnamed women in the file. Old State Bank's file is thin on proof and long on persistence — the standard profile of American place-lore. The account has a collector's pedigree — written down as legend, which is the most honest status it can hold. The figure remains the site's most-repeated sighting.","evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","evidence_label":"Documented legend","entity":"Unnamed women","where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.5,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Alabama Hauntings — County by County Part VI","url":"https://www.southernspiritguide.org/alabama-hauntings-county-by-county-part-vi/","publisher":"Southern Spirit Guide","type":"BLOG","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"The city dates completion to 1834 and National Register listing to 1972; it describes Carolyn Cortner Smith’s 1934 rehabilitation. 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 record appears in 'Old State Bank'. 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":"Old State Bank","url":"https://www.decatur-al.gov/explore/things_to_do/museums_and_tours/old_state_bank.php","publisher":"City of Decatur","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"The guide recounts two female apparitions. Old State Bank in Decatur, Alabama 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. Legends accrue where records go silent; this one filled the gap and stayed.","earliest":null,"evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","source":{"name":"Alabama Hauntings — County by County Part VI","url":"https://www.southernspiritguide.org/alabama-hauntings-county-by-county-part-vi/","publisher":"Southern Spirit Guide","type":"BLOG","authority":4}}],"entities":[{"name":"Unnamed women","claimed_identity":"Unnamed women","verified":null,"summary":"The guide recounts two female apparitions. The lore files them collectively as unnamed women. The reports at Old State Bank are the site's second history — unofficial, unverified, and stubbornly retold. 'Alabama Hauntings — County by County Part VI' carries the account. The name travels further than the proof; the sightings keep renewing the lease.","behavior":"The guide recounts two female apparitions.","area":null,"first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"Alabama Hauntings — County by County Part VI","url":"https://www.southernspiritguide.org/alabama-hauntings-county-by-county-part-vi/","publisher":"Southern Spirit Guide","type":"BLOG","authority":4}}],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"opening_hours":"Closed for structural renovation; reopening date not announced.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-14T10:36:20+00:00","source":{"name":"Old State Bank","url":"https://www.decatur-al.gov/explore/things_to_do/museums_and_tours/old_state_bank.php","publisher":"City of Decatur","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}},"sources":[{"name":"Alabama Hauntings — County by County Part VI","url":"https://www.southernspiritguide.org/alabama-hauntings-county-by-county-part-vi/","publisher":"Southern Spirit Guide","type":"BLOG","authority":4},{"name":"Old State Bank","url":"https://www.decatur-al.gov/explore/things_to_do/museums_and_tours/old_state_bank.php","publisher":"City of Decatur","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":{"title":"Old State Bank (Decatur, Alabama)","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_State_Bank_(Decatur%2C_Alabama)","desc":"United States historic place","extract":"The State Bank Building, Decatur Branch, commonly known as the Old State Bank, is a historic Jeffersonian-style bank building in Decatur, Alabama, United States. It was recorded by the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1934 and 1935. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 24, 1972, due to its architectural significance.","img":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/DSC6477-2.jpg/330px-DSC6477-2.jpg?utm_source=en.wikipedia.org&utm_campaign=api&utm_content=thumbnail","score":90,"lat":34.61444444,"lon":-86.98361111},"counts":{"claims":1,"history":1,"legends":1,"entities":1,"sources":2}}