{"id":360,"slug":"platteford-louisville-nebraska","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Platteford — written 'Plattford' in some records — was platted in 1857 in what is now Sarpy County, near the Platte River bottom across from Cass County's Louisville country. As the name advertises, the speculators meant it to grow on a river ford and ferry crossing during the territorial land rush, when every likely crossing or timber claim got its own paper town."]},{"heading":"Documented history","paragraphs":["Occupation was brief. The state's archaeological survey of Nebraska's territorial period records the settlement as short-lived — one of the dozens of plats that never converted into a functioning village before the river, the roads, or the railroads chose elsewhere.","The site surfaced again in 1995, when archaeologists working ahead of highway construction identified a domestic foundation of the territorial settlement. That single documented feature is the file's substance: the modern parcel and its access are unverified, and no standing ruins are claimed. Platteford remains a crossing that was used, a town that was platted, and a cellar hole the highway survey found."]}],"name":"Platteford","aliases":["Plattford"],"type":"GHOST_TOWN","type_label":"Ghost Town","cats":["GHOST_TOWN"],"groups":["ghost-towns"],"desc":"Ghost town associated with documented cultural history.","full_desc":"Platteford is a ghost town in Louisville, Nebraska, founded in 1857. Ghost town associated with documented cultural history. The archive files it under ghost towns. The dossier holds 1 documented fact — the record is history-forward, no paranormal claims on file. Abandoned now: the structure does the storytelling. For HauntHunt it is exactly the kind of file the archive exists for: a real place, a real record, and a story still being told.","address":null,"city":"Louisville","county":"Sarpy","state":"Nebraska","postal":null,"region":"Midwest","lat":40.996471,"lon":-96.161406,"coord_kind":"CITY","status":"ABANDONED","access":"UNKNOWN","access_notes":null,"ownership":null,"website":null,"phone":null,"year_built":null,"year_opened":1857,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":null,"current_use":null,"research_notes":"Archaeological source establishes historic identity and broad locality. Modern parcel, legal access and precise coordinates are not supplied; no route into ruins inferred.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":55,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.65,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":1,"paranormal_claim_provenance":null,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[],"history":[{"description":"Platted in 1857 as a Platte ferry settlement; occupied briefly. Archaeologists identified a domestic foundation during 1995 highway work. Platteford's history is documented — boom, bust, and desertion all on record, the lore layered on top. The fact is historically verified — the part of the file that doesn't need hedging. The record appears in 'Archeology of Nebraska’s Territorial Period (1854–1867)'. Documented ground is what separates this file from pure legend — this is part of it.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Archeology of Nebraska’s Territorial Period (1854–1867)","url":"https://history.nebraska.gov/archeology-of-nebraskas-territorial-period-1854-1867/","publisher":"Nebraska State Historical Society","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}}],"legends":[],"entities":[],"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":"Archeology of Nebraska’s Territorial Period (1854–1867)","url":"https://history.nebraska.gov/archeology-of-nebraskas-territorial-period-1854-1867/","publisher":"Nebraska State Historical Society","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":0,"history":1,"legends":0,"entities":0,"sources":1}}