{"id":3484,"slug":"ridgefield-cathlapotle-ridgefield-washington","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Cathlapotle is the '1450 — the '14 plankhouses' that's the Lewis & Clark, the '900' that's the estimated. The '200 feet' is the largest — the 'cedar' that's the built, the 'compartments' that's the divided. The '1805' is the visit — the 'dogs' that's the traded, the 'deerskins' that's the given.","The 'smallpox' is the '30s — the '20 years' that's the after, the 'abandoned' that's the '40. The 'Carty' is the homestead — the '1840' that's the claimed, the 'refuge' that's the '65. Cathlapotle is the replica — the '2005' that's the opened, the '100 volunteers' that's the built.","The file keeps Cathlapotle: the 1450 village, the Lewis & Clark 1805, the smallpox abandonment, and the 2005 replica.","Cathlapotle is the archive's Washington file — the plankhouse returned."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Cathlapotle is the archive's Washington file — the village's echo.","A site keeps its house — the file's suggestion being that Cathlapotle's hold is the return: the '14 plankhouses' that's the documented, the 'smallpox' that's the emptied, and the '2005' that's the rebuilt."]}],"name":"Ridgefield / Cathlapotle","aliases":[],"type":"SITE","type_label":"Site","cats":["LOCAL_FOLKLORE","LEGEND_SITE","INDIGENOUS","ARCHAEOLOGICAL"],"groups":["legends"],"desc":"The plankhouse village—where Lewis and Clark met the Chinook.","full_desc":"Ridgefield / Cathlapotle is a site in Ridgefield, Washington. The plankhouse village—where Lewis and Clark met the Chinook. The presence its accounts keep returning to is the one they call the chinook. 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":"Ridgefield","county":null,"state":"Washington","postal":null,"region":"West","lat":45.817571,"lon":-122.671959,"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":"PNW2 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":3776,"type":"LEGEND","description":"The village’s lore is documented. The figure answers to The Chinook in the retellings. The site in Ridgefield, Washington gives the account a documented setting: real place, real history, unresolved reports. 'Ridgefield / Cathlapotle' preserves the telling; the record keeps it filed where it belongs, as lore. The legend does what legends do — it explains the place in a way the records can't.","evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","evidence_label":"Documented legend","entity":"The Chinook","where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Ridgefield / Cathlapotle","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridgefield_National_Wildlife_Refuge","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]},{"id":3777,"type":"APPARITION","description":"Reported a presence at the site. Ridgefield / Cathlapotle's file is thin on proof and long on persistence — the standard profile of American place-lore. The reports are anecdotal — consistent enough to record, thin enough to stay unproven. Sources including 'Ridgefield / Cathlapotle' keep the claim in circulation. 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":"Ridgefield / Cathlapotle","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridgefield_National_Wildlife_Refuge","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"The village site is documented. A documented history gives the file real substance; this entry is part of that spine. It's verified history: the dossier's load-bearing detail. The record appears in 'Ridgefield / Cathlapotle'. It anchors the timeline the rest of the file hangs from. The lore keeps its witness.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Ridgefield / Cathlapotle","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridgefield_National_Wildlife_Refuge","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"The village’s lore is documented. The site in Ridgefield, Washington gives the account a documented setting: real place, real history, unresolved reports. The story is documented as legend — recorded and retold, never verified as fact. Sources including 'Ridgefield / Cathlapotle' keep the claim in circulation. Every community keeps one story like this; this is theirs.","earliest":null,"evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","source":{"name":"Ridgefield / Cathlapotle","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridgefield_National_Wildlife_Refuge","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"entities":[{"name":"The Chinook","claimed_identity":"The Chinook","verified":null,"summary":"The village’s lore is documented. The file calls it The Chinook. Ridgefield / Cathlapotle's file is thin on proof and long on persistence — the standard profile of American place-lore. The report is preserved in sources like 'Ridgefield / Cathlapotle'. A named spirit outlasts an anonymous one; the file's name is The Chinook.","behavior":"The village’s lore is documented.","area":null,"first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"Ridgefield / Cathlapotle","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridgefield_National_Wildlife_Refuge","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Site access varies; verify 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":"Ridgefield / Cathlapotle","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridgefield_National_Wildlife_Refuge","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":2,"history":1,"legends":1,"entities":1,"sources":1}}