{"id":364,"slug":"st-deroin-shubert-nebraska","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["St. Deroin grew from a trading post on the Nemaha Half-Breed Reservation — 125,000 acres set aside in 1830 for the mixed-heritage families of the Missouri River trade. Joseph Deroin, Métis son of a French-Canadian trapper and an Otoe woman, took his allotment and kept a post near the Nemaha River's mouth; in 1853 he laid out the village that bore his name, chartered in 1854 — among the earliest platted towns in Nebraska Territory. The 'Saint' was appended later, presumably to lend the landing some grandeur."]},{"heading":"Documented history","paragraphs":["Deroin was shot dead in 1858 collecting a small debt — the killer was acquitted — but the town he named persisted. Its ferry crossing served Missouri River traffic for more than three decades, and the community peaked near 300 residents in the 1870s. The river ended it: the channel shifted away from the landing, the Burlington routed its 1903 line around the town, and floods in 1911 and 1920 removed nearly all of the townsite below the bluffs. By 1920 St. Deroin was abandoned.","The site lies at the north edge of Indian Cave State Park, which has reconstructed the town's memory — a general store overlooking the river, a relocated schoolhouse, and the cemetery on the bluff where the town moved its dead ahead of the water. No paranormal claim is filed; the legends that do attach — campfire tales of Deroin buried atop his horse — are retold as folklore, not record."]}],"name":"St. Deroin","aliases":["Saint Deroin"],"type":"GHOST_TOWN","type_label":"Ghost Town","cats":["GHOST_TOWN","FLOOD_HISTORY"],"groups":["ghost-towns"],"desc":"Ghost town associated with documented cultural history.","full_desc":"St. Deroin is a ghost town in Shubert, Nebraska. Ghost town associated with documented cultural history. It sits in the archive under ghost towns and flood history. The dossier holds 1 documented fact — the record is history-forward, no paranormal claims on file. Access details are unverified — research before visiting. 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":"Shubert","county":null,"state":"Nebraska","postal":null,"region":"Midwest","lat":40.235914,"lon":-95.683615,"coord_kind":"CITY","status":"HISTORIC_SITE","access":"UNKNOWN","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":null,"research_notes":"Historic site within Indian Cave State Park. Individual restored buildings and surviving original town footprint require distinct mapping. Park operator details pending.","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":"Former Missouri River crossing; river changes and floods in 1911 and 1920 removed nearly all of the settlement. St. Deroin'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. Sources including 'Finding Nebraska’s Ghost Towns' carry the record. 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":"Finding Nebraska’s Ghost Towns","url":"https://history.nebraska.gov/finding-nebraskas-ghost-towns/","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":"Finding Nebraska’s Ghost Towns","url":"https://history.nebraska.gov/finding-nebraskas-ghost-towns/","publisher":"Nebraska State Historical Society","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":0,"history":1,"legends":0,"entities":0,"sources":1}}