{"id":3215,"slug":"upstairs-lounge-site-new-orleans-louisiana","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["UpStairs is the '73 — the 'June 24' that's the arson, the '32' that's the died. The 'buzzer' is the trap — the 'stairwell' that's the fire, the 'bars' that's the windows. The 'MCC' is the congregation — the 'church' that's the met there, the 'Nunez' that's the suspected.","The 'silence' is the shame — the 'churches' that's the refused funerals, the 'radio' that's the joked. The 'unsolved' is the official — the 'undetermined' that's the cause, the 'no arrest' that's the ever. UpStairs is the deadliest — the 'gay club' that's the until Pulse, the 'Stonewall' that's the New Orleans.","The file keeps UpStairs: the 1973 arson, the 32 dead, the barred windows, and the refused funerals.","UpStairs Lounge is the archive's New Orleans file — the silenced dead."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["UpStairs Lounge is the archive's New Orleans file — the arson's shame.","A site keeps its bars — the file's suggestion being that UpStairs' hold is the refused: the '32' that's the died, the 'churches' that's the denied, and the 'unsolved' that's the official."]}],"name":"UpStairs Lounge site","aliases":[],"type":"SITE","type_label":"Site","cats":["DARK_HISTORY","LOCAL_FOLKLORE","DISASTER","LGBTQ"],"groups":["dark-history","legends"],"desc":"June 24, 1973—the gay bar fire that killed 32.","full_desc":"A site in New Orleans, Louisiana, UpStairs Lounge site is filed here for what the record attaches to it. June 24, 1973—the gay bar fire that killed 32. HauntHunt files it with disasters, dark history and LGBTQ history. The presences in its file go unnamed: the lounge dead, the record says. The dossier holds 2 reported claims, 1 legend and 1 documented fact, with the verified spine filed separately from the lore. The site is open to visitors.","address":null,"city":"New Orleans","county":null,"state":"Louisiana","postal":null,"region":"South","lat":30.05342,"lon":-89.934502,"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 / memorial","research_notes":"dark2 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":3240,"type":"NAMED_GHOST_LEGEND","description":"The dead are reportedly remembered. The lore files them collectively as the Lounge dead. The site in New Orleans, Louisiana gives the account a documented setting: real place, real history, unresolved reports. It's a documented legend: the telling is real, the contents remain folklore. The account appears in 'UpStairs Lounge'. Named ghosts are the ones that last — this one has lasted.","evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","evidence_label":"Documented legend","entity":"The Lounge dead","where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"UpStairs Lounge","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UpStairs_Lounge_arson_attack","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]},{"id":3241,"type":"APPARITION","description":"Reported a presence at the site. UpStairs Lounge site's file is thin on proof and long on persistence — the standard profile of American place-lore. It's anecdotal evidence in the strictest sense — stories, repeated, unresolved. 'UpStairs Lounge' carries the account. It is the sighting the place is known for, and it hasn't stopped.","evidence":"ANECDOTAL","evidence_label":"Anecdotal","entity":null,"where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"UpStairs Lounge","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UpStairs_Lounge_arson_attack","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"The June 24, 1973 fire is documented; 32 died. UpStairs Lounge site's past is on record — the entry belongs to the verified layer beneath whatever lore attaches. This belongs to the verified spine of the entry, the layer everything else is measured against. Sources including 'UpStairs Lounge' carry the record. The record keeps it — history, not lore.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":"1973-06-24","confidence":null,"source":{"name":"UpStairs Lounge","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UpStairs_Lounge_arson_attack","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"The dead are reportedly remembered. UpStairs Lounge site's file is thin on proof and long on persistence — the standard profile of American place-lore. 'UpStairs Lounge' preserves the telling; the record keeps it filed where it belongs, as lore. 'UpStairs Lounge' carries the account. The story outranks the documentation, which is how you know it's folklore.","earliest":null,"evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","source":{"name":"UpStairs Lounge","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UpStairs_Lounge_arson_attack","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"entities":[{"name":"The Lounge dead","claimed_identity":"The Lounge dead","verified":null,"summary":"The dead are reportedly remembered. The lore files them collectively as the Lounge dead. The site in New Orleans, Louisiana gives the account a documented setting: real place, real history, unresolved reports. The name travels further than the proof; the sightings keep renewing the lease. The reports keep the address on the map.","behavior":"The dead are reportedly remembered.","area":null,"first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"UpStairs Lounge","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UpStairs_Lounge_arson_attack","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":"UpStairs Lounge","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UpStairs_Lounge_arson_attack","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":2,"history":1,"legends":1,"entities":1,"sources":1}}