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Editorial standards

Memory begins the search. Evidence strengthens it.

The archive is most useful when readers can tell what is documented, what someone remembers and what remains unresolved.

Lost Places Society publishes stories and case files in plain language. We aim to make the source trail visible, preserve useful firsthand accounts and state the limits of what can be known.

Four kinds of information

  1. Documented evidence: records that can be examined, such as newspapers, government documents, maps, directories, photographs, advertisements and archival collections.
  2. Firsthand memory: what a named public username or an attributed contributor recalls. Memories are valuable evidence of experience, but they are not silently converted into verified fact.
  3. Local tradition or legend: a story known in a community whose origin or details may not yet be documented.
  4. Open question: a missing name, date, location or explanation that the available record does not settle.

Source choices

Whenever practical, we prefer original records and direct links to the collection that holds them. Reliable secondary reporting can provide context or point toward primary material. We identify estimates, disputed claims and reasonable alternative explanations instead of overstating certainty.

External sources remain the responsibility of their publishers. A link shows where a claim came from; it does not mean the Society endorses everything on that site.

Member material and review

Forum posts are member conversations. Official case-file submissions are reviewed for relevance, permission, privacy, basic consistency and source value before publication. Editing may correct spelling, remove private details or clarify labels, but it should not change the contributor’s meaning.

Photographs and other media

Contributors should upload only material they own or have permission to share. Approved media should be credited when the contributor supplies a credit. Sensitive locations, living people and identifying details may be withheld, cropped or declined.

Corrections

Good archives improve. If a date, name, caption, source or interpretation appears wrong, email hello@lostplacessociety.com with the page link, the passage at issue and any supporting record. We will review the evidence and correct or qualify the page when warranted.

What we do not do: manufacture certainty, present legend as proof, publish private contact information, or encourage unauthorized entry onto private or dangerous property.

Last updated September 16, 2026.