Corrections & Errata
Public archive amendmentsThe Council preserves original documents as received but corrects catalog metadata and public summaries when a demonstrable error is identified. Substantive changes are logged rather than silently replaced. A correction does not imply that the underlying case has been validated. Demonstrable errors may be reported to [email protected] with the relevant file number.
Editorial standard
Original witness wording is not rewritten for consistency. Corrections apply to dates, locations, transcription, custody metadata, duplicate-file status, and Council classifications. Where a classification changes, the prior status remains in the internal revision history.
Classification corrected: Probable → Disputed
A 1993 Hazleton property-displacement file had remained coded “Probable” in a 2004 spreadsheet export. Review of the original homeowner follow-up showed that a damaged gate latch and wind exposure had not been carried into the later summary. The public record now reflects Disputed. No witness statement was changed.
Encounter date corrected
The Altoona residential observation was printed in Newsletter Vol. 8, No. 2 as 12 May 1997. The signed witness form, telephone log, and envelope postmark support 14 May 1997. Database and index entries were amended. The newsletter scan remains unchanged.
Location label standardized
Early summaries alternated between “Bangor” and “Upper Mount Bethel.” Parcel review placed the bridge approach outside the municipal boundary used in one field notebook. For retrieval consistency, the public database uses Bangor, PA, while the original site sheet retains the more precise parcel notation under access restriction.
Custody status amended
A 2023 evidence list described the Reading fiber bundle as “laboratory inconclusive.” This was inaccurate. Laboratory comparison was discontinued after packaging was compromised during transport; no valid inconclusive finding was issued. The evidence catalog now reflects the distinction.
Duplicate photograph removed
One image attached to the Scranton bridge file was found to be a second-generation scan of another frame already cataloged under the same roll. It has been removed from the public image count but retained in the digital accession folder with a duplicate marker.
Volume numbering correction
A typed index prepared during the 2004 archive standardization listed the January 1994 issue as Vol. 4, No. 5. The original masthead and mailing ledger establish the correct citation as Vol. 5, No. 1. The Newsletter Archive uses the corrected citation.
Witness count withdrawn
A later index attributed three direct witnesses to the 1952 Upper Lehigh livestock-arrangement report. The surviving correspondence supports one named observer and two secondhand accounts. The numerical witness count has been removed from the public summary pending recovery of the missing chapter sheet.
Submitting an archive correction
Members and non-members may submit documentary corrections through the report intake by selecting an existing-case reference and identifying the source of the proposed amendment. New interpretation, disagreement with a classification, and alternate etymological theories are not corrections unless accompanied by a factual catalog error.