The ledger
Corrections
Every correction we have ever made, dated, permanent, and linked to the file it changed.
A publication that adjudicates other people’s claims has to be legible about its own mistakes, so this page exists from day one rather than being added after the first error.
The policy
- Corrections are made in place, and marked. The file is amended, a dated correction is added to it, and it appears here.
- Nothing is silently deleted. A wrong file is corrected or, in the rare case where correction is impossible, publicly retired with the reason stated. Deletion happens only for a legal or rights takedown, and even then the correction record survives.
- Each entry records four things: what we said, what is actually true, how the error happened, and what changed in the process so it does not recur.
- Verdicts change only on new evidence. Never for reach, never for a sponsor, and never because the comments objected.
We treat corrections as content rather than embarrassment. Publishing them well is the single most persuasive evidence available that the verdicts here are real.
The ledger
Nobody has settled how Devils Tower formed, and the Park Service says so
- We said
- That the NPS Geodiversity Atlas records columns "1.8–2.4 m (6–8 ft) in diameter at their base" tapering "to about 1.2 m (4 ft) at the top"; in the evidence, "Their dimensions are recorded: '1.8–2.4 m (6–8 ft) in diameter at their base and taper gradually upward to about 1.2 m (4 ft) at the top.'"; and, in the body, that the magma split into "columns 6 to 8 feet across at the base". And, without the Atlas's qualifier: in the hook, that the NPS "says discrepancies remain for all of them"; in the body, that the agency "records that every available explanation has something wrong with it", that it was "explicitly saying elsewhere that no single answer survives scrutiny", and "that the people who would know say they all do"; and, in the verification notes, "The NPS says discrepancies exist for all four hypotheses without itemising them".
- What is true
- The Atlas gives those dimensions for "The larger columns", which it says measure 1.8–2.4 m (6–8 ft) in diameter at their base and taper gradually upward to about 1.2 m (4 ft) at the top. And it qualifies the discrepancies as apparent: "However, apparent discrepancies still exist for all of the origin hypotheses." Neither changes the verdict, which rests on the four hypotheses the Atlas lists and on that sentence.
- How it happened
- The quotation of the measurement began after the words that limited it to the larger columns. The Atlas's decisive sentence was paraphrased without its qualifier in the hook, three times in the body and once in the verification notes, and one of the body sentences called the Atlas explicit about something it does not say. A launch audit re-reading published files against their sources found the first; it and the hook were confirmed against the rendered NPS page on 2026-10-11, and the other paraphrases were found the same day by the independent review of this correction, before this file was used in any social post.
- What changed
- Quote verification will include limiting words immediately before and after an excerpt, not only the words placed inside quotation marks. Before social approval, every derivative carrying corrected language will be regenerated and checked against the corrected source file.
The 1868 escape coffin had a bell, a ladder, and a tube that could be withdrawn and reused
- We said
- The headline "The 1868 escape coffin had a bell, a ladder, and a tube you took back afterwards"; the hook and short social post, "once death was confirmed, you withdrew the escape tube and used it again"; and the 15-second video line, "once death was confirmed, you pulled the tube back out and used it again".
- What is true
- US Patent 81,437 names no one who withdraws the tube. It says only that, once life is found extinct, the tube is withdrawn and "used for a similar purpose". Those lines now say the tube "could be withdrawn and used again".
- How it happened
- The second person supplied an actor the patent does not name. The 2026-09-25 correction removed the "rental equipment" reading but left the headline's "you took back", a smaller form of the same inference. It was identified on 2026-09-26 and corrected on the owner's ruling. The correction was reviewed independently under A-0062.
- What changed
- The reuse provision is now stated in the passive, as the patent states it, in every field that repeats it: headline, hook, social copy, evidence and both video scripts. The independent review checked each occurrence against the rendered patent.
The 1868 escape coffin had a bell, a ladder, and a tube that could be withdrawn and reused
- We said
- That the escape tube was "rental equipment" and "a piece of undertaker's plant, with a duty cycle and a maintenance case"; that after use it went "on to the next grave"; that the cord was "tied" to the occupant's hand; and that the drawing's first witness was "N. Neill".
- What is true
- US Patent 81,437 says only that, once life is found extinct, the tube is withdrawn and "used for a similar purpose". It names no hire, owner or undertaker. The cord is "placed in the hand" of the person in the coffin, in all three places the specification describes it. The printed specification names the witness "A. NEILL", and the signature on the drawing sheet reads the same.
- How it happened
- An interpretation of the reuse provision was written as though the patent stated it, "placed" was strengthened to "tied", and the witness initial was transcribed wrongly. An independent check of the page against the rendered patent scan found all of it on 2026-09-25, before the file was used in a social post.
- What changed
- A page that a social post will link to is now re-read against its primary source by a reviewer who did not write it, before the post goes out.
Kīlauea makes hair out of glass, and it blows into people's gutters
- We said
- That HVO gives the January 2025 dates as "the fifth of five fountaining episodes"; that "The USGS asks residents to disconnect the downpipes feeding their water tanks while it is falling"; and, in the hook (and in similar words on the card and in the share line), that the strands are "over a metre long and under a millimetre thick", with no qualifier.
- What is true
- HVO places the 15–18 January fall in episode 4; the fifth episode ended on 23 January. HVO says the amount that fell "usually does not require any action", and it offers the downpipe advice to residents who are "concerned about Pele's Hair getting in your water catchment system", for use "when Pele's Hair is falling". The strands "can be more than a meter (3 feet) long" (the lava-fountains article) and are "often less than 1 millimeter (0.04 inches) thick" (HVO's Volcano Watch article on Pele's hairs as a hazard).
- How it happened
- In summarising, the source's conditions and hedges were dropped, which turned an optional precaution into an instruction and a possible size into a fixed one. The episode number was misstated. An independent check of the page against the HVO articles found both on 2026-09-25, before the file was used in a social post.
- What changed
- A page that a social post will link to is now re-read against its primary source by a reviewer who did not write it, before the post goes out.
Tell us we’re wrong
If you have found an error, send it to thestrangefile@gmail.com. A source is more useful than an assertion — if you have the record that contradicts us, lead with it and we will read it.