The Archive
Verdicts
Every file ends in one of seven verdicts. Which one a claim gets is not a matter of tone — each has a written evidence threshold it has to clear first.
A verdict describes the claim. Whether the photograph itself is what it is presented as is judged separately, and the most interesting files are the ones where the two disagree: a real photograph carrying a false story.
The claim is supported by primary or authoritative evidence, and nothing of comparable quality contradicts it.
The core of the claim holds up, but a specific detail as it circulates is wrong or overstated.
- Plausible
The claim is consistent with the evidence and taken seriously by qualified people, but it is not established.
- Unresolved
The events are real and documented, but the explanation is genuinely open — qualified people have looked, and nothing yet accounts for all of it.
- Unsupported
No credible evidence supports the claim. That is not the same as proving it false.
The individual facts may check out, but the way they are framed leads to a false conclusion.
The claim is demonstrably untrue, and the evidence against it is clear.
20 published files across the archive · Browse all · Surprise me