{
  "country_code": "GM",
  "id": "kachikally-spirit-origin-versions",
  "title": "Kachikally: the spirit's pool and two different chronologies",
  "category": "rituel",
  "date": "2020-01-01",
  "date_label": "Year attributed to the custodian interview, not a verified founding date",
  "location": "Kachikally, Bakau, Gambia",
  "lat": 13.48,
  "lng": -16.67,
  "summary": "A custodian's origin account and a tour description assign very different ages to a sacred pool. The discrepancy matters more than repeating an impressive number.",
  "documented_claim": "The interview summary and tour description give materially different approximate origin ages.",
  "unproven_claim": "These narratives establish one exact founding date or verified healing efficacy.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "My Gambia — Kachikally: Sacred Site and Crocodile Pool (September 2022)",
      "url": "https://www.my-gambia.com/mymagazine/kachikally-sacred-site-and-crocodile-pool/",
      "language": "English",
      "kind": "Reported custodian interview summary",
      "note": "Attributes a 2020 interview to Mr Bojang. Healing statements are participant beliefs, not clinical evidence.",
      "id": "S1",
      "accessed_on": "2026-09-30"
    },
    {
      "title": "Visit The Gambia — See It All safari-tour description",
      "url": "https://visitthegambia.com/?tour-item=see-it-all-safari-tour",
      "language": "English",
      "kind": "Commercial tourism retelling",
      "note": "Presents a different approximate age and spirit story; not independently authenticated chronology or health evidence.",
      "id": "S2",
      "accessed_on": "2026-09-30"
    }
  ],
  "country": "Gambia",
  "author": "Eklipsis",
  "content_languages": [
    "en"
  ],
  "path": "/investigations/kachikally-spirit-origin-versions",
  "source_url": "https://www.my-gambia.com/mymagazine/kachikally-sacred-site-and-crocodile-pool/",
  "location_precision": "region",
  "location_note": "Approximate orientation marker for the named locality, not an exact encounter, burial, ritual or excavation position.",
  "location_source_url": "https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=13.48&mlon=-16.67#map=8/13.48/-16.67",
  "reviewed_on": "2026-09-30",
  "edition": 1,
  "truth_type": "unknown",
  "verdict": "A named custodial tradition and contradictory modern retellings are documented. Exact founding chronology and therapeutic efficacy are unestablished.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "title": "The mystery and the documented account",
      "text": "My Gambia's September 2022 article summarizes a 2020 interview with a Bojang-family custodian. It recounts Chomping Bojang helping a woman recover her baby from the pool, followed by family guardianship, and gives an approximate age of 1,200 years. A separate tour description presents a fertility spirit rewarding kindness and assigns about 500 years to the origin story. The two versions should not be harmonized into one authenticated founding date. Ritual and healing associations are reported beliefs, not demonstrated clinical outcomes.",
      "refs": [
        "S1",
        "S2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "The question worth investigating",
      "text": "Which details and dates come directly from the custodian, and which were introduced by commercial retelling? What dated records support any founding chronology?",
      "refs": []
    },
    {
      "title": "Evidence, provenance and uncertainty",
      "text": "The written interview summary was read; the complete video was not independently reviewed. The tour page is promotional and offers a derivative version. Neither supplies archaeological dating or evidence that the water treats infertility or disease.",
      "refs": [
        "S1",
        "S2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "Inspector’s assessment",
      "text": "A named custodial tradition and contradictory modern retellings are documented. Exact founding chronology and therapeutic efficacy are unestablished.",
      "refs": []
    },
    {
      "title": "Next research and discriminating evidence",
      "text": "Compare the complete consented interview with its written summary and commercial versions. Record date claims and meanings exactly as attributed. Research custodial and museum records separately from clinical questions; no use of the water as treatment is advised.",
      "refs": []
    }
  ],
  "timeline": [
    {
      "date": "Traditional origin, undated independently",
      "text": "The interview summary recounts aid to a woman and subsequent Bojang guardianship.",
      "refs": [
        "S1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "2020",
      "text": "The magazine identifies this as the year of its custodian interview.",
      "refs": [
        "S1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "September 2022",
      "text": "The written account publishes the interview-based description.",
      "refs": [
        "S1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "30 September 2026",
      "text": "Eklipsis compiles this English documentary investigation from the named sources. No field visit or new eyewitness interview is claimed.",
      "refs": []
    }
  ],
  "claims": [
    {
      "text": "The interview summary and tour description give materially different approximate origin ages.",
      "status": "Documented in the named record",
      "refs": [
        "S1",
        "S2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "These narratives establish one exact founding date or verified healing efficacy.",
      "status": "Not established by the selected evidence",
      "refs": [
        "S1",
        "S2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "A named custodial tradition and contradictory modern retellings are documented. Exact founding chronology and therapeutic efficacy are unestablished.",
      "status": "Editorial assessment; stated limits apply",
      "refs": []
    }
  ],
  "hypotheses": [
    {
      "title": "A custodial origin narrative about assistance and guardianship",
      "status": "Attributed participant tradition",
      "support": "The interview summary locates the story within the Bojang family.",
      "limits": "Retrospective tradition does not supply an independently dated foundation.",
      "test": "Compare the recording and dated custodial records."
    },
    {
      "title": "Commercial retelling altering chronology and emphasis",
      "status": "Documented variation",
      "support": "The tour page supplies a different age and explicit spirit framing.",
      "limits": "The route of the variation is not established.",
      "test": "Trace dated versions and their declared sources."
    }
  ],
  "tasks": [
    {
      "title": "Trace the earliest accessible record",
      "body": "For Kachikally: the spirit's pool and two different chronologies, record author or storyteller, collection date, language, translation, page and exact scope. Distinguish evidence of a story being told from evidence of its events. Note which full documents remain unavailable."
    },
    {
      "title": "Investigate the central question",
      "body": "Compare the complete consented interview with its written summary and commercial versions. Record date claims and meanings exactly as attributed. Research custodial and museum records separately from clinical questions; no use of the water as treatment is advised."
    },
    {
      "title": "Compare explanations without merging evidence",
      "body": "Compare the recording and dated custodial records. Trace dated versions and their declared sources. Preserve contradictions and unsuccessful searches; proposed work remains unperformed."
    }
  ]
}