THE VAULT DOCUMENT
Classification System
The Vault Classification System defines how subjects, cases, locations, entities, and research materials are organised within The Vault.
The classification system provides a consistent structure for the archive, allowing readers to navigate related subjects while maintaining a clear distinction between:
- Documented events
- Reported phenomena
- Locations
- Entities
- Research subjects
- Historical records
- Fiction and popular culture
Classification identifies the subject being documented. It does not determine whether a claim is true or false.
Classification principles
The Vault uses a layered classification system. Articles may appear in multiple categories where appropriate.
For example, a reported haunted castle may belong to:
- Haunted Locations
- Haunted Castles
- Castles
- Historical Buildings
- Ghosts and Hauntings
- A geographic category
A UFO report may belong to:
- UFOs and Sightings
- UAP Reports
- A geographic category
- A case classification category
A film inspired by a real haunted-hotel case may belong to:
- Films
- Haunted Hotels
- Fiction Inspired by Real Events
- A geographic category, if the real location is documented elsewhere in the archive
Note the distinction: within a single primary classification's own sub-tree, an article should trace up through only one branch (e.g. one specific location type, not several competing ones). Across different primary classifications, an article is expected to carry multiple tags — that is the layering this system is built around, not an exception to it.
Primary classifications
The main archive classifications are:
- Cases
- Locations
- Entities
- Phenomena
- Research
- Organisations
- Investigators
- Historical Events
- Popular Culture
Cases
A case is a specific reported event, incident, or investigation.
Examples include:
- UFO sightings
- Reported hauntings
- Cryptid encounters
- Disappearances
- Paranormal investigations
- Historical mysteries
Case pages should document:
- Date
- Location
- Witnesses
- Reported events
- Evidence
- Investigations
- Assessment
Relevant templates:
{{InfoboxCase}}{{VaultEvidence}}
Locations
A location is a place associated with reported phenomena, historical mysteries, or investigations.
Examples include:
- Buildings
- Castles
- Hotels
- Roads
- Forests
- Lakes
- Islands
- Geographical areas
Location pages should document:
- History
- Reported phenomena
- Investigations
- Cultural significance
- Current status
Relevant templates:
{{InfoboxLocation}}{{VaultLocationBrief}}
Entities
An entity is a reported creature, being, or presence.
Examples include:
- Cryptids
- Apparitions
- Legendary creatures
- Reported non-human entities
Entity classifications include:
- Cryptid
- Apparition
- Folklore entity
- Alleged extraterrestrial entity
Examples: Bigfoot, Ogopogo, Mothman
Phenomena
A phenomenon is a type of reported occurrence, experience, or event.
Examples include:
- Telepathy
- Psychokinesis
- Near-death experiences
- Apparitions
- Poltergeist activity
- UFO sightings
Phenomena pages should focus on:
- Definition
- History
- Research
- Reported examples
- Evidence
- Explanations
Rituals
Rituals pages document religious, spiritual, or ceremonial practices performed in response to, or in pursuit of, a claimed paranormal phenomenon — as distinct from Phenomena, which documents the underlying claim itself.
Examples include:
- Exorcism and deliverance rituals
- Divinatory practices (tarot, scrying, palmistry, and similar)
- Protective or warding rituals
- Séances, where treated as a formal ritual practice rather than a single documented case
Pages should focus on:
- Origin and historical development
- Cross-cultural or cross-tradition variation, where relevant
- Documented practitioners and authorised methods
- Documented outcomes, risks, and scientific or medical perspective
Relevant templates:
{{InfoboxRitual}}{{VaultEvidence}}
Research
Research pages document studies, experiments, and investigations.
Examples include:
- Parapsychology research
- UFO investigations
- Cryptozoological research
- Scientific studies
Research pages should include:
- Methodology
- Findings
- Criticism
- Current understanding
Related: TheVault:Scientific Method, TheVault:Research Methodology
Organisations
Organisation pages document groups involved in research, investigation, or documentation.
Examples: paranormal societies, scientific organisations, investigation teams, historical organisations.
Pages should include:
- History
- Activities
- Investigations
- Publications
Investigators
Investigator pages document individuals involved in researching or documenting unusual phenomena.
Examples: paranormal researchers, scientists, historians, UFO investigators, cryptozoologists.
Pages should focus on:
- Background
- Research
- Methods
- Contributions
Practitioners
Practitioners pages document individuals who are themselves the subject of a paranormal claim, as distinct from those who research or document such claims ({{C}}).
Examples include:
- Spiritual mediums
- Psychics
- Dowsers
- Faith healers claiming paranormal (rather than purely religious) ability
Pages should focus on:
- Background
- Public activity (demonstrations, sittings, publications)
- Claims made
- Any independent scrutiny or reception, where it exists
Relevant templates:
{{InfoboxPerson}}{{VaultProfileBrief}}
Sub-classifications: Psychic Mediums, Dowsers, Faith Healers (as the archive grows into these).
Historical Events
Historical Event pages document real-world events connected with mysteries or investigations.
Examples: disappearances, disasters, military incidents, unusual historical events.
Historical fact should be separated from later interpretations or theories.
Popular Culture
Popular Culture pages document fiction and media — films, television, literature, and games — that engage with paranormal, supernatural, or unexplained themes, whether or not they claim any real-world basis.
This classification differs from the other eight in one respect: it classifies the work itself, not a claim about reality. A film about a haunted hotel room belongs here regardless of whether the haunting it depicts is real. Where a work draws on a documented subject covered elsewhere in the archive (a Case, a Location, etc.), the article should link to that subject rather than duplicate its assessment.
Examples include:
- Horror and supernatural films
- Supernatural television series
- Paranormal-themed literature
- Games with paranormal or Fortean subject matter
Popular Culture pages should document:
- Production background
- Plot or premise
- Reception
- Any documented real-world basis, and how closely the work follows it
Relevant templates:
{{InfoboxMovie}}{{InfoboxShow}}{{VaultWorkBrief}}
Sub-classifications: Films, Television, Literature, Games (by medium).
Cross-cutting tags: Supernatural Fiction (genre), Fiction Inspired by Real Events (basis). Apply these alongside a medium category, not in place of it.
Location categories
Locations may be divided into specific types.
Haunted Locations
Examples: Haunted Houses, Haunted Hotels, Haunted Castles, Haunted Hospitals, Haunted Theatres, Haunted Prisons
UFO Locations
Examples: UFO Hotspots, UAP Reports, Abduction Cases
Fortean Locations
Examples: Mystery Locations, Anomalous Areas, Folklore Locations
Phenomenon categories
Ghosts and Hauntings
Reports involving apparitions, unexplained sounds, objects moving without explanation, and reported spirit activity.
Cryptozoology
Reports involving unknown animals, legendary creatures, and alleged undiscovered species.
UFO and UAP Phenomena
Reports involving unidentified aerial objects, close encounters, and alleged extraterrestrial activity.
Psychic Phenomena
Reports involving telepathy, precognition, remote viewing, and psychokinesis.
Geographic classification
Articles should also be categorised geographically where possible, e.g. by country, state or region, city, or specific location. Geographic categories allow readers to browse cases by area, and apply across all nine primary classifications rather than belonging to any one of them.
Classification and evidence
Classification does not represent an evidence judgement.
For example, a location listed in Haunted Locations has a documented association with reported paranormal claims. It does not mean that paranormal activity has been proven.
Evidence assessment is handled separately through TheVault:Evidence Rating System.