Synopsis
In mid December of 1920, Dr. Doyle, a history professor at Miskatonic University was asked by Mr. John Lawyer to do some research into a house on French Hill Street in Arkham. The owner of the house, Mr. William Layten of Arkham, had a hard time renting the property after tenacious reports of paranormal activity. Mr. Lawyer had spent some time investigating the property himself, but hadn’t come up with any evidence of any strange goings-on and wanted some respected names of the university to back up the claims that it was fit for habitation.
Mr. Doyle assembled a small group of notable people from around Arkham and went to investigate. The group consisted of John H. Mason, award-winning and best-selling novelist, Sir Kevin O’Reilly, British national and historian at the Miskatonic University, Dr. Carly Nanetti, medical doctor at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Arkham and Darren Cobwell, Arkham private detective.
After a thorough investigation into the history of the house, its owner and the previous tenants, the investigators decide to spend the night. During the night, they are witness to many strange, threatening and macabre things they cannot explain and eventually find the tomb of one of the previous tenants, Mr. Walter Corbitt sealed away in a hidden part of the basement. Upon disturbing Mr. Corbitt, he starts to stir and attacks the investigators. Nothing seems to work and they are forced to flee the house and allow Mr. Corbitt’s to escape into the streets.
Later, they manage to track the reanimated corpse of Mr. Corbitt back to an abandoned church. Against the protest of many of the people in the neighborhood around the church, the investigators enter the old building and several bizarre and curious objects and strange tomes of ancient knowledge. At the same time, they find the undead body of Mr. Corbitt, with which they once again do battle.
During the fight with Mr. Corbitt several are injured and Dr. Doyle is killed. A man by the name of Jake Armitage, roused by the disturbance in the church, comes to the aid of the investigators and fights along-side them. The church is partially destroyed by fire resulting from the battle against Mr. Corbitt. The fate of Mr. Corbitt’s undead body still remains unclear, but the investigators reasonably assume the body was destroyed in the raging fire.
History of 25 French Hill Street
The investigators did an extensive check into the history of the house on French Hill Street, the previous tenants and the owner of the house.
- 1833: The house was built by Leonard Merrit.
- 1853: Leonard Merrit falls ill and moves to California. Walter Corbitt buys the house.
- 1855: Walter Corbitt is sued by neighbors.
- 1869: Walter Corbitt dies.
- 1869: The estate of Walter Corbitt is sued by neighbors.
- 1883: A French immigrant family moves in. Several violent accidents occur, both parents die while three children are mysteriously crippled.
- 1912: The eldest son of the family living in the house commits suicide in the basement using a kitchen knife.
- 1919: Bill Clarkson, owner of the house, dies of cancer. The house is sold on an open auction to William Layten.
- 1920: A Polish family moves in. After 2 months they all fall ill simultaneously.
- 1920: John Lawyer does some rudimentary research into the strange happenings at the house on behalf of William Layten. Although Mr. Lawyer has some rudimentary medical training, he discovers nothing.
- 1921: May 13th, Family McConnel moves in. Soon after, the head of the family, Frank McConnel falls out of the bedroom window while his family is visiting relatives. He claims he was pushed by an invisible force. In the hospital, while steadily recovering from his wounds, he suffers a nervous breakdown and is taken to the Arkham Asylum, where he still resides.
- 1922: Sam Chagnowski, reporter for the Arkham Advertiser, dies of a heart attack while doing research into the house on 25 French Hill Street.
The Starry Wisdom Society and the Chapel of Contemplation
Further investigation into Mr. Corbitt revealed that he was a member of the Starry Wisdom Society, also known as the Church of Starry Wisdom, a small religious sect congregating at the former Catholic church at 117 Brown Street, Arkham.
At the time of the investigation, the church on Brown Street stood abandoned. The neighborhood residents, mostly blue collar workers from Irish and Italian decent, held strong superstitious beliefs about the church, claiming it to be a place better left untouched and forgotten.
In 1843, renowned occultist and archaeologist, professor Bowen, went on an expedition to find the tomb of the Nameless Pharaoh, which professor Bowen, much to the ridicule of his contemporaries, claimed not to be in the Valley of Kings. He claimed some notoriety and fame when he found the tomb and started excavating the site.
In 1845, after several months of excavating the site, promptly quit the expedition and resigned from Harvard university. He came home bearing several artifacts, some of which he donated to the university, some of which he sold on the open market, and several he kept to himself.
In July of 1849, he bought the church on Brown Street and renamed in the “Chapel of Contemplation: Our Lord Granter of Secrets”, and a congregation was started to “expand human consciousness.”
By the end of 1853 the congregation counts 32 people. During the following two years, five children disappear from the neighborhood around the chapel. A rumor starts spreading that the chapel is home of vicious blood sacrifices.
In 1856 strange chanting is heard from the chapel and even stranger sounds are heard coming from the steeple.
Later, in 1857, a worried father O’Malley tells of devil worship centered around a box found in Egyptian ruins. He says they call up something that cannot exist in light, something they call the “Haunter of the Dark,” a being that tells them secrets. It’s thought that father O’Malley probably got this information from the deathbed confession of Francis X. Feeney, who joined the chapel in 1852.
In 1859 there is a story of Orrin B. Eddy, who tells of a swarthy Arabian man that came to the chapel to teach the congregation a secret language.
In 1882 Enoch Bowen dies of a heart attack and Reverend Michael Thomas takes over the congregation.
On May 3rd, 1915, Arkham police raided the congregation, brought on by the strong suspicion of the congregation’s involvement into the many disappearances in the neighborhood. During the raid, the police found the skeletal remains of Edwin M. Lillybridge, a Boston Globe reporter who had been missing for several decades. Several of its members fled and some of them were prosecuted. The church was padlocked and left abandoned.
Walter Corbitt
The burial clause in Walter Corbitt’s last will and testimony was executed by Reverend Michael Thomas in 1869.
When Walter Corbitt was found in a hidden section of the basement underneath 25 French Hill Street, an inscription on the wall next to his coffin was found that read “Cthulhu fhtagn.” Dr. Doyle, who had some knowledge of Arabian language and culture compared the word “cthulhu” with a word he came across in the Qur’an. Verse 25, line 29 by Mohammed the Prophet read; “For mankind Shaitan is Khdhulu.” Here, “kdhulhu” was always translated as “abandoner” or “forsakener.” The full translation would have been “Satan is a forsakener of mankind.”
Little else is known about Walter Corbitt. It was obvious he had affiliations with the Starry Wisdom Society, considering a higher up in the society presided over his funeral and he fled to the old church on Brown Street when awoken from his tomb.
Artifacts and Notes
While investigating the abandoned church on Brown Street and before the fight with Walter Corbitt’s reanimated corpse, the investigators found several curious items and pieces of information in the church.
The notepad of Edward M. Lillybridge:
A large basalt slab of 1x2x1,5 mebers was found. The church was bought by Hardvard professor Enoch Bowen, a renowned occultist and archaeologist, in July of 1849 and renamed the “Chapel of Contemplation.” A congregation was started to “expand human consciousness.” There were old, dried-up bloodstains on the flat, broad side of the slab, covering a strange inscription.
Dr. Doyle recognised the inscriptions as Iraqi pictograms found on Summerian tablets discovered late last century. The symbol is connected to “The Man from Kutha. He Who Holds Magic. The Sleeping Lord.” Kutha is the Summerian word for underworld. Other words are Kuthu, Absu and Narbataru. The Summerians have a creation tale, called “Enuma Elish” or “war in heavens”. Elder gods, headed by Marduk, fought against “ancient ones,” who hail from Absu (abyss) and are headed by Tiamat. Marduk slew Tiamat with an enchanted arrow and fashioned the universe out of her body. He created “man” out of the blood of Kingu, commander of the ancient ones’ army. By this he allowed man to share in the blood of the enemy as well as the breath of the elder gods.
A 1,5 meter pilar was found in the church tower, surrounded by seven high-backed chairs. On top of the pillar there stood a large, lead box. The box was shaped in strange angles and had several hieroglyphs on it. About halfway inside the box there was a ring, supported by seven metal rods connected with the inner sides of the box. Held inside the ring was a curious, multi-faceted crystal.
A piece of old parchment was found that held an old Latin text. The text, later translated, read as followed: “Nor is it to be thought that man is either the oldest or the last of earth’s masters, or that the common bulk of life and substance walks alone. The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are and the Old Ones shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but between them. They walk serene and primal, undimensioned and to us unseen. <BLANK> knows the gate <BLANK> key and the <BLANK> present and <BLANK> all are on in <BLANK> <BLANK> knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and where They shall break through again. He knows where They have trod earth’s fields, and where They still tread them, and why no one can behold Them as They tread. By Their smell can men sometimes know Them near, but of Their semblance can no man know, saving only in the features of those They have begotten on mankind; and of those there are many sorts, differing in likeness from <BLANK> that shape without sight or substance which is Them. They walk unseen and foul in lonely places where the Words have been spoken and the Rites howled through at their Seasons. The wind gibbers with Their voices, and the earth mutters with Their consciousness. They bend the forest and crush the city, yet may not forest or city behold the hand that smites. <BLANK> cold waste hath known Them, and what ice desert of <BLANK> the sunken isles <BLANK> hold stones whereon Their <BLANK> engraven, but who hath seen <BLANK> city or <BLANK> tower long garlanded with seaweed and barnacles? Great Cthulhu is their cousin, yet can he spy Them only <BLANK> Ia! <BLANK> As a foulness shall ye know Them. Their hand is at your throats, yet ye see Them not; and Their habitation is even one with your guarded <BLANK> <BLANK> is key to the <BLANK>, whereby the <BLANK> meet. Man rules now where They ruled once; They shall soon rule where man rules now. After summer is winter, after winter is summer. They wait patient and potent, for here shall They rule again.”
William Layten
The man on whose behest John Lawyer contacted the investigators later sent a letter. Surprisingly, he didn’t seem to realise that Dr. Doyle had passed away. Not much else is known about Mr. William Layten.
Epilogue
The box and its curious stone, Edwin M. Lillybridge’s notebook and the parchment with the Latin text were secured by Sir O’Reilly, in a safe at First National Bank in Akrham.
O’Reilly, Nannetti and Cobwell were later approached by a swarthy Arabian man who seemed to know much more about the Walter Corbitt case than could readily be explained. Further investigations into the letter sent by Mr. Layten concludes that the letter was never sent by him, but was a forgery made by the Arabian man.
As with many things in life, details get lost as time goes on, especially the details that were hard to define and hard to explain. Special mechanisms in the human psyche, bent on protecting the mind against the strange and inconceivable, suppress many of the more horrible details, in the hope that one day the mind can put all the dischordant information to rest.
