April has been particularly cold in the state of Massachusetts. There were still patches of snow up in the mountains as the end of April approached, and people of Arkham enjoying their Sunday strolls would shiver as they walked out of direct sunlight. Even the sun itself seemed to struggle to share its warmth with the cold and unforgiving vales of Arkham County. Thomas O'Malley, a local drunk in Brattleboro, was found frozen to death as late as April 15, and the old Indians up in the Miscatonic Valley spoke of the unnaturally cold spring as "the season of the Wendigo" as they secretly drummed and chanted at the gibbous moon for just a couple more degrees to warm the bones of the old and frail. Up in Millhaven, a small village located just north of Topsfield and straddling the Turner Brook, the devout of the hamlet spoke of a "Curse of Millhaven" after having had a long series of unnatural and bizarre accidents ever since New Year's. Meanwhile, older, superstitious country folk dreaded the end of the month, since:
"May-Eve
was Walpurgis-Night, when hell’s blackest evil roamed the earth and all the slaves of
Satan gathered for nameless rites and deeds. It was always a very bad time in Arkham, even though
the fine folks up in Miskatonic Avenue and High and Saltonstall Streets pretended to know nothing
about it. There would be bad doings—and a child or two would probably be missing". (H.P. Lovecraft, The Thing on the Doorstep)
