A letter from Professor Harold C. De Winter

Harold C. De Winter, PhD
Department of Archaeology
Miskatonic University, Arkham, Mass.



February 24, 1925


Dear Mr. Pollack,

As you may have noticed from the letterhead, I have been given a new position at Miskatonic University following the tragic affairs surrounding Professor Wyndham during the spring of 1923. Please do understand that I was most saddened by the course of events, and that I now only feel remorse for harboring years of resentment against Professor Wyndham. Yet, I am pleased to be back at the Department of Archaeology, and I intend to honor the legacy of Professor Wyndham by working twice as hard as previously.

My most recent project came about last November, after half a week of particularly heavy rains had hit parts of New England. A friend and colleague of mine was handed a strange stone statuette of sorts (please find an attached photograph of the object!), and he was told that a local farmer had found this in a waterlogged field on his property. My colleague, who works at a local museum, did conduct a most preliminary survey of the location of the find, and he is positive that there may be an old Indian burial ground or something else, perhaps of ceremonial importance, to be found there. It is odd, though, since I am not aware of any Indian settlements at this particular location (do not worry, I will share the exact location in a not too distant future!), but then, the past is an obscure place, and we really know very little of what transpired in pre-Columbian times.

Therefore, I am reaching out to you after having heard some rumors regarding your experiences dealing with strange archaeological finds in exotic locations. I can assure you that the location is not exotic, but I feel that the knowledge and experience of yourself, Dr. McNamara, Ms. Baker, Mr. Lake and Mr. Chester would be most beneficial to surveying the location. I am considering a preliminary survey during the first or second week of March, to be followed by a proper dig at some point in late April of 1925. Besides the potential interest of the actual dig and survey, I am confident that I will be able to provide room and board, not too mention adequate mention and exposure of the name of J. Pollack Fine Antiques in Miskatonic U. events and publications.

Most sincerely yours,

De Winter

Dr. Harold Charles de Winter is newly re-appointed professor at Miskatonic University. He is known to be a notorious crank, although it is said that he has mellowed quite a bit recently. Even his foes admit that he is an outstanding scholar, especially regarding New England’s early and pre-Columbian history. He was removed from Miskatonic for several years after a commission of inquiry found him engaged in unethical practices, and it deserves to be mentioned that professor Wyndham was the deputy chair of the commission.

Jiangshi!

From the diary of Henry Chester:

(unintelligible)


Some notes from Jules Pollack:

Poor Henry! He was truly upset to hear of the death of his old friend and Mentor, Moishe Golansky. I felt more than obliged to support him by travelling to New York and attending the funeral, and fortunately so did Mackie. Moira was still recovering from our Egyptian excursion, and she was, of course, excused. We were staying at the Savoy, and despite the tragic circumstances, we were a tad curious about the Golansky inheritance.

The funeral service was held at Temple B'nei Avraham, which is located in Manhattan's Chinatown, The service coincided with the Chinese Harvest Moon Festival, Zhongqui Jié. The raucous celebrations contrasted starkly to the somber mood in the temple. The executor of the will, attorney Robert Winthorpe, who was quite hard of hearing and therefore incredibly loud, passed a small chest or coffer to Henry, and I decided to safeguard the chest in the office of the temple during the service. I could not have anticipated the subsequent course of events, but I was, as usual, very happy to be armed with my excellent and well-maintained .38 revolver, a most lethal and pleasant gun to own, fire, maintain, and keep close, because I had not anticipated to run into Herr Mayer and his menagerie.

Herr Mayer

A letter from Lao Wan:

Dear Miss MacKenzie, Mr. Chester and Mr. Pollack,

I am writing to you from a position of sincere debt, since I dare say that I would be with my ancestors if it was not for your resourcefulness, wisdom, and martial skills. I did not expect an attack by what seemed to be Jiangshi, undead creatures of Chinese legend, upon a peaceful funeral, but seeing Miss MacKenzie and Mr. Chester wrestling one to the ground and tearing off its head was truly remarkable. Miss MacKenzie is indeed a woman of many skills! Mr. Pollack disptached a female jiangshi with his handgun, and we sought our refuge to the dismal sewers under our city together with Father Ignatius P. O'Reilly and the escapist Harry Houdini. They were subsequently separated from our small group, but we did battle with many a jiangshi, and I tried to contribute to the best of my abilities. As we reached one of the many festive gatherings for Zhongqui Jié, I did witness the skillful exchange between the villainous Herr Meyer, Mr. Chester and Mr. Pollack that saved Mr. Pollack's life: a bottle of antidote was traded for an old book in the middle of the festivities, and by using most able pyrotechnics, we managed to escape from the Herr Mayer and his cronies. 

I am indeed most grateful for saving my life. I will remain a true friend, and I will provide any assistance in the days head, since I feel that we are facing turbulent times with great disharmony.

Sincerely,

Lao Wan
   

From the diary of "Mackie" MacKenzie:

With the benefit of hindsight, I cannot believe that we were so naive as to let that despicable Herr Mayer place his filthy Teutonic paws on the legendary Liver Ivonis, the Book of Eibon. I just wish we could have figured out some other way to make sure that Jules wasn't poisoned from the ungodly walking dead that stalked us down the hellish sewers of New York's Chinatown! And now the book is presumably on its way to Europe, and equally presumably to Dietrich Eckhardt and the Black Sun. I fear for the consequences of this, since the Liber Ivonis contains truly disturbing formulae and incantations to contact weird and disturbing entities from outside our cosmos, including the blasphemous gaggle of insanity Yog-Sothoth, the being that seems to be of such importance to Herr Mayer and his ilk. Considering what the Black Sun attempted to accomplish in Egypt with the Raven Horus as well as previously with the Arumbaya fetish, I fear the worst, and I have an increasingly difficult time sleeping well at night. What have we done?

 

Some images of Chinatown, New York