The Arkham Sanitarium

The main entrance of the Arkham Sanitarium

The Arkham Sanitarium is a prominent building at the northern edge of Arkham. It was built in 1869-1870, and it was intended for just below 600 patients, although more than one thousand patients fill the Sanitarium today.. The Arkham Sanitarium is actually one of a limited number of state mental facilities in Massachusetts, and it caters to much of eastern Massachusetts outside of Boston. Arkham was chosen as a location for a state asylum, since it was felt that the quaint New England surroundings would promote mental health, and it was seen as a model for a more humane and modern way of treating the mentally infirm. 

The Wolfman of the Moors, David Kessler

Joseph Rybko, the Swamp Killer

However, several cases during the 1890s and early 1900s provided the Arkham Sanitarium with a much more sinister reputation, with several violent and psychopathic killers being admitted and eventually facing supposedly gruesome treatments. This was certainly the case for Joseph Rybko, the legendary Swamp Killer of 1891 to 1893. He had killed and mutilated at least eight men and women before trying to hide the gruesomely disfigured victims in the marshes south of Innsmouth. Rybko was treated using the most modern methods available at the Arkham Sanitarium, but this resulted in three innocent patients and one nurse being mutilated and killed in the long, winding tunnels underneath the Sanitarium. Rybko was tightly followed by the admission of Lauren Long, a socialite from Arkham itself, who had strangled and eaten several of her lovers, both male and female. She promptly seduced one of the doctors at the Sanitarium, Dr. Herbert East, who supplied her with several servings of human flesh. This eventually led to a tightening of the procedures at the Sanitarium, but not before the Wolfman of the Moors, also known as David Kessler, had stalked and killed several lone travelers in the New England countryside by the full moon. Other equally gruesome cases followed.

Head Nurse Abigail Dawson

Herbert DeVos, M.D., Head Resident

Director Zebediah Hinchliffe, M.D.

Following these, as well several other disturbing incidents, the Arkham Sanitarium hired Manfred Duplessis, M.D., as the head of the Sanitarium. He instituted a much more “traditional” way of dealing with patients, and at some point after 1903, various rumors started circulating in eastern Massachusetts about the gruesome practices of the Arkham Sanitarium. Dr. Duplessis was removed and actually sentenced in 1913 for having conducted various most unsavory experiments on unwilling patients, and in an ironic twist of fate, he was committed to the Sanitarium for life, and he remains there to this day.

The Arkham Sanitarium is currently under the auspices of Director Zebediah Hinchliffe, M.D., since 1917. He has been attempting to return the Sanitarium to a semblance of modernity. The head resident since 1921 is Herbert DeVos, M.D., and the Head Nurse is Abigail Dawson.    

The Curious Case of Ms. Gretchen Weiss: Some Observations

From the diary of Mackie MacKenzie:

I had almost started to believe that Arkham is a nice and quiet. A nice summer with some academic contemplation and language studies, garden parties, a couple of great getaways...exactly what I need. I also aced the course in Arabic, but nothing less was expected. And then a call regarding the whereabouts of one of my graduate students turns sour, and all of a sudden I am having conversations with Karen while sharpening the Pocket Knife of Doom. Karen is, however, a great conversation partner. 

I am still trying to figure out the true nature of Gretchen's paintings, and I am quite certain that one is endowed with strange and otherworldly powers. How would a perfectly innocuous graduate student come into contact with forces similar to the ones we've encountered? Now, will Howard just bury the cat carcass already!?

 

Poor Schatzi!

Gretchen's new style of painting

From the diary of Henry Chester: 

(unintelligible)

From the diary of Howard Lake:

I have spent months trying to figure out if these guys are freaks or the real deal, but as always, I decided that I'll just tag along. It was eerie to stand in a closet on what I thought was gravel, but what really turned out to be teeth. Hundreds, if not thousands of teeth. The poor Weiss woman must have had quite the breakdown. Yet, if these were the teeth of murder victims, even sleepy Arkham would have noted. We visited the provost, Ralph Maynard, later that afternoon, and he only confirmed that Ms. Weiss had been absent for almost four weeks. Really strange. I also have to remember not to flirt with librarians. Hey, why is there a cat carcass in my shopping bag?

Gretchen's old style

A closet content unlike others

From the diary of Jules Pollack:

I am getting really curious about this Gretchen woman. It will be interesting to see if we can meet her at the Arkham Sanatorium. I am also really curious about that place, since I have heard so many dark and disturbing rumors about this particular institution.

Ms. Weiss did have a nice, clean, albeit frugal, apartment. Several of her own paintings, a photograph of what seems to be her twin sister (Isabella), German poetry and literature in the style of the Romantics, lots of textbooks, all checked out from the Miskatonic University Library. But oh my goodness, Ms. Weiss really spooked Mrs. Gardener, her landlady! That shy graduate student really didn't seem to be the biting type.

From the diary of Moira Baker:

So, is there any connection between the  break-in attempt at the Miskatonic University Library and the circumstances of Ms. Gretchen Weiss? I do remember the break-in just before the opening of the exhibition featuring the Arumbaya fetish, and that was quite the affair. But what does it really mean when Mackie says that the painting is endowed with otherworldly powers? Or is just that poor Gretchen Weiss simply lost her marbles and that's that? 

The Chicago Spectator

Tuesday, April 1, 1924

- All the News that is Fit to Print -

______________________________________________________

Wild Shootout at Union Station

★

Suspected Germans abduct young girl and take hostages - Strange pyrotechnic displays in railway car - Wild aerial chase - Trains delayed

★

As the 10.34 from Los Angeles rolled into Union Station, shocked onlookers witnessed how a woman pulled out a rifle and opened fire at two men who had taken hostages. As the two crooks returned fire, another man pulled out a pistol and added to the fray. The wild firefight continued into the train, and as police started making arrests, it turned out that a Dr. von der Lippe and a Major Niszka had taken a young girl, Beata Prlwytzkowska, hostage. The Krauts were apparently planning on abducting the poor girl to ab undisclosed European country. The hoodlums did not survive the encounter with the Chicago PD and several engaged passengers, although they seem have had access to military-grade poison gas.

Five passengers, the Egyptologist Dr. MacKenzie, the sharpshooting medical student Ms. Baker, the antiquarian Mr. Lake, the aviator Mr. Chester and the renowned antiques dealer Mr. Pollack, all of Arkham, Mass., were arrested by Chicago's Finest. They were subsequently released against bail, and rumor has it that they were bailed out by the film mogul Mr. Samuel Goldwyn. 

The 10.34 from Los Angeles

The first class dining car in the 10.34 before it was destroyed

The scene of the crime in Union Station

The Curious Case of Ms. Gretchen Weiss

On the morning of Friday, October 17, 1924, Mackie MacKenzie’s phone rings, and it is the elderly provost of Miskatonic Univerity, Ralph Maynard, who’s been serving Mikatonic U for a good 30 years. As it were, one of the graduate students of history, Gretchen Weiss, has been missing for almost a month. Since Mackie had advised Ms. Weiss on occasion, the provost decided to call Mackie to find out the whereabouts of Ms. Weiss. Mackie had indeed met with Ms. Weiss roughly six weeks ago to discuss a thesis project regarding glyph structures of late ancient Egypt, but at that point nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. 

Ms, Gretchen Weiss

Ralph Maynard

Mackie doesn’t know Gretchen Weiss that well, but she is a diligent student, who came to Miskatonic as an exchange student from the Humboldt University in Berlin during the spring semester of 1923. She is rather quiet and shy, and some might even say of a sensitive nature. Ms. Weiss is not known to be a reveler, but she enjoys painting water colors, and she frequents certain cafés, typically with a stack of books. She also has a cat, Schatzi.

Mackie is enjoying a rather lazy Friday morning in her father’s old mansion, and she is not really ready to face the world, so she calls Henry Chester to see if he might be able to find out what might have happened to young Ms. Weiss. Henry Chester really doesn’t mind at all, and he places a few calls himself as well as visiting to the police station. As the paranormal investigators gather at J. Polack Fine Antiquities for a Friday afternoon cocktail, Henry announces that the young graduate student had been admitted to the Arkham Sanatorium, also irreverently known as the Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane after a very violent episode in the building she lives in on Boundary Street and West Saltonstall. She is not seeing any visitors. The Arkham police claimed that there was no suspicion of any criminal activity, and they are not involved in the case, although the landlady, Mrs. Helen Gardener, was apparently injured by Ms. Weiss before the police could take her into custody.

Mrs. Helen Gardener  

                               

                      

How incredibly strange! What befell the young graduate student? How are all of you doing?

Trains, Tomes and Wrestling with Fish Men

From the diary of Mackie MacKenzie:

Surreal, by Jove! Coaching Moira turned out to be a way for the Dagon-worshippers to try to ensure that we became the nest item du jour for human sacrifice, or so it seems. A seemingly innocuous Saturday night wrestling tournament saw us instead facing unholy cult members and a two abominations, seemingly fish-men from the bottom of some unholy maritime abyss, together with the Amazing Angel, a true glamazon. A frenzied fight ensued as the wrestling ring descended into the dark nether regions of Los Angeles, with gyrations and oscillations provided by Henry, who pretended to be some form of stage manager in his frustrated events to raise the ring back up to street level. The scene was also accompanied by Lake and Pollack discharing clip upon clip into the frenzied cultists, each and every one of them intent on tearing us to shreds. Shreds!

From the diary of Henry Chester:

(unintelligible)

 From the diary of Jules Pollack:

What an interesting auction - with Germans to boot! I am sensing that this Niszka character must be acquainted with the likes of Herr Mayer and his weird extremist bibliophile grouping.

The Los Angeles Historical Society held a gala and auction on Wednesday, March 26, at 7 pm at 1122 Larchmont Street in Hancock Park, and a great range of unique items from Los Angeles' past were featured, including several rare books as well as works of art. The proceeds from the auction will help finance a new building for the Historical Society.

The auction of Lake's book, Thaumaturgical Prodigies in the New Egland Canaan, was a rather serious affair, but after just about 15 minutes the bidding field seemed to be reduced to the following:

-        Lake

-        A nervous-looking American, Albert Brill. He was a somewhat lank and sweaty 30-year old in a cheap suit

-        A very well-dressed lady with a purely professional demeanor by the name of Abigail Harrington, a proxy for Miskatonic U here in Los Angeles. Harrington smoked long, hand-rolled cigarettes, and she is essentially a twat. She is also mesmerizing.

-        A middle-aged man of military bearing, Major Julius Niszka, accompanied by two goons named Siegfried and Roy as well as a young girl, Beata.

-        Jordan Knight, another book collector. This jovial red-headed gentleman is a serious collector, and quite well-known. He's in his late forties, and a dedicated historian, researcher and geek.

However, Thaumaturgical Prodigies in the New Egland Canaan ended up in the supposedly foul hands of Niszka and his elderly associate von det Tann. They were set to take the train to New York next day, and we bought tickets right away!

Beata

Niszka

Von der Lippe

Los Angeles Daily Times, Friday, March 21, 1924

DRIVER AND BRIDE HURT IN TRAFFIC

- Man's nose torn off when cars collide; Woman hit by street car.

VETERAN'S PAST HEAD DUE TODAY

- Antonio P. Entanza to be guest at two-day round of Entertainment.

PRIEST FOUND DEAD

- LAPD will not comment; rumors say priest was a father Rodriguez of the Church of Saint Franciscus.

POST OFFICE LURES PUPILS

- All want to work for Mr. O'Brien after trip to arcade station as his guests.

GEORGE BABCOX OIL TRIAL NEXT

- Local man faces charges in Texas operations; Square deal principals to be tried again; Appeal in Great Angelus case prepared.

- CORONER DISAPPEARED

The Mexican District faces coffin shortage as double pneumonia continues to ravage neighborhood.

MANY IN RAID NET

- Twenty-nine jailed on gambling charges after three sorties.

 

In Need of Experts: Finding Theresa Ruiz

It was Monday, March 17, and the investigators returned to the Mexican District, the shantytown just west of the Los Angeles river. The intrepid investigators filled their automobile with provisions for the destitute population of Little Mexico, although Jules had some difficulty deciding if the poor wretches required caviar or paté. The state troopers allowed the investigators to enter without much questioning, since they did carry several aid packages, and Jules Pollack managed to find his way to the Church of Saint Franciscus, which was open. Young Father Rodriguez was praying in front of the altar, all by himself, as the church had been caring for the many deceased of the congregation. The smell of death permeated the pews, despite the many flowers strewn around the church. Father Rodriguez was talkative, tired, and quite helpful, but he really didn't have any new information that might lead the adventurers to the whereabouts of Theresa Ruiz. However, Father Rodriguez did provide directions to Salvatore Brixi, the coroner who was supposed to know the neighborhood quite well.

Salvatore Brixi

The coroner resided in an unassuming office, and Lake and Chester entered Brixi's office while the other investigators remained in the automobile. Brixi could not resist sizing up Lake and Chester while eyeing the empty coffins stacked against one of the walls. Brixi was happy to help, although he turned out to be a strange fellow who left Lake and Chester with a distinct sense of unease, as if the terms "medium" and "tall/slim" implied impending doom. Brixi did not have any new information on Pagano, but he might know where to find such information.

While Lake and Chester engaged Brixi, a somewhat bored Jules Pollack noted several figured emerging from the surrounding alleyways. He alerted Baker and MacKenzie and stepped out of the vehicle to confront the gaggle of hooligans. The thug in charge was quite a bit bigger than Jules Pollack, and without any form of proper introduction, he proceeded to ask Pollack what business he had with the Mary Star of the Sea, and to simply stay away - or else! The situation got out of hand pretty much right away, and the leader of the thugs lashed out to grab Moira Baker's rifle while Pollack struggled with Another one of the thugs. Mackie Mackenzie whipped out the legendary Pocket Knife of Doom, and lunged at the leader of the bandits, burying the knife all the way to the hilt in the arm of the ruffian, while Baker struggled to get control over her rifle. A shot burned off, and this was of course noticed by Lake and Chester inside Brixi's office. They all ran out as a couple of thugs tried to surround the automobile. Lake fired off an aimed round with his Luger, hitting a bandit in the knee, but Lake subsequently decided to skip the niceties and blew off the head of the next bandit. Meanwhile, Baker regained control over her rifle, and both Baker and Pollack fired their weapons at the leader of the bandits. Two bandits were now dead as doornails, one was wounded, and the rest fled unceremoniously.

These thugs were not prepared for determined investigators!

Brixi offered to "take care" of the dead thugs, and he also recommended that the investigators talk to the proprietor at the local unnamed bar. The Amazing Andreo was apparently one of the best sources for information in the Mexican District. The bar was in an open courtyard with dimmed lights and posters depicting the Amazing Andreo, who turned out to be really tall and muscular female Mexican wrestler who ran quite a tight ship, or rather bar. Considering the disease ravaging the community, the bar wasn't particularly full, and the Amazing Andreo was more than eager to serve the investigators, in this case Moira Baker, Mackie MacKenzie and Salvatore Brixi (who labelled the Amazing Angel "large/wide"). She did know of a house that had been rented to a person that matched the description of Pagano, and she also managed to coax Moira Baker into appearing at a wrestling extravaganza that was supposed to take place next Saturday, March 22.

The Amazing Angel.

By now the investigators had what they hoped would be the address to Pagano's rental schack. They decided to pay the house a visit first thing next morning. 

The streets were mostly empty as the investigators returned to the Mexican District. A local was peacefully napping at the corner of the block where Pagano's rental was supposed to be located. Chester and Lake told the other investigators to stay clear of the door while they sneaked up against one of the walls. The other investigators remained oblivious right in front of the door, and as Chester opened the door, unleashing two furious and maddened Rotweilers that attacked Pollack, Baker and MacKenzie.

A fierce dogfight ensued, and as the investigators tumbled around with the crazed beasts, Moira reached for an unlikely champion: Karen the hen, who was quite terrified in her cage. The feathered companion did manage to distract one of the crazed canines, and the investigators subsequently did dispatch the dogs without further ado. The small and filthy schack did contain a basement, and a very scared Theresa Ruiz was found chained to a potbelly stove. This was a happy ending of sorts, although there was no sign of the villanous Pagano. However, there was still a book to purchase, a wrestling event to attend, and a movie mogul to satisfy.