Notes and comments, April 28 to May 6.

From the diary of Moira Baker, April 28, 1923
"One of Arkham's up-and-coming antique dealers, Mr Jules Pollack, held this wonderful soirée in his studio the other night. It was indeed a rather eclectic mix of New England's population, and I had a most invigorating conversation with a Fred Spaulding, a quite amusing 'mystic and sooth-sayer'. As far as I am concerned such things are mere legerdemain with tea leaves, but it is fun distraction. Mr. Pollack also introduced me to the amusing Ms. "Mackie" McNamara, an Egyptologist by profession, and the somewhat quiet but interesting Mr. Henry Chester, an author who had recently arrived to Arkham to do some research for a coming literary project. The event was great fun, and we are all all supposed to have lunch on May 1. We all need to eat, so why not?"

An excerpt from the notebook of Mr. Henry Chester, probably early May, 1923
(illegible)

Hastily scribbled down comments from Mr. Jules Pollack, the late evening of May 6, 1923
I am still shaking as I sit in the chaise lounge, and my hip flask is by now woefully empty. What did we see? I may have blacked out before being brought to by Mackie, and I can only recall those eyes, everywhere! What deviltry introduced itself in our midst? I cannot even attempt to grasp what really happened, and I could never, ever have imagined that a simple attempt to help Mr. Biron would have such dire consequences. Professor Wyndham is dead, killed in a most brutal way, and we seem to have been invested by a most horrendous apparition from the depths of time itself. My God, what it did to poor Henry Chester, and just to think that there might be more such aberrations around the world, in places like remote Tibet and hoary Egypt! How will I even be able to enter the basement of my own house, dreading that that black nemesis of mankind might be lurking there, ready to steal my soul and feed it to some loathsome horror called Yog-Sothoth!

From the diary of Ms. Moira Baker, early, May 7, 1923
It is difficult to describe what happened between May 1 and May 6, but I am jotting down some quick notes, just to make sure that we retain our bearings, and perhaps, out purity of essence. Being asked to investigate the house of Mr. Biron's manservant led us to a very recently abandoned Victorian, save for that half-crazed inbred, Ignatius Hernandez. The basement seems to have been a place of occult worship of the Santoria practice, and they were seemingly dreading the impending arrival of a "Guardian". The man-beast Ignatius had to be committed, and while we were attempting to uncover what actually might have transpired, an Arumbaya fetish from Wyndham's and Jones' expedition was stolen, only to materialize next day next to the mangled body of Dr. Wyndham. But as it turned out, this fetish was a fake. There were clearly other, greater powers at foot in Arkham, and as we feverishly worked through arcane tomes to understand what might be the cause of all this, we witnessed what can only be described a s a truly supernatural event. I did not for second imagine that I would be firing an old shotgun at the violent and vile sprectre that seemed to be draining all life out of the rigid, yet contorted, body of Henry Chester, but I did.

There is so much that needs to be understood? Why are there mathematical formulae in Otto Hernandez's notebok? Who stole the Arumbaya fetish? Where is it, and has it become the abode of something unnatural? Is all of this simply a cruel hoax?

Some comments by Ms. "Mackie" McNamara on the evening of May 6, 1923
- By Jove, we never had events like these in Egypt.

The Order of Taarna

In this era of mysticism and searching for ancient knowledge as a pastime, the so-called "Order of Taarna" is a prime example of societies at times devoted to such undertakings. The creation of the order was result of the well-known Arkham author Ella B. Cocker being introduced by attorney James E. Biron to Helena Roerich in New York, and Ms. Cocker invited Mrs. Roerich to hang some of her husband's work in Arkham back in 1921. The exhibition was a great success, and Nicholas Roerich himself came to Arkham to New England to introduce his art and spiritual vision. Several Arkhamites displayed further interest to study various aspects of mystery and culture, and Ms. Cocker held the first meeting of the Order of Taarna (brazenly named after the heroine in one of her own novels, A Madame of Jade) on All Hallow's Eve of 1921.

The Order of Taarna meets every month in the separate dining room of the Metropolitan Restaurant, usually to listen to a presentation from one of the members of the order and to enjoy a fine dinner, which includes a percentage of the hefty price to support fine or alternative art in New England and Arkham in particular.

Nicolas Roerich's painting We are Not Afraid.

Walpurgis in Arkham

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)

The United Bohemian Society

The name of this society is actually derived from Bohemia in Czechoslovakia, not the lifestyle. The "United" element indicates that the society at was made open to Moravians in 1878, a good twenty-five years after the Bohemian Society was founded in 1853. The society was initially a cultural association, but it transformed during the 1880s and 1890s into a space and meeting hall that used to be available to the general public as well as a charitable association that benefited all of Arkham. The main hall can be rented for events on Wednesdays through Saturdays.

The former chairman of the United Bohemian Society was Mr. Zygmunt Prka, a respected and engaged citizen and businessman in the import and export business. Prka was also the secretary of the Benevolent Society of Our Lady of Alexandria, a spiritual gentlemen's club which was located on the top floor of the building that houses the United Bohemian Society. Its former members are now facing serious charges for arson and manslaughter.

The United Bohemian Society is located in Alexandria house on 512 South Sentinel Street, at the intersection of East High Street.

A series of weird events took place in Alexandria House between May 25 and 26. On the afternoon of May 25, Mr. Joe Morgan, the driver and butler of Mr. Zygmunt Prka, was shot and killed by unknown perpetrators just outside the building. The Arkham police department was summoned, the inhabitants of the building were questioned, and a police officer was posted to guard the building and the crime scene. The detectives remarked that Mr. Prka seemed to have gathered members of the Benevolent Society of Our Lady of Alexandria on the top floor of the building, and that the members seemed disturbingly disheveled, and that the place was remarkably cold and harboring a vile stench that was difficult to categorize, yet wholly repulsive. 

Next day, May 26, the Arkham fire department was called after an explosion was heard and heavy smoke was seen coming out of Alexandria House. The firemen were horrified to find officer James Branagan nailed to the front porch, and a scene of mayhem and carnage inside the building. There had been some form of mass homicide in what seemed to be ritualistic and unwholesome circumstances. The Arkham Police Department refused to discuss any of the details, save that Mr. Prka was found dead, having suffered gruesome mutilation, and that several bodies were still to be identified. Rumors have claimed that a few well-known Arkhamites were found among the dead, but this has yet to be confirmed.   

The main hall of the United Bohemian Society

The late Mr. Zygmunt Prka

Alexandria House brfore the mayhem of May 26, 1923.

The Ascension Club

This club was formed in 1920, and it is an invitation-only club open to both ladies and gentlemen after 4 p.m. The relatively small and smoky salon is crammed with chairs and small tables in front of a small stage, where some of the most interesting cultural performances and lectures of Arkham are presented at least four times a week. The owner and host of the club is Madame Alberta von Schantz, a widow who inherited a sizeable amount of money, which enabled her to pursue her life-long interest in the arts. The crowd is quite eclectic, and there have been one or two colorful scandals under the rafters of the Ascension Club. The Ascension Club is located on 1201 West Pickman Street between South West Street and South Garrison Street.

Madame Alberta von Schanz

Saturday evening at the Ascension Club

The Pawtuxet Hotel and the Metropolitan Restaurant

The Pawtuxet Hotel opened just about a year ago, and it is one of the more popular spots in Arkham for socializing. The Metropolitan Restaurant on the first floor serves breakfast, lunch and dinner in a modern, yet stylish dining room, and the lounge is almost always filled to capacity. A separate dining room is available for more intimate gatherings. Prominent Arkhamites noted amongst the tables of the Met include Mayor the Honorable Jonathan D. Bryce, Industrialist Horace W. Pettinkoffer, Author Ella B. Cocker, Outfielder Henry “Flash” Simmons, and Attorney James E. Biron. The Pawtuxet Hotel is located on 201 East Peabody Street at the corner of North Armitage Street and overlooking Independence Square. 

The Metropolitan Restaurant

 Ms. Ella B. Cocker in conversation with Ms. Jacqueline du Plessis outside the Pawtuxet.

The Pawtuxet Hotel

NPCs

Professor Trevor Artburthnot Wyndham is a professor of anthropology and religion at the Miscatonic University. He has a B.A. in anthropology from Harvard and an M.A. in religion from Fordham University. Wyndham has had a life-long interest in pre-Columbian societies with a special focus on South America for most of his life, despite almost being killed by the Rumbaba tribesmen while exploring eastern Peru together with professor Herbert Ridgewell of the Oxford University in 1899. Following this calamitous expedition, Wyndham gained some notoriety by claiming extensive contacts between various native Amerian tribes, pharaonic Egypt and old Tibet. However, Wyndham did recant from these theories in 1906, and he proceeded to dedicate himself to more conventional fields of study. He was given tenure as a professor of anthropology in 1915, taking the chair of the late professor David St. Hubbins. Wyndham has been fundraising for the Wyndham-Jones expedition to Peru and Bolivia since 1919, and expedition was finally launched in September of 1922. Rumors have been rife about the undertakings of the expedition, but most of them seem to have emanated from envious colleagues in academia, since the expedition seems to have been quite successful.

Dr. Henry Wilbur Jones was originally a linguist, but he started working with professor Wyndham in 1908. He is nowadays a historian focused on religion, and he has translated Eduardo Mendéz-Sotomayor’s legendary Historia del paganism en el Nuevo Mundo from 1703 into both English and German. Jones is also a fairly proficient amateur boxer and an accomplished big game hunter.

Sylvia Elice Sasso has just married James E. Biron. She is a fairly well-known socialite in Boston and Arkham, although her family is originally from Marblehead up north. Her family lost most of their fortune in a spectacular legal battle with the Olmstead family of Kingsport in 1872, but the Sassos did eventually reinvent themselves as publishers of the New England Style and Manners, the first local women’s periodical dealing with items besides housekeeping, which was published for the first time in 1912. There are some rumors concerning Ms. Sasso’s patronage of certain clubs, including some supposedly unsavory stage performances, but this has been dismissed as mere slander.

James Eric Biron is actually descended from Curonian aristocracy. His family was forced to flee Imperial Russia in the mid-eighteenth century, and a branch eventually settled in Boston. The family has done quite well, and James E. Biron is a successful Boston attorney and a dedicated art collector. His collection of native folk art has been displayed in several museums and galleries over the last couple of years

Dr. Harold Charles de Winter is a former professor at Miscatonic University. He is a notorious crank, but even his foes admit that he is an outstanding scholar, especially regarding New England’s early and pre-Columbian history. He was removed from Miscatonic 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.

William Harris George, a deceased fisherman. He has in all likelihood nothing to do with expeditions to South America, but made some great jokes about the Kraken. He was quite a character, well-known and well-liked in many New England ports.