ARKHAM ADVERTISER                                                                                   Tuesday, May 8, 1923 _________________________________________________________________________________________________ MISCATONIC UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR FOUND DEAD Rumors of horrific struggle – Horrible mutilation – The academic society and all of Arkham mourns an upstanding Citizen ___________                                                   The late Professor Wyndham. ARKHAM, MAY 6 – One of Arkham’s finest academics, professor Trevor Arburthnot Wyndham of Miscatonic University, was found dead around noon on May 5. Presumably a victim of a gruesome homicide, the questions from the assembled press focused on the rumors of a blood-curdling murder and much mayhem. The Arkham Police Department has cordoned off the site of the suspected homicide, and when asked by Mr. Edgar Murdoch of the Gazette if the suspected murder is connected to the break-in at the Miskatonic University two days earlier, Detective George O’Keefe could neither deny nor confirm that this was the case. The Campus of Miskatonic University where Professor Wyndham was found dead. _________________________________________________________ Wyndham Exhibit to Remain Closed Indian statuette recovered after burglary but ongoing investigation is keeping doors shut   _______ ARKHAM, May 6 — This morning, Dr. Henry W. Jones, the co-organizer of the Wyndham-Jones expedition, met the press to inform them that Wyndham-Jones exhibition will remain closed. This is presumably due to the two police investigations regarding the death of Professor Wyndham and the attempted burglary that occurred on May 4. Dr. Jones was visibly shaken when he addressed the members of the media, and he excused himself after reading the brief statement. Detective George O’Keefe did mention that an artifact of the elusive Arumbaya tribe was recovered, but no details were provided  Dr. Henry W. Jones. Missing Young Woman Found Ms. Vera Buchanan found after two weeks ARKHAM, May 6. The scantily clad woman found to be walking barefoot in Beggar’s Canyon two miles north of Danvers has been identified as Ms. Vera Buchanan, a young and successful artist that was reported disappeared some two weeks ago. Ms. Buchanan was cold and in a disheveled state, but otherwise in good health.       Rioting in Germany NEW YORK CITY, May 4 --- The May Day rallies held by Reds in Munich were attacked by members of a fringe party calling themselves the National Socialists. Two agitators, Mr. Adolphe Hitler and Mr. Ernst Roehm, had arranged for what seemed to be common thugs from as far away as Nuremberg to congregate and attack the Red protesters just after the marching started, and dozens were taken to hospitals all around Munich.   Arkham Slugger Ready for the Red Sox ___________ BOSTON, Ma, May 5 – Outfielder Henry “Flash” Simmons signed a four-year contract with the  Boston Red Sox last Sunday, The far-reaching slugger is the first Arkhamite to play for a major league  team since Frederick “Flippers” Marsh played one season for the New York Giants in 1902 Simmons forceful batting is expected to help the Red Sox proceed from a drab and dull beginning of a season, most recently losing a series to the New York Yankees by 3-0, 7-4 and 11-2. Simmons has stated that he is intent on showing the Yankees and Babe Ruth that Massachusetts and the Sox are not to be trifled with. _____________________________ Shots Fired at Night? _________  ARKHAM, May 8. Neighbors filed several complaints regarding a number of shots being fired in the vicinity of West High Street and Garrison Street by the antiques and curiosities shop of Mr. Jules Pollack at some point during the night of May 6 and May 7. The Arkham Police Department did investigate the complaints, and a thorough sweep of the neighborhood was conducted, but without finding any evidence of foul play. However, Mrs. Elliot Spencer of Garrison Street stated that her prize-winning poodle was more than a little upset, barking ferociously and tugging at her leash for some time before the supposed gunfire.

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