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| Memorandum — October 30, 1931 |
| To: |
Chief Thomas Quinby, Arkham Police Department |
| From: |
Oscar R. Philbus, Chairman,
Department of Antiquities, Miskatonic University |
| Re: |
Recent disappearance of Professor Charles Ward |
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Upon hearing of your disappointing news that all leads have been exhausted in the investigation of the mysterious disappearance of Professor Ward, I decided yesterday to begin the unpleasant task of removing his personal effects from his office at the university. As you know, he has no immediate family, and so this task has been left to me to perform. Shortly after I began to pack the boxes with the accumulation of his many years of research and study, I came across a journal that he had apparently been keeping for some time; mostly, it appears, to document and categorize his research activities.
Although the bulk of the journal has no relevance to your investigation, his last two entries not only appear to be of considerable interest, they are also puzzling, and even astounding. I have copied and attached below his final words together with several photos that were pinned to the last page with the hope that it might be helpful, although at this point I’m not sure exactly how. Professor Ward’s recent studies into pre-Celtic symbolism and the prehistoric origins of the Ogham runes of Scotland had taken him into areas that were essentially unknown to the rest of us, and so I can provide little assistance or enlightenment as to what he was thinking as he made these comments. Although no one in our department had any concerns about his sanity during his long tenure at the university, he did seem to be unusually preoccupied recently, and was spending many late hours in his office. And, the contents of these final entries certainly raise some questions.
Nevertheless, I will leave the conclusions to you. The stones to which he refers have been returned to Scotland as they held no interest for anyone here, and, quite frankly, seemed to cause a vague but inexplicable sense of discomfort to all who were around them. The book, however, remains with the library, at least for a while. Several of the faculty have suggested it be destroyed. |
| June 16, 1931 |
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Until today, our searches for useful artifacts had been relatively unproductive, yielding only a few primitive tools and one small stone with a few Ogham markings that had been documented a number of times earlier. My two graduate assistants and I had been moving steadily upward for several hours through the Gap of Glencoe toward what local citizens had described as a small area on the edge of Ben Schiehallion, one of the tallest and most remote mountains in the region, where several circular depressions were known to exist, but which had never been explored in any scientific fashion. As we climbed higher, the terrain became increasingly primitive and desolate, with few trees and many outcroppings of gnarled, lichen-covered rocks. Eventually, we began to encounter broad vistas where no evidence of human existence was apparent. At the upper elevations, the air became thinner, and I fell behind my younger and more able-bodied companions. At the time I did not mind this, and urged them to continue, assuring them that I would be catching up shortly. At some point, however, I must have taken a turn from the main trail, for I soon began to realize that I was on a path that no one else had taken for some time. Yet, I was not especially alarmed, since something like this happens regularly, and my assistants are very good at finding me.
The day had been marked by a steady, cold, drizzling rain and wet, gray clouds that seemed to cling to the edge of the mountains, diffusing the light and creating a sense of never-ending dusk. I pressed on, believing that at some point my path would re-connect with the trail I should have taken, and I could rejoin my party. Instead, however, I came to the edge of a small, dark wood, something that is rarely seen in these treeless, desolate hills. I paused momentarily to orient myself and, at that moment, saw an opening in the trees that had not been immediately visible. I moved to the edge of the opening and saw what appeared to be a tunnel of sorts that was formed by the boughs of trees. I moved into the tunnel and, after traveling no more than 50 yards or so, began to see that I was heading into a small circular clearing. As I came into the clearing, I paused and beheld three large stones, two of them standing, with a third between them lying on the ground, arranged in what appeared to be a design similar to some of the pre-Celtic formations I had observed and studied in other areas nearby. As I knew of no records or other information indicating the presence of such a formation as this in the area, I moved ahead with some interest to inspect the stones more closely. I removed my backpack and approached the first stone, and became aware of a slight tingling sensation along my arms that felt electrical in nature, but not unpleasant.
I saw that it was of granite, although some peculiarity in its composition combined with long erosion had caused its surface to assume an exceedingly smooth, waxy appearance. But I felt vaguely that the smoothness was not the result of erosion, that the stone was somehow other than granite, and that it had been brought from a place very far away. Why I felt these things, I didn’t know. What I did know was that this was not an Ogham stone or anything like it. Rather, it was something more ancient and more alien. I slowly moved around the stone and saw that the backside was covered in arcane, even grotesque, carvings and shapes that immediately evoked a sense of vague revulsion, but which also seemed to be an attempt at communication or narrative rather than simply decorative. As I studied the carvings more carefully, following the flow of their movement down the stone, I began to have a sense of recognition or fleeting familiarity, as if I had encountered something like this somewhere before.
I paused for a moment, trying to gather my thoughts and sort through what might have given me this feeling. Suddenly, it came to me, like a burst of light that momentarily blinds. I had seen them at the university! I gasped as I realized exactly where I had seen them, yet the disbelief made my head swim momentarily. I knew it could not be, but it was there before my eyes, the same designs and symbols that I had seen in the oldest but most reviled and discredited relic of our own Miskatonic University library—the Necronomicon of the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred. This was a book of undoubtedly ancient origins, but whose contents were so psychotic, repugnant and alien that it was regularly nominated for removal and destruction by many of the faculty who considered it as unworthy of scholarly interest. It had survived only because of its unusual construction and artwork, much of which had defied analysis. I myself had given it little serious thought, considering it nothing but a collection of mad ravings, but I was very familiar with its contents as I had served on several committees where its removal had been discussed. Yet, because I had found it to possess a strange and mysterious beauty, I had always voted for its retention in the rare books section. Now, in the desolate and remote highlands of Scotland, I had suddenly come to the stunning revelation that there was an undeniable connection between this book and an ancient artifact whose origins went far beyond recorded history, and which gave it a profound legitimacy that could never, under any ordinary circumstances, have occurred. I stepped back, trying to grasp the meaning of what I had found, and stumbled into the second stone, the one that was lying on the ground. I fell backward onto the flat surface of the stone and collapsed, striking my head, but not enough to cause severe pain or unconsciousness. I was dazed, but instinctively placed my hands to the side of the stone to right myself. At that moment, I felt a surge of energy pulse through my body, and I fell into blackness. . . .
I have no idea how much time passed. At some point I became aware, but not entirely conscious. I might have been dreaming, but I noticed immediately that I was able to move my eyes, to feel my arms, and to move my legs as I had never done in a dream. At the same time, I could not have been conscious because nothing around was familiar, I was not in the same place. As I try to describe the indescribable, I can only say that I was floating and moving slowly through some type of strange mist. The sensation of color was not the same, as if my eyes had changed, and I was seeing a different spectrum of light. The mist appeared smoky and cloud-like in texture, but was of varying hues of browns and oranges rather than the expected whites and grays. The vapors parted and drifted past me as I moved forward, and the mist became thinner. I saw a landscape below, but the terrain that spread out before me was like nothing that I knew of on Earth, containing shapes and forms that were totally alien and unknown to me. I began to move downward and was able to discern that some of these shapes were moving and appeared to flow in the same direction that I was. Each of the shapes exhibited some type of independent movement, but the means by which they were able to do this I was unable to see. All of the shapes were uniformly the same, having a broad triangular base moving upward toward some type of apex that moved slowly and snail-like from side to side. They were everywhere, spreading beyond the horizon, and covering every vista where I turned to look. There may have been thousands, even millions, of them. But they, like me, were all moving toward the same object in the distance, a large crater-like pit whose opening was dark and into which no light penetrated.
I continued to move forward, unable to change direction even though I could move my limbs and turn my head. It was as if I was caught in some type of current that moved me along in the same way as the millions of shapes below me. Yet my movement was involuntary while theirs appeared of their own will. As the opening of the pit came closer, I felt increasing apprehension as to what might lay ahead. The edge of the pit passed under me, and I moved over and down into a darkness that was deeper than I had ever known. Robbed of any sight, I could still sense movement beneath me, and realized that the shapes were filling the pit as they continued to pour over the edge into the darkness. I drifted onward, just above the hordes below me, toward the center of the pit. I sensed that something gigantic was there, something which could not be seen, but toward which all of these shapes seemed to be leaning and moving in a manner that suggested some type of supplication or groveling. My movement slowed as I approached the center, and I began to sense a slithering, waving undulation over the huge mass dominating the bottom of the pit, as if a thousand tentacles were moving in every direction, creating an overwhelming sense of both repugnance and evil. At that moment, I felt a throbbing or pulsating sound that was repeated over and over, as if I was experiencing some type of chant or incantation that I could not hear, but only sense at some deeper level. It was a name, a name that I did not know or understand at the time, but which will be with me to the end of my days:
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“AZAG-THOTH, AZAG-THOTH, AZAG-THOTH, AZAG-THOTH,
AZAG-THOTH, AZAG-THOTH, AZAG-THOTH, AZAG-THOTH”
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The pulsing repetition rolled over me, irresistible and overwhelming. I lost whatever orientation and focus I had managed to maintain. My head swam, I became nauseous, and a feeling of revulsion and horror penetrated deep into me. The last vestiges of control slipped away as I felt something cold and slimy begin to wrap around me and pull me downward. Screams exploded, not from my mouth, but from the depths of my soul. The blackness that came this time was welcome. . . .
I awakened slowly, finding myself at the edge of the clearing lying on my back and staring upward at the alarmed faces of my two assistants. Fortunately, my strength returned quickly and I was shortly able to stand up and retrieve my backpack. I reassured them about my well-being, and told them all of what had happened to me before I entered the other world, but nothing of what took place after. I told them that I had struck my head on the stone and had gone into a brief delirium that seemed to have passed. They then reported to me that they had been able to find my location because of the screams they heard. When they came into the clearing, they saw me frozen to one of the upright stones in a standing position with a look of terror upon my face and a glassy, distant look in my eyes. They then pulled me away from the stone to the edge of the clearing, and I awakened in a few minutes.
With as much presence of mind as I could muster, I quickly ordered them to make exacting measurements of the stones, their positions, and their relationship to one another, as well as to photograph the carvings and the clearing. I had already decided to abandon all other pursuits on this trip, and we made our way back to the nearest village. Here I will be able to hire several local farmers to bring the stones down for transport to the university. The excellent relationships I have maintained with the Scottish authorities will make this an easy task.
I am completing these notes as I sit in the village inn. Now, I must gather my thoughts and form a plan that will enable me to use as efficiently as possible the time that I will have while I wait for the stones’ arrival back home. I am extremely anxious to study the Necronomicon in more depth, and translate whatever passages have not yet been deciphered. |
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| August 28, 1931 |
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The stones have arrived! It was difficult to curb my excitement as I had them moved to the basement of our building and supervised the work of my assistants as they placed them in the exact positions in which we had originally found them. From my recent studies of the Alhazred book, I knew that certain steps had to be followed for the stones to have their intended effect, and I did not want to leave any room for error. If my research was correct and I carefully used what I had learned, I would be able to enter the other world again with a greater degree of control than I had the first time, and should be able to observe and document what I saw without the disastrous and horrifying consequences of the first encounter. I also knew that if I was successful, the results would be extraordinary.
I must admit that my work with the Necronomicon has become obsessive over the past several weeks, but my experience with the stones has given me a totally new perspective on what this incredible work actually is. If my studies and translations of what Alhazred is saying are accurate, then the stones are actually a gate that allows access to another dimension where beings of incredible powers are held in eternal restraints that do not entirely suppress them, and from which they reach out to influence and control the weakest and most easily manipulated to do their bidding, especially to enlist them in breaking their chains, and allowing them to return to their thrones as demon-gods and masters of the universe. I am now certain that the stones I found, and which are now in the basement, are the North Gate, and that I can use them again to return to the prison of Azag-Thoth, the demon-god that I encountered in the black pit. I have spent the bulk of my time analyzing the section of the Necronomicon referred to as The Book of Calling, as it details the rituals and incantations that will enable me to control the gate and move through the other world in safety, thus avoiding the plunge to insanity and death that almost certainly awaits anyone who tries to approach this task without such protection.
As I finish this entry, I am prepared and ready. In a few short moments I will be in the basement, and will place myself again on the middle stone. My journey begins. . . . |
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