Petrification

The authorities are baffled, the press speculating and people are frightened by people, from all walks of life, turning to stone both in their homes and in public.

Possibilities

1 The petrifications are occurring worldwide. All the victims were found in front of their computers or with a cell phone crushed in one hand or lying nearby. All had an expression of horror on their face and seem to be trying to cover their eyes...

In a small town exists a small and declining cult worshipping Ghatanothoa - not for their own benefit, but to keep humanity safe from his menace. They have, for generations, sacrificed to him so he shall remain under the ocean floor and not seep up to crawl around in the world of men to satisfy his need for nourishment.

But in modern times the cult has had difficulty getting new members, continuing the sacrifices, and making anyone believe in Ghathanothoa.

The leader is old and worried since his cult will most likely die with him. But he knows that Ghatanothoa is not only satisfied by sacrifices, but from the tormented minds of his petrified victims. The leader just needed to find a way to create more and more victims for Ghathanothoa to petrify.

The leader invented a modern solution to hold humanity safe even after his and the cult’s death. One night he summoned Ghatanothoa to a deserted beach (he was protected by “T-yogs formula” to avoid petrification) and photograped the Great Old One. The photo of Ghatanothoa he put into a computer-virus which he released onto the Internet.

The virus is not very active or aggressive. Mostly it only hides inside computers, slowly spreading itself via email and like. But on very rare occasions it flashes the Ghatanothoa-photo on the computer screen for a few seconds -which causes petrification for all who see it...

2 The petrifications are occurring only in a certain city, where there also exists a witch-cult worshipping Yig. The serpent-god visits the cult from time to time to claim sacrifices and have sex with the witches. This has resulted in a two immortal snake-human hybrids that are kept in the basement under the cult’s temple.

The latest offspring, however, was extra-ordinary: A Medusa, a snake-women hybrid. The Medusa is just like the Greek legends - except that it’s not Medusa’s gaze that turns victims to stone, but her poison.

The young Medusa escaped and now hides in the sewers. She hunts for food by night and is highly aggresive-which has resulted in a couple of petrified humans and animals so far.

The cult is furious over losing their “holy child” and is searching for her. They are mortally afraid that the petrifications will draw Yig’s wrath and that he will make them pay for their negligence.

3. The petrifications are limited to a single city and aren’t confined to people. Other creatures have been found petrified too.

The city’s sewer-system was recently expanded. The work has run into difficulties (the first petrifications), and has been temporarily aborted. Something that has never been made public is that the tunnel-diggers hit a natural but apparently bottomless shaft. Soon after the workers became the first petrification victims.

The shaft leads down to red-lit Yoth and from there a vapour of Yoth has emerged. The vapour is a huge gas cloud, which smells strongly and unpleasantly.

The cloud is highly flammable and posses a rudimentary conciousness. It needs to regularly replenish itself with certain chemicals found in living organisms - but this feeding also reults in petrification of the organism.

© Stefan Jonsson

Guman Thong

In an antique store, or perhaps on an online auction site, the investigators discover an attractive, if eerie, statue. The seller explains that this item is a Guman Thong. MAGIC SPIRIT BOY! Your Ghost Son will help you to be lucky in life and business.

Careful instructions come with the statue: The new owner should treat it as his or her own son both verbally, and by giving it treats and toys. The new owner must be careful that no live children stay with him or her, for the spirit may react with jealousy.

Possibilities

1 The statue is the genuine article. The spirit of a small child is bound to the statue and the human remains concealed inside of it. As long as the investigator follows the rituals the owner explained, the ghost inside will protect and aid the investigator. However, improper handling of the statue or the presence of a real child can create peril. A ritual for freeing the spirit is relatively easy to find, although perhaps more difficult before the advent of the Internet. The investigator may gain peace of mind for freeing the spirit.

2 The statue is a fake, and similar fake Guman Thongs are being used by a race of alien monsters to infiltrate the local Southeast Asian community. Rather than human remains, each statue contains a small, slimy creature. Each night, the creature sneaks out to feed, leaving the statue’s owner in peace unless it can find no other sustenance. A mysterious and fatal disease grips the community.

3 The master who created the statue made a mistake during the ritual and bound a dangerous and homicidal supernatural force to the statue. This force cannot manifest itself at will, but only when conditions are right. (For example, certain times of the year or when the statue is placed in the wrong position in a Feng Shui sense.) The statue may sit peacefully for years with the new owner blissfully unaware of the danger.

© Paul Shuster

The Weeping Madonna

The statue of the Madonna has started weeping blood at the Church of St Mary. The church is a local landmark, brooding on the hill as it does. Made of a dark stone turned darker by pollution it has a strangely intimidating quality about it. Inside, the beautiful stained-glass images provide a stark contrast to the grey stone and dull brown woodwork. The Madonna itself is a vibrantly coloured statue with rich gilt detail rumoured to have been smuggled in from Hungary in the last century.

Possibilities

1 Local occultists have magically placed a body inside the statue as a kind of sick joke. The spell keeps the body fresh, but the wounds inflicted upon it during the ritual killing continue to leak blood into the remains of the cavity inside the statue. The blood level has reached the only apertures in the statue and so the statue cries blood.

2 The statue is a medieval artefact, originally made in the shape of a tall man with the face of a squid, created by heretical wizard Jan Zykar from the town of Stregoicavar. Just before the Muslim destruction of the town in 1526 Zykar left the town and took his statue with him. Zykar remodelled the exterior of the statue prior to reaching Budapest. There he died in 1576 in unknown circumstances. The Madonna was transferred to The Church of Our Lady in Budapest where it remained until 1856 when it was sold to the present church owners by an unscrupulous and thoroughly scared priest whose research into the history of the church had revealed his imminent doom.

Every 70 years it requires a sacrifice. Its method of obtaining the sacrifice is to magically drain blood from its owner; the priest of the church. The priest gets weaker and weaker until he dies. However, Zykar’s remodelling resulted in a deficiency in the statue’s ability to drain blood and some appears around the Madonna’s eyes. Any detailed examination of the statue reveals the remodelling work that hides the original horror beneath the mask.

3 The statue itself is not weeping blood. The blood that appears on the face of the statue has been dripping from a dead body up in the rafters of the church. If investigations do not reveal this to be the case then after a couple more days the blood stops. The next ‘miracle’ is a smell of rotting that permeates the church.

Eventually somebody realises the true cause and the corpse is discovered. The body is that of a local dignitary thought to have been on business abroad. His wrists are cut.

© Ric Norton

Birthday Presence

Hugh Walby will be 43 this Friday, but a surprise birthday party has been suggested and everyone has duly ‘forgotten’ the celebration. Friends intend to descend on his house armed with food, drink and birthday goodies at around seven o’clock. Hugh should be home from work by then and they know he has nothing else planned.

However, when they arrive there is no answer at the door even though the lights are on. Hugh’s automobile is parked outside, and the front door is unlocked. Inside, a few presents have been opened on the dining table. He received only three gifts – socks from his sister, a new pipe from a colleague, and something in a small wooden crate with a hinged lid.

Possibilities

1 Inside the box was a garden ornament – an ugly little gnome labelled ‘Made In Goatswood’. There was no indication as to who had sent it, but Hugh thought he may as well put it out straight away. As soon as he stepped out into the moonlight, the horrible little creature wriggled in his grip and shoved its miniature gardening fork into his throat.

It now stands on the lawn, fork in hand, thirty feet away. It appears as solid as stone and will not let go of the fork but will get revenge for any rough handling. Later, in the dead of night, it intends making more mischief.

2 The inside of the crate is polished wood, carved with intricate patterns. The most peculiar thing about it, however, is one of Hugh’s slippers inside it.

Attempts to feel the sides of the box risk overbalancing and toppling in. Anyone of medium build could squeeze into the box, though it doesn’t look possible from the outside. If they do, the lid slams shut and they are transported elsewhere . . .

3 Hugh is in the garden, cowering behind a tree. Set up on the lawn is his most interesting present, a small but powerful telescope from an astronomer friend. With it is a torch and a set of notes describing the unusual lenses in the instrument, and how to align it to confirm his friend’s discovery. Since Hugh fled from the telescope, the Earth’s rotation has changed its field of view, but reference to the notes will allow those with some understanding of astronomy to quickly locate the hell-star known as Ghroth.

Hugh has forgotten everything except for the fact that he is scared, even of the people who say they are his friends.

© Pete Wright

The Grainger Street Plates

A carved doorway on Grainger Street is quite unlike any other. It has a carved column on one side while the other door frame is now part of next-door. Above the door are two mirrors, too high to be of any use. The door is held firmly shut by a large brass latch and padlock; the original door lock is exposed where someone has forced off the wood covering it.

On the door frame are four brass plaques. Two are for companies: a shipping company and an accountancy firm. The third and fourth are strange indeed. On the third plaque is the inscription: Bonny looked at the box on top of the refrigerator. Inside it was a ham. As Bonny’s hand touched it, they began to fuse to form a whole new organ.

The fourth plaque states: Bonny’s hand, Bonny’s organ, Bonny’s dead. Who cares?

Possibilities

1 Behind the doorway, a set of steps leads up to another door. It is carved like the outer one and also has mirrors at the top, but these show the reflection of something. If inspected closely, different faces can be seen in the mirrors, but no reflections.

This door is unlocked. Behind it is a long corridor, stretching much farther than should be possible. The corridor is lined with statues of men and women, all missing one hand. Each is faceless. At the end of the corridor there are empty plinths and a large refrigerator. On top of it is a box and inside there is a ham.

The statues are people who have been lured inside. Their images are trapped in the mirrors and they become statues if the touch the ham.

2 On maps of the Grainger Market, the doorway does not exist. Should they break in, a staircase behind the door leads up into darkness and ends in a blank wall.

The original owner of the market, Anthony Philips, had the rooms sealed off and erased from the plans. A little digging will reveal that there were strange stories about the mysterious disappearance of Anthony’s secretary and eldest daughter.

Anthony Philips was a dabbler in the occult and had learned much whilst in India as a tea merchant. Once home having made his fortune, he continued to search out bizarre books and happenings. His daughter became interested, as did his secretary (his wife was a devout catholic and became alienated from her husband over the matter). The two women agreed to be part of a ritual, but things went wrong. Both daughter and secretary became possessed by some fiendish power and ripped each other to pieces. Philips barely escaped with his life, and sealed everything up himself to hide the awful truth.

Whatever possessed the two women is still trapped behind the brick wall. It cannot escape because the brass plaques are inscribed with powerful wards. The responsibility for maintaining the wards is passed down through the family, generation by generation.

If the investigators check the two plates carefully, they see that one is newer than the other. The first plate was stolen a few years ago, and had to be replaced. The current guardian is another Anthony Philips and he added the reference to a refrigerator (the original mentioned a chest) to include himself in the family legend.

Should the plaques be removed, then the creature will be able to escape its prison and will look for the man who summoned it into the world – Anthony Philips. It does not care that the original Anthony is dead.

3 A local poet is currently having very strange dreams. He is inspired to write bizarre pieces, have them inscribed on brass plaques and put up at various sites around the town. After a week he takes them down and puts them in a new location.

The muse strikes erratically and new plaques appear now and again. The poet is technically insane, but thinks of himself as a tortured genius and of these poems as his greatest work, guaranteeing his immortality.

© Lynne Wilson