The Ghost of Easter Past

The town is awash with breathless reports: Jesus Christ has returned. The faithful flock to town in the hope of catching a glimpse of their saviour, and all who have seen him preach agree that this man, bearing all the signs of recent crucifixion, cannot be other than the genuine Son of God.

Possibilities

1 Jesus Vasquez, a carpenter from Silver Springs, Fl., has been imbued with an otherworldly spirit, giving him supernatural endurance and magnetism, at the cost of his sanity. He now believes himself to be the manifestation of Jesus Christ. He preaches based on his recollections from Sunday School and his personal prejudices, and his words are given weight by the spirit which is bound to him. The stigmata were self-inflicted with a nail gun. Analysis of recordings of his teachings shows them to be simplistic and contradictory, but it is almost impossible to remain unconvinced when hearing them from Vasquez himself.

2 Although thousands claim convincingly to have seen Jesus in person, he proves remarkably difficult for the sceptical to track down. It emerges that the faithful have met Jesus, not on this plane, but in waking dreams. A creature of the Dreamlands is seeking to open a way through to the waking world. By calling upon the Christian faithful, who willingly synchronise their dreams and mobilise their mental energies for the promised second coming, it is building considerable power.

3 What we know as “God” is actually the shattered remnants of a Great Old One, forced by its enemies to take on a fragile human form, which was crucified and its essence all but destroyed. Over two millennia, it has regained sufficient psychic energy to manifest again as Jesus. While, to some ways of thinking, it is the second coming, this Jesus represents only the death throes of his “father”. The activity of the shade of an Old One will summon others to feed on it. The world will likely not survive such an occurrence.

© Barbara Robson and Stuart Barrow

The Dinner Party

Kenneth Marsh is an eccentric traveller, writer, critic and dilettante whose frequent dinner parties are the talk of the town. Avaricious socialites shamelessly pursue invitations to these cosmopolitan events. Guests come from all social backgrounds and are chosen by Marsh for their idiosyncrasies and entertainment potential. Madonna Scarlatti, a stage actress, and Samuel Waldeberg, a would-be movie star, are among the guests this evening.

After a starter of superb herb and garlic pate, the main course appears, an ‘unusual fish dish’. The guests joke nervously, hoping that it is not calamari; a previous guest had an attack upon learning that she had eaten sauteed baby octopus. “One simply couldn’t live with the thought of eating tentacles!”

Marsh tucks in and everyone slowly follows his example. The main course is excellent. A rich chocolate and coffee pudding is the sweet, to be followed by coffee, brandy and cigars. Marsh, a radical, does not expect the ladies to retire whilst the men smoke.

Conversation turns to the host’s recent travels. Marsh returned recently from the Orient with, amongst other curios, a number of live specimens of a rare genus of venomous catfish. Marsh maintains extensive salt and freshwater aquaria. These catfish have bred extensively in the last few months; the guests have just eaten a few of them.

The Lung-Hung catfish are found only in the precincts of a Cantonese temple to a many-armed female ‘Bhudda’, referred to as The Bloated Woman. The fish are considered sacred as, reputedly, they can heal dermatitis sufferers who bathe in their pool. Marsh does not elaborate on how he obtained live specimens although there was a Reuters article on a riot in Shanghai a few months ago.

Suddenly, Marsh begins to choke. His eyes bulge, he turns purple, and he slumps face-down into his coffee.

Possibilities

1   The cook, Jules Severin, didn’t know how to prepare the fish. He sought the advice of a kindly yellow-robed Chinese herbalist monk who was collecting donations door-to-door. The monk’s recipe deliberately didn’t account for the poison sacs within the fish. Marsh sampled the dish yesterday and ate it again tonight. He has died first. Within 24 hours, all the guests will be dead.

Marsh has an extensive collection of journals in which he relates the tales of the Lung-Hung Catfish as learned from a ‘flower girl’ in Shanghai. There is a small temple in Chinatown, guarded closely by the Order of The Bloated Woman. The monks know of the antidote. It only remains for someone to fetch it in time.

2 Shelby the butler checks Marsh and declares him alive. Then Waldeberg collapses theatrically to the floor with severe cramps; he daringly had two helpings of the main course.

In normal humans the catfish venom causes cramps and fever which may kill those with a weak constitution. On Deep One hybrids the venom speeds the transformation process dramatically. The catfish can feed on dead flesh of humans, and are kept specifically for useon the moulting flesh of such hybrids. This is the background to the tales concerning their healing properties.

Marsh, unknowingly, can trace his family history to Innsmouth. He is in a coma from which he will awake in a few days, a good way through the transformation to a Deep One. Grinning Orientals hide in the bushes outside the window. They await the incapacitation of the guests. They will take Marsh to his true people and kidnap then sacrifice the defilers of the sacred fish.

3 Marsh was poisoned by Madonna Scarlatti, who sits to his left. She used an antique Italian poison ring to slip a lethal dose of cyanide into his dessert.

Marsh and Scarlatti are ex-lovers. He savaged her recent appearance as Lady Macbeth but invited her as a way of apologising for being too harsh. Hell hath no fury...

© Peter Devlin

The Delivery

Home shopping, customer credit and home delivery have been with us for many years now. Harrods of London and J C Penney have both had such a facility for many years.

Early one morning, there is a ring at the doorbell (or possibly thetradesman’s entrance). Once answered it proves to be James Sheridan, the regular delivery driver for Harrods. He has a large wicker basket full of goodies as ordered earlier that week. However, the wrong items seem to have been delivered.

Possibilities

1 The basket contains the expected groceries and a severed human finger (lleft-handring finger, female, with engagement ring included). It is neatly wrapped in brown paper and tied with string, in a manner similar to a small parcel of butcher meat. It has only recently been separated from its owner, not with surgical precision but with skill nonetheless.

There is a letter inside a sealed envelope. Composed of letters cut from the Times, it says Bring the 1000 to the train station in time for the 19.45 express train to Dover.

The hallmark and inscription inside the ring allow it to be traced via Herzberg Jewellers to its purchaser Basil Milton, a minor aristocrat living in Belgravia. Basils intended, Miss Mary Sheldon, was kidnapped two days ago during a walk on Hampstead Heath.

The identity of the kidappers is a mystery. They have an unwitting accomplice who works for Harrods and it is he who accidentally put the kidnappers’ demand in the wrong basket. If apprehende,d he did not even know the contents of the parcel or about the kidnapping, he was simply bribed to add a package to a delivery.

2 The wrong basket has been delivered. It contains a picnic meal for two (including a fine bottle of claret) and the first sealed clue for a forthcoming weekend treasure hunt. The intended recipient is Clytemnestra Poppelwell, a scatty heiress-to-be. If the baskets are swapped back, Clytemnestra will be keen to have her rescuers join the treasure hunt with her.

The treasure hunt has been arranged by Bertrand Fortescue, a simply charming London socialite. He is the bastard son of Arglye Poppelwell, Clytemnestra's father. He plans to bump off Clytemnestra during the treasure hunt, faking an accident. Then, when old man Poppelwell finally dies of terminal gout, he will inherit the family estates and fortune. He sees little trouble in doing so as all of Clytemnestras friends are airheads just like she is.

3 The basket contains a polished mahogany presentation box 4 x 4 x 4. The inside is green velvet lined and contains an odd grey/blue spherical rock formation just slightly larger than a billiards ball. A handwritten card describes it as An unusually hard opaque silicate formation, highly decorative and resistant to accidental damage. The ideal paperweight.

The rock is a Cthonian egg, discovered by Ms. Erma Smits, a moderately well-known sculptor. She has been supplying small original sculptures to the more exclusive stores for sale as gifts and curios. Erma lives in Yorkshire, where she finds natural rock formations to be the ideal starting point for her pieces. She unwittingly found the egg in the effluvium of a flash flood which caused her local river to burst its banks. Some distance upriver from her home is a tributary fed by The Spout, a fast-flowing stream that emerges from the base of a large cliff face.

Someone has chosen the paperweight as a birthday gift for the scholarly recluse in their life. It now represents a good financial investment as the morning papers all contain the tragic news that Ms. Erma Smitts, a respected sculptor, was killed just

yesterday when her ramshackle cottage collapsed during a minor earthquake. Other articles tell of small aftershocks which have been occurring in the last 24 hours.

© Peter Devlin

The Cuban Connection

The local tobacconist has just got a new batch of very special cigars. Each of these hand-rolled Havana cigars is extremely expensive, but they are proving popular. Perhaps a little too popular.

Possibilities

1 The cigars are manufactured by clever but ruthless Cuban gangsters. They contain a number of highly addictive narcotics designed to hook not only the smoker, but those in the vicinity too.

2 The cigars are manufactured by Cuban cultists. They contain ceremonial incense that summons strange spirits when burned. The spirits induce a feeling of euphoria, but also feed on the life energy of those in close proximity. A portion of this energy is transferred to the cultists for use in their nefarious activities.

3 The cigars are manufactured by the Slaves of the Atchai. Each cigar contains one Atchai, a creature resembling a tiny trilobite. When the cigar is lit and put to the lips, the Atchai crawls into the smoker's mouth. Once inside the body, it attaches itself to the nervous system and begins to take control of the brain.

© Rob Illing

The Convention

The annual International Mystical and Paranormal Society Convention is to be held soon. This year the special guest is Dr Janos Voerlocke, a well-known and often-maligned occult scholar, who has not failed to please convention audiences in the past. Dr Voerlocke claims that he has discovered something that will change the world and intends to reveal his secret at the convention. 

Possibilities

1 Dr Voerlocke reveals a strange black polygonal-shaped object about the size of a human head. He explains that he found the object sealed in a block of lead covered with dire warnings in hieroglyphs while in Egypt. After he melted the lead, he discovered the block contained the artifact in question. The artifact is not just a piece of carved black rock, but a prison for a demon. At this point, Voerlocke pushes the polygon open and a Hound of Tindalos screams forth. The Hound is in a foul temper and eager to take revenge on those who imprisoned it.

2 Voerlocke has captured a deep one, whom he summoned with a spell from the Ponape Scripture. The deep one is covered and croaking loudly as the cage is wheeled onto the stage. Voelocke makes a short speech and pulls the sheet off. Moments later, five men rush the stage, brandishing guns. The men are deep ones who haven't fully changed and are here to rescue their kin.

3 Dr Voerlocke has run up large debts to some shady characters - and they have persuaded him to act as a decoy to pay off some of the debt. After a long speech, Voerlocke reveals what he claims to be a unicorn skull. The skull is merely a doctored horse skull - a fact obvious to anyone studying it for more than a moment. While the long speech was going on, Voerlocke's shady compatriots were robbing the guests' rooms, holding up the hotel manager and clearing out the safe.

© Kevin Kaier

The Competition

Mr. Henry Paget Lowe has been arrested on a charge of sequestration of person and, maybe, of murder. The victim is Roger Curtney and, the last time that someone saw him, he was entering Mr. Lowe’s office.

Roger Curtney answered an advertisement published in national newspapers in which, the society led by Mr. Lowe, invited “American dreamers to write a short fantastic story”. The prize of the competition was a trip to a fantastic “Dream Land”. Entry was free.

Roger Curtney, among 6000 candidates, was elected “the best American dreamer.” The newspapers reported a lot about him and about the competition, until they discovered Mr. Curtney didn’t return from his trip. “The trip hasn’t finished, he will be back when he wants to be back.” said Mr. Lowe when he was arrested.

Possibilities

1 Mr. Lowe knows the way to go to the Dreamlands and he has led Mr. Curtney to the Cavern of Flame.

2 Mr. Lowe is a kidnapper. He wants one million dollars from Curtney’s father.

3 Mr. Lowe doesn’t exist. Behind all of this is the FBI chief, Edgar Hoover, who wants to detect American subversives and communists. Curtney wrote a story entitled “Red days”. Including Mr Lowe, the FBI arrested 756 people.

© Simone Bartesaghi

The Children's Room

It is a dark and stormy night. The investigators are lost - they have been travelling and the storm has blown away the road signs. Eventually, they arrive in a backwater town where the church and other buildings are in ruins. “Destroyed by a storm last year which killed Reverend Maynard, and Pauline’s daughter Sarah,” they are told, and are warned repeatedly about going back on the road since “the weather can be very ugly in these parts.”

Instead, the investigators are directed to a retired widower named James Barbarow for lodging; he has three beds in a building he built separately from the main house. Mr Barbarow shows them the place, which consists of a single large bedroom and a bathroom, readily explaining that this was for his children, now gone. Mr Barbarow implies that they are deceased; if pressed, he says only that they died in their sleep.

The place is run down, although attentive investigators will notice a fire extinguisher. There’s no electricity, and the lock is broken; James offers to lend them a lamp and put a padlock on the outside door to keep out animals or prowlers. The last casual remark he makes as he closes the door and leaves them for bed is, “Sleep well—I just hope nothing happens to you in the middle of the night.”

Possibilities

1 The most worrisome investigator can’t sleep—he or she hears scratching outside. It’s just a racoon or other animal; nothing dangerous happens that night, and the next morning Mr Barbarow won’t recall having made any ominous remarks.

2 The house is built on the edge of an ancient Indian worship site to Cthuga (the church was built at the centre of the site). Just before midnight, the investigator awakens having just dreamt of a door opening in the corner, spilling lights and voices into the room. At midnight, this door opens for real, releasing fire vampires into the room! The next morning, Mr Barbarow admits that whenever the moon is as it is now, he has a disturbing dream, but is always too frightened to investigate--his children died in that place from horrible burns, though the walls were untouched.

3 The village is being destroyed by ghouls. They have ransacked the church graveyard and torn down the church, killing Reverend Maynard when he interceded. The girl, Sarah, was carried off in the middle of the night some days later. Now, these creatures have struck a bargain with the villagers: in exchange for peace, the humans offer any travelers or new corpses to the ghouls. Mr Barbarow will contact the ghouls about the investigators, show them back to his land, and give them the key to the padlock.

© Mark W Henshaw