A Cthulhu Session - Masks of Nyarlathotep

Masks of Nyarlathotep
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Diari di McWhirr

Dal 7 al 24 marzo 1919.

Mar. 7—Jock Kuburaga says that abos are following us. Most unusual if true. Primitives have every reason to fear guns—and our bush ranger predilection for using them. In the past, I have always known them to head the other way as soon as they sight white men.
Mar. 21—We are about equally distant from Joanna Spring and Separation Well, east of an awful line of dry lakes. The heat is terrible. Our hopes are low—there is nothing here, certainly not quartz reels! L.’s notations are in systematic error. He is a complete duffer as a surveyor.
Today we sighted several enormous birds flying lazily far above us. How did they get here, and where can they be going?
Mar. 22—At about noon today we found Jock, partly buried in a gully. His body was scoured and covered with hundreds of small punctures, as though somebody had sandblasted him, We buried him, of course. I shall miss
his counsel, and he was an excellent hand with the camels.
Mar. 23—We have discovered what appears to be remnants of an ancient city, rising from the shifting sands! I believe I have secured several good photographs of this amazing find, though the heat has ruined all but six of my
photographic plates. By the pitting of the stone, the blocks and pillars appear to be more than 10,000 years old! Incredible!
Mar. 24—Four camels killed in the attack last night. I saw at least two abos, and more must have been skulking out there. I’m sure I hit one.
That ends this trip—we’ll have to head back to Cuncudgerie and report this incident.
More than men were out there last night. I saw shapes much bigger than men during the attack. My evidence is the body of Old Sam the camel, punctured and scraped is the best way I can described the remains, just like poor Jock. Since the attack lasted only a couple of minutes, it’s hard for me to believe that anything human could have done so much damage so quickly. But then what was it?
 

posted by clem

Cuncudgerie - Morte di un minatore

1925 - Morto minatore Derby Dave detto il gallese assieme ad altri minatori nel crollo di una miniera. Il gallese lavorava per Mortimer, che in qualche modo era in outsourcing. Gli altri minatori morti erano tutti dipendenti di altri. Lui era l'unico dipendente di Mortimer.

posted by clem

Device strano trovato da randolph

'This is a short term survey device used by the Yttians'.

È una specie di periscopio. Lo troviamo alla randolph import. Questi esseri possono viaggiare tra i pianeti a volontà e possiedono i corpi delle creature sui pianeti su cui arrivano.

 Accompagnato da una lettera di R.H. (pensiamo robert houston)

posted by clem

Libro contabile di Randolph

Spedizioni a Mortimer Wycroft di Cuncudgerie da parte di Randolph. Troviamo questi dati dentro al suo libro contabile.

Ci sono anche due casse segnate da spedire alla Penhew Foundation londra.

posted by clem

Jack Brady’s Statement

“I’m Jack Brady. I hear you’ve been looking for me. I got a minute, and you got some questions. I gather you never got to talk to Jackson Elias. If it’s all the same, I’ll talk now, and you can ask your questions later.
“As far as I can make out, we’re all in a lot of trouble. The more I learn about the situation, the scareder I get. When I spilled the beans to Jackson Elias, I figured people would read his book and do something about this cult. Sorry he ended up that way—you guys friends of his? All the same, I did warn him, and I didn’t hold nothing back. I’m warning you guys, too: the cult plays for keeps. Or maybe mugs like you alreadçi know that.” (He laughs.)
“Well, right from the start I knew that Rogers nigger-giri was trouble. She was as tough as they come, and she had him around her finger. He must have known she was trouble, too, because the more he saw her, the more crazy dreams he had. I thought it was great when he wanted to go to Egypt—that’d be the end of her, see, and things would get back to normal. I liked the guy, and I owed him a lot.
“It seemed for a while that everything would work out London was a lot of fun, but once we got to Cairo, Roger started having dreams again about meeting a god, and crap like that. But now he wasn’t drinking, and the girt wasn’t around, and the gentlemen Roger had asked along started acting nuttier than Roger did, and sot said to myself, ‘trouble is somewhere up the road.’
“After I paid Faraz Najir for his junk, Roger spent some time with it. He went off the deep end. There was a black kind of head-and- shoulder statue that he’d stare at for hours. And there was a map that he’d study and study, like a normal guy would check out a beautiful dame. He started telling me that we could meet the god as soon as he destroyed the eye and opened the path.
“That hotshot Dr. Huston should have talked Roger down, but he only encouraged him. So the first night that we were up the Nile at Dhashur, Roger snuck out and climbed up the Red Pyramid. Any of you guys ever climbed a pyramid? They’re steep! Roger started up that pile like a monkey. Never looked back or hesitated once, which proved tome that the poor bug.ger was absolutely crazy. But I followed him up.” (I-fe laughs again.) “I was crazy, too.
“For about two thirds of the way up the Red Pyramid, you just climb up and over big blocks, sort of like something some dumb kid could make by piling up a million great big construction blocks. The pyramid builders filled in all the gaps with nice smooth stone, but then later people stole that nice stone from around the bottom of the pyramid—the high stuff was too hard to grab, and they couldn’t finish the job. Well, Roger zipped right up this part, too, with me still
behind, my eyes bulging out ‘cause I could barely find handholds to keep from bouncing down the whole damn pyramid.
“There’s a little flat place at the tip of the pyramid. When Roger reached the hat place, he put on some kind of robe and started making weird sounds, as though he had flipped for good. But then there was a hell of an explosion with all kinds of funny echoes and screams with it, and a big red flash of light. Well, I lay there for a minute until it seemed safe to go on. He looked at me and said, ‘The eye is gone, Jack. Now we can be gods.
“Well, that was just Roger talk, you know, but beside him there was a big patch ripped right out of the stone, and it looked fresh. When I went back the next day, the patch had been filled in, as though the pyramid had repaired itself. But near the base of the pyramid, I found part of a rock which looked like it could have been in that patch originally, and it had this sign on it.’ (Brady sketches a mysterious-looking sign; this is the strange symbol which appears in light grey to the top right of this handout..)
“Now I know what it was—its strong magic
kept evil things away from us, and Roger deliberately broke its power.
“Two days later, the whole gang—Penhew, Roger, Huston, and Patty—gave me the slip and disappeared in the Bent Pyramid. Some of the messenger boys went to find them, and they came out shrieking that the pyramid had eaten the respected scienfists, woe, woe, woe Bingo, the workers run in all directions! The whole dig was deserted. In five minutes the only person left in the whole area was me. Well, I went in. Sure enough, nobody was inside. I was worried,
“But, a long time later, outcome all the missing people from the pyramid. Roger says they’d been to Egypt, to the real Egypt. And that was about the most sensible thing he said. Penhew looked like he had lost about five years. And Patty and Huston both seemed somehow changed. Nobody would explain where they’d been, and nobody cared that after that it was hard to hire workmen.
“After that, when I’d wake up in the nights, the rest of the gang would be talking creepy lingo like I’d never heard before. Then one evening Roger said that he was going to show me the power of what they’d learned. We went out into the desert with a passel of Arabs. Everybody started screaming weird words and songs, and Penhew beat the drum that we got from Najir. When creatures started coming out of the ground and eating the Arabs, and Roger and the others started laughing, why I took my leave, as they say, and went on a real toot. Roger found me the next day, and warned me that I’d better change my attitude. Well, I owed the kid, and I wouldn’t desert him, but after that I started thinking real good.
.1hénwienttOtCenya. and Roger filled iielh during the trip. We had found a true god, he: said, who would rule the Earth, and we WOuId rule with that god, for we were the cho
•s eftof the god. The god hadpicked usto open 1heway for his return. Andlierewasenough :.ifl*hat they said—and In What tsew—4o make melisten. Every week, Penhew seemed a little 9oklner:.and a little !ivelier Patty Was sick a lot. We Were going to leave Nairobi fiom some plaee in the mountains where there was no and rtobedrhb looked friendly I figiJredhat Jack Brady Woiildri’tliv6verylbng there, so I made some airangements. On thèlast higKt,rn Nairobi, drugged Roger, kypedtheásh box (it wtsaIl ‘Roger’s money, anyway), and got me and them aboard an unscheduled deadhead freight to Mombasa.
tater I read that my guess was right. The newspapers said a lot of people died, but Penhew, Huston and Patty Masters weren’t among them.
“Anyway, my arrangements went off without a hitch—that happens when you think small and carry a lot of cash. When we got to Mombasa, we got off before the causeway and found a fisherman who was willing to go to Zanzibar for a few dollars. From there we hopped a coastal trader to Durban, and in Durban we dyed our hair, got some decent clothes, and sailed for Perth.
“Now, on the train to Mombasa, Roger got some sleep, and he seemed to wake up a different person. I guess that being away from the influence of those other people let him return to his old self. I told him we were in a lot of trouble, and that we needed to hide out, and reminded him about the Arabs being killed in Egypt, and the god stuff, and so on, and he could remember it all right, aTthough it didn’t seem very important, somehow. But he understood the logic of the situation. After a week or so, though, his nightmares started, and he began to go off the deep end. He was begin- fling to realize some of the things he had
done.
“I was in Shanghai while I was in the Marines, and I had a fair number of friends here, By the time our ship put into Hong Kong, Roger could go no farther. He began shrieking at shadows and everything that moved. So I put him in a sanitarium there—I had to use up most of the remaining money to get him settled. Then I went on to Shanghai, believing that I’d never again see any member but Roger of that damned expedition.
“So I thought, until I looked through naval glasses at a certain yacht, and saw Sir Aubrey Penhew preening on the deck of the Dark Mistress.”
 

posted by noemon

Contact Lloigor

Allows the caster to interview one or more lloigo torso long as the Ilolgor choose to maln tam the contact To cast the spoil costs 3 magic points and 3 Sanity points. The caster then meets with the iloigor In his or her dreams where they assume visible form and demand a sacrifIce to them of Dé magic points.
This spell must be cost Immediately before going to sleepS and takes effect only within 20 leagues (60 miles) of a iloO Upon wokenwiO the caster remembers oil details of the dream
 

posted by noemon

Photograph

Blurry and grainy, it shows a large yacht at anchor surrounded by Chinese junks. Only part of the name of the yacht is visible: the first three letters are DAR.
 

posted by noemon

What You Know About Your Friend, Jackson Elias

Jackson Eltas 15 38, of medium height and build, and dark-complexioned. He has a feisty, friendly air about him and, as an orphan in Stratford, Connecticut, he learned to make his own way early in life. He has no living relatives, and no permanent address.
You like him, and value his friendship, even though months and sometimes years separate one meeting from the next. You’d be upset and probably crave vengeance if anything happened to your friend. The world is better for having Jackson Elias in it.
His writings characterize and analyze death cults. His best-known book is Sotis of Death, exposing mâdern-day Thuggees in India. He speaks several languages fluently and is constantly traveling. He is social, and enjoys an occasional drink. He smokes a pipe. Elias is tough, stable, and punctual, unafraid of brawls or officials. He is mostly self-educated. His well-researched works always seem to reflect first-hand experience. He is secretive and never discusses a project until he has a final draft in hand.
All of his books illustrate how cults manipulate the fears of their followers. A skeptic, Elias has never found proof of supernatural powers, magic, or dark gods. Insanity and feelings of inadequacy characterize death cultists, feelings fbr which they compensate by slaughtering innocents to make themselves feel powerful or chosen. Cults draw the weak-minded, though cult leaders are usually clever and manipulative. When fear of a cult stops, the cult vanishes.
Skulls Aloiig the River (1910)—exposes headhunter cult in Amazon basin.
Masters of the Blad Axis (i9iz)_surveys supposed sorcetous cults throughout history.
The Way of Terror (! 3)—analyzes systematization of fear through cult organization;
warmly reviewed by George Sore!.
The Smoking Heart igi5—flrst half discusses historical Mayan death cults. Second half
instances ptesent-day Central American death cults.
Sons of Death (1918)—modern-day Thuggees; Elias infiltrated the cult and wrote a book about it.
lfitch CHIts of England (l9zo)_summarizes covens in nine English counties; interviews practicing English witches; Rebecca’ West thought some of the material trivial and overworked,
The Blai’k Power (igzi)_expands upon The Wsy of Terror; includes interviews with several anonymous cult leaders.
All of these books are published by Prospero Press of New York City, and all were edited by owner/editor Jonah Kensington. Kensington ss a good friend of Jackson Elias, and knows you well.

posted by noemon

Main Points of Prof Anthony Cowles’ NYU Lecture

ONE A bat cult once existed among the Aboriginals of Australia. It was known across the continent, and
the god of the cult was always known as the Father of All Bats. Adherents believed that by making human sacrifices to their god they themselves would become worthy enough that the Father of All Bats would appear to them. Once he was enticed to appear, he would conquer all men. Sacrifices were run through a gauntlet of worshipers who struck the victims with clubs embedded with the sharp teeth of bats. The teeth were coated with a substance derived from rabid bats. The poison was quick-actrng, but victims apparently went mad before they died. Leaders of the cult reputedly could take the forms of bat- winged snakes, enabling them to steal sacrifices from acioss the land.
overthrew them, destroying their camp. When this happened, the
way was open for the Father of All — Bats, who came into the land, and grew strong.
THREE Cowles shows the investigators a set of four over-exposed glass slides. Each shows a few sweating men standing beside enormous blocks of stone, pitted and eroded but clearly dressed and formed for architectural purposes. Dim carvings seem to decorate some. Billows of sand are everywhere. Though he did not bring the book with him, Cowles says that the discoverer, one Arthur MacWhirr of Port Hedland, kept a diary in which he records several attacks on the party by Aboriginals. MacVThirr reportedly records deaths to Victims from hundreds of small punctures, reminiscent of the earlier bat—cult.
FOUR Cowles tells finally of a tale he collected from near the Arafura Sea in north-
em Australia. In it Sand Bat, or Father of All Bats, has a battle of wits with Rainbow Snake, the Aboriginal deification of water and the patron of life. Rainbow Snake succeeds in tricking and trapping Sand Bat and his clan into the depths of a watery place from which Sand Bat can only corn- III1,1 plain, and is unable to return to trouble the people.
Prof Anthony Cowles’ NYU Lecture
TWO An Aboriginal song cycle mentions a place where enormous beings gathered, somewhere in the west of Australia. The songs say that these gods, who were not at all like men,
1Il built great sleeping walls and dug
Igreat caves. But livingwinds blew down the gods and
 

posted by noemon

Erica Carlyle

First Meeting Jan. 11, l9l
Reference: Erica Carlyle
Closest Relative: Erica Carlyle
At his sister’s Insistence. Mr. Roger Vane Worthington Carlyle visited me this morning. He deprecates the importance of his state of mind, but concedes that he has had some trouble sleeping due to a recurring dream in which he hears a distant voice calling his nne. (Interestingly the voice uses Mr Carlyle’ s second given name, Vane, by which Mr. Carlyle admits he always thinls of himself,) Carlyle moves towards the voice and has to struggle through a weblike mist in which the caller is understood to stand.
The caller is a mani—--tall, gaunt, dark. An Inverted arilth blazes in his forehead. Following the Egyptian has had no conscious interest in things Egyptian. he saysY[ the man extends his hands to C., his palms held upward. Pictured on his left palm C. discovers his own face; on the right palm C. sees an unusual. asymnetric pyramid.
The caller then brings his hands together, and C. feels himself float off the ground Into space. He halts before an assemblage of monstrous figures, figures of htrnan s with animal limbs, wlth fangs arid t a loris, or of rio part i ott 1 ar shape at all. All of them circle a pulsating ball of yellow energy, which C. recognizes as another aspect of the calling mart. The ball draws him in; he becomes part of it, arid sees through eyes not his own. A great triangle appears in the void, asynmetric in the same fashion as the vision of the pyra mid. C. then hears the caller say, “And become wiLl-i me a god.” As millions of odd shapes and forms rush into the triangle, C. wakes.
C. does not consider this dream a nIghtmare, although it upsets his sleep. He says that he revels in it and that it is a genuine calling, although my strong Impression is that he actually is undecided about it. An inability to choose seems to characterize much of his life.
September l, l9l. He calls her MWeru, Anastasia. arid My Priestess. He is obsessive about her, as well he might beexterior devotion is certaInly one way to ease the tensions of megalomaniacal contradictions. She is certainly a rival to my authority.
iecember .3. l9l. If I do not go C. threatens exposure. If I do go, all pretense of analysis surely will be lost. What then will be my role’
 

posted by noemon

Warren Besart’s Statement

“A lawyer contacted me. I agreed to act as purchasing agent for Mr. Roger Carlyle of the United States, who was represented to me as a wealthy American. On written instructions from Mr. Carlyle, I purchased certain artifacts from Faraz Najir, an antiquities dealer, and illegally shipped them out of Egypt to Sir Aubrey Penhew in London. I know the artifacts were ancient, but nothing more.
“When the Carlyle Expedition came to Egypt, I arranged for all their equipment and permits. Their main site was at Dhashur, in the area of the Bent Pyramid.
“One day at Dhashur, Jack Brady came to me and told me that Carlyle, Hypatia Masters, Sir Aubrey, and Dr. Huston had entered the Bent Pyramid and then vanished. Brady was excited and suspected foul play, since the diggers already had fled the site and work had cnme to a stand-still. We did not know what to do, so we drank.
“The next morning, Carlyle and the others reappeared. They were excited by some tremendous find, but what it was, they would not say, nor did I learn, for Sir Aubrey was a fiend for secrecy. All of them had changed in some inexplicable way, and a way not for the better; I did not ask further.
“That evening, an old Egyptian woman visited me. She said that her son had been one of the diggers. She said the diggers had fled because Carlyle and the others had consorted with an ancient evil, the Messenger of the Black Wind. She said that she could recognize that the souls of all the Europeans but Brady and myself were lost. If I wanted proof, I should go to the Collapsed Pyramid at Meidum at the time when the moon is slimmest—the night before the dark of the moon. God help me, I went!
“I took one of the trucks, pretending to leave for a night in the pleasure quarter of Cairo. But instead I drove
the twenty miles south to Meidum, and secreted myself where she advised. There in the midnight blackness I saw Carlyle and the others disport themselves in obscene rituals with a hundred madmen. The very desert came alive, crawling and undulating toward the ruins of the pyramid. To my horror, the stone ruins themselves became a skeletal, bulging-eyed thing!
“Strange creatures emerged from the sands, grasped the dancing celebrants, and, one by one, tore out their throats, killing all until only the Europeans (and one other robed celebrant) remained.
“Something more loomed out of the sand, the size of an elephant but with five separate shaggy heads. Then I realized what it was—but it is madness to speak it! I saw it rise and in a great ravening swallow as one all the torn corpses and their hideous murderers, leaving alive only five pcople amidst the stench of the blood-soaked sands.
“I fainted. When I recovered. I wandered into the desert. There further horrors awaited me. Stumbling up a rise before dawn, I saw beyond hundreds of dark sphinxes, rank upon rank drawn up and waiting for the hour of madness when they will spring to devour the world! I fainted again, and this time I left the world for many months.
“A man found me; for two years he and his mother cared for me—me, a man mindless and returned, I came back to Cairo. But I began to dream! Only hashish helps now, or opium if it can be found, My supply is low again, and my life is intolerable without it. Will you gentlemen please contribute? Only strong drugs keep me from insanity. Everything, gentlemen, everything is lost, There is no hope for any of us. Everywhere they wait. Perhaps you will join roe in a pipe?”
 

posted by noemon

Sgt. Bumption’s Statement

“It were right ‘orrible. I seen nothin’ to match it. Bodies evelywhere—not bodies, mind, but bits o’ bodies. An ‘ead ‘ere, an arm there, torn to shreds like you would a newspaper. Something grabbed those poor blokes and chewed the ‘eli out of them, beg- gin’ your pardon, ma’m. You woulda thought the jackals and buzzards woulda et ‘em down to the bone by the time we arrived, SGT. BUMPTION but the niggers said the animals shied off and wouldn’t touch the free meal. Even animals get bad feelin’s, I’m thinking. Well, I never want sight o’ such a thing again.”

posted by noemon

Lite as a God

excerpt from the handwritten diary of Montgomery Crompton

Its angles were magnificent, and most strange; by their hideous beauty I was enraptured and enthralled, and I thought myself of the daylight fools who adjudged the housing of this room as mistaken, I laughed for the glory they missed. When the six lights lit and the great words said, then He came, in all the grace and splendour of the Higher Planes, and I longed to sever my veins so that my life might flow into his being, and make part of me a god!
 

posted by noemon

07/11/1924

Lettera

Nov. 7, 1924

Mr. Jackson Elias
c/o Prospero House Publishers
Lexington Avenue, New York City

Dear Mr. Elias,

The book about which you inquired is no longer in our collection. The information you seek may be found in two other volumes. If you will contact me upon arrival, I will be most happy to further assist you.

As Always,

Miriam Atwright

posted by noemon

15/10/1919

CARLYLE EXPEDITION FEARED LOST

MOMBASA (Reuters) - Uplands police representatives today asked for public assistance concerning the disappearance of the Carlyle expedition. No word of the party has been received in two months.
The group includes wealthy American playboy Roger Carlyle and three other American citizens, as well as respected Egyptologist Sir Aubrey Penhew of the United Kingdom.
The expedition left Nairobi on August 3, ostensibly on camera safari, but rumor insisted they were actually after legendary biblical treasures.
Carlyle and his party reportedly intended to explore portions of the Great Rift Valley, to the northwest of Nairobi.
New York Pillar-Riposte, Oct 15, 1919 posted by noemon

03/07/1919

CARLYLE DEPARTS EGYPT

CAIRO(AP) - Sir Aubrey Penhew, temporary spokesman for the Carlyle expedition, indicated Monday that the leaders are taking ship to East Africa for a 'well earned rest'.
Sir Aubrey debunked rumors that the expedition had discovered clues to the legendary wealth of the lost mines of King Solomon, maintaining that the party was going on safari "in respite from our sandy labors."
Roger Carlyle, wealthy New York leader of the expedition, was unavailable for comment, still suffereing from his recent heatstroke.
Discussing that unfortunate incident, local experts declared Egypt entirely too hot for Anglo-Saxons at this time of year, and suggested that the young American had not been well-served by his democratic enthusiasm, rumored to have led him to personally wield pick and shovel.
New York Pillar-Riposte, July 3, 1919 posted by noemon

24/05/1920

CARLYLE MASSACRE CONFIRMED

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The massacre of the long-missing Carlyle expedition was confirmed today by district police representatives. Roger Carlyle, New Yorks rollicking playboy, is among the missing.
Authorities blame hostile Nandi tribesmen for the shocking murders. Remains of at least two dozen expedition members and bearers are thought found in several concealed grave sites.
Erica Carlyle, Roger Carlyle's sister and apparent heiress to the family fortune, led the dangerous search for her brother and his party. She credited Kikuyu tribesmen for the discovery, although police actually found the site.
Among other expedition members believed lost are Sir Aubrey Penhew, noted Egyptologist; New York socialite Hypatia Masters, and Dr. Robert Huston. Many bearers also are reported dead.
New York Pillar-Riposte, May 24, 1920 posted by noemon

many names, many forms,
but all the same and toward one end
Need Help
Too big, too ghastly.
These dreams like Carlyle's?
Check that psychoanalyst's files
all of them survived!
They'll open the gate. Why?
so the power and danger is
real. They
many threads beginning
The books are in Carlyle's safe
Coming for me. Will the ocean
protect?
Ho ho no quitters now. Must tell
and make readers Believe. Should
I scream for them? Let's
scream together posted by noemon

11/03/1920

ERICA CARLYLE ARRIVES IN AFRICA

MOMBASA (Reuters) - In response to clues, Miss Erica Carlyle, sister to the American leader of the lost Carlyle expedition, arrived in port today aboard the Egyptian vessel Fount of Life.
Several Kikuyu villager reports recently have been received concerning the putative massacre of unnamed whites near Aberdare Forest. Miss Carlyle declared her intention to find her brother, regardless of the effort needed. She brought with her the nucleus of a large expedition.
Detailing agents to coordinate supply and other activities with Colony representatives, Miss Carlyle and the remainder of her party depart for Nairobi tomarrow. Her companion, Mrs. Victoria Post, indirectly emphasized Miss Carlyle's purposefulness by recounting the rigors of the voyage aboard the Semite ship.
New York Pillar-Riposte, March 11, 1920 posted by noemon

19/07/1920

MURDERERS HANGED

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Five Nandi tribesmen, convicted ringleaders of the vicious Carlyle Expedition massacre, were executed this morning after a short, expertly-conducted trial.
To the end, the tribesmen steadfastly refused to reveal where they had hidden the bodies of the white leaders of the expedition. Mr. Harvis, acting for the Colony, cleverly implied throughout the trial that the massacre was racial in motivation, and that the fair-skinned victims were taken to a secret location, there to suffer the most savage treatment.
Miss Erica Carlyle, defeated in her efforts to rescue her brother, left several weeks ago, but is surely comforted by the triumph of justice.
New York Pillar-Riposte, June 19,1920 posted by noemon

05/04/1919

CARLYLE EXPEDITION EMBARKS FOR ENGLAND

Led by fabulously wealthy playboy Roger Carlyle, the Carlyle expedition departed this morning for Southampton aboard the crack British steamship Imperial Standard. Contrary to earlier reports, the expedition will perform researches in London under the auspices of the Penhew Foundation before continuing to Egypt next month. Readers may recall the enormous party which Mr. Carlyle, now 24, gave at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on reaching his majority. Since then, scandals and indelicate behaviour have become Carlyle's trademark, but he never has become tarnished in the eyes of Manhattanites. Members of the expedition have been reluctant to reveal their purpose in Egypt. Other Expedition Members Renowned Egyptologist Sir Aubrey Penhew is assistant leader of the team, and in charge of excavations. Dr. Robert Huston, a fashionable Freudian psychologist, accomplanies the expedition to pursue parallel researches into ancient pictographs. Miss Hypatia Masters, linked in the past to Carlyle, will act as photographer and archivist. Mr. Jack Brady, intimate to Mr. Carlyle, accompanies the group as general factotum. Additional members may be secured while in London.
New York Pillar-Riposte, April 5, 1919 posted by noemon

01/01/1970

What You Know About Your Friend Jackson Elias

Jackson Elias is 38, of medium height and build, and dark-complexioned. He has a feisty, friendly air about him and, as an orphan in Stratford, Connecticut; he learned to make his own way early in life. He has no living relatives, and no permanent address.

You like him, and value his friendship, even though months and sometimes years separate one meeting from the next. You'd be upset and probably crave vengeance if anything happened to your friend. The world is better for having Jackson Elias in it.

His writings characterize and analyze death cults. His best-known book is Sons of Death, exposing modern-day Thuggees in India. He speaks several languages fluently and is constantly traveling. He is social, and enjoys an occasional drink. He smokes a pipe. Elias is tough, stable, and punctual, unafraid of brawls or officials. He is mostly self-educated. His well-researched works always seem to reflect first-hand experience. He is secretive and never discusses a project until he has a final draft in hand.

All of his books illustrate how cults manipulate the fears of their followers. A skeptic, Elias has never found proof of supernatural powers, magic, or dark gods. Insanity and feelings of inadequacy characterize death cultists, feelings for which they compensate by slaughtering innocents to make themselves feel powerful or chosen. Cults draw the weak-minded, though cult leaders are usually clever and manipulative. When fear of a cult stops, the cult vanishes.


Bibliography
Skulls Along the River (1910) - exposes headhunter cult in Amazon basin.
Masters of the Black Arts (1912) - surveys supposed sorcerous cults through out history.
The Way of Terror (1913) - Analyzes systemization of fear through cult organization; warmly reviewed by Georges Sorel.
The Smoking Heart (1915) - first half discusses historical Mayan death cults; second half instances present-day Central American death cults.
Sons of Death (1918) - modern-day Thuggees; Elias infiltrated the cult and wrote a book about it.
Witch Cults of England (1920) - summarizes covens in nine English counties; interviews practicing English witches; Rebecca West thought some of the material trivial and overworked.
The Black Power (1921) - expands upon The Way of Terror; includes interviews with several anonymous cult leaders.

All of the books are published by Prospero Press of New York City, and all were edited by owner/editor Jonah Kensington. Kensington is a good friend of Jackson Elias, and knows you well. posted by noemon

08/08/1924

Lettera

August 8, 1924
Nairobi

Dear Jonah,
Big news! There is a possibility that not all the members of the Carlyle Expedition died. I have a lead. Though the authorities here deny the cult angle, the natives sing a different tune. You wouldn't believe the stories! Some juicy notes coming your way! This one may make us all rich!

Blood and Kisses,
J.

P.S. I'll need some advance money to follow this up. More later. posted by noemon

24/07/1919

IMPORTANT VISITORS

MOMBASA (Reuters) - Leading members of an American archaeological expedition arrived here on holiday from digs in Egypt's Nile Valley.
Our Under-Secretary, Mr. Royston Whittingdon, held a welcoming dinner for them at Collingswood House, where the wit of Sir Aubrey Penhew, expedition co-leader, was much in evidence.
Accompanying Sir Aubrey are two Americans, youthful financier Roger Carlyle, and medical doctor Robert Huston. The party leaves inland tomarrow, for Nairobi and hunting.
New York Pillar-Riposte, July 24, 1919 posted by noemon

The Nairobi Notes of Jackson Elias

Sheets of plain paper, each covered on one side only with Elias neat printing, paperclipped together into sets by Jonab Kensingon. They are reasonably well-organized, and seem in many ways complete, yet are remarkable for the absence of confusion, connections, and clearly-defined themes. The hand is strong and bold.

SET ONE of the Nairobi notes sets forth the offices, officials, and tibes which Elias visited, searching for material concerning cults and cult rituals. Nothing conclusive, though Elias afterwards completely discounts the official version of the Carlyle massacre.

SET TWO: describes his trip to the massacre site. He notes particularly that the earth there is barren, and that all the tribes of the region avoid the place, saying it is cursed by the god of the black winds, whose home is some mountaintop.

SET THREE: an interview with Johnstone Kenyatta, who says that the Carlyle murders were performed by the cult of the Bloody Tongue. He says that the cult's home is in the mountains, and that its high priestess is part of the mountain of the black winds. Elias is politely skeptical.

SET FOUR: follows up on the Kenyatta interview. Elias confirms from several good sources that the Bloody Tongue exists, though he finds no first-hand evidence of it. Tales include children stolen for sacrifice. Creatures with great wings are said to come down from the Mountain of the Black Winds to carry off people. The cult worships a god unknown to forklorists, one fitting no traditional African pattern. Elias mentions "Sam Mariga, rr-sta."

SET FIVE: a single sheet reminding Elias that the Egyptian portion of the Carlyle itinerary must be retraced carefully. He believes that Carlyle's trip to Kenya was prompted by something or someone in Egypt.

SET SIX: a long interview with Lt. Mark Selkirk, leader of the men who actually found the remains of the Carlyle expedition, and a Kenya hand since the Great War. Importantly, Selkirk says that the bodies were remarkably undecayed for the length of time they were in the open - "almost as if the germs themselves wouldn't come near the place." Secondly, the bearers had been torn apart, as if by animals, though what sort of animal it could have been he could not comprehend. "Unimaginable," he said. Selkirk agrees that the Nandis may have had something to do with the episode, but suspects that the charges against the ringleaders were trumped-up. "It wouldn't be the first time," he says cynically. Finally, Selkirk confirms that no Caucasions were found among the dead - only the corpses of the Kenyan bearers were scattered across the barren field.

SET SEVEN: a single sheet. Elias ran into Nails Nelson at the Victoria Bar in Nairobi (Nelson had been doing some mercenary work for the Italians and escaped into Kenya after double-crossing his employers). Nelson claimed to have seen Jack Brady alive (March of 1923) in Hong Kong. Brady was friendly, though guarded and not talkative, and Nelson didn't press the conversation. By this Elias thought that other members of the expedition might still live.

SET EIGHT: discusses a possible structure for the Carlyle book, but is mostly featureless, with entries like "then tell what happened" and "explain why". posted by noemon

04/04/1919

BIG APPLE DATELINE

Roger Carlyle, the playboy whom everybody knows - or knows about! - is quietly leaving New Yawk tomarrow to check out the tombs of Egypt! You've seen the cuties ROGER has found in the nightspots-who can doubt he'll dig up someone - er, something - equally fabulous from the Egyptian sands?
New York Pillar-Riposte, April 4, 1919 posted by noemon

Lettera di un mercante Egiziano al giovane Carlyle

Nella lettera, il mercante egiziano invita Roger Carlyle a farsi un giretto nel suo negozio "nel Quartiere degli Sciacalli, al Cairo". Ritiene di avere quacosa di interessante per lui, anche se non fornisce ulteriori indizi.
Manca testo della lettera e dove l'abbiamo trovata. posted by clem

Foto sfocata di battelli in un porto cinese

Foto sfocata ovviamente B/N di una imbarcazia attraccata in un porto apparentemente cinese. Si legge solo parte del nome della barca. Trovata accanto al corpo di Jackson Elias.
Mancano le lettere che si leggono della barca stessa ed eventualmente l'immagine. posted by clem

01/01/1970

Scatola di Fiammiferi Cinese

Trovata in camera di Jackson Elias, tra le sue cose, immediatamente dopo la sua uccisione.
In questo bar, pare si sia visto Jack Brady; ci incontriamo un vecchio lupo di mare che parla un po' di cinico e che si unisce a noi per un pugno di UMI.
Nient'altro di utile.

manca immagine e scritte e tutto il resto. posted by clem

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