Arkham

Fictional city in H.P. Lovecraft's works

This article is about the city in fiction. For the hospital in DC Comics, see Arkham Asylum. For the video game series, see Batman: Arkham. For other uses, see Arkham (disambiguation).

Arkham

H. P. Lovecraft's hand-drawn map of Arkham, Massachusetts

Created by| H. P. Lovecraft
Genre| Horror fiction
In-universe information
Type| City
Location| Massachusetts
Locations| Miskatonic University

Arkham (/ˈɑːrkəm/) is a fictional city situated in Massachusetts, United States. An integral part of the Lovecraft Country setting created by H. P. Lovecraft, Arkham is featured in many of his stories and those of other Cthulhu Mythos writers.[1]

Arkham House, a publishing company started by two of Lovecraft's correspondents, August Derleth and Donald Wandrei, takes its name from this city as a tribute.[2] Arkham Asylum, a fictional mental hospital in DC Comics' Batman mythos, is also named after Lovecraft's Arkham.[3]

## In Lovecraft's stories

[edit]

Arkham is the home of Miskatonic University, which features prominently in many of Lovecraft's works. The institution finances the expeditions in the novellas, At the Mountains of Madness (1936) and The Shadow Out of Time (1936). Walter Gilman, of "The Dreams in the Witch House" (1933), attends classes at the university. Other notable institutions in Arkham are the Arkham Historical Society and the Arkham Sanitarium. It is said in "Herbert West—Reanimator" that the town was devastated by a typhoid outbreak in 1905.

Lovecraft's Crowninshield House in The Thing on the Doorstep was modeled on the real Crowninshield-Bentley House in Salem, Massachusetts.

Arkham's main newspaper is the Arkham Advertiser, which has a circulation that reaches as far as Dunwich. In the 1880s, its newspaper is called the Arkham Gazette.

Arkham's most notable characteristics are its gambrel roofs and the dark legends that have surrounded the city for centuries.

### Location

[edit]

The precise location of Arkham is unspecified, although it may be surmised from Lovecraft's stories to be some distance to the north of Boston, probably in Essex County, Massachusetts.

Will Murray places Arkham in central Massachusetts and suggests it is based on the village of Oakham.[4] Robert D. Marten rejects this and equates Arkham with Salem, with its name coming from Arkwright, Rhode Island (now part of Fiskville).[5]

August Derleth describes Arkham as "Lovecraft's own well-known, widely used place-name for legend-haunted Salem, Massachusetts",[6] and Lovecraft himself, in a letter to F. Lee Baldwin dated April 29, 1934, wrote that "[my] mental picture of Arkham is of a town something like Salem in atmosphere [and] style of houses, but more hilly [and] with a college (which Salem [lacks]) ... I place the town [and] the imaginary Miskatonic [River] somewhere north of Salem—perhaps near Manchester."[7]

Arkham Sanitarium appears in the short story "The Thing on the Doorstep" and may have been inspired by the Danvers State Insane Asylum, (Danvers State Hospital) in Danvers, Massachusetts.[8] Danvers State Hospital itself appears in Lovecraft's stories "Pickman's Model" and The Shadow over Innsmouth.

### Miskatonic University

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Miskatonic University is a fictional university located in Arkham, near the banks of the (fictional) Miskatonic River. Lovecraft concocted the word Miskatonic as a mixture of root words from the Algonquian languages,[9][10] the source of many place-names throughout New England. Anthony Pearsall believes the name is based on the Housatonic River,[11] which flows from the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts and western Connecticut to Long Island Sound.

After first appearing in H. P. Lovecraft's 1922 story "Herbert West–Reanimator", the school was mentioned in numerous Cthulhu Mythos stories by Lovecraft and other writers. The story "The Dunwich Horror" implies that Miskatonic University is a elite university on par with Harvard, and that Harvard and Miskatonic are the two most popular schools for the Massachusetts "Old Gentry". It is modeled on the northeastern Ivy League universities of Lovecraft's day, perhaps Brown University in his hometown Providence, which Lovecraft himself wished to attend.[12] Miskatonic's student body is implied to be all-male like northeastern universities of Lovecraft's time. The only female student mentioned is Asenath Waite in "The Thing on the Doorstep" (1937).[13]

The university library is famous for its collection of occult books, including one of the handful of genuine copies of the Necronomicon.[14] Other tomes include Unaussprechlichen Kulten and the fragmentary Book of Eibon. Notable faculty members mentioned in Lovecraft's stories included doctors Henry Armitage and Francis Morgan in The Dunwich Horror, and Professor William Dyer in At the Mountains of Madness. Later authors would people the university with their own characters.

## Appearances

[edit]

### Lovecraft's fiction

[edit]

Dates are the year written.

Arkham first appeared in Lovecraft's short story "The Picture in the House"[15] (1920), which is also the first to mention "Miskatonic".[15]

It appears in other stories by Lovecraft, including:

* "Herbert West–Reanimator" (1921–1922); first story to mention "Miskatonic University"[16]
* "The Unnamable" (1923)[17]
* "The Silver Key" (1926)[18]
* "The Colour Out of Space" (1927)[19]
* "The Dunwich Horror" (1928)[20]
* "The Whisperer in Darkness" (1930); Albert N. Wilmarth is described as a folklorist and assistant professor of English at Miskatonic University.
* At the Mountains of Madness (1931); one of the ships is named Arkham and the expedition that is the story’s subject is commissioned and financed by Miskatonic University[21]
* The Shadow over Innsmouth (1931)[22]
* "The Dreams in the Witch House" (1932)[23]
* "Through the Gates of the Silver Key" (1932–1933)[24]
* "The Thing on the Doorstep" (1933); first to mention "Arkham Sanitarium"[25]
* "The Shadow Out of Time" (1934–1935)[26]

### Other appearances

[edit]

* Arkham Asylum is a high-security asylum in the DC Universe, run by the eponymous Amadeus Arkham, where many Gotham City supervillains, including the Joker, are kept under guard.[27] Editor Jack C. Harris and writer Dennis O'Neil picked the name as a homage to Lovecraft.[3]
* Arkham Horror is a cooperative adventure board-game based on H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Players explore the town of Arkham while attempting to stop unmentionable horrors from spilling into the world.[28]
* Splatterhouse takes place in Arkham, Massachusetts.[29]
* The Haunted Palace, the 1963 film directed by Roger Corman and based on H. P. Lovecraft's novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, is set in Arkham.
* Arkham appears in The Real Ghostbusters, season 2, episode 32, titled The Collect Call of Cthulhu (October 27, 1987), when members of the Ghostbusters go to Miskatonic University to get information on how to stop Cthulhu.[30]
* Suitable Flesh, a 2023 film starring Heather Graham, directed by Joe Lynch, and based on the H.P. Lovecraft story The Thing on the Doorstep, takes place in Arkham. Character Asa Waite is a student at Miskatonic University.

### Novels

[edit]

* Arkham is the primary setting of Steven Philip Jones' Lovecraftian: The Shipwright Circle, part of his Lovecraftian series which reimagines the weird tales of H. P. Lovecraft into one single universal modern epic.
* Arkham is the setting the 2006 anthology Arkham Tales published by Chaosium.[31]
* In the 2005 novel The Arcanum, Lovecraft himself is said to have been involved in solving a case involving a witch cult in Arkham.[32]
* Arkham is mentioned in two novels by Charles Stross. In The Atrocity Archives, a philosopher is attracted to Arkham due to the "unique library" there.[33] In The Jennifer Morgue, the occult branch of the American intelligence community, code-named "Black Chamber", is headquartered in Arkham.[34]

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Manguel, Alberto; Guadalupi, Gianni (1987). The Dictionary of Imaginary Places. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. pp. 20–21\. ISBN 0-15-626054-9.
2. ^ Cf. "About Arkham House" web site.
3. ^ a b Voger, Mark; Voglesong, Kathy (2006). The Dark Age: Grim, Great & Gimmicky Post-Modern Comics. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 5\. ISBN 1-893905-53-5.
4. ^ Murray, Will (October 1, 1986). "In Search of Arkham Country". Lovecraft Studies. Five (2): 54–67 - via Internet Archive.
5. ^ Marten, Robert D. (2011). "Arkham Country: In Rescue of the Lost Searchers". In Joshi, S. T. (ed.). Dissecting Cthulhu: Essays on the Cthulhu Mythos. Lakeland, FLA: Miskatonic River Press. pp. 174–176\. ISBN 9780982181874.
6. ^ "About Arkham House" web site.
7. ^ Joshi & Schultz, pp. 6–7.
8. ^ Joseph Morales notes in his "A Short Tour of Lovecraftian New England" (web site) that Danvers "is mentioned in passing in some of Lovecraft's stories, and may also be the inspiration for HPL's fictional Arkham Sanitarium".
9. ^ Lovecraft, Selected Letters III, p. 432.
10. ^ Harms, Daniel (2008). The Cthulhu mythos encyclopedia (3rd ed.). Lake Orion, MI: Elder Signs Press. p. 181\. ISBN 978-1-934501-05-4.
11. ^ Pearsall, "Miskatonic River (Valley)", The Lovecraft Lexicon, p. 281.
12. ^ Ross Wells. 2002. EXploZion! iUniverse. p. 15
13. ^ Pearsall, "Miskatonic University", The Lovecraft Lexicon, p. 281.
14. ^ Lovecraft, Howard P (1980). A History of The Necronomicon. West Warwick, RI: Necronomicon Press. ISBN 978-0-318-04715-7. Archived from the original on June 3, 2008 - via Mythos Tomes.
15. ^ a b Lovecraft, H. P. (1963). S. T. Joshi (ed.). The Dunwich horror and others. selected by August Derleth, introduction by Robert Bloch (corrected 7. printing ed.). Sauk City, Wis.: Arkham House. p. 117. ISBN 0870540378. `{{cite book}}`: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
16. ^ Lovecraft, H. P. (1987). Dagon and other macabre tales. selected by August Derleth, text edited by S. T. Joshi, introduction by T. E. D. Klein (Corr. 5th print. ed.). Sauk City, Wis.: Arkham House Publishers. p. 133\. ISBN 0870540394.
17. ^ Lovecraft, H. P. (1987). Dagon and other macabre tales. selected by August Derleth, text edited by S. T. Joshi, introduction by T. E. D. Klein (Corr. 5th print. ed.). Sauk City, Wis.: Arkham House Publishers. p. 200\. ISBN 0870540394.
18. ^ Lovecraft, H. P. (1985). S. T. Joshi (ed.). At the mountains of madness, and other novels. selected by August Derleth, introduction by Robert Bloch (Corr. 7. print. ed.). Sauk City, WI: Arkham House. p. 413\. ISBN 0870540386.
19. ^ Lovecraft, H. P. (1963). S. T. Joshi (ed.). The Dunwich horror and others. selected by August Derleth, introduction by Robert Bloch (corrected 7. printing ed.). Sauk City, Wis.: Arkham House. p. 53. ISBN 0870540378. `{{cite book}}`: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
20. ^ Lovecraft, H. P. (1963). S. T. Joshi (ed.). The Dunwich horror and others. selected by August Derleth, introduction by Robert Bloch (corrected 7. printing ed.). Sauk City, Wis.: Arkham House. p. 165. ISBN 0870540378. `{{cite book}}`: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
21. ^ Lovecraft, H. P. (1985). S. T. Joshi (ed.). At the mountains of madness, and other novels. selected by August Derleth, introduction by Robert Bloch (Corr. 7. print. ed.). Sauk City, WI: Arkham House. p. 6\. ISBN 0870540386.
22. ^ Lovecraft, H. P. (1963). S. T. Joshi (ed.). The Dunwich horror and others. selected by August Derleth, introduction by Robert Bloch (corrected 7. printing ed.). Sauk City, Wis.: Arkham House. p. 305. ISBN 0870540378. `{{cite book}}`: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
23. ^ Lovecraft, H. P. (1985). S. T. Joshi (ed.). At the mountains of madness, and other novels. selected by August Derleth, introduction by Robert Bloch (Corr. 7. print. ed.). Sauk City, WI: Arkham House. p. 262\. ISBN 0870540386.
24. ^ Lovecraft, H. P. (1985). S. T. Joshi (ed.). At the mountains of madness, and other novels. selected by August Derleth, introduction by Robert Bloch (Corr. 7. print. ed.). Sauk City, WI: Arkham House. p. 422\. ISBN 0870540386.
25. ^ Lovecraft, H. P. (1963). S. T. Joshi (ed.). The Dunwich horror and others. selected by August Derleth, introduction by Robert Bloch (corrected 7. printing ed.). Sauk City, Wis.: Arkham House. p. 276. ISBN 0870540378. `{{cite book}}`: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
26. ^ Lovecraft, H. P. (1963). S.T. Joshi (ed.). The Dunwich horror and others. selected by August Derleth, introduction by Robert Bloch (corrected 7. printing ed.). Sauk City, Wis.: Arkham House. p. 370. ISBN 0870540378. `{{cite book}}`: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
27. ^ O'Neil, Dennis (2008). Batman Unauthorized: Vigilantes, Jokers, and Heroes in Gotham City. BenBella Books. p. 111. ISBN 978-1-933771-30-4.
28. ^ "Arkham Horror". Board Game Geek. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
29. ^ McAllister, Jeff (December 7, 2010). "Splatterhouse easter eggs and references guide". gamesradar.
30. ^ "The Real Ghostbusters (a Titles & Air Dates Guide)". Episode Guides. Archived from the original on November 19, 2015. Retrieved November 18, 2015.
31. ^ "Arkham Tales". Chaosium. Archived from the original on March 17, 2015. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
32. ^ "The Arcanum". LibraryThing. Archived from the original on December 19, 2023. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
33. ^ Stross, Charles (January 3, 2006). The Atrocity Archives. Penguin. ISBN 9781101208847. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
34. ^ Stross, Charles (November 4, 2010). The Jennifer Morgue. Little, Brown Book. ISBN 9780748124145. Retrieved December 20, 2015.

## References

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### Primary sources

[edit]

* Lovecraft, Howard P.
* At the Mountains of Madness, and Other Novels (7th corrected printing), S. T. Joshi (ed.), Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1985. ISBN 0-87054-038-6. Definitive version.
* Dagon and Other Macabre Tales, S. T. Joshi (ed.), Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1987. ISBN 0-87054-039-4. Definitive version.
* The Dunwich Horror and Others (9th corrected printing), S. T. Joshi (ed.), Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1984. ISBN 0-87054-037-8. Definitive version.

### Secondary sources

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#### Books

[edit]

* Harms, Daniel (1998). "Arkham". The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana (2nd ed.). Oakland, CA: Chaosium. pp. 10. ISBN 1-56882-119-0.
* Joshi, S. T.; Schultz, David E. (2001). "Arkham". An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. pp. 6–7\. ISBN 0-313-31578-7.

#### Web sites

[edit]

* "About Arkham House Publishers". Archived from the original on January 6, 2006. Retrieved January 19, 2006.
* Joseph Morales. "A Short Tour of Lovecraftian New England". Archived from the original on May 7, 2006. Retrieved April 16, 2006.

## External links

[edit]

* "Lovecraft's Map of Arkham", from The Cthulhu Mythos: A Guide

* v
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H. P. Lovecraft

* Bibliography

Short stories|

* "The Beast in the Cave"
* "The Alchemist"
* "The Tomb"
* "Dagon"
* "A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson"
* "Polaris"
* "Beyond the Wall of Sleep"
* "Memory"
* "Old Bugs"
* "The Transition of Juan Romero"
* "The White Ship"
* "The Street"
* "The Doom That Came to Sarnath"
* "The Statement of Randolph Carter"
* "The Terrible Old Man"
* "The Tree"
* "The Cats of Ulthar"
* "The Temple"
* "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family"
* "Celephaïs"
* "From Beyond"
* "Nyarlathotep"
* "The Picture in the House"
* "Ex Oblivione"
* "Sweet Ermengarde"
* "The Nameless City"
* "The Quest of Iranon"
* "The Moon-Bog"
* "The Outsider"
* "The Other Gods"
* "The Music of Erich Zann"
* "Herbert West–Reanimator"
* "Hypnos"
* "What the Moon Brings"
* "Azathoth"
* "The Hound"
* "The Lurking Fear"
* "The Rats in the Walls"
* "The Unnamable"
* "The Festival"
* "The Shunned House"
* "The Horror at Red Hook"
* "He"
* "In the Vault"
* "Cool Air"
* "The Call of Cthulhu"
* "Pickman's Model"
* "The Silver Key"
* "The Strange High House in the Mist"
* "The Colour Out of Space"
* "The Descendant"
* "History of the Necronomicon"
* "The Very Old Folk"
* "Ibid"
* "The Dunwich Horror"
* "The Dreams in the Witch House"
* "The Thing on the Doorstep"
* "The Evil Clergyman"
* "The Book"
* "The Haunter of the Dark"

Novellas|

* The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
* The Whisperer in Darkness
* At the Mountains of Madness
* The Shadow over Innsmouth
* The Shadow Out of Time

Novels|

* The Case of Charles Dexter Ward

Collaborations|

* "The Green Meadow"
* "Poetry and the Gods"
* "The Crawling Chaos"
* "The Horror at Martin's Beach"
* "Under the Pyramids"
* "The Curse of Yig"
* The Mound
* "Medusa's Coil"
* "The Horror in the Museum"
* "Through the Gates of the Silver Key"
* "Out of the Aeons"
* "The Tree on the Hill"
* "Till A' the Seas"
* "In the Walls of Eryx"

Poetry|

* Fungi from Yuggoth

Essays|

* The Cancer of Superstition
* "Supernatural Horror in Literature"
* To Quebec and the Stars
* Autobiography: Some Notes on a Nonentity

Locations|

* Arkham
* Lovecraft Country
* R'lyeh

Characters|

* Abdul Alhazred
* Herbert West
* Randolph Carter
* Harley Warren

Deities|

* Azathoth
* Cthulhu
* Nyarlathotep
* Shub-Niggurath
* Hastur

Books about|

* H. P. Lovecraft: A Life
* H. P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life
* An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia
* Lovecraft: A Biography
* Lovecraft: A Look Behind the Cthulhu Mythos

Themes/concepts|

* Cosmicism
* Cthulhu Mythos
* Lovecraftian horror
* Necronomicon

Legacy|

* Lovecraft studies
* Works influenced by the Cthulhu Mythos
* H. P. Lovecraft (band)
* H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society
* Lovecraft (crater)

Related|

* Aklo
* Dream Cycle
* Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown (documentary)
* Sonia Greene (wife)
* The Thing in the Moonlight

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