Investigation #0002 · Closed file
The Great Fog of 1846: Dead Letters
Post office reports letters to a vacant lot being 'signed for'.
- Where
- Town Hall & Registry of Deeds, Downtown Arkham
- Opened
- Wednesday, 22 September 1926, 07:02
- Closed
- Friday, 1 October 1926
- Investigators
- Det. Sgt. Thomas Bell, Prof. Julian Ashcombe
- Line of inquiry
- The Great Fog of 1846
- Outcome
- Unresolved.
Afterwards: 7 Crane Street (vacant lot) is still not safe; Bell has become more careful; Ashcombe cannot let it go.
Findings
- A house is reported in fog where there is only an empty lot.
- Witnesses in fog describe a supper laid for eight.
- The 1705 Gazette reports a family of seven lost in the Great Fog.
- Accounts from 1705, 1873 and 1911 describe the same table and the same eight places.
- Every account ends with the witness counting the chairs, and being asked to sit.
The record
Wednesday, 22 September 1926
- Initial report received. Post office reports letters to a vacant lot being 'signed for'.
- Bell & Ashcombe take up the investigation.
- Ashcombe arrives 35 minutes late.
- Bell & Ashcombe arrive at Town Hall & Registry of Deeds.
- Search of the upstairs landing.
- Strong smell of damp plaster noted.
- Investigators note a single lamp burning low.
- Investigators report the house settling.
- Clue recorded: “Dead Letters”.
- Finding: A house is reported in fog where there is only an empty lot.
- Investigators leave Town Hall & Registry of Deeds.
Thursday, 23 September 1926
- Ashcombe arrives 35 minutes late.
- Bell & Ashcombe arrive at Town Hall & Registry of Deeds.
- Statement taken from Mr. Barnabas Cole.
- Statement taken from Ned Farley.
- Accounts conflict. Mr. Barnabas Cole says it came from the cellar. Ned Farley says the roof.
- Working theory: someone who wants the property cheap.
- Finding: Witnesses in fog describe a supper laid for eight.
- Investigators leave Town Hall & Registry of Deeds.
- Complication: The police warn the investigators off.
Friday, 24 September 1926
- Investigation suspended for 1 days: two of the team are needed at work.
- Ashcombe arrives 29 minutes late.
- Bell & Ashcombe arrive at Town Hall & Registry of Deeds.
- Ashcombe arrives 27 minutes late.
- Bell & Ashcombe arrive at Arkham Historical Society.
- The records at Arkham Historical Society consulted.
Saturday, 25 September 1926
- Bell arrives 18 minutes late.
- Bell & Ashcombe meet at Hobb's Tavern (est. 1714).
- Evidence compared: “Witnesses in fog describe a supper laid for eight” set against “A house is reported in fog where there is only an empty lot”.
- Working theory: someone who wants the property cheap.
- Bell proposes someone who wants the property cheap; Ashcombe objects that the records say otherwise.
- Working hypothesis adopted: someone who wants the property cheap.
Sunday, 26 September 1926
- Ashcombe arrives 26 minutes late.
- Bell & Ashcombe arrive at Town Hall & Registry of Deeds.
- The markings have spread.
- Investigators report a smell of lilies, though there were no flowers.
- Investigators note a chair turned to face the wall.
- Finding: The 1705 Gazette reports a family of seven lost in the Great Fog.
- Investigators leave Town Hall & Registry of Deeds.
Monday, 27 September 1926
- A bystander noted beyond the cordon. Nobody present knew who it was.
- Ashcombe arrives 28 minutes late.
- Bell & Ashcombe arrive at Arkham Historical Society.
- Inquiry extends to Arkham Historical Society.
- Investigators move to the reading room.
- Strong smell of the sea, a long way inland noted.
- Footprints in the dust that stopped in the middle of the floor noted in the map room.
- Clue recorded: “The Great Fog”.
- Finding: Accounts from 1705, 1873 and 1911 describe the same table and the same eight places.
- Investigators leave Arkham Historical Society.
Tuesday, 28 September 1926
- Bell & Ashcombe arrive at Arkham Historical Society.
- Investigators report something breathing, slow and enormous, under the floor.
- Investigators report a smell of salt and rot and something older than both.
- The same face in photographs a century apart — reported by Bell & Ashcombe.
- Investigators withdraw from Arkham Historical Society. Bell hurt.
- Finding: Every account ends with the witness counting the chairs, and being asked to sit.
- Complication: The newspaper prints the story, and the curious turn up in numbers.
Wednesday, 29 September 1926
- Ashcombe arrives at Arkham Historical Society.
- Ashcombe arrives 23 minutes late.
- Bell & Ashcombe meet at Kellerman's Lunch Room.
- Injuries attended to: Bell (concussion).
- The discussion ends.
Thursday, 30 September 1926
- Bell & Ashcombe arrive at Christ Church.
- Stars in the water under a clouded sky noted in the crypt.
- Strong smell of a smell nobody could name — sweet, and wrong noted.
- Clue recorded: “Eight Names”.
Friday, 1 October 1926
- Ashcombe arrives 37 minutes late.
- Bell & Ashcombe arrive at 7 Crane Street (vacant lot).
- Investigators report a smell of salt and rot and something older than both.
- Investigators note the same face in photographs a century apart.
- At the vacant lot on Crane Street a letter lies on a doorstep that is not there, a foot above the weeds.
- Bell turns back.
- Outcome: Unresolved.
- Afterwards: 7 Crane Street (vacant lot) is still not safe; Bell has become more careful; Ashcombe cannot let it go.
Moments from this file
The morning after it was reported, the Arkham Gazette led with “SCREAMS AT FACULTY ROW — HALSEY'S OFFICE; SEARCH FINDS NOTHING”.