Investigation #0011 · Closed file

The Knocking at Miskatonic University Library

Knocking and scraping reported inside the walls at Miskatonic University Library. Neighbours say it has been building for 12 days — since 2 October.

Afterwards: Miskatonic University Library has gone quiet.

Findings

20:00 Before the report: A minor electrical failure at Miskatonic University Library, fixed and unexplained.

08:00 Before the report: An old document connected with Miskatonic University Library has resurfaced in a donated box of papers.

08:00 Before the report: Talk in the Miskatonic University District taverns about Miskatonic University Library — the same story from different mouths now.

11:00 Before the report: A volume has gone missing from Miskatonic University Library; the ledger says it was never lent.

07:00 Before the report: Dogs refuse to go past Miskatonic University Library, the night porter, Mr. Albrecht, says.

07:00 Before the report: The lights at Miskatonic University Library failed twice this week, and the electrician can find nothing wrong.

07:00 Before the report: Someone was seen leaving Miskatonic University Library at an hour nobody can account for.
16:00 Before the report: An unusual visitor at Miskatonic University Library asked odd questions and left no name.

10:00 Before the report: A student working late, Miss Duffy, at Miskatonic University Library reports a sound nobody else heard.

07:00 Before the report: A resident who has lived near Miskatonic University Library for thirty years says they have never known a week like it.

07:00 Before the report: A second, unrelated witness now confirms what the first said about Miskatonic University Library.
20:35 Initial report received. Knocking and scraping reported inside the walls at Miskatonic University Library. Neighbours say it has been building for 12 days — since 2 October.
20:35 Among the papers on the file: the notice of Saturday 9 October — “Prof. Edmund Halsey, professor of classical languages, last seen near Faculty Row — Halsey…” Nobody thought anything of it at the time.
21:14 Bea takes up the investigation.

09:30 Bea arrives at Miskatonic University Library.
09:41 Search of the stacks.
10:00 Strong smell of floor polish noted.
10:22 Bea notes glass cases.
10:41 Bea reports a trolley wheel squeaking.
11:09 No further findings.
11:20 Bea leaves Miskatonic University Library.
13:30 Bea arrives at Miskatonic University Library.
13:43 Statement taken from Mr. Henry Ludlow (the cataloguer).
14:12 Statement taken from Dr. Henry Armitage.
14:32 Accounts conflict. Mr. Henry Ludlow (the cataloguer) counted three figures. Dr. Henry Armitage counted four, 'and the fourth was wrong'.
14:50 Recorded by Bea: a boy of nine or ten in a sailor collar told Bea not to believe Dr. Henry Armitage about the hour. “It was later,” he said. “It is always later.”
14:58 Finding: A lodger describes a quiet man in the cellar who pays no rent.
15:19 Bea leaves Miskatonic University Library.
22:23 Bea arrives at Miskatonic University Library.
22:38 Bea reports a smell of lilies, though there were no flowers.
22:55 A door open that had been left shut noted in the stacks.
23:20 A voice in the wall is counting down, in the same count as Patient 23.
23:20 Outcome: Solved.
23:54 Afterwards: Miskatonic University Library has gone quiet.

The morning after it was reported, the Arkham Gazette led with “SCREAMS AT KINGSBURY POST OFFICE; SEARCH FINDS NOTHING”.