Investigation #0012 · Closed file
The Cold Fire at Carver & Sons Warehouse No. 7
Scorch marks appear overnight at Carver & Sons Warehouse No. 7. Neighbours say it has been building for 13 days — since 2 October.
- Where
- Warehouse No. 7 — the Stair Below, Arkham Docks
- Opened
- Friday, 15 October 1926, 16:00
- Closed
- Monday, 8 November 1926
- Investigators
- Prof. Julian Ashcombe, Cornelius Vance, Anton Akeley
- Outcome
- Escaped.
Afterwards: Warehouse No. 7 — the Stair Below is quiet, for now; Ashcombe cannot let it go; Vance has become more careful.
Findings
- A farmer reports frost on one field in September.
- The frost forms in the same shape every morning.
- A key too old for any lock in the building. The dust on it is disturbed only at the edges.
- Compasses fail inside the frost line; the county survey of 1719 notes the same.
- Soil from the field is colder at depth than at the surface.
- The frost has moved nine feet toward the town since 1899.
- It is not cold that makes the frost. Something is drawing the warmth down.
- A key too old for any lock in the building. It is older than it looks.
The record
Saturday, 2 October 1926
- Before the report: The landlord, Mr. Faraday, at Carver & Sons Warehouse No. 7 reports a sound nobody else heard.
Monday, 4 October 1926
- Before the report: An unexplained smell reported at Carver & Sons Warehouse No. 7.
Tuesday, 5 October 1926
- Before the report: Something has gone missing at Carver & Sons Warehouse No. 7.
Thursday, 7 October 1926
- Before the report: An unusual visitor at Carver & Sons Warehouse No. 7 asked odd questions and left no name.
Saturday, 9 October 1926
- Before the report: Talk in the Miskatonic River corridor taverns about Carver & Sons Warehouse No. 7 — the same story from different mouths now.
Sunday, 10 October 1926
- Before the report: A resident who has lived near Carver & Sons Warehouse No. 7 for thirty years says they have never known a week like it.
Monday, 11 October 1926
- Before the report: The police have been asked, quietly, to keep an eye on Carver & Sons Warehouse No. 7.
Tuesday, 12 October 1926
- Before the report: Two households near Carver & Sons Warehouse No. 7 report the same sound on the same night.
Wednesday, 13 October 1926
- Before the report: A local rumour about Carver & Sons Warehouse No. 7 is doing the rounds again, decades old.
Thursday, 14 October 1926
- Before the report: Someone was seen leaving Carver & Sons Warehouse No. 7 at an hour nobody can account for.
Friday, 15 October 1926
- Before the report: The Gazette has had three letters this week about Carver & Sons Warehouse No. 7.
- Initial report received. Scorch marks appear overnight at Carver & Sons Warehouse No. 7. Neighbours say it has been building for 13 days — since 2 October.
- Ashcombe, Vance & Anton take up the investigation.
- Anton arrives 23 minutes late.
- Vance & Anton arrive at Carver & Sons Warehouse No. 7.
- Riverbank examined.
- Investigators report a smell of tar.
- Oil on the water noted in the pier head.
- Clue recorded: “Minutes of the Order”.
- Boathouse: nothing unusual.
- Investigators leave Carver & Sons Warehouse No. 7.
Saturday, 16 October 1926
- Ashcombe arrives 43 minutes late.
- Ashcombe, Vance & Anton arrive at Warehouse No. 7 — Order Meeting Place.
- Statement taken from Miss Nellie Lovell (the night watchman).
- The unidentified woman in the photograph of 15 October is identified by Ashcombe: Miss Nellie Lovell.
- Records conflict: Miss Nellie Lovell's account and a witness's cannot both be right.
- Statement taken from Lemuel Carver.
- Accounts conflict. Miss Nellie Lovell (the night watchman) remembers it happening before, in 1719. Lemuel Carver says nothing like it has ever happened here.
- Working theory: something older than the building.
- Recorded by Ashcombe: a thin man in a coat too big for him said to Ashcombe, quite kindly, that it would all be over by Wednesday.
- Finding: A farmer reports frost on one field in September.
- Investigators leave Warehouse No. 7 — Order Meeting Place.
- Complication: Evidence goes missing from the police station overnight.
Sunday, 17 October 1926
- Anton arrives 14 minutes late.
- Vance & Anton arrive at Warehouse No. 7 — Order Meeting Place.
- Nothing has changed since the last visit.
- Investigators report a smell of saltwater.
- Investigators note oil on the water.
- Finding: The frost forms in the same shape every morning.
- Investigators leave Warehouse No. 7 — Order Meeting Place.
- Patrolman Dunn's notebook is produced: Miss Nellie Lovell was seen outside the property at 10:27 PM.
- Records conflict: Miss Nellie Lovell's statement and the constable's notebook cannot both be right.
- Ashcombe arrives 28 minutes late.
- Ashcombe, Vance & Anton arrive at Arkham Police Department.
- Items held by the police are laid out for examination.
- Object examined: a key too old for any lock in the building. The dust on it is disturbed only at the edges.
- Finding: Compasses fail inside the frost line; the county survey of 1719 notes the same.
- Investigators leave Arkham Police Department.
Monday, 18 October 1926
- Ashcombe arrives 20 minutes late.
- Ashcombe, Vance & Anton arrive at Arkham Historical Society.
- The Historical Society's collection consulted.
- Strong smell of old paper noted.
- Finding: The Historical Society's collection — Soil from the field is colder at depth than at the surface.
- Ashcombe and Anton disagree about the cause: Ashcombe suspects something older than the building; Anton, a gas leak.
- Investigators leave Arkham Historical Society.
Tuesday, 19 October 1926
- Ashcombe arrives 22 minutes late.
- Anton arrives 20 minutes late.
- Ashcombe, Vance & Anton meet at Kellerman's Lunch Room.
- Evidence compared: “A key too old for any lock in the building. The dust on it is disturbed only at the edges” set against “The frost forms in the same shape every morning”.
- Ashcombe and Anton disagree about the cause: Ashcombe suspects a haunting; Anton, a gas leak.
- Vance proposes a thing that was here before the town; Ashcombe objects that the records say otherwise.
- No agreement is reached.
- The meeting breaks up.
Thursday, 21 October 1926
- Ashcombe arrives 41 minutes late.
- Ashcombe, Vance & Anton arrive at Warehouse No. 7 — Order Meeting Place.
- Furniture in the riverbank has been moved.
- Strong smell of old blood, though we found none noted.
- Investigators note a shadow on the stair with nothing to cast it.
- Finding: The frost has moved nine feet toward the town since 1899.
- Investigators leave Warehouse No. 7 — Order Meeting Place.
- Ashcombe reports trouble concentrating.
- A further record puts Miss Nellie Lovell abroad at 10:23 PM on the night in question.
- Miss Nellie Lovell's account of the hour is no longer accepted.
- Complication: A key witness has left town without a word.
Saturday, 23 October 1926
- Ashcombe arrives 32 minutes late.
- Anton arrives 28 minutes late.
- Ashcombe, Vance & Anton arrive at Old Hill Burying Ground.
- Acting on Ashcombe's theory — a haunting — investigators visit Old Hill Burying Ground.
- Investigators report a smell of stale incense.
- Nothing here connects to the case.
- Investigators leave Old Hill Burying Ground.
- Anton arrives 17 minutes late.
- Vance & Anton arrive at The Stair Below.
- Inquiry extends to The Stair Below.
- Investigators move to the stair.
- Strong smell of old blood, though we found none noted.
- Investigators note dust inside the grooves of the carving — old dust.
- Finding: It is not cold that makes the frost. Something is drawing the warmth down.
- Investigators leave The Stair Below.
Sunday, 24 October 1926
- Ashcombe, Vance & Anton arrive at Arkham Police Department.
- Items held by the police are laid out for examination.
- Object examined: a key too old for any lock in the building. It is older than it looks.
- No further findings.
- Investigators leave Arkham Police Department.
- Ashcombe arrives 44 minutes late.
- Ashcombe, Vance & Anton meet at Hobb's Tavern (est. 1714).
- Evidence compared: “A key too old for any lock in the building. It is older than it looks” set against “It is not cold that makes the frost. Something is drawing the warmth down”.
- Working theory: the dead trying to say something.
- Anton proposes a curse on the family; Vance objects that it's what we wanted to find.
- Working hypothesis adopted: the dead trying to say something.
- The meeting breaks up.
Monday, 25 October 1926
- Ashcombe, Vance & Anton arrive at Miskatonic University Library.
- The university archive consulted.
- Investigators report a smell of chalk dust.
- No further findings.
- No further findings.
- Working theory: the dead trying to say something.
- Investigators leave Miskatonic University Library.
Tuesday, 26 October 1926
- Investigation suspended for 3 days: the owners have locked the site.
Friday, 29 October 1926
- Anton produces a page cut from a register, cleanly, with a razor, found beneath a library book. The sender is not known.
Sunday, 31 October 1926
- Margin note: a figure at the corner, quite still. Did not approach. Not seen to leave.
- Vance arrives at The Stair Below.
- Vance reports a bell ringing under the river.
- Strong smell of a smell like the inside of the earth — old beyond old noted.
- The same face in photographs a century apart — reported by Vance.
- Investigators withdraw from The Stair Below. Vance hurt.
- No further findings.
Monday, 1 November 1926
- Ashcombe arrives 24 minutes late.
- Ashcombe, Vance & Anton meet at Kellerman's Lunch Room.
- Injuries attended to: Vance (laceration).
- The discussion ends.
Tuesday, 2 November 1926
- Anton arrives 16 minutes late.
- Vance & Anton arrive at The Stair Below.
- Margin note: a figure at the corner, quite still. Did not approach. Not seen to leave.
- A door left shut is found open.
- Investigators report a smell of a smell like the inside of the earth — old beyond old.
- A stair going further down than the house is tall noted in the stair.
- No further findings.
- Investigators leave The Stair Below.
Thursday, 4 November 1926
- Ashcombe arrives 34 minutes late.
- Anton arrives 19 minutes late.
- Ashcombe, Vance & Anton arrive at Arkham Gazette.
- The Gazette morgue consulted.
- Investigators report a smell of coal smoke.
- Ashcombe notes the same thin man in the big coat as before in the doorway of the shop across the way. Anton sees nobody.
- No further findings.
- No further findings.
- Ashcombe and Vance disagree about the cause: Ashcombe suspects the dead trying to say something; Vance, somebody frightening the witnesses away.
- Investigators leave Arkham Gazette.
Saturday, 6 November 1926
- Ashcombe arrives 44 minutes late.
- Anton arrives 36 minutes late.
- Ashcombe, Vance & Anton arrive at Warehouse No. 7 — the Stair Below.
- Investigators note the same face in photographs a century apart.
- Strong smell of salt and rot and something older than both noted.
- No further findings.
- Investigators leave Warehouse No. 7 — the Stair Below.
- Ashcombe reports a dry mouth.
- Note: somebody standing where there is nothing to stand on. Probably the light.
Sunday, 7 November 1926
- Vance arrives at Warehouse No. 7 — the Stair Below.
- Strong smell of salt and rot and something older than both noted.
- The same face in photographs a century apart noted in the pier head.
- The fire burned downward, into the floor, toward something.
- Outcome: Escaped. Vance injured.
- Suspicion falls on Miss Nellie Lovell.
Monday, 8 November 1926
- The unidentified woman in the photograph of 6 November is identified by Ashcombe: Miss Nellie Lovell.
- Records conflict: Miss Nellie Lovell's account and a witness's cannot both be right.
- Ashcombe arrives 26 minutes late.
- Ashcombe & Anton meet at Kellerman's Lunch Room.
- The team agree the file: escaped.
- The file is put away.
- Afterwards: Warehouse No. 7 — the Stair Below is quiet, for now; Ashcombe cannot let it go; Vance has become more careful.
Moments from this file
The morning after it was reported, the Arkham Gazette led with “MISKATONIC UNIVERSITY LIBRARY MYSTERY EXPLAINED”.