H.P. Lovecraft 4: Arkham Asylum Traditional Cache
Massquerade: I am regretfully archiving this cache since there's been no response from nor action by the cache owner within the time frame requested in the last reviewer note. The cache owner should retrieve any remaining cache contents at their earliest convenience.
H.P. Lovecraft 4: Arkham Asylum
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Related Web Page
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Although you could treat this as a park and grab, on a nice day you might want to come prepared to sit with a book or a magazine, and bask in the sun while overlooking Danvers and Peabody. Or on a stormy night, you could come here to fling epithets at lightning flashes and curse the existence of The Old Ones…
This cache is part of a series devoted to honoring the “actual” geographic locations of celebrated horror writer H.P. Lovecraft’s fictional towns, and the real towns he refers to in Massachusetts (most of which are in Essex County). There are plenty of H.P. Lovecraft-influenced caches (try searching by keywords Cthulhu, Lovecraft, Innsmouth or Arkham), however our caches are positioned for “historic authenticity” as best we could manage. Where is the first cache in this series? It is not ours, nor is it nearby, however we defer to GC9497 in Providence, Rhode Island. The Related Web Page above links to Lovecraft’s Wikipedia page.
Arkham Sanitarium appears in the short story “The Thing on the Doorstep” (1933) and may have been inspired by the Danvers State Insane Asylum, aka Danvers State Hospital, located in Danvers, Massachusetts. Danvers State Hospital also appears in Lovecraft's stories “Pickman's Model” (1926) and “The Shadow over Innsmouth.” (1931) One can argue that “Salem Village” (Salem / Danvers) was Arkham town, so we stuck with the historical location of Danvers State Hospital (visit link) . Witch lore, obviously preceding Lovecraft, is strong in both Salem and Danvers. The Arkham name is also prominent in the “Batman” stories as a place where his nemeses The Joker and Two-Face were hospitalized.
July 2011: I guess even the old water tower here was creepy! I added a photo of it to the gallery. From the Danvers Herald, April 2006: Zoning Board members voted unanimously to demolish the giant water tower located on the former Danvers State Hospital property, which is visible from Routes 1, 95, and 114. In its place they will erect… another giant tower, this one to house telecommunications antennae currently situated on the water tower.
There is a horror movie that features footage of the old buildings and water tower, "Session 9" with David Caruso (2001). The film is so-so (a poor man's "The Shining" with Jack Nicholson), but the enormity of the old facilities and property are neat to see.
To contribute to the creepy feeling and paranormal rumors here, there’s nothing like Lovecraft-inspired artwork. I added some Michael Whelan to the gallery (from the Del Rey paperbacks), however my first exposure to Lovecraftian artwork was Erol Otus. When a frenzied character cries, “The pit of the shoggoths – Iä! Shub-Niggurath! The Goat with a Thousand Young!” these help visualize their horror.
First-To-Find prize is an American coin rarer than our usual leave, a Liberty Dime from 1896 Philadelphia that is .900 silver. This coin won’t be defaced on one side, as Two-Face would’ve done…! The designer of the coin, Charles Barber, was Chief Engraver of the mint and because of his position, a default “winner” of his submission of his own design. This coin is old enough for Lovecraft himself to have spent it, perhaps buying himself some Edgar Allan Poe to read…? Co-First To Find goes to Froedo Bagginz & HostaHead (LasaCana). What is that they say about the perfect warrior not needing sleep? FB&HH should keep mum from the military their geocaching-induced insomnia…!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Bar bs U.C. Ybirpensg’f rneyvre jbexf jnf “Gur Engf va gur Jnyyf.” (1923) Vg zvtug whfg qevir lbh znq…!
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