Arkham

The actual location of Arkham is a subject of debate. Will Murray places Arkham in central Massachusetts and suggests that it is based on the small village of Oakham. Robert D. Marten refutes this claim and equates Arkham with Salem (as did Lovecraft), and thinks that Arkham is named for Arkwright, Rhode Island (which is now part of Fiskville). 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." (Joshi & Schultz, pp. 6–7.)

The real-life model for Arkham seems to be, in fact, Salem, its reputation for the occult making it appealing to one who dabbles in the weird tale.August Derleth stated in his writings: "Arkham ... was Lovecraft’s own well-known, widely-used place-name for legend-haunted Salem, Massachusetts, in his remarkable fiction". (Cf. "About Arkham House" web site.)

Arkham Sanitarium appears in the short story "The Thing on the Doorstep" and may have been inspired by the Danvers State Insane Asylum, aka Danvers State Hospital, located in Danvers, Massachusetts.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 might also be the inspiration for HPL's fictional Arkham Sanitarium". (Danvers State Hospital also appears in Lovecraft's stories "Pickman's Model" and "The Shadow over Innsmouth".) H.P. Lovecraft's Arkham and the Arkham Sanitarium were paid homage in the creation of Arkham Asylum in the Batman Comic Book Series.

Appearances

Lovecraft's fiction

Arkham first appeared in Lovecraft's short story "The Picture in the House" (1920)—the story is also the first to mention "Miskatonic". It also appears in other stories by Lovecraft, including:

• "Herbert West—Reanimator" (1921–22), first story to mention "Miskatonic University"
• "The Unnamable" (1923)
• "The Colour out of Space" (1927)
• "The Dunwich Horror" (1928)
• At the Mountains of Madness (1931), one of the ships is named Arkham
• "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" (1931), first to mention "Arkham Historical Society"
• "The Dreams in the Witch House" (1932)
• "Through the Gates of the Silver Key" (1932–1933)
• "The Thing on the Doorstep" (1933), first to mention "Arkham Sanitarium"
• "The Shadow out of Time" (1934–1935)

Other authors

• Bloch, Robert. "The Creeper in the Crypt" (1937)

• Brennen, Joseph Payne. "Forringer's Fortune" (1975)

• Brunner, John. "Concerning the Forthcoming Inexpensive Paperback Translation of the Necronomicon of Abdul Alhazred" (1992)

• Campbell, Ramsey
• *"The Tomb Herd" (1986)
• *"The Tower from Yuggoth" (1986)

• Jens, Tina L. "In His Daughter's Darkling Womb" (1997), mentions "Arkham Industries"

• Lumley, Brian. The Transition of Titus Crow (1975)

• Price, Robert M. "Wilbur Whateley Waiting" (1987)

• Shea, Michael. The Color out of Time (1984)

• Smith, Clark Ashton. "I Am a Witch" (19??)

• Thompson, C. Hall. "The Will of Claude Ashur" (1947)

• Wilson, F. Paul. "The Barrens" (1990)

Other appearances

• In many Batman comic books, Arkham Asylum is shown or mentioned as a place in which many villains, including the Joker, are kept under guard. Allegedly, Bob Kane, who had met Lovecraft on a train in 1935, loved how he wrote his stories. Kane was so grateful for being able to meet Lovecraft only two years before his death that he created Arkham Asylum as a means of paying tribute to him. This story is most likely apocryphal as Arkham Asylum never appeared in Batman comics until the early 1970's when Denny O'Neill and Frank Robbins were doing most of the writing long after Bob Kane was retired from the comics.

• The third Shadow Hearts video game (Shadow Hearts: From the New World) features a visit to the fictional Arkham University, based in Boston, Massachusetts. H. P. Lovecraft himself appears as a professor at the university, conjuring up demons for the heroes to fight at their request.

• Arkham is also the setting for roleplaying games based on the mythos, such as Call of Cthulhu.

• Arkham is one of the antagonists in the third installment of the popular video game series Devil May Cry, , which is a prequel to the first game. He is the father of Lady, who he calls Mary (her true name that she forsakens). Throughout the game he tries to secretly manipulate everyone else through various means. For Dante this means guiding him through the Temen-Ni-Gru in the guise of an alter ego, Jester. For Vergil this means act as an aide/co-conspirer, and for Lady this means leading her to the tower itself. Ultimately he needs all three of them (Dante and Vergil for their blood in which the blood of Sparda flows and the Amulets that they carry. Lady is needed as she is decended from the priestess Sparda sacrificed through her mother's side). However he suffers his consequences as after he absorbs Sparda's power, he transforms into a blob-like creature and is defeated by the twins, who rob him of his power, kick him out of the Demon Realm and leave him extremely weakened at the feet of his vengeful daughter.

• "Arkham" is the codename used for a plan to assassinate Mr. Parker in NBC's television show The Pretender.

• Arkham is the name of the lunatic asylum mentioned in , which is about certain characters who survived the events in Carrie.

• Arkham also appeared in the movie Haunted Palace (1963) starring Vincent Price.

• The ARCAM Corporation in Spriggan took its name from the fictional city of Arkham.
• Arkham was a short-lived Belgian progressive rockband in the 70s.
• Arkham was also the name of a short-lived band featuring several of the members of British Sea Power, prior to the formation of BSP.

See also

• Arkham Asylum, an institution in the DC Comics universe, named in honor of Lovecraft's Arkham
• Arkham Horror, a board game set in Arkham, where the players war against the Cthulhu Mythos
• Lovecraft Country

• Dunwich, Massachusetts
• Innsmouth, Massachusetts
• Kingsport, Massachusetts

References

Primary sources

• 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 0-870-54038-6. Definitive version.
• *Dagon and Other Macabre Tales, S. T. Joshi (ed.), Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1987. ISBN 0-870-54039-4. Definitive version.
• *The Dunwich Horror and Others (9th corrected printing), S. T. Joshi (ed.), Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1984. ISBN 0-870-54037-8. Definitive version.

Secondary sources

Books

Web sites

Notes